Mobile taxi dispatch system

• US 10,002,198 B2
• Filed: 10/28/2009
• Issued: 06/19/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Felt, Michelle, Gharachorloo, Nader, Moshrefi, Afshin
• Primary Examiner(s): Chong Cruz, Nadja N
• Application Number:
  US12/607,782
• Publication Number:
  US 20110099040A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,156 Days
• Field of Search: 705 5, 705 711, 705417, 340994
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3438 Rendez-vous, i.e. searching a destination where several users can meet, and the routes to this destination for these users; Ride sharing, i.e. searching a route such that at least two users can share a vehicle for at least part of the route
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0613 Third-party assisted
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/202 Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]

Abstract

A mobile taxi dispatch system may receive a request for a taxi vehicle from a user, select one or more taxi vehicles to contact in response to receiving the request and send the request to the selected one or more taxi vehicles. The mobile taxi dispatch system may further receive acceptances of the request from at least one of selected one or more taxi vehicles, select a particular taxi vehicle from the at least one of the selected one or more taxi vehicles that accepted the request. The selecting may be based on one or more criteria. The mobile taxi dispatch system may also send a confirmation to the user and to the particular taxi.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computer system, a request for taxi service from a mobile device of a user by using a customer interface of the computer system to communicate with the mobile device;

selecting, by the computer system, one or more taxi vehicles to contact based on the request;

sending, by the computer system, the request to the one or more taxi vehicles by using a taxi interface of the computer system to communicate with taxi devices of the one or more taxi vehicles;

receiving, by the computer system and by using the taxi interface, one or more acceptances of the request from at least one of the one or more taxi vehicles;

determining, by the computer system, a current direction of a particular taxi vehicle, of the at least one of the one or more taxi vehicles, based on location information obtained at two different points in time from a global positioning system (GPS) receiver of the particular taxi vehicle or based on direction information obtained from a direction sensor of the particular taxi vehicle;

determining, by the computer system, a first input for comparing the current direction of the particular taxi vehicle to a side of a street on which the mobile device is located;

determining, by the computer system, a second input for determining whether the particular taxi vehicle is a hybrid vehicle;

determining, by the computer system, scores for the at least one of the one or more taxi vehicles by using a selection function, of the computer system, for which the first input and the second input are provided as one or more input parameters,

determining the scores by using the selecting function comprising;

determining a first weighted value based on the first input and based on a first weight associated with comparing the current direction of the particular taxi vehicle to the side of the street on which the mobile device is located,

determining a second weighted value based on the second input and based on a second weight associated with determining whether the particular taxi vehicle is a hybrid vehicle, and

determining the scores based on the first weighted value and the second weighted value;

selecting, by the computer system, the particular taxi vehicle, from the at least one of the one or more taxi vehicles that accepted the request, based on a particular score, of the scores, that is associated with the particular taxi vehicle; and

sending, by the computer system, a confirmation to one or more of the mobile device of the user or the particular taxi vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1, where receiving the request includes:

providing at least one of an icon or a voice command function to the user; and

receiving the request based on the user activating the icon or the voice command function,

the request being received by the customer interface of the computer system when a voice command is provided via the voice command function of an application, of the mobile device, that interacts with the customer interface of the computer system.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving information identifying a location associated with the user,

where selecting the one or more taxi vehicles to contact includes;

selecting the one or more taxi vehicles based on the request and the information identifying the location associated with the user.

4. The method of claim 1, where selecting the one or more taxi vehicles to contact includes:

selecting the one or more taxi vehicles that are within a particular distance of the user and are available.

5. The method of claim 1, where determining the scores includes:

determining the particular score by using the selection function, of the computer system, for which the first input, the second input, and a third input are provided as the one or more input parameters,

the third input being based on at least one of;

a distance between the particular taxi vehicle and the user,

a quoted price received from the particular taxi vehicle,

an amount of time between the sending of the request to the particular taxi vehicle and the receiving of a particular acceptance, of the one or more acceptances, from the particular taxi vehicle, or

preferences associated with the user.

6. The method of claim 1, where sending the confirmation includes:

providing a visual indication to the user,

the visual indication including at least one of;

a countdown timer indicating an amount of estimated time before the particular taxi vehicle arrives at a location associated with the user.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

querying the user for destination information;

providing the destination information to the one or more taxi vehicles; and

receiving, from the particular taxi vehicle, a price based on the destination information,

where the one or more input parameters further include a third input based on the price.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

querying the user for destination information;

querying the user regarding whether the user would like to share a ride;

receiving the destination information and an indication that the user would like to share the ride;

locating, after receiving the indication, at least one other user based on location information associated with the user and the destination information; and

sending instructions for sharing the particular taxi vehicle to the user and the at least one other user.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

querying the user for criteria to use to select the particular taxi vehicle,

where the criteria corresponds to the one or more input parameters, and

where the one or more input parameters further include a third input based on ratings previously provided by one or more other users.

