WO2022090999A1

WO2022090999A1 - System for pre-owned electronic device diagnostics, with sales and operation facilitation features

Info

Publication number: WO2022090999A1
Application number: PCT/IB2021/059989
Authority: WO
Inventors: Dominique Dion; Tony Mastronardi
Original assignee: A La Carte Media, Inc.
Priority date: 2020-10-28
Filing date: 2021-10-28
Publication date: 2022-05-05

Abstract

Systems and processes for flexibly and efficiently providing for trading in or recycling previously-owned devices (POD) are described. In example process, one or more images of an electronic device are captured, the one or more images are evaluated using a database to determine a condition of the electronic device, determining an offer value for the electronic device for a first disposition option based on at least the determined condition, and presenting the offer value, projected values for one or more other disposition options for the electronic device, and a report describing the determined condition of the electronic device. Associated devices and storage mediums are also described.

Description

SYSTEM FOR PRE-OWNED ELECTRONIC DEVICE DIAGNOSTICS, WITH SALES AND OPERATION FACILITATION FEATURES

Inventors: Dominique Dion and Tony Mastronardi

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/106,636 filed on October 28, 2020, the entire content of which is herein incorporated by reference.

Field of the Technology

[0002] This disclosure is directed to evaluation of pre-owned electronic devices. More particularly, the disclosed technology provides for performing diagnostics and/or evaluation of electronic devices and providing sales and operational features in association with the diagnostics and/or evaluation. Some examples provide for disposition of the electronic devices.

BACKGROUND

[0003] Small electronic devices such as smartphones, tablet computers, smart watches, etc. are in widespread use. These small consumer electronic devices may be collectively referred to herein as “pre-owned electronic devices”, “pre-owned devices” or “PODs”. With increased use among all segments of the populations, numerous services and other applications are frequently released by various entities to be performed or used on such devices. Also, the hardware and/or software of these devices are frequently upgraded in the form of new devices being released by manufacturers.

[0004] U.S. Patent Application 15/598,004 filed on May 17, 2017 (“’004 Application”), U.S. Patent Application 15/153,137 filed on May 12, 2016 (“’ 137 Application”), PCT Application No. PCT/IB2018/055218, filed on July 13, 2018 (“’218 Application”), PCT Application No. PCT/IB2018/055219, and July 13, 2018 (“’219 Application”), PCT Application No. PCT/IB2019/056533 filed on July 31, 2019 (“‘533 Application”), and US Application No. 17/071,717, filed on October 15, 2020 (“’717 Application”), the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties, describe systems and techniques for distributed collection centers, such as collection kiosks (herein sometimes also referred to as “booths”) that are configured to accept a POD such as a client’ s smartphone (or other consumer electronic device) and to then provide the client with an amount of money corresponding to an estimated value. Such systems and techniques enable many people who find themselves in situations where, after having bought a new smartphone or some other consumer electronic device to replace an older device, would like to conveniently and safely dispose of the old device. In many instances, such persons may desire to trade the old device in return for some monetary or other gain.

[0005] Trade-in of POD has now been a commodity offered by many electronic and mobile retailers, carriers and the likes as well as many online services, specialized or generic e-tailers. In the retail industry, these programs are offered mostly as a convenient service/commodity in order to reduce the cost, or at least the perceived cost incurred when a customer desires to upgrade to a newer phone or other device. In many instances, the customer facing business has a reverse logistic partner, sometimes referred to as a phone processor, that purchases back the devices for repair or refurbishing. These reverse logistic partners (typically partners who provide carriers and/or retailers with B2B services such as recycling, refurbishing or disposing safely of electronic devices) tend to offer generic wholesale prices lower to what a customer may expect to get if selling the device through direct consumers, such as they would do on online marketplaces such as Craigslist™, Kijiji™, Facebook™, Ebay™, and Amazon™ as well as specialized marketplaces such as Decluttr™ and B ackmarket™ that specialize at least in part in reselling of PODs such as smartphones. As the terms are used herein, “online marketplaces” allow consumer to consumer trades as well as business to consumer trades, while “specialized marketplaces” are specialized businesses acting as intermediaries which may buy, repair/refurbish devices and resell on their own site.

[0006] Transactions between consumers and especially online transactions are subject to various problems regarding the authenticity of the information, and the legitimacy of the devices or of the parties. Counterfeits, sale of stolen devices, hidden defects or problems or stealing the device from an honest seller are just a few examples of things that can go wrong. The following disclosure provide several methods to reduce or mitigate risks associated with consumer to consumer trades.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] FIG. 1 illustrates a evaluation services environment including an evaluation system 102, according to some embodiments.

[0008] FIG. 2 shows an example display of results from a smartphone evaluation according to some embodiments.

[0009] FIG. 3 illustrates a multi-trade offer display screen in accordance with some embodiments.

[0010] FIG. 4 shows a more detailed view of the information of display screen 300, according to some embodiments.

[0011] FIG. 5 shows an example POD defect analysis services event flow 500, according to some embodiments.

[0012] FIG. 6 shows an example POD defect analysis services event flow 600, according to some embodiments.

[0013] FIG. 7 illustrates a multi-disposition transaction in terms of an example user interface flow, according to some embodiments. [0014] FIG. 8 illustrates an example valuation report, according to some embodiments.

[0015] FIG. 9 illustrates an example certification report, according to some embodiments.

[0016] FIG. 10 illustrates an example user interface display screen by which the user can obtain an evaluation package, according to some embodiments.

[0017] FIG. 11 illustrates an example user interface display screen that may be used to obtain the contact information, such as the email address, from the user for transmitting the evaluation package, according to some embodiments.

[0018] FIG. 12 illustrates an example display screen that might be displayed to indicate completion of a transaction according to some embodiments.

[0019] FIG. 13 illustrates an example email message that can be transmitted to the user subsequent to completion of an evaluation of a POD, according to some embodiments.

[0020] FIG. 14 illustrates an example email message that can be transmitted to the user subsequent to completion of an evaluation of a POD offering the user the offer and the various alternate disposition options, according to some embodiments.

[0021] FIG. 15 illustrates a flowchart of a process performed by an electronic device evaluation system providing multiple disposition options, according to some example embodiments.

[0022] FIGs. 16A illustrates a flowchart of a process when a customer accepts an offer for trade-in or recycling of a POD, according to some embodiments.

[0023] FIGs. 16B illustrates a flowchart of a process when a customer selects an alternative disposition option, according to some embodiments.

[0024] FIGs. 16C illustrates a flowchart of a process when a customer requests an evaluation package or report, according to some embodiments. [0025] FIG. 17A illustrates a flowchart of a process for acquiring the digital assets of the POD using a handheld device, according to some embodiments.

[0026] FIG. 17B illustrates a flowchart of a process for acquiring the digital assets of the POD using kiosk or booth, according to some embodiments.

[0027] FIG. 18 illustrates a process for generating an in-memory model of a POD that is being evaluated, according to some embodiments.

[0028] FIG. 19 illustrates a process for evaluating a POD, according to some embodiments.

[0029] FIG. 20 illustrates a process for acquiring information regarding alternate disposition options, according to some embodiments.

[0030] FIG. 21 shows a linear regression used in a device estimator according to some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] Example embodiments will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that the embodiments described below are illustrative, and are not intended to be limiting. Configurations other than those specifically described may be employed as appropriate according to some embodiments.

[0032] Some example embodiments according to this disclosure provide for multiple disposition options (competing disposition options) for electronic devices, such as but not limited to POD, and may operate to enhance the sales process of electronic devices. For example, some embodiments when deployed at a smartphone and/or cellular service retailer, may provide for performing the analysis for acquiring information associated with one or more disposition options for a customer’ s used smartphone, and to facilitate interaction between the customer and sales staff of the retailer regarding the disposition options available to the customer. Some embodiments may also facilitate the automatic application of a credit or the like associated with the customer’s selection of trade-in option, another disposition option and/or the analysis of the POD towards the purchase of a new electronic device.

[0033] Many retail outlets especially in the wireless industry have a core focus of “activating” cellular lines (multiple-month contracts for voice and data access). Some have been using trade-ins (e.g., trading in of a pre-owned smartphone) as a method for reducing the acquisition cost of a newer device for quite some time, for example, if a coveted phone is US$500, a trade-in value for the pre-owned existing device of US$100 may reduce the perceived acquisition cost to US$400. However, as competition emerged namely with consumer to consumer trades (C2C), for example via marketplaces such as Craigslist, Kijiji, Facebook, eBay, Amazon, as well as specialized C2B marketplaces such as DecluttR, Gazelle and BackMarket (sometime herein referred to as a “buyer”) the in-store trade-ins programs have slowly lost a significant amount of trade-in market share and have now reached a very low ratio of number of activations/upgrades that also include an associated device that was traded in (currently down to only 1 or 1.5:10 activations/upgrades). This ratio, used as a percentage, is known in the industry as the “attachment rate”.

