Customer Feedback Classification System for Product Risk Assessment

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Solution Overview

Problem

The vast amount of customer feedback from various sources, such as websites and hotline calls, is difficult to process manually, making it challenging to determine if a product needs to be recalled or if there are other issues with the product, such as potential hazards or reliability concerns.

Innovation Solution

A customer feedback classification system comprising a capture module, scoring module, filtering module, transformation module, and risk module, which captures text, scans for sentiment scores, filters text into parts of speech and keywords, transforms it into a term-document matrix, and calculates a risk score, ultimately reporting the product and risk score to a subject matter expert for decision-making.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Productivity

If manual processing of customer feedback is used, then analysis accuracy can be maintained, but processing efficiency deteriorates due to the vast amount of feedback data

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveprocessing efficiencyVSAvoidsystem complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The feedback processing system is divided into multiple independent modules: capture module for data collection, scoring module for sentiment analysis, filtering module for noise removal, transformation module for data structuring, and risk module for priority assessment. Each module handles a specific aspect of feedback processing, enabling parallel operation and improved efficiency while maintaining manageable complexity through modular design.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces intermediate processing layers between raw feedback and final analysis. The scoring module generates sentiment scores as intermediate representations, the filtering module creates cleaned text as an intermediate form, and the transformation module produces structured data formats. These intermediaries enable automated processing while preserving the essential information needed for accurate product safety assessment.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Productivity

If automated processing systems are implemented, then processing efficiency improves, but measurement precision deteriorates due to difficulty in accurately assessing sentiment and risk

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveprocessing efficiencyVSAvoidsentiment analysis accuracy
Core Design Contradiction:
ProductivityVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent replaces manual mechanical reading and analysis of feedback with automated computational processing. The scoring module uses automated sentiment analysis algorithms to evaluate customer feedback, the transformation module automatically structures unstructured text data, and the risk module computationally assesses product safety risks. This substitution enables processing of large volumes of feedback while maintaining consistent and objective measurement through algorithmic evaluation.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

3Loss of information

If all customer feedback is processed in detail, then comprehensive analysis is achieved, but loss of time increases due to the volume of data to be reviewed

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvecomprehensive analysisVSAvoidprocessing time
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of informationVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The filtering module extracts and removes irrelevant information from customer feedback, such as common phrases, stop words, and non-essential text elements. This extraction process eliminates noise while preserving the core meaningful content related to product safety and performance. By taking out only the essential information, the system achieves comprehensive analysis of relevant feedback without wasting time on redundant data.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The risk module implements prioritized processing by assessing and ranking feedback items based on their potential impact on product safety. Instead of processing all feedback uniformly, the system applies partial detailed analysis to high-risk items while using more efficient processing for lower-priority feedback. This selective approach ensures that critical safety concerns receive thorough examination while maintaining overall processing efficiency across the entire feedback volume.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #16Partial or excessive action

Data Source

PatentUS10963688B2Systems and methods for a customer feedback classification system
Publication Date: 2021.03.30 WALMART APOLLO LLC
  • US10963688B2 patent drawing
  • US10963688B2 patent drawing
  • US10963688B2 patent drawing

AI summary

Systems, methods, and machine readable media are provided for classifying customer feedback. In exemplary embodiments, text is captured from at least one source relating to at least one product. The text is scanned and a score is produced for sentiment for the at least one product. The text is filtered into parts of speech and key words to produce filtered text. The filtered text is transformed into a term-document matrix. A risk score is calculated and prioritized based on the term-document matrix and the sentiment score. The product and the associated risk score are reported to a subject matter expert (SME), where a determination is made whether the product is reportable or non-reportable.