Facilitating rider pick-up for a transport service

• US 10,215,574 B2
• Filed: 08/06/2015
• Issued: 02/26/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Cun, Benjamin Le, West, John David
• Primary Examiner(s): Bashore, William L
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shrewsbury, Nathan K
• Application Number:
  US14/820,382
• Publication Number:
  US 20170038948A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,300 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/343 Calculating itineraries, i.e. routes leading from a starting point to a series of categorical destinations using a global route restraint, round trips, touristic trips travelling salesman problem G06Q10/04; optimisation of routes G06Q10/047
• 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: G01C 21/367 Details, e.g. road map scale, orientation, zooming, illumination, level of detail, scrolling of road map or positioning of current position marker
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1637 Sensing arrangement for detection of housing movement or orientation, e.g. for controlling scrolling or cursor movement on the display of an handheld computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/453 Help systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083

Abstract

A transport facilitation system is disclosed that can facilitate pick-ups in connection with a transportation arrangement service. The transport facilitation system can initially receive a pick-up request from a user device of a requesting user and select a driver to service the pick-up request. The transport facilitation system can transmit an invitation to service the pick-up request to a driver device of the driver and receive a confirmation to service the pick-up request from the driver device. Thereafter the transport facilitation system can, detect, from the user device, a sensor pattern corresponding to a hailing action performed by the requesting user using the user device. In response to detecting the sensor pattern, the transport facilitation system can initiate a selected display pattern on a graphical user interface (GUI) of the user device to enable the driver to identify the requesting user.

Claims

1. A transport facilitation system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more memory resources storing instructions for facilitating a pick-up in connection with a transportation arrangement service, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the transport facilitation system to;

receive a pick-up request, over one or more networks, from a user device of a requesting user;

select a driver of a vehicle to service the pick-up request;

transmit an invitation to service the pick-up request to a driver device of the driver;

receive a confirmation to service the pick-up request from the driver device;

detect, from the user device, a sensor pattern corresponding to a hailing action performed using the user device; and

in response to detecting the sensor pattern, (i) transmit a trigger signal to initiate a selected display pattern on a graphical user interface (GUI) of the user device, and (ii) transmit a second trigger signal to the driver device, the second trigger signal causing the driver device to initiate the selected display pattern on a header bar of a GUI of the driver device and a camera flash component on a rear side of the driver device to enable the requesting user to identify the vehicle.

2. The transport facilitation system of claim 1, wherein the GUI of the user device is generated via execution of a user application, and wherein the GUI of the driver device is generated via execution of a driver application, the user and driver applications being associated with the transportation arrangement service facilitated by the transport facilitation system.

3. The transport facilitation system of claim 2, wherein the executed instructions further cause the transport facilitation system to:

provide, on the GUI of the user device, a catalog of display patterns; and

receive a user selection, from the user device, of the selected display pattern from the catalog of display patterns;

wherein initiating the selected display pattern on the GUI of the user device and the GUI of the driver device is based on the user selection.

4. The transport facilitation system of claim 3, wherein the executed instructions further cause the transport facilitation system to:

provide a selectable feature on the GUI of the user device to enable the requesting user to select a display pattern feature of the user application, wherein selection of the display pattern feature triggers the transport facilitation system to (i) detect the sensor pattern corresponding to the hailing action, and (ii) initiate the selected display pattern on the GUI of the user device.

5. The transport facilitation system of claim 1, wherein the executed instructions cause the selected display pattern to be displayed on the GUI of the user device and the GUI of the driver device for a predetermined time period.

6. The transport facilitation system of claim 1, wherein the selected display pattern comprises a unique color that flashes on the GUIs of the user and driver devices at a predetermined frequency.

7. The transport facilitation system of claim 1, wherein the selected display pattern comprises a series of unique colors that flash in a preselected sequence on the GUIs of the user and driver devices.

8. The transport facilitation system of claim 1, wherein the executed instructions further cause the transport facilitation system to:

in response to receiving the confirmation to service the pick-up request from the driver device, monitor sensor data from the user device to detect the sensor pattern.

9. The transport facilitation system of claim 8, wherein the executed instructions cause the transport facilitation system to monitor the sensor data from one or more of an accelerometer and a gyroscope of the user device.

10. The transport facilitation system of claim 9, wherein the executed instructions cause the transport facilitation system to detect the sensor pattern from the user device by comparing the sensor data to a predetermined mapping of the sensor pattern.

11. The transport facilitation system of claim 8, wherein the executed instructions further cause the transport facilitation system to:

detect, from the sensor data, an end to the hailing action; and

in response to detecting the end to the hailing action, terminate the selected display pattern on the GUI of the user device.

12. The transport facilitation system of claim 1, wherein the executed instructions further cause the transport facilitation system to:

identify a plurality of current requesting users within a proximity of the requesting user; and

select the selected display pattern from a catalog of display patterns such that the selected display pattern does not match other display patterns for any of the plurality of current requesting users.

13. A method for facilitating a pick-up in connection with a transportation arrangement service, the method comprising:

receiving a pick-up request, over one or more networks, from a user device of a requesting user;

selecting a driver of a vehicle to service the pick-up request;

transmitting an invitation to service the pick-up request to a driver device of the driver;

receiving a confirmation to service the pick-up request from the driver device;

detecting, from the user device, a sensor pattern corresponding to a hailing action performed using the user device; and

in response to detecting the sensor pattern, (i) transmitting a trigger signal to initiate a selected display pattern on a graphical user interface (GUI) of the user device to enable the driver to identify the requesting user, and (ii) transmitting a second trigger signal to the driver device, the second trigger signal causing the driver device to generate the selected display pattern on a header bar of a GUI of the driver device and initiate a camera flash component on a rear side of the driver device to enable the requesting user to identify the vehicle.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the GUI of the user device is generated via execution of a user application, and wherein the GUI of the driver device is generated via execution of a driver application, the user and driver applications being associated with the transportation arrangement service.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

receive a pick-up request, over one or more networks, from a user device of a requesting user;

select a driver of a vehicle to service the pick-up request;

transmit an invitation to service the pick-up request to a driver device of the driver;

receive a confirmation to service the pick-up request from the driver device;

detect, from the user device, a sensor pattern corresponding to a hailing action performed using the user device; and

in response to detecting the sensor pattern, (i) transmit a trigger signal to initiate a selected display pattern on a graphical user interface (GUI) of the user device, and (ii) transmit a second trigger signal to the driver device, the second trigger signal causing the driver device to generate the selected display pattern on a header bar of a GUI of the driver device and initiate a camera flash component on a rear side of the driver device to enable the requesting user to identify the vehicle.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the GUI of the user device is generated via execution of a user application, and wherein the GUI of the driver device is generated via execution of a driver application, the user and driver applications being associated with a transportation arrangement service.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

provide, on the GUI of the user device, a catalog of display patterns; and

receive a user selection, from the user device, of the selected display pattern from the catalog of display patterns;

wherein initiating the selected display pattern on the GUI of the user device and the GUI of the driver device is based on the user selection.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

provide a selectable feature on the GUI of the user device to enable the requesting user to select a display pattern feature of the user application, wherein selection of the display pattern feature triggers the one or more processors to (i) detect the sensor pattern corresponding to the hailing action, and (ii) initiate the selected display pattern on the GUI of the user device.