[0034] One of the reasons for this poor attachment rate is due to the fact that C2C trades offers a significantly better value for pre-owned electronic devices by bypassing all intermediaries, similar to what occurs when selling a used car to a dealer, versus selling directly to a consumer. However, unlike the car market where the variation is generally within 20-50%, the variation in price for preowned electronic devices has significantly increased between C2B and C2C marketplaces, and has been known to reach sometime up to a 4: 1 ratio, sometime more, namely when comparing a C2C probable value to what typical reverse logistic will offer for the same pre-owned electronic device in a retail store. For example, a reverse logistic company may offer their retail partner US$50 for a device that can be sold up to US$200 on C2C marketplaces. This becomes the source of growing frustration or customer disappointment so that it has been observed that many sales people no longer promote the trade in options or will simply send their customers to C2C marketplaces, letting them know they will get a much better price if they do the selling themselves. To the Applicant’s knowledge, there has not been any effort yet to organize and embrace all the different disposition methods and then offer this information to a retailer’ s customers as part of their sales discourse. If this was done, the retail chain’s owners would have a standardized, well-defined, and authorized sales-oriented conversation that their local representatives would be directed to follow. Instead, today, because of the discontent of their store’s trade-in options, sales personnel resort to “off the record” remarks where they encourage their customers, in an ad- hoc way, to sell their used devices themselves.

[0035] Some exemplary embodiments of this disclosure include, in association with the analysis and presentation of disposition options, an electronic device evaluation kiosk (sometimes herein referred to simply as “kiosk”). The kiosk may facilitate onsite and/or remote distributed evaluation of electronic devices. In some embodiments the kiosk may additionally facilitate collection of POD (e.g., traded-in POD) in exchange for a monetary value or other value. The POD that may be collected in these kiosks may include consumer and/or portable electronic devices such as, but not limited to, smartphones, tablet computers, smart watches, game devices, personal health monitoring devices, or other processorbased electronic devices.

[0036] Some embodiments provide, sometimes in the form of a system, sometime in the form of a device or features enabled on a device, a plurality of sales enabling and facilitating tools, options and features aimed at assisting sales personnel and sales program managers with the processes related to trading of electronic devices. Some embodiments also provide operational features and augment efficiency of operations of such devices and systems.

[0037] In some embodiments, methods are provided to assist a salesperson at an electronic device retail store in providing rationales to a customer interested in the value of his POD, by providing feedback after performing, or during the performance of, the evaluation of the POD, for example, by demonstrating how a small crack on the screen of the POD may impact the pricing.

[0038] As some users are sensitive to price, while other are more sensitive to efficiency for example, in some of the embodiments described herein, some embodiments of the present invention provide methods to offer a multiplicity of options to a customer interested in the value of his POD by providing a balance between value on one hand and the additional effort and risks involved in selling the POD through the various available disposition options.

[0039] A novel aspect of the embodiments according to this disclosure offers techniques to alleviate the price differential problem and offer a variety of options for customers and sales personnel to facilitate trades, either in-store or out of store, by providing factual data, evaluations, certification reports as well as hints, instructions or information on how to maximize a trade in value, while still offering lower value, in-store trade in options for customers that desire a quick, no risk and low effort method for disposing their POD. Some embodiments may provide relevant information helping an owner (customer) to sell his POD in an “evaluation package”. An evaluation package may include any combination of one or more of information items, files, digital assets and reports describing a POD evaluated in an evaluation system according to some embodiments, and information regarding one or more trade-in offers and/or alternate dispositions options available to the POD.

[0040] The example embodiments innovate on several fronts to provide these services that aim at increasing the attachment rate (number of people interested in trade-ins options over number of people activating new services) as well as incidentally augmenting the activation rate (number of persons activating a cellular line over total walk-ins, or number of total visit (if online)). Namely, for example: a. a “central intelligence” and associated methods that are capable of evaluating an identified POD on at least one, but possibly more than one, marketplace; b. several user interface options or variations that are sufficiently self- explanatory, or allow sales personnel to efficiently provide information, about an identified pre-owned electronic device value on one or more marketplaces or buyers; c. providing new methods and customer journeys and supporting experiences to allow a customer to proceed with its preferred disposition method for completing device selling out-of-store; and d. at least in some embodiments, a reporting system capable of generating and transmitting a fully automated, or human-assisted, report, probably with digital assets, tailored digital assets (to specific marketplaces) and asset annotation information, helping customer to maximize value of the pre-owned electronic device on at least one marketplace and facilitate trade by increasing the confidence level for a buyer to purchase a pre-owned electronic device that has been tested by an independent party.

[0041] Therefore, some embodiments of the invention may be organized or configured to offer a multiplicity of options for the disposition of POD, for example it may be found by the “evaluation services” that various buyers or marketplaces may offer different pricing, have different functionalities, responsibilities, guarantees, terms and conditions, reputations, etc. and it may be desirable for a salesperson to be able to offer many disposition options that best fits their customer’ s preference. For instance, some customers may be more sensitive to an offer with a higher price, even if this involves more work or risk while other customers may be less sensitive to price, but want a risk-free, immediate solution.

[0042] In such embodiments, because each marketplace and its buyers are somehow unique, their particularities may be described to the user using any of the provided “multimedia endpoint” associated with an evaluation system. For example, a user using an “evaluation system” according to some embodiments to assess the market value of his/her iPhone 10™ could on one end be offered a price range for generic marketplaces, such as Craigslist™ or Facebook Marketplace™, another price range for a specific recommerce marketplace, such as Decluttr™, a specific price for a wholesaler, and the user may be informed of particularities, such as the risks and methods for trading its device on each marketplaces. For example the wholesaler could be presented as a risk-free transaction made directly at the location and having the payment or credit made available at this instant, while other marketplace options may require several extra steps, for example the user may need to complete the trade-in by creating a user account on the marketplace website, posting ads on the marketplaces, answering questions from interested buyers, receiving uncertain payments and arranging for the device shipment or meeting with the buyer. The amount of risks and efforts between the respective methods of disposition may vary significantly.

[0043] In typical embodiments using multiple disposition options the evaluation system identifies a POD in at least a form that comprise an identifiable model (e.g., a unique or substantially unique model number or identifier, a make and a model). Exemplary of techniques for identifying a device may be, for example: a. a diagnostic software or application on the POD or; b. gathering the IMEI information by electronic means such as OCR; or c. gathering the information directly from a human to machine interface such as or by means of selecting a device from a web-page, such as typing in part of a make and/ or model and /or selecting from a list.

[0044] Further examples for identifying the POD may be based on techniques passing through IMEI information, requesting identification information from a database, local or remote, such as through a service interface to such remote database (e.g., such as the services such as theft detection offered by Recipero™).

[0045] The POD identification information (device identification information) may contain additional characteristics, such as the storage size, color, as well as health condition, as well as cosmetic condition in any form, graded or using defects. As more characteristics are used, the evaluation system and more precisely the “device evaluator” (also referred to as “device estimator”) functions of the system, as furthermore described herein, may be able to make better estimations and/or narrow the probable prices or price-ranges of buyers and marketplaces.

[0046] In certain embodiments providing multiple disposition options, the evaluation system must have access to pricing data. Pricing data may be accessed, for example, using some service like agents for scraping websites, using artificial intelligence agents and methods, by data importation for storing in “data storage services”, or by performing real-time requests to buyers database. Real-time requests to buyers databases can be performed, for example, using a service interface to pricing services of the buyers databases, or requests such as HTTP requests to marketplaces, in which case the received information needs to be analyzed or parsed using programmatic or artificial intelligence methods in order to retrieve relevant pricing information for comparable listings. In an embodiment making HTTP (or HTTPS) requests to marketplaces, the evaluation system may send at least device model information, analyze the received information by using parsing methods or artificial intelligence agents in order to extract probable prices in relation with the POD, using at least device model information but probably any other relevant information too, and from the results of the analysis, the evaluation system may present the results to a user using at least one of the available communication or presentation means.

[0047] In certain embodiments, providing multiple disposition options a component referred to herein as a device evaluator is the software component capable, based on at least partial device identification information, to estimate at least a probable price, or a probable price-range, from at least one data source corresponding to at least one buyer or marketplace.

[0048] In such embodiment, a simple but albeit limited technique for a device evaluator to estimate the value from a device identification information is to use “magic numbers”, regression formulas (linear, polynomial, log or other). For example, it may be established statistically that for a given confidence level, for example in 90% of cases, the resulting function may be used to estimate a price on a marketplace:

P(ABC) = 1.3x + 30 estimate a price P on marketplace ABC from a wholesale price of x, and use

P(BCD) = 2. Ox + 50 to estimate a price P on marketplace BCD, alternatively, the may use magic numbers for a low-end price on marketplace ABC, such as 2 and a high-end magic of 3 for a high-end pricing estimation. In this later case, marketplace ABC would offer between US$95 and US$150 for a pre-owned electronic device valued at US$50 by another buyer, such as the price offered with the retail trade-in partner program. [0049] In such embodiments, when the evaluation system is capable of identifying at least two probable disposition options, prices and/or price-ranges, the evaluation system may provide a user interface or a series of user interface for presenting the at least 2 probable disposition options to the user (the seller, owner or salesperson) on at least one of the multimedia endpoints and probably providing a name or description associable with each proposed probable disposition option. In such embodiments, the evaluation system could, for example, render a user interface such as represented in FIG. 3. In this example, a no-risk, no-effort proposition is offered, but the interface also allow the user to select at least one alternative path for increasing or maximizing the value of the pre-owned electronic device, for instance by selling directly to a C2C marketplace using the guidance provided by the evaluation system.

