SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING FEEDBACK ON A COMMODITY
FIELD
The present invention relates to a novel technique for communicating feedback with respect to a commodity or appliance and more particularly to a handheld device for efficient complaint, service request or query registration at a customer care center
BACKGROUND
The last decade has seen an enormous increase in the market of consumer appliances. With advent in technology new models of electronic equipment are developed and hit the market in a short period of time and with the increase in purchasing power of the consumer, the market and need of such products is steadily growing. In order to get an edge over their competitors manufacturing companies are stressing on efficient ways to reach out to their customers are provide them with better service. Their aim is to make it easy for the consumer to communicate with them and get to know their concerns, recommendations and even complaints so that they can produce devices which truly meet the needs of the people. As a result of this, customer care centers have emerged which facilitate people to send their concerns to the company whose appliance they are using to get better service from them
Therefore there is now a serious focus on the manner in which these customer care centers work as their efficiency can truly decide the position of a company in the market. Various conventional techniques exist to improve the manner in which these function including the time spent on each call, turnaround time, number of calls being handled in a day, efficient docketing and recovery of complaints etc. Various forums have been introduced using which the customer can place his complaint or feedback on record such as websites, SMS and regular phone calls.
Typically, owners of various appliances like air conditioners, refrigerators etc have to call up the service center to register a complaint with respect to the appliances, which could be either under warranty or post warranty. Some of the problems in this model are:
• Sometimes the customer care center numbers are busy as a result of which the calls are not answered or there is a long waiting time

• A lot of supporting information is required for registering the complaint, which takes a lot of time or in some cases, delay in filing the complaint
• In cases when old, non-tech savvy people have to do register a complaint, the process is too demanding forcing them to depend on others
• Difficulty in following the recorded instructions within the time limits
• Difficulty in understanding the default language (especially in multi-lingual regions like India)
Addressing these difficulties will improve the quality of life of a lot of customers, as registering the complaint is a mandatory step in ensuring that the malfunctioning appliance is repaired or replaced.
The difficulties mentioned above can be overcome to a large extent combining different technologies like using a mobile client device in conjunction with new user interfacing technologies like speech recording & recognition, (multi-touch) to invert the process of filing a complaint, where the complexity of reporting complaints is significantly reduced and the onus is shifted to the customer care or service center, which are better equipped to deal with the complexities of registering complaints.
SUMMARY
The present disclosure describes a method for sending feedback with respect to a commodity comprising the steps of maintaining details of the commodity on a device, receiving a selection of a representation of the commodity on the device, composing one or more messages comprising the feedback, retrieving the details of the commodity corresponding to the selected representation and sending the message and retrieved details.
The present disclosure also teaches a method for processing feedback with respect to a commodity comprising receiving one or more messages comprising the feedback, categorizing the received messages and routing the messages to one or more corresponding handling units.
The present disclosure introduces a new device for sending feedback with respect to a commodity comprising a commodity management unit configured to maintain details of the commodity, a selection unit configured to receiving a selection of a representation of the commodity, a message composer configured to compose one or more messages comprising

the feedback, a retriever configured to retrieve the details of the commodity corresponding to the selected representation and a transmitter configured to send the message and retrieved details.
The present disclosure further describes a system for processing feedback with respect to a commodity comprising a receiving unit configured to receive one or more messages comprising the feedback, a categorization unit configured to categorize the received messages and router configured to route the messages to one or more corresponding handling units.
The invention is not just an additional means of registering a complaint on an appliance, but actually transfers the complexity of registering the complaint from the customer to the customer care center, which is better equipped to handle it.
Overall this inversion will result in better customer satisfaction for appliance owners and better complaint response management for appliance customer care centers.
In other scenarios, it is also possible for a service provider to act as the complaint broker and mediate between various competing service providers for appliance repair, helping the customers get the best possible rates and service. Competing vendors can get access to customers, increasing business possibilities.
The invention will also leverage additional features on the mobile client device like camera to facilitate images of the malfunctioning device, whenever relevant to the complaint.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The following is a brief description of the preferred embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood that the features illustrated in and described with reference to the drawings are not to be construed as limiting of the scope of the invention.
In the accompanying drawings:
Figure 1 illustrates a method for sending feedback with respect to a commodity in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure.

