Patents by Inventor Russell E. Dittmar

Russell E. Dittmar 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).

  • Patent number: 10929920
    Abstract: A system, method, and computer program product are disclosed whereby a business partner computer system interfaces with a rental vehicle reservation management computer system via a web service connector. The web service connector can be configured to (1) receive, via a network, a document, the document comprising a web service request by a computer system of a business partner for a rental vehicle transaction with respect to a replacement rental vehicle reservation, (2) process the received document in accordance with a web service specification document to create one or more data objects having a format supported by a rental vehicle reservation management software program, and (3) communicate the one or more data objects to the rental vehicle reservation management software program for automatic processing thereby of the one or more data objects for management of the replacement rental vehicle reservation in accordance with the request.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 18, 2013
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2021
    Assignee: THE CRAWFORD GROUP, INC.
    Inventors: David Gary Smith, Anita K. Klopfenstein, Russell E. Dittmar, Carl E. Epperly, Gary K. Thomae
  • Patent number: 10366352
    Abstract: Various aspects of a system and method are disclosed for communicating vehicle repair data among a plurality of parties, wherein a data pump is employed to automate the extraction of vehicle repair data such as labor hours estimation data from a repair facility computer system for delivery to interested parties, including a rental vehicle service provider that provides replacement rental vehicles to drivers whose vehicles are undergoing repairs at repair facilities. A reservation management computer system operated by the rental vehicle service provider can thus use the received vehicle repair data to facilitate management of replacement rental vehicle reservations by its business partners, such as insurance companies.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 5, 2007
    Date of Patent: July 30, 2019
    Assignee: The Crawford Group, Inc.
    Inventors: David Gary Smith, Owen R. Miller, Anita K. Klopfenstein, Russell E. Dittmar, Doug Kelly, Michael Anthony Hastings, Carmela Pham, Erick Bickett
  • Publication number: 20140046859
    Abstract: A system, method, and computer program product are disclosed whereby a business partner computer system interfaces with a rental vehicle reservation management computer system via a web service connector. The web service connector can be configured to (1) receive, via a network, a document, the document comprising a web service request by a computer system of a business partner for a rental vehicle transaction with respect to a replacement rental vehicle reservation, (2) process the received document in accordance with a web service specification document to create one or more data objects having a format supported by a rental vehicle reservation management software program, and (3) communicate the one or more data objects to the rental vehicle reservation management software program for automatic processing thereby of the one or more data objects for management of the replacement rental vehicle reservation in accordance with the request.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 18, 2013
    Publication date: February 13, 2014
    Applicant: The Crawford Group, Inc.
    Inventors: David Gary Smith, Anita K. Klopfenstein, Russell E. Dittmar, Carl E. Epperly, Gary K. Thomae
  • Patent number: 8600783
    Abstract: An Internet-enabled automatic rental vehicle transaction system, the system comprising a web service connector in communication with a rental vehicle software program, the web service connector being configured to (1) receive, via a network, a document from a computer system of an authorized purchaser of rental vehicle services on behalf of another, the document comprising a web service rental vehicle reservation request, (2) process the received document in accordance with a web service specification document to create one or more data objects having a format supported by the rental vehicle software program, and (3) communicate the one or more data objects to the rental vehicle software program, and wherein the rental vehicle software program is configured to automatically process the one or more data objects for fulfillment of the reservation request.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 10, 2004
    Date of Patent: December 3, 2013
    Assignee: The Crawford Group, Inc.
    Inventors: David Gary Smith, Anita K. Klopfenstein, Russell E. Dittmar, Carl E. Epperly, Gary K. Thomae
  • Publication number: 20080162199
    Abstract: Various aspects of a system and method are disclosed for communicating vehicle repair data among a plurality of parties, wherein a data pump is employed to automate the extraction of vehicle repair data such as labor hours estimation data from a repair facility computer system for delivery to interested parties, including a rental vehicle service provider that provides replacement rental vehicles to drivers whose vehicles are undergoing repairs at repair facilities. A reservation management computer system operated by the rental vehicle service provider can thus use the received vehicle repair data to facilitate management of replacement rental vehicle reservations by its business partners, such as insurance companies.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 5, 2007
    Publication date: July 3, 2008
    Applicant: THE CRAWFORD GROUP, INC.
    Inventors: David Gary Smith, Owen R. Miller, Anita K. Klopfenstein, Russell E. Dittmar, Doug Kelly, Michael Anthony Hastings, Carmela Pham, Erick Bickett
  • Publication number: 20080133281
    Abstract: A system and method are disclosed for creating vehicle rental reservations from electronic communications. In an embodiment wherein the electronic communications comprise facsimile communications, optical character recognition (OCR) is employed to automatically extract the relevant data for a rental vehicle reservation from the received facsimiles. This automatically extracted reservation data can then be automatically loaded into the reservation computer system of a rental vehicle service provider to thereby book a rental vehicle reservation therewith.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 30, 2006
    Publication date: June 5, 2008
    Applicant: THE CRAWFORD GROUP, INC.
    Inventors: Jeremy W. Bolt, Jerry L. Bradshaw, Russell E. Dittmar, M. Derik Reiser, Chris J. Tellegen