[0050] In some embodiments providing multiple disposition options, the evaluation system may generate a valuation report (e.g., FIG. 8) that contains at least one valuation price or price-range for the pre-owned electronic device alongside many of the device identification information and device characteristics found, for example the make, model, storage size, status of tests executed, images of the pre-owned electronic device with possible annotated defects found by the defect analysis system, history, financial information or blacklist status as possibly reported by third party companies, as well as other relevant information that may have been used in the evaluation of one or more probable price or price ranges on marketplaces, such as a list of recent comparable listing, ads or completed transactions from one or more marketplaces or buyers. A preferred method for accessing valuation or certification reports is to provide a URL containing a unique identifier for example in the URL itself or as a URL parameter, for allowing a user to conveniently retrieve the report from a trusted source and therefore ensure the authenticity of the information. The valuation report is first intended mostly used for the seller as private information reassuring about the probable value of the POD and therefore the valuation report (unlike the certification report) is likely to contain an authentifier to restrict access to its content. Therefore, typical embodiments will ensure the valuation report is secured, for example by a unique key, a password, an OAUTH login or other protection mechanism, because the valuation report may contain user sensitive information such as name, address and other personally identifiable information that may enable the evaluation system to later, for instance on the certification report, display a status about the seller such as “trusted seller”, and device sensitive information (price and device IMEI and other serial numbers).

[0051] In certain embodiments providing multiple disposition options, the evaluation system may generate a certification report (e.g., FIG. 9). While it may be similar to a valuation report, the certification report generally does not include pricing information and does not include user sensitive or device sensitive information such as the complete IMEI. Providing reports containing complete IMEI is problematic because it could allow malicious persons to fraud by duplicating the IMEI and creating fake devices. The evaluation system may query databases or trusted search engines, for example Google, to validate if the IMEI has previously been rendered public, which could reduce the value of a phone as it is now at higher risk of fraud. Some embodiments may display partial IMEI on the certification report, for example the first 5 digits and last 3 digits of an IMEI could be included so that the buyer has a way to ensure that the proper phone was indeed received, by comparing the received IMEI number with the information from the certification report. The certification report is intended mostly for public advertising of the device state and condition to reassure the buyer about the condition, health of the POD. Therefore, most such embodiments offering certification reports will offer a technique for publicly accessing the certification report, for instance using a URL with a unique identifier to the certification report, or allowing its distribution in an electronic format, such as using a PDF file. Many such embodiments offering certification reports may prefer a distribution or document authentication method that can ensure authenticity validation of the information or reports for a potential buyer, so to avoid counterfeit, for example, using an SSL secured URL with a known and trusted website, possibly using a device key, for example, the following URL could be used to retrieve the certification report of FIG. 9, buybackbooth. com/certificationreport?deviceKey=A8J37SJ482Jwskj238882. [0052] In certain example embodiments, determinations of certain users and/or accounts as “trusted sellers” or “trusted accounts” are used to facilitate evaluation and/or disposition processes. A “trusted seller” as used herein is a seller whose identity is confirmed by the evaluation system by using social media logins (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Linkedln), using photo ID capture from an evaluation device, using bank transfer information (e.g., similar to how Paypal authenticates). The example embodiments, may show the authentified status on reports (e.g., by displaying a badge “Authenticated seller”). A “trusted account” as used herein enables a buyer to transfer money to the trusted account (e.g. which may be controlled by a third party which may be the entity controlling the evaluation system, in some embodiments) that can hold the money and not release the money until the particular trade is confirmed. Thus the seller may lock the relevant money to the trusted account, to be released only when the buyer has received the traded device.

[0053] In some embodiments the seller may go through one or more trust authentication mechanism to augment the confidence level for buyers. For example, if the seller is an anonymous person requesting to be paid by email, for example using a PayPal account, the transaction may be considered suspicious. On the other hand, if the evaluation system is capable of certifying and representing that the seller has a trusted professional Linked-In account, the confidence level in the transaction will inevitably be higher. In order to do so, in some embodiments the evaluation system may use one or more user authentication service, for example using social media logins (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedln), using photo-ID validation for example by taking a digital imaging asset using the evaluation device when the evaluation was made, going through a retail- store confirmation of the user authenticity, for example because the user is tied to a business account, using bank transfer authentication, such as methods used by PayPal by depositing a small amount known only by the user, etc. The evaluation system would, upon validating the authenticity using at least one method, be able to represent to the potential buyer, for instance on the certification report, that the seller has been authenticated using said method, for example “The seller has been authenticated on Linkedln”. Alternatively, several methods may be used to augment even furthermore, for example “The seller has been authenticated on Linkedln and has an account with ACME Mobility”.

[0054] In some of such embodiments, a method for ensuring payment is completed only after successful reception of the POD by the buyer can be provided. In such embodiments, the operating company offering the evaluation services may provide directly or using third party escrow systems which requires the buyer to transfer an amount corresponding to the agreed price between the parties, and releasing the money to the seller, probably reduced of fees or charging fees to the buyer, or possibly a third party such as the carrier company that benefited from the new smartphone activation, when confirmation that the device has been received in an adequate state by the buyer. An alternate implementation of such embodiment may use credit cards, wherein the operating company retrieve the money from the buyer from a credit card, and pay the seller, probably minus some fees, when the transaction has been recognized as completed.

[0055] In some of such embodiments, a method for ownership transfer may involve “locking” the device to a third party, such as the operating company, so that nobody can use the device until it has reached the buyer, in which case the lock would be removed, the transaction being completed and, in some embodiments, the funds are released to the seller. Alternatively or additionally, information about trading of a device may cause the evaluation system to communicate or make some requests to a third party database, for example using a service interface, in order to notify of device status changes, such as a device is being sold, device is in transit, device has been received safely, device has been lost (or stolen). For example, services offered by companies like Recipero, Phone Check and blacklist databases may be useful third party services for notification of in-transit status and for lost or stolen devices. In an embodiment of the invention, when a device is deemed “in transit”, meaning it is now for the seller to ship the device, the device is temporarily marked using such services as a blacklisted or similar status, and, upon receiving of the device, the blacklist or similar status is removed, similar to a device that would be “found”, which prevents anyone, including the seller, to use the device on participating carrier networks.

[0056] In some embodiments providing multiple disposition options, methods for contacting back the owner of POD may be used, such as using a solicitation service component which may be configured to or interfaced with other services that are able to send electronic messages such as email messages, text messages, app notifications or other notification messages possibly using service interfaces to third party services, such as Twilio API or W3C push API. These electronic messages may contain messages similar to FIG. 13. In FIG. 13, the evaluation system may be configured to send a follow-up message after a POD owner has made at least a partial evaluation of a device that comprises at least the taking of the digital assets by an evaluation device and contact information from any access point. In some embodiments, a mechanism for ensuring the activation of a contract before creating or providing access to the evaluation package material may include the use of an activation code (Report activation code in the message) given by a store. This activation code which may be used in conjunction with an identifier such as a URL parameter embedded in the electronic message, such as shown in FIG. 9 or using the owner’s email as the identifier may then authorize the preparation or sending of the corresponding evaluation package, which contains a plurality of information to facilitate the trade on at least one marketplace or third party device buyer. The activation code, which may be a user-inputtable code or electronically recognizable code such as a barcode or QR code, may be handed out to a person, printed on a receipt, sent electronically, embedded in a URL, etc. The mechanism for ensuring the activation of a contract may be useful, for instance, when a store pays for the evaluation package if a customer activates a contract, in which case, the evaluation system may track or communicate the information with accounting services or ERP services for further billing of the store or an associated entity, for example, the carrier.

[0057] The evaluation system may also use electronic messages to deliver an evaluation package. FIG. 14 provides an example of an evaluation package that contains a plurality of information and possibly allow access to assets or methods to facilitate the trade on at least one marketplace or third party device buyer.

[0058] In certain embodiments providing multiple disposition options and evaluation packages to the users, the evaluation packages may contain descriptive information about the POD, for example the POD model and at least one valuation information containing at least a probable price or probable price range. However, some embodiments would benefit from having several other pieces of information and assets about the POD, such as digital assets, annotations about probable defects, tests reports, blacklists reports, valuation reports, trade-in offer value, etc. [0059] In certain embodiments providing multiple disposition options, the evaluation system may use the owner/seller (customer) contact information provided by the user to send a reminder email that a report is available, or can be made available, for instance after payment, or after determination that another entity, for instance the store or brand wherein the evaluation of the POD was made will pay or accept the charge for the service. As an example, a store or carrier brand may provide this service as a convenience service or only when or after a user activates a cellular line (contract) with the entity. In such embodiments, determination that a fee may be charged to an entity may be made, for example, by a variety of methods, such as connecting using a service interface to the entity database or service containing the activation information, or by enabling a webportal for the entity to select which reports should be generated, or by sending an email to the entity or its assigned responsible reminding of the series of evaluations that were performed during a certain time-frame and allowing selection, deselection or confirmation of which valuation reports should be made and therefore charged.

[0060] In such embodiments, if a user did not activate, it may be still offered through the solicitation email sent by a solicitation service to acquire the report for a fee to be paid online, for example using a transactional website or an in-app mobile purchase.

[0061] In an embodiment of the present invention the evaluation may be completed directly by using an evaluation device that is a smartphone or tablet loaded with a mobile application software performing the tasks of the evaluation device. An example mobile application is described in concurrently filed US Provisional Application 63/106,655, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference. In such case, the user may perform the evaluation directly at home or anywhere convenient and use, in accordance with a configuration, all or selected aspects of the benefits without requiring an evaluation to be completed at a store and a fee may be required for the evaluation service, possibly using an in-app purchase or transactional website.