Figure 2 illustrates a method for processing feedback with respect to a commodity in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure.
Figure 3 illustrates a preferred embodiment of a device for sending feedback with respect to a commodity in accordance with the present disclosure.
Figure 4 illustrates a system for processing feedback with respect to a commodity in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure.
The flowchart and schematic diagrams of Figures 1-4 illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operations of some embodiments of methods, systems, devices and computer program products for the invention. In this regard, each block may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that in other implementations, the function(s) noted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending on the functionality involved.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Exemplary embodiments now will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. The disclosure may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey its scope to those skilled in the art. The terminology used in the detailed description of the particular exemplary embodiments illustrated in the accompanying drawings is not intended to be limiting. In the drawings, like numbers refer to like elements.
The specification may refer to "an", "one" or "some" embodiment(s) in several locations. This does not necessarily imply that each such reference is to the same embodiment(s), or that the feature only applies to a single embodiment. Single features of different embodiments may also be combined to provide other embodiments.
As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an" and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless expressly stated otherwise. It will be further understood that the

terms "includes", "comprises", "including" and/or "comprising" when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being "connected" or "coupled" to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may be present. Furthermore, "connected" or "coupled" as used herein may include wirelessly connected or coupled. As used herein, the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations and arrangements of one or more of the associated listed items.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure pertains. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.
The figures depict a simplified structure only showing some elements and functional entities, all being logical units whose implementation may differ from what is shown. The connections shown are logical connections; the actual physical connections may be different. It is apparent to a person skilled in the art that the structure may also comprise other functions and structures. It should be appreciated that the functions, structures, elements and the protocols used in communication are irrelevant to the present disclosure. Therefore, they need not be discussed in more detail here.
Also, all logical units described and depicted in the figures include the software and/or hardware components required for the unit to function. Further, each unit may comprise within itself one or more components which are implicitly understood. These components may be operatively coupled to each other and be configured to communicate with each other to perform the function of the said unit.
Although aspects of the disclosed embodiments will be described with reference to the embodiments shown in the drawings and described below, it should be understood that these aspects could be embodied in many alternate forms of embodiments. In addition, any suitable size, shape or type of elements or materials could be used

Figure 1 illustrates a method for sending feedback with respect to a commodity in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 1 specifically provides a data gathering and processing flow. The activity is triggered at a device when the details of a commodity are read into it using one of a variety of techniques (101). These details can be one or more of model name, model make, unique ID, purchase date, warranty information etc and is generally sufficient to identify a commodity and link it with its consumer. This information is also helpful to adequately register a complaint against a valid commodity. These details can be read into the device using its bar coded information. In a preferred embodiment, the commodity details are read in by using a bar code reader
Next, these details are maintained at the device (102) for retrieval at a later stage. They can be, in an embodiment, classified according to type, usage or other such criteria. They can also be modified at any time. Details of more than one commodity can be stored at one time.
When the user wants to send his feedback or comments or ask a question or register a complaint at the customer care center, he first accesses his device which displays to him a list of his appliances which are being maintained at the device. He selects the device in respect of which he wishes to perform any of the aforementioned actions and is then directed towards composing a message comprising his feedback/question/complaint (103). The message may either be composed by using a text editor in which case it would be a text message or SMS. It may also be an audio message wherein the user speaks into the microphone and his message is recorded. In a preferred embodiment, the list of devices is supplemented with icons or images which represent those devices. These images can optionally be taken using a camera within the device.
In a preferred embodiment, the device is capable of capturing its geographical location and it is attached to the composed message as coordinates. In another preferred embodiment, the device is capable of capturing images, videos or other such media and these are attached to the message as media objects.
Once the message has been prepared, the details of the selected commodity are retrieved (104) and are attached to the message. This message is then finally sent to the identified customer care center for processing (105)
Figure 2 illustrates a method for processing feedback with respect to a commodity in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure. The activity is

triggered at a server when the messages comprising the feedback or complaint are received (201). These messages are then processed to identify the category or type they belong to. The message can be a text or audio message. In case of an audio message, it can be in any language. It is therefore first translated to a standard language understood by the system.
At the next stage, the messages are categorized into one or more types for efficient processing (202). In a preferred embodiment, the message comprises of an audio clip, and is first converted to text. Thereafter, keywords are extracted from the converted text, or original text in case of a text message and these keywords are used to tag the message. They may also be matched with existing categorization tags, to slot them into a particular category.
Depending on the category they are assigned to, each of these messages is then routed to one or more handling units for further processing (203)
Figure 3 illustrates a preferred embodiment of a device for sending feedback with respect to a commodity in accordance with the present disclosure. The device is preferably a mobile communication device and is connected to a communication network and comprises of one or more commodity management units (301) which are enabled to maintain details of one or more commodities associated with that device. These details can be one or more of model name, model make, unique ID, purchase date, warranty information etc and are generally sufficient to identify a commodity and link it with its consumer. This information is also helpful to adequately register a complaint against a valid commodity. These details can be read into the device using its bar coded information. In a preferred embodiment, the device comprises of or alternatively communicates with a bar code reader to read the commodity details.
These details are maintained at the device for retrieval at a later stage using a retriever (304) which accesses the commodity management unit (301). They can be, in an embodiment, classified according to type, usage or other such criteria. They can also be modified at any time. Details of more than one commodity can be stored at one time.
The device further comprises a selection unit (303) which is connected to the retriever (304) and is configured to display a list of his appliances which are being maintained at the device and receive the user's selection. This unit assists the user in selecting the device in respect of which he wishes to perform any of the aforementioned actions.

