System for navigating drivers to service transportation requests from a simplified transportation request device

• US 10,101,166 B2
• Filed: 09/28/2016
• Issued: 10/16/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LYFT Incorporated
• Original Assignee: GT GetTaxi Limited
• Inventors: Marco, Talmon
• Primary Examiner(s): Shaawat, Mussa A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kerrigan, Michael V
• Application Number:
  US15/278,153
• Publication Number:
  US 20180087915A1
• Time in Patent Office: 748 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• 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: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08355 Routing methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/10 Services
• 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 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences

Abstract

In one embodiment a first transportation request is received at a backend server from a first device dedicated solely to functions associated with a transportation service, wherein the first device sends the first transportation request in response to a user pressing a button of the first device, wherein direct user input to the first device is limited to one or two buttons. In response to receiving the first transportation request, an account of the user is accessed to identify a geographical location associated with the first device. A driver associated with the transportation service is navigated to pick up the user at the geographical location associated with the first device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a backend server, a first transportation request from a first device dedicated solely to functions associated with a transportation service, wherein the first device sends the first transportation request in response to detecting activation of an input element of the first device, wherein the first device comprises one or two input elements solely to receive direct input;

in response to receiving the first transportation request, accessing, by the backend server, an account of a user corresponding to the first device, wherein accessing the account further comprises identifying a geographical location associated with the first device that is stored as information in the account of the user; and

transmitting, by the backend server, navigation data to a driver device associated with the transportation service, the navigation data to cause the driver device to navigate to pick up a user of the first device at the geographical location associated with the first device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the backend server, a second transportation request from a second device dedicated solely to functions associated with the transportation service, wherein the second device sends the second transportation request in response to activation of a second input element of the second device, wherein the activation is limited to the second input element;

in response to receiving the second transportation request, accessing the account of the user to identify a second geographical location associated with the second device, the second geographical location associated with the second device being different from the geographical location associated with the first device; and

transmitting second navigation data to the driver device or another driver device associated with the transportation service to pick up the user at the geographical location associated with the second device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the transportation request comprises an identifier unique to the device that is used to access the account of the user to identify the geographical location associated with the first device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the transportation request comprises an identifier unique to the account of the user of the transportation service.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a command from a computing device logged into the account of the user to associate the geographical location with the first device, the computing device distinct from the first device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

calculating an estimate of the amount of time for the driver device to arrive at the geographic location of the user; and

communicating the estimate to the first device for presentation to the user.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving, from the first device, a request for an update of the estimate; and

sending the update of the estimate to the first device.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

starting a timer based on the estimate;

calculating a second estimate of the amount of time for the driver device to arrive at the geographic location of the user; and

sending, to the first device, the second estimate in response to a determination that a deviation between the timer and the second estimate exceeds a predetermined threshold.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an additional transportation request from a second user; and

granting priority to the first transportation request over the additional transportation request based on the first transportation request being received from a device dedicated solely to functions associated with the transportation service.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating an indication associated with surge pricing to the first device in response to receiving the first transportation request.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an audio recording from the first device and performing at least one operation in response to the audio recording.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the audio recording comprises an audio recording of a destination location spoken by the user and the method further comprises calculating a price for the transportation request and sending the price to the first device for display to the user.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying the user of the first device based on a history of requests made by the user that have a common pickup location.

14. An apparatus comprising:

a communication interface; and

at least one processor communicably coupled to the communication interface, the at least one processor to;

receive, via the communication interface, a first transportation request from a first device dedicated solely to functions associated with a transportation service, wherein the first device sends the first transportation request in response to detecting activation of an input element of the first device, wherein the first device comprises one or two input elements solely to receive direct input;

in response to receiving the first transportation request, access an account of a user corresponding to the first device, wherein accessing the account further comprises identifying a geographical location associated with the first device that is stored as information in the account of the user; and

transmit, via the communication interface, navigation data to a driver device associated with the transportation service, the navigation data to cause the driver device to navigate to pick up a user of the first device at the geographical location associated with the first device.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the at least one processor is further to:

receive a second transportation request from a second device dedicated solely to functions associated with the transportation service, wherein the second device sends the second transportation request in response to activation of a second input element of the second device, wherein the activation is limited to the second input element button;

in response to receiving the second transportation request, access the account of the user to identify a second geographical location associated with the second device, the second geographical location associated with the second device being different from the geographical location associated with the first device; and

transmit second navigation data to the driver device or another driver device associated with the transportation service to pick up the user at the geographical location associated with the second device.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the transportation request comprises an identifier unique to the device that is used to access the account of the user to identify the geographical location associated with the first device.

17. A method comprising:

detecting activation of an input element of a first device, the first device dedicated solely to functions associated with a transportation service, wherein direct user input to the first device is limited to one or two buttons;

sending a first transportation request from the first device to a backend server in response to the activation of the input element;

receiving an estimate of an amount of time for a driver device associated with the transportation service to arrive at a pickup location associated with the first device, wherein the pickup location is identified based on geographic information stored in an account of the user that is accessed by the backend server in response to the first transportation request; and

displaying, on a user interface of the first device, an indication to the user based on the estimate of the amount of time.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the transportation request comprises an identifier unique to the device, the identifier unique to the device being associated with the account of the user associated with the first device.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising starting a timer in response to receiving the estimate of the amount of time, wherein the displayed indication is further based on a value of the timer.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising displaying, by the first device, surge pricing information associated with the first transportation request.