[0062] In an exemplary scenario using an embodiment providing multiple disposition options, a POD is evaluated by an evaluation device which renders the evaluation results accessible for example by allowing access to, or transmitting information and/or digital assets to a computing arrangement such as a server or group of servers, probably using one or more “optional service interfaces”. The computing arrangements of the evaluation services may for example have received at least partial device identity information directly, or may determine at least partial device identity information such as the make and model of the POD using any of the methods described previously or herein, for instance by means of applying OCR techniques to an image of the a received digital asset of the preowned electronic device, the evaluation system or its device evaluator may then query a third party database to retrieve a make and model information and other relevant characteristics. Once the evaluation system has at least minimal device identity information, it may, using its device estimator component determine, for each relevant buyers and/or marketplaces, a price or price range information for devices corresponding to the device identity information using possibly several known characteristics of the POD. The device estimator may accordingly either provide at least a price or a price-range for each disposition option where the device can be evaluated for a value. The price-range generally consists of a worst case or lower- limit price for the device, for example presumably assuming that all or most unknown relevant characteristics are in bad condition, and a best case upper-limit, presumably assuming that all or most unknown relevant characteristics are in best condition. As an example, using the following technique, the evaluation system could therefore determine that for a pre-owned electronic device corresponding to:

Device identification information:

Make: iPhone

Model: 7

Other: unknown

[0063] In the above table, all other characteristics could be unknown at this point, as, for example, the user may not have performed a full diagnostic of the POD using, for example, the diagnostic application.

[0064] In such embodiment, when more information or device characteristics are available, for instance after a defect analysis service has performed a cosmetic inspection on the device, a more refined price-range may be provided, for example:

Device identification information:

Make: iPhone

Model: 7

Working: true

Cosmetic condition: 3 minor defects, light screen scratches

[0065] In the above table, a wholesale buyer has enough information to offer a single pricing for such a device. Device attributes, and condition thereof, may affect different buyers and marketplaces differently.

[0066] Several alternative methods for determining a price-range may be used, for example the system may make the assumption that many characteristics are in good condition for the lower range, or it may use artificial intelligence such as using a trained neural network. The device estimator may use any relevant statistical or probabilistic models, based on past data, confidence level or other to determine the range. For determining a reasonable price range for a device knowing only a subset of characteristics, regression techniques may sometimes prove useful in estimating prices for certain markets, for example based on an estimated or known price from another market or buyer. For example, if the evaluation system is able to determine a price for a POD with a certain buyer, regression functions may be used to determine a price or price range on a marketplace or with another buyer. FIG. 21 shows a linear regression with an R2 of 0.844 wherein a device estimator is able to estimate the price of a POD on a marketplace based on the price of the same device on another marketplace or buyer. Using similar datasets, a pessimist function y=mx+b for instance may determine a low-range price while an optimist function y’=m’x+b’ may be used to determine a high-range price. Other regression techniques such as polynomial, exponential or power may be used. Because market prices are volatile and possibly seasonal, the information in the datasets are generally updated regularly for example manually, using automated (programmatic) web scraping agents or artificial intelligence agents. Local datasets may also prove useful as prices are likely to vary by regions.

[0067] Many other techniques may be used. As other exemplary embodiments of a device estimator implementation, programmatic, hybrid or Al agents may be used to determine in real time using the information published on one or more website what best price or price range correspond to an evaluated POD. For example, a programmatic web scraping agent may take as input the known characteristic of a POD and uses HTTP crawling and scraping methods, probably limited to the relevant site or sites, for example as ebay.com, query the website(s) with the appropriate or relevant known characteristics likely adapted for the website provided query methods, for example “iPhone X”, or “broken screen iPhone X”, and/or by selecting attributes offered by the website, and the agent retrieves pricing information from the results of the query. A variety of techniques to further refine the price or price range may be used, for example apply a regression technique, using previously data extractions, applying + and - offset or relative multipliers (0.8 for the low-range and 1.2 for the high range for example). [0068] By using an appropriate technique such as, for example, one of the above noted techniques, an evaluation system combined with a device estimator component may then provide a user with an user interface flow allowing the user to select a preferred option, such as the user interface flow described in FIG. 7, and at least one of these user interface includes at least two probable prices.

[0069] In such embodiments, one of the probable prices may be a buyer providing in-store and immediate value for the POD while a second probable price is the highest or a high probable value (maximum value) of all probable disposition options, for example if Craigslist seems to be the best place for such pre-owned electronic device, then that probable price may be displayed (see e.g. FIG. 3). A high probable price could be for example a price having a statistical probability of say 0.1 (a seller would have 1 chance out of 10 to sell a device at this high probable price).

[0070] In such alternative embodiments, a series of prices may be offered on the interface, each corresponding to the price offered, or a probable price, or a probable price-range, for each of the disposition options (see e.g. FIG. 4)

[0071] Some advanced embodiments described herein require methods for associating similar devices, so that comparable pricing or pricing range may be provided when evaluating a pre-owned electronic device. The evaluation system will most certainly use make and model (although the POD make may be inferred from the POD model: iPhone -> Apple) as the basic discriminating variables (device attributes), but other device attributes may be used for providing a more refined and accurate pricing or pricing range for an evaluated POD. For example, it is well known that storage size, screen condition, working conditions weigh highly in the pricing of devices for most marketplaces and buyers. However, some marketplaces or buyers may be more or less tolerant to specific variables, for example, C2C marketplaces tend to tolerate more small defects, such as small scratches, than wholesaler type of buyers. Using the techniques described in the Applicant’s previous applications already incorporated (e.g., the ‘533 Application) is therefore relevant in the present disclosure for determining a best price or price range for a device on a certain market. Other embodiments having partial device information may use history information for instance stored in a data storage service to assess with probabilistic data about failure to infer a working condition. For example, if it is know that the likelihood of the Wifi failure of an iPhone 7 is 1%, or 1% per year if degradation occurs over time, the device estimator may use this data, allowing a certain risk, or providing a weighted loss of 1% * the average cost of repair of the Wifi, but may nevertheless provide pricing assuming the Wifi is in good working condition.

[0072] Some techniques may base the decisions by first grading the POD in order to find comparable listings, or to find in a pre-calculated price list similarities. Other techniques used by certain embodiments may regularly gather (e.g., scrape) for example by regularly analyzing data from one or more marketplaces such as Craigslist, Kijiji, eBay, Decluttr in order to build databases or other data storage schemes in order to gain knowledge about markets, possibly segmented, for instance by geography. Other techniques may include the use of artificial intelligence by letting a deep machine learning computer program determine, from relevant datasets, a probable price, or a price range, much like it can be done in the housing market, for example. In this type of task; namely regression, a computer program is asked to predict a price value or a price range given the grading as input. To solve this task, the “deep machine learning” has to be trained beforehand, in a supervised manner, for example with at least one dataset that consists of device grading of pre-owned electronic devices associated with a price range determined manually by a human agent or other type of relevant datasets. Methods using stored data must ideally be regularly and frequently refreshed, as the price of pre-owned electronic devices varies over time, generally over seasonality or events, and have a long term tendency to drop over time. Additional evaluation techniques may also attempt to predict actual or future probable prices based on past trends, again using programmatic or artificial intelligence methods.

[0073] In another embodiment, after an evaluation of a POD has been made by the evaluation system, a solicitation service may be used to perform additional call to action. For example, a user may have selected to complete the disposition using a marketplace and therefore intended to complete the steps at home, but may forget or ignore to complete the disposition at that later time. In such cases, a solicitation service may send a reminder through an electronic message in any probable form (e.g., email, text app or web notification, etc.) to the owner. Such messages are intended to remind the owner about at least one of the probable disposition methods, for example, the message may operate to, for example: remind that the device is still valued at a certain price or price-range on a certain marketplace; notify the user of a special offer from a specific buyer; advise that a specific buyer is still offering a specific price for the device; advise that a device price is anticipated to drop; and/or advise that a device price or previous offer has dropped.

[0074] Such embodiments using solicitation service may embed in the message various information, such as, for example, a link to the valuation or certification reports, instructions, device identity information, link to additional instructions, link to a transactional portal which could be a preferred marketplace, etc. Furthermore, in such embodiments, web tracking mechanism can be used to identify which seller have attempted to sell, or not, for example by analyzing if the certification reports, digital assets or other data have been used (accessed by a plurality of browsers), or by determining the redirection source of the access (i.e. if the certification report was accessed by using a link stored on eBay or Craigslist). By using web tracking techniques, the messages may be furthermore tailored so that for example a seller of a POD that requested the evaluation package but never used it after so many days may be reminded of propositions, or advised of anticipated drop in price, etc.

[0075] Embodiments offering multiple disposition options may provide a whole range of useful information for facilitating the disposition on marketplaces including information for ensuring the user makes an informed choice about which platform better suits the user’s particular circumstances. By associating data with the marketplaces or buyers suitable for the user or the POD, any communication endpoint including the multimedia endpoints and any contact information for communicating electronically with the user may be used to provide information such as pricing, pricing variance, reviews, risks, applicable laws, hints on when, where, how and what type of information to publish, etc.

[0076] Embodiments offering multiple disposition options may also provide, for example using a web portal, possibly accessible using URLs located in electronic messages transmitted to a seller using solicitation services, access to the digital assets and tailored digital assets to at least one disposition options, for example images adjusted to fit a specific marketplace sites, as well as prepopulated specific or generic information, such as a suggested description of the POD, that a user may simply need to copy and paste into any such specific marketplace sites.

[0077] Embodiments offering multiple disposition options may also provide, possibly using the portal described above, and by using marketplace service interfaces (such as the Craigslist Bulk posting) or agents (programmatic or artificial intelligence agents), options to easily create an ad with pre-populated information related to the pre-owned electronic device. In some similar embodiments, agreements may be in place with special marketplaces in order to promote their use or offer additional services or offers.