The selection unit (302) is connected to the message composer (303) and is configured to assist the user in composing a message comprising his feedback/question/complaint. The selection unit (302) may comprise a text editor in which case it would produce a text message or SMS. It may comprise of an audio message composer wherein the user speaks into the microphone and his message is recorded. In a preferred embodiment, the list of devices displayed by the selection unit (302) is supplemented with icons or images which represent those devices. These images can optionally be taken using a camera within the device.
In a preferred embodiment, the device comprises of a location identifier which is capable of capturing geographical location of the device and attaching it to the composed message as coordinates. In another preferred embodiment, the device comprises of a media handler which is capable of capturing images, videos or other such media and attaching these to the message as media objects.
Once the message has been prepared, the retriever (304) is configured to retrieve the details of the selected commodity are retrieved and attaching them to the message. The transmitter (305) attached to the message composer (303) is configured to then finally sent to the identified customer care center for processing
In a preferred embodiment, the message is an audio message and the device further comprises of a converter configured to convert the audio clip into text. In another preferred embodiment, the device comprises of an extractor configured to extract keywords from the message
Figure 4 illustrates a system for processing feedback with respect to a commodity in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure. The device is preferably a server and is connected to a communication network and comprises of one or more receiving unit (401) configured to receive one or more messages comprising the feedback or complaint are received. The receiving unit (401) is connected to categorization unit (402) which is configured to process the messages to identify the category or type they belong to. The message can be a text or audio message. In case of an audio message, it can be in any language. It is therefore first translated to a standard language understood by the system.

In a preferred embodiment, the message comprises of an audio clip, and is first converted to text. Thereafter, keywords are extracted from the converted text, or original text in case of a text message and these keywords are used to tag the message. They may also be matched with existing categorization tags, to slot them into a particular category.
The categorization unit (402) is connected to router (403) which is configured to route each of the messages to one or more handling units for further processing depending on the category they are assigned
In a preferred embodiment, the message is an audio message and the system further comprises of a converter configured to convert the audio clip into text. In another preferred embodiment, the system also comprises of an extractor configured to extract keywords from the message. In yet another embodiment, the system comprises of a tagging unit which is configured to tag the message using the extracted keywords
An example implementation of the above described invention is given below:
All the appliances owned by the user are displayed as easy to understand images in the mobile client application on the customer owned mobile client device. Whenever a complaint has to be raised by the customer, it can be done in the following simple steps:
• Select the image representing the appliance from the screen by tapping it
• Record an audio message describing the problem, in the language of preference
• Send the message by pressing the send button
Since the appliance details are already available in the application, along with the customer care contact points, the complaint will be sent directly to the customer care contact point, along with the geographical location, which is gathered from the mobile client device, if available. The invention also envisages the use of speech recognition technology, either on the mobile client device or at the centralized application, wherein the recorded audio message is converted into text form and keywords extracted from the message to facilitate easy categorization of the complaint.
When the customer care center receives the complaint, keywords from the translated text as well as the language information is used to route it to the right support representative, who will then send acknowledgement information back to the customer and if necessary will call the customer back for getting additional details.

