Abstract: A method and apparatus is provided for identifying parts of a vehicle. A method and apparatus is also provided for generating keywords and logic structures to access a part number database. A method and apparatus is further provided for use of the keywords and logic structure to access the part number database. Vehicle identifiers such as VIN numbers are utilized to determine vehicle parts so that vehicle parts for a vehicle may be determined from the vehicle identifier of that vehicle.

Abstract: A mobile electronic device such as a smart phone receives a spoken vehicle identification number (VIN) by a user. The smart phone device interprets the spoken input as interpreted text. The device removes any spaces, punctuation, words, or sound-alike words from the interpreted text. The device replaces any prohibited characters with corresponding acceptable letters. The device displays the resulting character string as a VIN to the user for comparison to the VIN on a vehicle. The device may communicate to a database to obtain make, model, and model year information corresponding to the VIN and display that vehicle information to the user for confirmation.