[0078] In such embodiments offering services or offers, an electronic offer coupon may accompany the message or be embedded for example in the certification report containing a marketing offer, for example a rebate inviting a potential buyer to activate the device at a potential carrier, possibly in relation with the store wherein the evaluation could have been performed.

[0079] Other embodiments offering multiple disposition options may also provide repair hints, for example, by assessing the repair costs of a broken device screen. For example, the evaluation system using any of the available communication endpoints may indicate to the user that by having the screen repaired prior to posting on a marketplace, the net probable value may increase by US$50 (gross value increase minus cost to repair).

[0080] FIG. 1 illustrates an evaluation services environment 100 including an evaluation system 102, according to some embodiments. The evaluation system 102 includes one or more computer resources that host evaluation services 116. The evaluation services 116 include electronic device (e.g. POD) detection and analysis services 118, POD value estimator services 120, and other services 122.

[0081] The evaluation system 102 may also include one or more assistance and support services 106, such as, for example, asset annotation tools 124, third party services/databases 126, artificial intelligence services 128, data storage services 130, and other support services.

[0082] Additionally, the evaluation system 102 may also include optional services 108. Optional services may include, for example, service interfaces, firewalls, load balancers, dispatchers, etc. [0083] The computing devices that host the evaluation services may comprise one or more of the evaluation devices 110 shown. For example, in respective embodiments, the evaluation services 116 may be performed on, and/or by, a kiosk, a smartphone, a tablet computer, an upcycled smartphone based kiosk, or a computer with camera. Some computing devices which performs the evaluation services, or some computing devices in which the evaluation services is performed, may be connected to or in communication with one or more multimedia endpoints 112 which have the ability to render information to humans, for example using at least one of text, images, video or audio communication. Example multimedia endpoints include tablets, smartphones, smartwatches, displays, digital signage, smart TV, and the like. The multimedia endpoints may receive processing results or other data from the evaluation services and display and/or output in another manner (e.g. audio) the data received from the evaluation services. The computing devices which performs the evaluation services, or the computing device in which the evaluation services is performed, may also be connected to one or more access points 114. Example access points may include computer providing human-computer interfaces, and embedded access points/kiosk. Access points provide access to evaluation services to users. Many access points are generally usable as multimedia endpoints (touch screen enabled computers, smartphones, tablets, etc.).

[0084] In some embodiments, the evaluation device, as a unitary device, may include one or more multimedia endpoints and one or more access points. For example, in one embodiment, a smartphone may be used to perform information acquisition regarding a POD, to process evaluation services associated with the POD and also to display any data associated with the POD and its evaluation. In another embodiment, a kiosk may be used to perform information acquisition regarding a POD, to process evaluation services associated with the POD and also to display any data associated with the POD and its evaluation. However, in some other embodiments, the evaluation device may not be a unitary structure and may be connected via network connection to one or more multimedia endpoints and/or access points.

[0085] According to some example embodiments, a kiosk enables enhanced evaluation of PODs. The enhanced evaluation may provide ameliorated diagnostics for trade-ins and enables the use of the kiosk to facilitate one or more of various services associated with the POD such as repair services, insurance/warranty services, evaluation/certification services, account services, blacklist services, and the like. By using the identification techniques described herein, the kiosks are capable of better detection of account locking and nationwide or international blacklisting verification, for example, the OCR or programmatic techniques for accessing unique identifiers, such as IMEI, combined with third party services for validating automatically at the point of presence, reduces risk of fraud / theft. A unique identifier for a POD may be referred to as a POD identifier. In some embodiments, the one or more various services are addon features associated with a kiosk that is designed and configured to evaluate and accept PODs that are traded-in by users sometimes in exchange for a monetary gain, a coupon for goods or service, and/or contributions made to selected charities on behalf of those users, or points, such as RecycleBank® points given to users engaging in recycling and other similar environmental activities.

[0086] The evaluation systems described herein include a computing system arrangement that comprises at least a mobile or remote point of presence providing means of inspection using an evaluation device, such as a kiosk, an application, a camera or other means to visually inspect a POD, one or more servers or remote processor for executing various tasks which may include guiding the means of inspections and/or an operator during ongoing evaluations, making decisions based on information collected from inspections and/or other information accessed based on information obtained from the inspected POD, assessing, providing feedback, pricing, grading, creating and storing evaluation data sessions, or requesting human intervention, etc. Some of these tasks may be performed at the point of inspection by the inspection means when they have processing capability, for example for kiosks operated by embedded computers, or as described herein, using repurposed pre-owned devices, or mobile applications being operated on a mobile device. With modern computing and networking facilities and all the frameworks available for distributed computing, which processors executes a task is less and less relevant. Therefore, the term processor used herein refers to any computing unit or resource, electronic or virtually implemented, which may be spawned on demand or necessity, capable of performing computing operations and includes CPUs, CPU-cores, GPUs (graphics), VPUs (vision), NPU (neural), DSP (digital signal processor), ISP (image signal processor), FPGA (field programmable gate array), VCPUs (virtual CPUs and other virtual implementations of the above) and the likes for as long as it has sufficient processing capability, alone or jointly with other processors, to perform the tasks described.

[0087] FIG. 2 shows an example display 200 of results from a smartphone evaluation, according to some embodiments.

[0088] An image 202 of the POD may be displayed with enumerated markings to indicate the locations on the POD detected by the evaluation as defects or possible defects. Short text descriptions 204 corresponding to the enumerated defects can also be shown on the display. The short text descriptions may include all the detected defects, and may be shown as a scrollable list. The short test descriptions may also be divided into sections (e.g. in the shown example, front, side, back) so that clarity is improved.

[0089] In some embodiments, the user may control the displayed view of the POD. For example, whereas the front of the POD is shown in FIG, 1, the user may provide input to display one or more other views of the POD. In some embodiments, one or more sides (or each of the sides) of the POD can be displayed in respective images. In some other embodiments, a 3D view that can be manipulated by the user, of the POD is provided. The defects enumerated on the display and the respective text descriptions that are shown can be dynamically updated in accordance with the view of the POD that is currently displayed.

[0090] The evaluation detail screen 200 may also provide inputs to the user for cancelling the session, or continuing with the session. For example, the user may select the “Get My Offer” button 206 to continue with the evaluation services.

[0091] FIG. 3 illustrates a multi-trade offer display screen 300 in accordance with some embodiments. The multi-trade offer display screen may be displayed upon completion of the evaluation of a POD and determination of alternative disposition options. The screen displays the offer for trading-in the POD 304 and one or more projected estimates for alternative disposition options 306. The display screen may also display selected descriptive information 302 (e.g. POD type and model, selected key features) of the POD.

[0092] In the example shown, a first disposition option is the offered price for trading-in the POD at the evaluation location, for instance using a kiosk, and is shown as a single price, and the alternative disposition options are shown as a price range. The display may display sufficient information to clearly indicate to the customer/user that the offer price is risk free, or guaranteed, to the user, while the alternate disposition options, which may often be higher in monetary amount, involve delay and may include yet-unknown risks.

[0093] In some embodiments, the offer price may include a price range. For example, an original value that is determined based on an initial evaluation may be adjustable based on certain subsequent verifications and/or repairs to which the user commits. In such cases, appropriate additional information can be displayed to make the user aware that the offer price or price range may involve some delay and/or some variation.

[0094] The prince range that is shown for the alternate disposition options may comprise respective projected value estimates for each of a plurality of disposition options offered by respective disposition services. In some cases, the price range may include or illustrate the variation in the projected value in accordance with the changed value offered by the same disposition service for subjecting the POD to one or more repairs prior to disposition.

[0095] The display 300 of the evaluation device may be touchscreen- enabled such that the user may select the offer or the projected estimates by selecting the corresponding area on the screen.

[0096] FIG. 4 shows an alternate or a more detailed view 400 of the information of display screen 300, according to some embodiments. In some embodiments, the view 400 may be obtained by selecting an input (not shown) on display 300. In some other embodiments, view 400 may be displayed as an alternative to display 300.

[0097] In view 400, the offer and each of the alternate disposition options available for the POD, along with the respective projected values are shown. Selected descriptive information regarding the POD may also be displayed.

[0098] FIG. 5 shows examples POD defect analysis services event flows 500, according to some embodiments.

[0099] The examination of the POD 504 may be performed by the POD 504 itself and/or by an evaluation device 506. For example, the POD 504 may execute a diagnostic app 514 that, fully automatically or in combination with the assistance of the user, determines attributes and defects of the POD 504. Alternative, or additionally, an evaluation device 506 may examine 516 the POD to determine attributes and/or defects of the POD 504. The evaluation device 506 may analyze a plurality of images of the POD, and may, at least in some example embodiments, capture one or more images of the POD.

[00100] The determined attributes and defects are then analyzed by an evaluation service 520 that may receive the attributes and defects via an interface 518 provided by an optional service interface 518.

[00101] The evaluation services 520 may be conceptually divided into categories, such as by defect analysis services 510, defect analysis assistance services 512, and device estimator services 612. The attributes and defects of the POD may be received or determined in evaluation services 520 at operation 524 (optionally, via the interface 518), and evaluation and defect findings 526 is performed on the received digital assets, possibly using various assistance services, such as, for example, an artificial intelligence assistance service 530, an asset annotation tool 532, one or more third party services/databases 534, and storage services 536 for storing determined information for subsequent reference may be used during the processing of operation 526.

