System and method for intermediary agency to find better service providers

• US 10,083,448 B2
• Filed: 12/19/2014
• Issued: 09/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP SE
• Inventors: Cheng, Yu, Wang, Mengjiao, Li, Wen-Syan
• Primary Examiner(s): Koneru, Sujay
• Application Number:
  US14/576,230
• Publication Number:
  US 20160180346A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,376 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/016 After-sales
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a framework for determining a service provider to service a customer request. In accordance with one aspect, a request from a customer is received by a decision module. The decision module further receives a response to the request from a first service provider, determines the average frequency of responses for a given time interval during the time and location of the request, estimates arrival time of the first service provider and near-by service providers to the location of the customer, ranks all service providers based on arrival time, and estimates a probability of a shorter customer wait time.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for determining a service provider to service a customer request comprising:

receiving, by a decision module, over a first computer network, a request from a software application executed on a mobile device of a customer, the request comprising a request time and a location of the customer, the location being determined by a first wireless communication network or GPS data;

receiving, by the decision module, over a second computer network, which may be the second computer network, a response to the request from a first service provider, wherein the response indicates that the first service provider desires to service the request;

receiving a response to the request from a first service provider by the decision module, wherein the response indicates that the first service provider desires to service the request, the response comprising a location of the first service provider determined by a second wireless communication network, which may be the first wireless communication network, or GPS data;

determining, by the decision module, the average frequency of responses for a given time interval during the time and location of the request;

estimating, by the decision module, an arrival time of the first service provider and near-by service providers to the location of the customer based at least in part on real-time traffic data automatically retrieved by the decision module from a real-time graphical information navigation service with real-time traffic flow data, locations of the near-by service providers being determined by a third wireless communication network, which may be the same as the first or second wireless communication networks, or GPS data;

ranking all service providers based on arrival time;

estimating a probability of a shorter customer wait time, the estimating a probability of a shorter customer wait time comprising using;

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the service provider is a taxi driver and the customer is a passenger.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the average frequency of responses for a given time interval is based on historical records of taxi responses.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the average frequency of responses is a Poisson distribution.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein estimating a probability of shorter customer wait time comprises using:

6. A decision module for determining a service provider to service a customer request comprising:

a storage comprising historical records of service provider responses, service provider distribution data, GIS data and real time traffic data, the real-time traffic data automatically retrieved from a real-time graphical information navigation service with real-time traffic flow data; and

a processor, coupled to the storage, the processor configured to receive a request from a customer for service from a service provider and a response to the request by a first service provider to service the request, the processor comprises, the request from the customer comprising a location of the customer determined by a first wireless communication network or GPS data and the request from the service provider comprising a location of the service provider determined by a second wireless communication network, which may be the first wireless communication network, or GPS data, the processor comprising;

a time arrival estimator, the time arrival estimator estimating an arrival time of the first service provider to the customer and arrival times of near-by service providers from the service provider distribution data, including based on locations of the near-by service providers determined by a third wireless communication network, which may be the first or second wireless communication networks, or GPS data,

a decision-making handler, wherein the decision making handler comprises,

a service provider response probability model for determining a number of service providers which may respond to the request, and

a customer waiting time reduction probability model for determining a probability of a shorter wait time for the customer to have the request serviced, the customer waiting time reduction probability model using historical service provider response times and comprising computer executable instructions for;

determining a probability of occurrences of service provider responses for a given number of possible service providers; and

determining a probability that at least a first service provider for a given number of possible service provider will have a faster response time than at least a second service provider of the given number of possible service providers, wherein the decision-making handler decides,

if the probability of a shorter customer wait time is higher than a threshold,

 

(i) wait for a service provider with a shorter customer wait time to respond to the request,

 

ii) automatically issue an order over a first communication network to the service provider with the shorter customer wait time to service the request, wherein issuing the order to the service provider with the shorter customer wait time reduces the time the customer waits for a service provider to arrive, and

 

(iii) if no service provider with a shorter customer wait time responds to the request within a prescribed period of time, automatically issue the order over the first communication network to the first service provider to service the request; and

if the probability of a shorter customer wait time is lower than a threshold, automatically issue the order over the first communication network to the first service provider to service the request.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the service providers are taxis and the customers are passengers.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein the customer waiting time reduction probability model comprises

9. The device of claim 6, wherein the service provider response probability model comprises

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon program code, the program code executable by a computer for determining a service provider to service a customer request comprising:

receiving, by a decision module over a first computer network, a request from a software application executed on a mobile device of a customer, the request comprising a request time and a location of the customer, the location being determined by a first wireless communication network or GPS data;

receiving, by the decision module over a second computer network, which may be the same as the first computer network, a response to the request from a first service provider, wherein the response indicates that the first service provider desires to service the request, the response comprising a location of the first service provider determined by a second wireless communication network, which may be the first wireless communication network, or GPS data;

determining, by the decision module, the average frequency of responses for a given time interval during the time and location of the request;

estimating, by the decision module, arrival times of the first service provider and near-by service providers to the location of the customer based at least in part on real-time traffic data automatically retrieved by the decision module from a real-time graphical information navigation service with real-time traffic flow data, locations of the near-by service providers being determined by a third wireless communication network, which may be the same as the first or second communication networks, or GPS data;

ranking all service providers based on arrival time;

based at least in part on the determined average frequency of responses for a given time interval, estimating a probability of a shorter customer wait time, the estimating a probability of a shorter customer wait time associated with an identified service provider comprising using historical records of service provider responses;

if the probability of a shorter customer wait time is higher than a threshold,

(i) wait for a service provider with a shorter customer wait time to respond to the request,

(ii) automatically issue an order over a second computer network, which may be the same as the first or second computer networks, to the service provider with the shorter customer wait time to service the request, wherein issuing the order to the service provider with the shorter customer wait time reduces the time the customer waits for a service provider to arrive, and

(iii) if no service provider with a shorter customer wait time responds to the request within a prescribed period of time, automatically issue the order over the third computer network to the first service provider to service the request; and

if the probability of a shorter customer wait time is lower than a threshold, automatically issue the order over the third communication network to the first service provider to service the request.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the average frequency of responses for a given time interval is based on historical records of taxi responses.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the average frequency of responses is a Poisson distribution.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the service provider is a taxi driver and the customer is a passenger.