Methods to mitigate communication delays between systems in connection with a transport service

• US 10,009,306 B2
• Filed: 05/15/2015
• Issued: 06/26/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Garg, Sunil Kumar, Vardhan, Abhay
• Primary Examiner(s): Park, Jeong S
• Application Number:
  US14/714,077
• Publication Number:
  US 20160337294A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,138 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0284 Time or distance, e.g. usage of parking meters or taximeters
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 13/00 Taximeters measuring distance travelled G01C; measuring time G04
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/202 Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/18 Commands or executable codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/222 using geographical location information, e.g. messages transmitted or received in proximity of a certain spot or area
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal

Abstract

A system operating on a computing device can determine a set of location data points of the computing device during progress of a transport service, and can transmit the set of location data points to a network service. The system can transmit, to the network service, a message indicating that the transport service has been completed. The system determines whether a predetermined duration of time has elapsed since transmitting the message indicating that the transport service has been completed, during which a predefined message has not been received by the application from the network service. The predefined message is associated with a confirmation that the transport service has been processed by the network service. If the predetermined duration of time has elapsed during which the predefined message has not been received, the system displays first content as opposed to second content on the computing device.

Claims

1. A method of displaying information on a computing device of a driver in connection with the driver providing a transport service, the method being performed by one or more processors of the computing device and comprising:

running an application on the computing device using computing resources and memory resources of the computing device, the application being in communication with a network service over one or more networks;

during progress of the transport service, (i) determining a set of location data points using a global positioning system (GPS) receiver of the computing device, each of the set of location data points corresponding to a current location of the computing device at an instance in time, (ii) transmitting, to the network service, the set of location data points, and (iii) receiving data from the network service to enable independent determination of a value that estimates a monetary amount for the transport service as determined by the network service, the value reflecting at least one of a distance or time of travel for the transport service;

transmitting, to the network service, a message indicating that the transport service has been completed;

initiating a timer for a predetermined duration of time based on the transmitted message;

determining that (i) the predetermined duration of time has elapsed since transmitting the message indicating that the transport service has been completed, and (ii) during the predetermined duration of time, a predefined message has not been received by the application from the network service, the predefined message being associated with a confirmation that the transport service has been processed by the network service; and

after the predetermined duration of time has elapsed, triggering the computing device to display content that identifies the estimated value for the transport service on a display of the computing device, the estimated value being determined by the computing device using the data received from the network service.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting, to the network service, a message indicating that the transport service has begun in response to receiving a first user input on the application running on the computing device; and

wherein transmitting the message indicating that the transport service has been completed is performed in response to receiving a second user input on the application running on the computing device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving data from the network service to enable independent determination of the value includes

receiving information for estimating the monetary amount from the network service, and storing the information in the memory resources.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein triggering the computing device includes:

retrieving, from the memory resources, information about the monetary amount that is most recently received from the network service.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the network service, an invitation message to provide a transport service for a requesting user;

displaying, on the display, an invitation user interface based on the invitation message;

transmitting, to the network service, an acceptance message in response to receiving a first user input on the application running on the computing device; and

wherein receiving data from the network service to enable independent determination of the value includes—

receiving, from the network service, a set of instructions and price information for the transport service, the set of instructions enabling determination of the value based at least in part on the price information.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the set of instructions are received in response to transmitting the acceptance message.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computing device, cause the computing device to:

run an application on the computing device, the application being in communication with a network service over one or more networks;

during progress of a transport service, (i) determine a set of location data points using a global positioning system (GPS) receiver of the computing device, each of the set of location data points corresponding to a current location of the computing device at an instance in time, (ii) transmit, to the network service, the set of location data points, and (iii) receive data from the network service to enable independent determination of a value that estimates a monetary amount for the transport service as determined by the network service, the value reflecting at least one of a distance or time of travel for the transport service;

transmit, to the network service, a message indicating that the transport service has been completed;

initiating a timer for a predetermined duration of time based on the transmitted message;

determine whether the predetermined duration of time has elapsed since transmitting the message indicating that the transport service has been completed, during which a predefined message has not been received by the application from the network service, the predefined message being associated with a confirmation that the transport service has been processed by the network service;

if the predetermined duration of time has elapsed since transmitting the message indicating that the transport service has been completed, during which the predefined message has not been received by the application, trigger the computing device to display a first content that identifies the estimated value for the transport service on a display of the computing device, the estimated value being determined by the computing device using the data received from the network service; and

else if the predefined message is received by the application before the predetermined duration of time has elapsed since transmitting the message indicating that the transport service has been completed, display, on the display, a second content based on information from the predefined message.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to:

transmit, to the network service, a message indicating that the transport service has begun in response to receiving a first user input on the application running on the computing device; and

wherein the instructions cause the computing device to transmit the message indicating that the transport service has been completed is performed in response to receiving a second user input on the application running on the computing device.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the computing device receives data over the one or more networks that includes information about the

monetary amount from the network service, and (iii) store the information about the monetary amount in the non-transitory computer-readable medium or another memory resource accessible by the one or more processors.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to:

if the predetermined duration of time has elapsed, retrieve information about the monetary amount that is most recently received from the network service.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to:

receive, from the network service, an invitation message to provide a transport service for a requesting user;

display, on the display, an invitation user interface based on the invitation message;

transmit, to the network service, an acceptance message in response to receiving a first user input on the application running on the computing device; and

wherein the data that the computing device receives includes price information.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the data is received in response to transmitting the acceptance message.