[00102] When the evaluation services finds at least one defect at operation 526, an operation 528 is performed in the evaluation services to return or notify of the results (defect information) for example, defect information is returned to at least one multimedia endpoint device. The multimedia endpoint device 522 which displays the results may be incorporated into the POD 504 or evaluation device 506, or may be a standalone multimedia endpoint 502.

[00103] FIG. 6 shows an example POD defect analysis services event flow 600, according to some embodiments.

[00104] The examination of the POD 504 may be performed by the POD 504 itself and/or by an evaluation device 506. For example, the POD 504 may execute a diagnostic app 514 that, fully automatically or in combination with the assistance of the user, determines attributes and defects of the POD 504. Alternative, or additionally, an evaluation device 506 may examine 516 the POD to determine attributes and/or defects of the POD 504. The evaluation device 506 may analyze a plurality of images of the POD, and may, at least in some example embodiments, capture the images of the POD.

[00105] In contrast to the description in FIG. 5, in this embodiment, the service interface 618, in addition to providing for receiving the POD attributes and digital asset information from the POD 504 and/or the evaluation device 506 may also receive information from a user via an input operation 630 performed by the user on a multimedia endpoint 602. For example, operation 630 may involve the user specifying the make and model of the POD via a web interface.

[00106] The evaluation service 620, at operation 624, receives device identification information, attributes and digital assets via the interface 618. The evaluation service then performs device market value evaluation 626 to determine and offer and one or more projected estimated values for alternate disposition options for the POD. Operation 626 may be assisted by an artificial intelligence service 630, one or more third party services/databases 634, one or more data storage services 636 that provide for storing and accessing previous evaluation information/transactions and/or scraping data from the web. The operation 626 may also be assisted by one or more of a magic number service 638, a live web analysis service 640, or the like.

[00107] As part of the evaluation service 620, or separately, the device estimator services 610 may also provide a solicitation service 642 that may utilize one or more services 640, provided by a third party or other source, to transmit messages (e.g. email, text messaging, etc.) to the user to access 650 at a multimedia endpoint 602. The messages may have included them a link (e.g. URL) that the user may utilize to access services 646 personalized to the user and associated with the POD such as an evaluation package or the like at a portal provided by device estimator services 610. [00108] Optionally, based on the user’s interaction with the portal with respect to the evaluation package, device estimator services 610 may facilitate the user’s access to third party services such as a marketplace, buyers (e.g. craigslist etc.).

[00109] FIG. 7 illustrates a multi-disposition transaction in terms of an example user interface flow, according to some embodiments. After the evaluation of the POD, an offer page may be displayed with an offer for trading-in the POD. One or more projected values for alternate dispositions can be displayed on the same page or a different page. Selection of one or more alternate disposition options may, at least in some embodiments, display further information about the selected one or more disposition options and/or may provide for the user to request a report of the evaluation of the POD. Cancelling without selecting either the offer or any of the alternate disposition options, may lead the user to cancel transaction page.

[00110] If the trade-in offer is accepted, a confirmation screen may be displayed with further details regarding the offer. The confirmation screen may provide a description of the terms of acceptance, an option to sign confirming acceptance, and an option to decline. If the user elected to sign, the signature page may be displayed to receive the user’s signature. After the signature is accepted, the user interface may guide the user through providing possession of the POD to the evaluation system, and further follow-up activity such as printing and/or transmitting a credit or other means of value to the user as compensation for the trade-in of the POD.

[00111] If the user decides to decline at the confirmation of acceptance screen, then a confirmation screen may be displayed to confirm the user’s intent to decline. If the user confirms the declining, the user-interface may guide the user to take possession of the POD and cancel the transaction. [00112] If, following the evaluation of the POD, the user selects an alternate disposition option and to subsequently obtain a report regarding the evaluation of the POD, then the user interface may guide the user through providing contact information (e.g. email address) for the user.

[00113] FIG. 8 illustrates an example valuation report, according to some embodiments. The example valuation report includes a unique transaction ID, diagnostics date, location and evaluation device (e.g. kiosk id) information where the diagnostics were performed, the make and model information, carrier information, POD key features (e.g. memory, processor etc.), customer identification information (e.g. image of driver license and image of customer as captured by the evaluation device camera), customer authentication information (e.g. signature captured at time of diagnostics), the tests and/or checks performed and the status of each, images of the POD captured by the evaluation device camera(s) (optionally with identified defects enumerate), listing of defects, status of buttons (e.g. home, mute, volume, scroll, etc.), status of features/sensors (e.g. wifi, Bluetooth, GPS, gyroscope, accelerometer, battery health, proximity sensor, touchscreen, vibration, etc.).

[00114] The tests/checks may include indicating that the physical condition was evaluated based on a test suit identified as a 360 degree cosmetic evaluation, that the IMEI check included a blacklist check, finance check and an iCloud check, that a recall check was performed, and that a clone detection check was performed. The sensor status may be shown as a rating from 1-100 or the like for the condition of each sensor.

[00115] The valuation report may also include information regarding multiple disposition options. For each available disposition option, a most probable price, and a higher median price may be shown. The source for the price determination, a level of effort associated with the disposition option (e.g., how much effort on a scale of 1-10 would the option require from the customer) and/or a risk level associated with each option may also be shown.

[00116] In some embodiments, the valuation report may also include other information such as advertisements (e.g. the evaluation system may place advertisements based on particular features of the customer and/or POD) and/or coupon (e.g. rebates to carrier) information. Likewise, the certification reports may also include advertisements, including offers that target the potential buyer of the POD.

[00117] FIG. 9 illustrates an example certification report, according to some embodiments. In certain example embodiments, a valuation report has a private intended audience to inform the seller, the certification report has a public audience to inform potential buyers. Therefore, a valuation report will include pricing estimation information / private identifiers / etc., but a certification report will focus on information that certifies the state of the device, but understanding the audience is public so must hide personally identifiable material and other sensitive information.

[00118] FIG. 10 illustrates an example user interface display screen by which the user can obtain information about the content of an evaluation package, and access to get an evaluation package, according to some embodiments.

[00119] FIG. 11 illustrates an example user interface display screen that may be used to obtain the contact information, such as the email address, from the user for transmitting the evaluation package, according to some embodiments.

[00120] FIG. 12 illustrates an example display screen that might be displayed to indicate completion of a transaction according to some embodiments.

[00121] FIG. 13 illustrates an example email message that can be transmitted to the user subsequent to completion of an evaluation of a POD, according to some embodiments. [00122] FIG. 14 illustrates an example email message that can be transmitted to the user subsequent to completion of an evaluation of a POD offering the user the offer and the various alternate disposition options, according to some embodiments.

[00123] FIG. 15 illustrates a flowchart of a process 1500 performed by an electronic device evaluation system providing multiple disposition options, according to some example embodiments. Process 1500 may be performed by an evaluation device and one or more evaluation services. The one or more evaluation services may be provided by the evaluation device and/or one or more other computing devices that are connected by a communication network to the evaluation device. In respective embodiments, as described above, the evaluation device may be a handheld device such as a smartphone, or a kiosk/booth.

[00124] Process 1500 begins when a customer with a POD begins a preowned electronic device trade-in process for the POD. At operation 1502, the evaluation device collects information about the POD. The information collected includes digital assets such as any of images of the POD, audio samples, output signal measurements, or information input by a customer (e.g. owner of the POD). The POD information acquisition process may be fully automated or may require at least some manual assistance. The images may include images for each of a plurality of sides (surfaces) of the POD, and may be captured using one or more cameras that are either incorporated in, or is otherwise connected to, the evaluation device. One or more of the images may be captured when the POD is commanded to generate a particular display content. Such particular display content can be used to determine POD information such as the IMEI, system information, detect cracks in the screen, screen brightness, screen quality, etc. The audio samples, if any, may include playback samples to provide for the status of the POD speakers and/or microphone. The audio samples may be captured by a microphone of the evaluation device, and/or may be recorded by the microphone of the POD and provided to the evaluation device. Signal measurements may include battery strength, network signals, and the like. The information collected from the customer may include any descriptive information, such as, for example, make, model, year, damage information, and the like. The already incorporated applications previously filed by the Applicant include further details of example POD information collection that can be used in example embodiments. The evaluation device may collect the digital assets in one or more files that can be provided to the evaluation services.

[00125] At operation 1504, the evaluation device and/or the evaluation services evaluate the POD. The evaluation of the POD includes analyzing the information, such as, for example, digital assets and other information, collected at operation 1502, and determining an offer value for trade-in or recycling of the POD.

[00126] The evaluation process may include creating an in-memory model of the POD based on the collected digital assets and other information. The inmemory model may include information such as, for example, make, model, dimensions, weight, condition, defects, and other information that can be useful in more particularly identifying the POD and/or in determining a value of the POD. An example process for creating an in-memory model is described below. In some embodiments, the in-memory model may include make and model information as a minimum amount information.