At the server end, there are several sub components that handles each specified function:
Receiver Services: Exposes services through which the complaints application can communicate for getting appliance details and managing the same.
Messaging services: Interface with customer care contact points or portals, depending on the business model.
Admin Portal: Interface for admin operations which include user management and claim management.
User Authentication: Validates the customer/user for service usage.
Security: Handles the secure transmission of data
Integration Services: Exposes services through which third party claim systems can be integrated to carry on the claim process.
Billing Services: Billing services for customer care centers or customers, depending on billing model
As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the present invention may be embodied as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, a software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects all generally referred to herein as a "circuit" or "module." Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computer program product on a computer-usable storage medium having computer-usable program code embodied in the medium.
Any suitable computer readable medium may be utilized including hard disks, CD-ROMs, optical storage devices, a transmission media such as those supporting the Internet or an intranet, or magnetic storage devices.
Computer program code for carrying out operations of the present invention may be written in an object oriented programming language such as Java®, Smalltalk, C++, Objective C and C#. However, the computer program code for carrying out operations of the

present invention may also be written in conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language and/or a lower level assembler language. The Programming code can be any action scripts such as Flash, Flex, JavaFX or SilverLight. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer (i.e., controller of the user's mobile terminal), partly on the user's computer, as a stand- alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).
Furthermore, the present invention was described in part above with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention.
It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer- readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

In the drawings and specification, there have been disclosed exemplary embodiments of the invention. Although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined by the following claims:

We claim:
1. A method for sending feedback with respect to a commodity comprising:
maintaining details of the commodity on a device;
receiving a selection of a representation of the commodity on the device;
- composing one or more messages comprising the feedback;
- retrieving the details of the commodity corresponding to the selected representation; and
- sending the message and retrieved details;

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the feedback comprises complaints, queries and/or comments
3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the device comprises a handheld communication device
4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the details comprise one or more of model name, model make, unique ID, purchase date and warranty information
5. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the details are entered in the device by reading bar coded information from the commodity
6. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the commodity representation comprises an icon or an image
7. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the feedback is sent to one or more customer care points
8. A method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the customer care points are accessible from the device
9. A method as claimed in claim 1, comprising the step of:
- retrieving and attaching the geographical location of the device to the message;
10. A method as claimed in claim 1, comprising the step of:

- attaching one or more media objects in relation to the commodity to the message;
11. A method for processing feedback with respect to a commodity comprising:
receiving one or more messages comprising the feedback;
- categorizing the received messages; and
routing the messages to one or more corresponding handling units;
12. A method as claimed in claim 11, comprising the step of:
- translating the message to a preferred language;
13. A method as claimed in claim 11 or 12, wherein the message comprises an audio clip,
comprising the step of:
- converting the audio clip to text;
14. A method as claimed in claim 11, comprising the step of:
- extracting keywords from the message;
15. A method as claimed in claim 14, comprising the step of:
- using the extracted keywords to tag the message;
16. A device for sending feedback with respect to a commodity comprising:
- commodity management unit configured to maintain details of the commodity;
- selection unit configured to receive a selection of a representation of the commodity;
message composer configured to compose one or more messages comprising the
feedback;
retriever configured to retrieve the details of the commodity corresponding to the
selected representation; and
- transmitter configured to send the message and retrieved details;

17. A device as claimed in claim 16, wherein the feedback comprises complaints, queries and/or comments
18. A device as claimed in claim 16, wherein the device comprises a handheld communication device
19. A device as claimed in claim 16, wherein the details comprise one or more of model name, model make, unique ID, purchase date and warranty information
20. A device as claimed in claim 16, wherein the details are entered in the device by reading bar coded information from the commodity
21. A device as claimed in claim 16, wherein the commodity representation comprises an icon or an image
22. A device as claimed in claim 16, wherein the feedback is sent to one or more customer care points
23. A device as claimed in claim 22, wherein the customer care points are accessible from the device
24. A device as claimed in claim 16, comprising:
location identifier configured to retrieve and attach the geographical location of the device to the message;
25. A device as claimed in claim 16, comprising:
media handler configured to attach one or more media objects in relation to the commodity to the message;
26. A device as claimed in claim 16, wherein the message comprises an audio clip,
comprising:
- converter configured to convert the audio clip to text;
27. A device as claimed in claim 16, comprising:

- extractor configured to extract keywords from the message;
28. A system for processing feedback with respect to a commodity comprising:
receiving unit configured to receive one or more messages comprising the feedback;
- categorization unit configured to categorize the received messages; and
router configured to route the messages to one or more corresponding handling units;
29. A system as claimed in claim 28, comprising:
- translator configured to translate the message to a preferred language;
30. A system as claimed in claim 28, wherein the message comprises an audio clip,
comprising:
- converter configured to convert the audio clip to text;
31. A system as claimed in claim 28, comprising:
- extractor configured to extract keywords from the message;
32. A system as claimed in claim 31, comprising the step of:
- tagging unit configured to tag the message using the extracted keywords;
Dated this 18m day of January 2011
Of Anand and Anand Advocates Agents for the Applicant