Patents by Inventor Robert R. Inman

Robert R. Inman has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20160253682
    Abstract: Systems and methods for calculating service market share, benchmarking service market share, and generating improvement guidance. The systems and methods facilitate analyzing and improving dealer service market share.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 26, 2015
    Publication date: September 1, 2016
    Inventors: ROBERT R. INMAN, MICHAEL S. HARBAUGH
  • Publication number: 20160232471
    Abstract: The present technology relates to systems and methods for measuring, benchmarking, and improving dealer service retention effectiveness using a pairwise dealer comparison on shared customers.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 10, 2015
    Publication date: August 11, 2016
    Inventors: ROBERT R. INMAN, MICHAEL S. HARBAUGH
  • Publication number: 20160225062
    Abstract: The present technology relates to systems and processes for evaluating and comparing dealers of products such as automobiles with consideration to objective measures of prior-sale and geography-based loyalty and/or conquest. The system is configured to determine one or more actionable sales-improvement objects for use in improving dealer performance in terms of prior-sale and geography-based loyalty, conquest, and/or first time buyer performance. The system is configured to transmit the performance-improvement object to a receiving device for use in improving sales-and-geographic loyalty, conquest, and/or first time buyer performance of a dealer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 24, 2015
    Publication date: August 4, 2016
    Inventors: ROBERT R. INMAN, MICHAEL S. HARBAUGH
  • Publication number: 20160225003
    Abstract: The present technology relates to systems and processes for evaluating and comparing dealers of products such as automobiles with consideration to objective measures of prior-sale and geography-based loyalty. The system is configured to determine on or more actionable sales-improvement objects for use in improving dealer performance in terms of prior-sale and geography-based loyalty. The system is configured to transmit the performance-improvement object to a receiving device for use in improving sales-and-geographic loyalty performance of the dealer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 24, 2015
    Publication date: August 4, 2016
    Inventors: ROBERT R. INMAN, MICHAEL S. HARBAUGH
  • Publication number: 20160224921
    Abstract: Systems and methods for measuring and benchmarking dealer service retention values, and generating improvement guidance. The method facilitates analyzing and improving dealer service retention. A method provides a more granular measure for actual service retention value focusing on key performance categories and provides a benchmarked service retention value that controls for environmental factors outside of the dealer's control. The method enhances efforts of dealers to improve their service retention through comparing the dealer's actual service retention value to the benchmarked service retention value, prioritizing the performance categories by an amount of room for improvement in service retention, quantifying impact of controllable factors on an optimized service retention value, and prioritizing controllable factors by amounts by which of the factors would most efficiently increase the optimized service retention value per dollar invested for each particular dealer.
    Type: Application
    Filed: February 3, 2015
    Publication date: August 4, 2016
    Inventors: ROBERT R. INMAN, MICHAEL S. HARBAUGH, JONATHAN H. OWEN
  • Publication number: 20110153494
    Abstract: System and methods associated with a distributed financing model. The distributed financing model distributes financing responsibility and risk among members of a value chain to finance certain buyers of goods or services, including those who are unable to get financing through financial institutions in the traditional manner. As a result, customers are better able to buy goods or services, sellers are able to sell more, and manufacturers or service providers can produce more.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 21, 2009
    Publication date: June 23, 2011
    Applicant: GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS, INC.
    Inventors: David J Gonsalvez, Robert R. Inman
  • Patent number: 6993423
    Abstract: A method for adjusting a plurality of vehicle cockpit devices via a two-part process that utilizes device position constraints to determine candidate arrangements and then, ultimately, recommended arrangements of the vehicle cockpit devices to determine a desired setting of the various devices. The position constraints are determined using positioning data obtained from an occupant. An exploratory search routine is used to determine the candidate arrangements with the cockpit devices being moved to each candidate arrangement so that the occupant can be queried concerning the desirability of each such arrangement. The occupant's responses are then stored for later retrieval. Thereafter, a plurality of recommended arrangements of the cockpit devices are determined using a meta-heuristic pattern search along with a neural network search accelerator that permits screening of each recommended arrangement.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2002
    Date of Patent: January 31, 2006
    Assignee: General Motors Corporation
    Inventors: Robert R. Inman, Robin Stevenson, Clark E McCall
  • Publication number: 20040122574
    Abstract: A method for adjusting a plurality of vehicle cockpit devices via a two-part process that utilizes device position constraints to determine candidate arrangements and then, ultimately, recommended arrangements of the vehicle cockpit devices to determine a desired setting of the various devices. The position constraints are determined using positioning data obtained from an occupant. An exploratory search routine is used to determine the candidate arrangements with the cockpit devices being moved to each candidate arrangement so that the occupant can be queried concerning the desirability of each such arrangement. The occupant's responses are then stored for later retrieval. Thereafter, a plurality of recommended arrangements of the cockpit devices are determined using a meta-heuristic pattern search along with a neural network search accelerator that permits screening of each recommended arrangement.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 19, 2002
    Publication date: June 24, 2004
    Inventors: Robert R. Inman, Robin Stevenson, Clark E. McCall