[00127] In-memory models may also be used for storing information about the POD evaluation, which may be contained in an object, for example, using JSON format which may be dynamically altered with new information as the evaluation is being performed, and as valuation with various disposition options is being performed. For example, the very first instance of the memory model of the object in JSON may simply be contains very few basic items, such as a session ID, and gets populated over time with information as they become available, for instance, make and model, IMEI, references to or embedded image objects and other digital assets, etc, then, during the defect analysis phase, the in-memory model is furthermore populated, or altered with the defect information found, when applicable. During the valuation phase, the object may get populated with attributes pertaining to at least two of probable disposition option pricing, for example, the object may be created with the following structure indicating a transacton id “id”, and an id for the evaluation device, “EvaluationDeviceld” and an indication of the evaluation device type: {

"id": "TC1T24VQJ",

' ' EvaluationDeviceld " : " mb K6RW ' ' “EvaluationDe viceType”: “Portable”

}

[00128] As assets are taken and rendered available, the object may be modified by the evaluation system and may contain references to assets, for example an object representation may then be represented with the following key/pairs may be added to the memory structure to now include assets, from the inspection bin, of a top, bottom and 4 angle images, as well as images of a user card ID (top and bottom), and 2 images taken from security camera “face” : {

"id": "TC1T24VQJ",

' ' EvaluationDeviceld " : " mb K6RW ' ' ,

"Assets": {

"bin": [{

"top": "F5209E98DB97F08755B6", "btm": "80E8857681702FBF4FA4", "angles": ["02FBA7EB76ED4F0ED529",

"8E2F93232F2DEDA7132E", "FA5489D728E12B605D30", "89DA79D7D8F5CB705D98"],

"ts": 1602792739903

}],

"card": [

["8D3EDFDC79627D115EDF",

"589944249EDFDE6CA2EF"]

],

"face": ["5A72F15EE0B1D41FF9C2",

" 1D85AF77E899CA4CC032"]

}

[00129] Diagnostics information, such as received for example the diagnostic application, may also be stored in the model, for example by adding a section {

"id": "TC1T24VQJ",

"Diagnostics": {

" Diagnostic sDate": "2020V10V15",

"Detailed": {

"Account": false,

"PhoneUnlocked": true,

"CameraFront": false,

"CameraBack": true,

' ' CameraB ackB lurCheckDetail sNb V alidCell sPercent " : 25 , "CameraBackPixelRedColorSuccessPercentage" : 5.831, CameraBackPixelGreenColorSuccessPercentage": 2.295,

"BackButton": true,

"HomePower": true,

}

[00130] At a later step, defect information resulting from the evaluation services could be added, for example {

"id": "TC1T24VQJ",

"defects":

{ "type" : "crack",

"ROI" :{ "xy": [18,28], "xy": [28,50] }, "points" : {

"xy" : [20,30], "xy" : [25,38], }

}

[00131] At a later step, using at least some of the information / attributes already contained in the object, a device estimator could add a section containing information related to the device probable values on the multiplicity of disposition options, for example: {

"id": "TC1T24VQJ",

"Disposition": {

"Onsite": {

"Buyer": "Global Mobile Recycler Corporation", "Price": "90.00",

"ts" : 1602792750263 },

"C2BMarkets" :

{

"Low": {

"Buyer" : "Direct Buying Company",

"Price": "120.00",

"Confidence": "0.80",

"ts" : 1602792764872

},

"High": {

"Buyer" : "Other Buying Company",

"Price": "150.00",

"Confidence": "0.70",

"ts" : 1602792765102

},

"Confidence": "0.90",

"Dataset" : "DBC-20201001",

"RefenceQuery" : "8ACE2AD3278D888",

"ts" : 1602792765232

},

"C2CMarkets" :

{

"Low": {

"Marketplace" : "eBay",

"Price": "170.00",

"Confidence": "0.80",

"RefenceOfferlD" : "27BD8ACE298D823",

"ts" : 1602792942149 },

"High": {

"Buyer" : "eBay", "Price": "240.00", "Confidence": "0.70", "RefenceOfferlD" : "8956DB2A96C402B", "ts" : 1602792948929

},

"Other": {

"SimilarReferences" : ["9956A42B84D935C", "42298B8D8ACE4D"]

"Confidence": "0.90"

}

[00132] The information acquired, and/or that is present in the in-memory model, of the POD is then utilized to access one or more databases and/or third party services to determine and offer value for the POD. An example database that may provide such value information may be historical information of previous trade-in values. Such a database may be maintained locally and/or remotely and may provide for determining an offer value based on identifying information of the POD, and, optionally, based also on the condition of the POD. An example third party service may be a service that purchases PODs, and which provides an API that the evaluation services can access by transmitting messages including identifying information for the POD. Such API’s may also be capable of accept certain detailed information such as detected defects of the POD and accordingly adjust the proposed offer value for the POD. The tentative or proposed offer value determined using the database and/or third party services, may be optionally adjusted by the evaluation service based on locality, current demand projections, and the like. The already incorporated applications previously filed by the Applicant include further details of example techniques for determining an offer value for a POD.

[00133] At operation 1506, the evaluation services determined one or more alternate disposition options for the POD. In some embodiments, the evaluation service can select one or more third parties that provide alternate disposition options based on the requirements of the respective third parties. For example, a database and/or query service may be used to determine whether the make, model, estimated value range (e.g., determined offer value), and/or condition of the is accepted by the third party disposition option. Each of the selected third party disposition options may then be queried with information from the in-memory model of the POD. In some embodiments, the evaluation service utilizes APIs provided by the respective third party disposition options to specify identifying information and also condition information of the POD in order to get an estimate that accounts for the particular condition of the POD.

[00134] At operation 1508, the offer and one or more alternate disposition options are presented to the customer. By displaying the offer and the projected estimates for one or more alternate disposition options simultaneously on the screen, the customer is provided with significantly larger amount of information than merely the offer price based on which to make a decision regarding the POD. [00135] At operation 1510, input is received from the customer in response to the presenting of the offer and the one or more alternate disposition options. The received input may indicate that the customer has accepted the offer, is interested in or is selecting an alternate disposition option, selecting to receive a report of the evaluation, or is electing to delay the decision.

[00136] FIGs. 16A illustrates a flowchart of a process 1600 when a customer accepts an offer for trade-in or recycling of a pre-owned electronic device, according to some embodiments. Process 1600 may begin at operation 1602 when, as described in relation to operation 1510 above, the customer selects the option to accept the offer. For example, the customer may indicate on a touch screen that the offer is accepted.

[00137] The acceptance of the offer may include the customer being provided with the terms of the offer, and obtaining the signature of the customer. In some embodiments, one or more other authentications in addition to, or as alternatives to, the signature may be obtained.

[00138] After the offer is accepted, at operation 1604, the evaluation service may acquire the POD from the customer. In some embodiments, such as, when the evaluation device is a kiosk, the POD may be secured automatically while guaranteeing that the acquired POD is the same POD that was evaluated. In some other embodiments, the customer may be required to manually deposit or send teh POD to an entity that is responsible for taking possession of traded-in POD. U.S. The already incorporated applications previously filed by the Applicant include further details of example techniques for taking possession of a POD after evaluation.

[00139] At operation 1606, a coupon or other means of providing value is provided to the customer for the offer value. The already incorporated applications previously filed by the Applicant include further details of example techniques for providing the customer with a coupon or the like for the offer value.

[00140] Optionally, at operation 1608, a report of the POD and/or the transaction may be provided to the customer. [00141] FIGs. 16B illustrates a flowchart of a process 1620 when a customer selects an alternative disposition option, according to some embodiments. Process 1620 may begin at operation 1622 when, as described in relation to operation 1510 above, the customer selects a displayed one of the alternate disposition options. For example, the customer may indicate on a touch screen that the alternate disposition option showing the highest value is selected.

[00142] At operation 1624, the evaluation system may display more detailed information regarding the selected disposition option. For example, information such as restrictions associated with the selected disposition option, an estimate as to how quickly the disposition can be completed, and other such information can be displayed. In some embodiments, displaying additional information may include the evaluation service communicating with an API provided by the selected third party disposition option in a sequence of messages adapted according to interactions with the customer at the evaluation device.

[00143] At operation 1626, optionally upon request by the customer, the evaluation services may perform further interaction with the selected third party disposition option to adjust the estimated value for the POD in one or more scenarios in which repairs are performed to correct certain identified defects. Such determination may require communication with the third party disposition service to determine the estimated value of the POD in one or more different condition scenarios, and also communication with third party repair services to determine the cost of repairs for each scenario. The evaluation services can then utilize the information obtained from the disposition service and from the repair service to display the various scenarios available for the selected disposition option.

[00144] At operation 1628, an option to obtain a report of the POD is displayed, and if selected by the customer, the requested report is provided, In some embodiments, the report is customized for the selected disposition option. [00145] At operation 1630, the evaluation service may be made available to subsequently certify the report. For example, whereas the report may contain a unique identifier, and a subsequent purchaser of the POD via the selected disposition option may use that unique identifier to access the report at the evaluation service, thereby obtaining certification as to the report’ s authenticity. [00146] FIGs. 16C illustrates a flowchart of a process 1640 when a customer requests an evaluation package or report, according to some embodiments. Process 1640 may begin at operation 1642 when, as described in relation to operation 1510 above, the customer selects the option to receive a report of the POD. For example, the customer may indicate on a touch screen that the report is requested without selecting either the offer or any alternative disposition options.

[00147] At operation 1644, optionally, the user may be allowed to select from multiple available report options. Each option may require different amounts of payment and may provide different levels of information.

[00148] At operation 1646, the requested report is provided to the customer.

[00149] FIG. 17A illustrates a flowchart of a process 1700 for acquiring the digital assets of the pre-owned electronic device using a handheld device, according to some embodiments. At operation 1702, the POD information acquiring process may be started on a handheld device such as a smartphone.