10. A system comprising:

a memory; and

one or more processors to;

receive, from a mobile device of a user, a request for taxi service,

select taxi vehicles to contact based on the request,

provide information associated with the request to the taxi vehicles,

receive acceptances from a plurality of taxi vehicles, of the taxi vehicles, that accepted the request,

determine a current direction of a particular taxi vehicle, of the plurality of taxi vehicles, based on location information obtained at two different points in time from a global positioning system (GPS) receiver of the particular taxi vehicle,

determine a first input for comparing the current direction of the particular taxi vehicle to a side of a street on which the user is standing,

determine a second input for determining whether the particular taxi vehicle is a hybrid vehicle,

determine scores for the plurality of taxi vehicles by using a selection function for which the first input and the second input are provided as one or more input parameters,

when determining the scores by using the selecting function, the one or more processors are to;

determine a first weighted value based on the first input and based on a first weight associated with comparing the current direction of the particular taxi vehicle to the side of the street on which the mobile device is located,

determine a second weighted value based on the second input and based on a second weight associated with determining whether the particular taxi vehicle is a hybrid vehicle, and

determine the scores based on the first weighted value and the second weighted value,

select the particular taxi vehicle, from the plurality of taxi vehicles that accepted the request, based on a particular score, of the scores, that is determined for the particular taxi vehicle,

send a first confirmation, to the mobile device of the user, regarding the particular taxi vehicle being selected for the request, and

send a second confirmation to the particular taxi vehicle.

11. The system of claim 10, where the one or more input parameters further include a third input based on an amount of time between providing the information associated with the request to the particular taxi vehicle and receiving a particular acceptance, of the acceptances, from the particular taxi vehicle.

12. The system of claim 10, where, when receiving the request, the one or more processors are to:

provide at least one of an icon or a voice command function to the user, and

receive the request based on the user activating the icon or the voice command function.

13. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

receive information identifying a location associated with the user,

where, when selecting the taxi vehicles to contact, the one or more processors are to;

select the taxi vehicles to contact based on the request and the information identifying the location associated with the user.

14. The system of claim 10, where the one or more input parameters further include a third input based on one of:

a distance between the particular taxi vehicle and the user,

a quoted price received from the particular taxi vehicle, or

preferences associated with the user.

15. The system of claim 10,

where the one or more processors are further to:

query the user for destination information,

provide the destination information to the particular taxi vehicle, and

receive, from the particular taxi vehicle, a price based on the destination information, and

where the one or more input parameters further include a third input based on the price.

16. The system of claim 10, where the first confirmation includes at least one of:

a countdown timer indicating an amount of estimated time before the particular taxi vehicle arrives at a location associated with the user.

17. The system of claim 10, where the system communicates with a driver of the particular taxi vehicle via at least one of a communication device in the particular taxi vehicle or a mobile communication device associated with the driver.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising:

one or more instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to;

receive a request for taxi service from a mobile device;

select taxi vehicles to contact based on the request;

send the request to the taxi vehicles;

receive, from at least two of the taxi vehicles, acceptances of the request;

determine a current direction of a particular taxi vehicle, of the at least two of the taxi vehicles, based on direction information obtained from a direction sensor of the particular taxi vehicle;

determine a first input for comparing the current direction of the particular taxi vehicle to a side of a street on which a user is standing;

determine a second input for determining whether the particular taxi vehicle is a hybrid vehicle;

determine scores for the at least two of the taxi vehicles by using a selection function for which the first input and the second input are provided as one or more input parameters,

the one or more instructions to determine the scores comprising;

one or more instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to;

determine a first weighted value based on the first input and based on a first weight associated with comparing the current direction of the particular taxi vehicle to the side of the street on which the mobile device is located,

determine a second weighted value based on the second input and based on a second weight associated with determining whether the particular taxi vehicle is a hybrid vehicle, and

determine the scores based on the first weighted value and the second weighted value;

select the particular taxi vehicle, from the at least two of the taxi vehicles that accepted the request, based on a particular score, of the scores, that is associated with the particular taxi vehicle; and

send a confirmation to one or more of the mobile device or the particular taxi.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, where the instructions further comprise:

one or more instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to;

receive, from the mobile device, information provided by the user, of the mobile device, regarding the side of the street on which the user is standing.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 18, where the request is provided by the mobile device when the user, of the mobile device, activates a dedicated button of the mobile device.