[00150] At operation 1704, the application running on the smartphone may interactively control the camera, microphone, speakers etc., while guiding the customer to acquire digital assets of the POD

[00151] At operation 1706, based on at least some of the digital assets such as images or information received from the customer, the POD is identified. For example, a make and model of the POD can be detected. In some embodiments, an IMEI of the POD can be detected.

[00152] At operation 1708, the detected identifying information is used to access a database and/or service to obtain information regarding the POD. [00153] At operation 1710, the application may provide for acquiring additional digital assets based on the further information obtained from the database/service at operation 1708.

[00154] At operation 1712, based on the acquired digital assets, defects are identified.

[00155] At operation 1714, based on the acquired information and/or the detected defects and other characteristics of the POD, the in-memory model of the POD is modified and/or enhanced.

[00156] The already incorporated applications previously filed by the Applicant include further details of example techniques for providing the customer with a coupon or the like for the offer value.

[00157] FIG. 17B illustrates a flowchart of a process 1720 for acquiring the digital assets of the pre-owned electronic device using kiosk or booth, according to some embodiments. At operation 1722, the POD information acquiring process may be started in a kiosk.

[00158] At operation 1724, the application running on the kiosk may automatically or interactively, with a remote operator, control one or more cameras, microphones, speakers etc., of the kiosk while acquiring digital assets of the POD

[00159] At operation 1726, based on at least some of the digital assets such as images or information received from the customer, the POD is identified. For example, a make and model of the POD can be detected. In some embodiments, an IMEI of the POD can be detected.

[00160] At operation 1728, the detected identifying information is used to access a database and/or service to obtain information regarding the POD.

[00161] At operation 1730, the application may provide for acquiring additional digital assets based on the further information obtained from the database/service at operation 1728. [00162] At operation 1732, based on the acquired digital assets, defects are identified.

[00163] At operation 1734, based on the acquired information and/or the detected defects and other characteristics of the POD, the in-memory model of the POD is modified and/or enhanced.

[00164] The already incorporated applications previously filed by the Applicant include further details of example techniques for providing the customer with a coupon or the like for the offer value.

[00165] FIG. 18 illustrates a process 1800 for generating an in-memory model of a pre-owned electronic device that is being evaluated, according to some embodiments. At operation 1802, the in-memory model for the POD is initialized. The in-memory model may be a static data structure with values to be populated, or may be a dynamic data structure that can have attributes as well as attribute values dynamically added and/or removed in accordance with the type, make, model, condition, etc. of the POD. In some embodiments, the data structure may be dynamically configurable in accordance with the disposition options to be utilized in the analysis.

[00166] After initialization, at operation 1804, the in-memory model can be populated with attributes and/or attribute values in accordance with a predefined template.

[00167] At operation 1806, the in-memory model is populated with preliminary information obtained regarding the POD.

[00168] At operation 1808, the in-memory model is configured according to the requirements or characteristics of one or more selected disposition options. [00169] At operation 1810, optionally, the in-memory model is adaptively further populated. In some embodiments, techniques such as Al techniques can be used for this further configuration. [00170] FIG. 19 illustrates a process 1900 for evaluating a pre-owned electronic device, according to some embodiments. For example, process 1900 may be performed during the evaluation operation 1504 of process 1500. At operation 1902, the evaluation process is commenced by accessing the digital assets acquired of the POD.

[00171] At operation 1904, one or more trade-in services can be queried via respective APIs provided by such services. The queries may be based on POD information from the in-memory model. In some embodiments, one or more databases of historical transaction information are queried additionally to, or alternatively to, the trade-in services.

[00172] At operation 1906, the responses received from the trade-in services and/or historical databases are processed.

[00173] At operation 1908, the offers and values are determined.

[00174] FIG. 20 illustrates a process 2000 for acquiring information regarding alternate disposition options, according to some embodiments. For example, process 2000 may be performed during the evaluation operation 1506 of process 1500. At operation 2002, the evaluation process is commenced by identifying an alternate disposition option selected by the customer.

[00175] At operation 2004, one or more alternate disposition services can be queried via respective APIs provided by such services. The queries may be based on POD information from the in-memory model.

[00176] At operation 2006, based upon information received from the disposition service, the in-memory model is adapted. Further queries to the disposition service can be made using the adapted in-memory model.

[00177] At operation 2008, received responses from the disposition service are processed.

[00178] At operation 2010, optionally, one or more repair options/scenario [00179] Although particular embodiments have been described above, a person of skill in the art having been provided with this disclosure, would appreciate aspects of the different embodiments may be used in various combinations to realize still other embodiments of the POD evaluation system and enhanced services.

[00180] While the embodiments presented herein have been described in detail, the foregoing description is in all aspects illustrative and not restrictive. It is understood that numerous other modifications and variations can be devised without departing from the scope of the disclosed embodiments.

Claims

54 WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A method comprising: capturing one or more images of an electronic device; evaluating, using a database, the one or more images to determine a condition of the electronic device; based on at least the determined condition, determining an offer value for the electronic device for a first disposition option; and presenting the offer value, projected values for one or more other disposition options for the electronic device, and a report describing the determined condition of the electronic device.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: responsive to receiving an acceptance of the presented offer value, providing for changing ownership of the electronic device.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: determining characteristics of the electronic device based at least on the one or more images; and generating an in-memory model of the electronic device based on the determined characteristics and the determined condition, wherein the evaluating comprises: detecting defects of the electronic device based on the one or more images; 55 accessing a plurality of records in the database based on the in-memory model of the electronic device; and determining said condition based on the detected defects and the plurality of records. The method according to claim 3, wherein the determining the offer value includes: determining a base value for the electronic device; adjusting the base value in accordance with a first measure for respective ones of the detected defects for each of said detected defects associated with one or more of said plurality of records; and further adjusting the adjusted base value in accordance with a second measure for respective ones of the detected defects for each of said detected defects not associated with one or more of said plurality of records. The method according to claim 4, wherein the at least one of the adjusting or the further adjusting comprises determining a confidence value and incrementing the adjusting or the further adjusting in accordance with the confidence value. The method according to claim 5, wherein the at least one of the adjusting or the further adjusting further comprises determining the confidence value in accordance with a learned model. The method according to claim 6, further comprising updating the learned model based on whether or not said acceptance is received. 56 The method according to claim 3, the method further comprises acquiring information associated with the electronic device from a user, and wherein the generating the in-memory model further includes use of the acquired information. The method according to claim 3, the method further comprises acquiring information associated with the electronic device from a third party service, and wherein the generating the in-memory model further includes use of the acquired information. The method according to claim 1, wherein the presenting comprises: displaying the offer value, the projected values, and the report on a display device; and providing a first input option for inputting said receiving the acceptance and a second input option for receiving the report. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: generating the report based on characteristics determined from the one or more images and the determined condition; displaying the report including a first data; and responsive to a request for transmitting or printing the report, transmitting or printing the report without the first data. 57 The method according to claim 10, further comprising: responsive to the request for transmitting or printing the report, transmitting or printing information from the report, wherein the transmitted or printed information is selected in accordance with grade of service selected from a plurality of grades of service. The method according to claim 10, the method further comprising: storing the generated report; transmitting a solicitation message to a user to request the generated report, the solicitation message transmitted to the user identified during said evaluation; wherein the request for transmitting or printing the report is received in response to the transmitted solicitation message. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: responsive to receiving an input requesting a delay in acceptance of the presented offer value, providing for subsequently transmitting a solicitation message to the user. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: keeping track of, for each electronic device, details of the electronic device and whether said acceptance is received and/or whether a request for transmission or printing of the report is received; and periodically transmitting a listing of the tracking to a server. The method according to claim 1, wherein said providing for changing ownership of the electronic device comprises: providing for securely identifying the electronic device; and providing for securely collecting the electronic device. The method according to claim 11, wherein the providing for securely collecting includes electronically controlling access to a receptacle to collect the electronic device; and monitoring a depositing of the securely identified electronic device in the receptacle. The method according to claim 12, wherein the method further comprises, responsive to the depositing, transmitting a signal indicating a completion of a disposition of the electronic device and information regarding the offer value. The method according to claim 1, wherein the capturing one or more images of an electronic device comprises capturing a plurality of images of all of the exterior surface of the electronic device. The method according to claim 14, wherein the capturing one or more images of an electronic device further comprises guiding a user to position a camera to acquire respective ones of the images. The method according to claim 14, wherein the capturing one or more images of an electronic device further comprises automatically controlling a camera to acquire the images of the electronic device located in an imaging chamber. The method according to claim 16, wherein a kiosk comprises the imaging chamber and a display device on which the presented offer value, projected values and the report are displayed. The method according to claim 1, wherein the one or more images include images of the electronic device from a plurality of angles. A handheld evaluation device comprising at least one camera, a memory, a display device and a processing system configured to perform the method of claim 1. A kiosk comprising at least one camera, a memory, a display device and a processing system configured to perform the method of claim 1. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of an evaluation device, causes the evaluation device to perform the method of claim 1. An electronic device evaluation system for determining and presenting multiple disposition options of a pre-owned electronic device, the electronic device evaluation system comprising: at least one evaluation device comprising a processor, an imaging device and a network interface, the processor being configured to perform the method according to claim 1 ; a central server connected by a network to the at least one evaluation device and storing at least a portion of the database; and an interactive multimedia endpoint for presenting said multiple disposition options and enabling selection of one of said multiple disposition options. The system according to claim 27, further comprising a plurality of evaluation devices connected over the network to the central server and transmitting information to the central server regarding electronic devices, the evaluation for respective ones of the electronic devices, and disposition of the electronic devices.