Facilitating direct rider driver pairing for mass egress areas

• US 10,325,442 B2
• Filed: 10/12/2016
• Issued: 06/18/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/12/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Brinig, Kevin, Cirit, Fahrettin Olcay, Seger, Margaret-Ann Julia
• Primary Examiner(s): Misiaszek, Amber A
• Application Number:
  US15/292,055
• Publication Number:
  US 20180102017A1
• Time in Patent Office: 979 Days
• Field of Search: 705 711- 742
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0088 characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours using knowledge based models G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/1095 the scanner comprising adaptations for scanning a record carrier that is displayed on a display-screen or the like
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/1417 2D bar codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0057 for the hiring or rent of vehicles, e.g. cars, bicycles or wheelchairs car rental G07B15/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences

Abstract

A transport facilitation can identify a mass egress area within a given region and receive a pick-up request from a rider device within the mass egress area. In response to receiving the pick-up request, the transport facilitation system transmit a match code to the rider device. The system may then receive an indication of the match code from a driver device, the indication signifying a pick-up event between a requesting user of the rider device and an available driver of the driver device within the mass egress area, and record a state for both the rider device and the driver device indicating an initiation of a ride to a destination of the requesting user.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method comprising:

receiving vehicle destination input;

determining a business located at the destination;

selecting and delivering a survey, related to the business, to a vehicle occupant over a vehicle audio system while the user travels to the destination;

collecting survey results from the vehicle occupant using a vehicle-based input;

relaying the survey results to a remote server for processing; and

providing a digital reward to a participating occupant.

2. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

generate a geo-fence area including at least a portion of the given region, wherein the driver application executing on the computing device of the available driver operates in a normal service state when the available driver is external to the geo-fence area.

3. The computing system of claim 2, wherein the executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

receive, over the one or more networks, location data from a location-based resource of the computing device of the available driver, the location data indicating a dynamic current location of the available driver traveling throughout the given region;

based on the dynamic current location of the available driver, detect the available driver entering the geo-fence area; and

in response to the available driver entering the geo-fence area, transmit, over the one or more networks, trigger data to the driver application executing on the computing device of the available driver, the trigger data causing the driver application to switch from the normal service state to a late-binding state, the late-binding state enabling reception of the match code on the computing device of the available driver to pair the available driver with the requesting user.

4. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

transmit, over the one or more networks, notifications to the rider application executing on computing devices of users of the transport service that are located within the given region, the notifications indicating a pick-up area to pair with available drivers within the given region.

5. The computing system of claim 4, wherein the executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

in response to receiving the pick-up request, transmit, over the one or more networks, map data to the rider application executing on the computing device of the requesting user, the map data causing map content to be generated on a display screen of the computing device of the requesting user, the map content providing walking directions to a pick-up location.

6. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the match code comprises a personal identification number (PIN) displayed on a user interface of the rider application, and wherein receiving the data indicating the match code from the computing device of the available driver corresponds to the available driver inputting the PIN on the computing device of the available driver.

7. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the match code comprises a quick response (QR) code displayed on a user interface of the rider application, wherein receiving the data indicating the match code from the computing device of the available driver corresponds to the available driver scanning the QR code with the computing device of the available driver.

8. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the match code comprises an ultrasonic signature to be outputted by an audio system of the computing device of the requesting user, and wherein receiving the data indicating the match code from the computing device of the available driver corresponds to the computing device of the available driver detecting the ultrasonic signature outputted from the computing device of the requesting user.

9. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the transport service enables users to select from a plurality of ride service types comprising a plurality of:

a ride-pooling service, a standard ride sharing service, a luxury vehicle service, a high-capacity vehicle service, a professional driver service, or a self-driving vehicle transport service.

10. The computing system of claim 9, wherein the executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

allocate a late-binding area within the given region for each of the plurality of ride service types; and

transmit, over the one or more networks, indications of each late-binding area to the driver application executing on computing devices of available drivers within the given region to enable each respective driver of the available drivers to drive to an appropriate late-binding area based on an offered ride service type of the respective driver.

11. The computing system of claim 10, wherein the received pick-up request from the computing device of the requesting user indicates a particular requested service type, and wherein the executed instructions further cause the one or more processors to:

transmit, over the one or more networks, map data to the rider application executing on the computing device of the requesting user, the map data causing a user interface of the rider application to display walking directions to a pick-up location corresponding to the late-binding area for the particular requested service type.

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

communicate, over one or more networks, with (i) a rider application executing on computing devices of users of a transport service, and (ii) a driver application executing on computing devices of drivers of the transport service;

receive, over the one or more networks, a pick-up request from the rider application executing on a computing device of a requesting user within a given region;

in response to receiving the pick-up request, transmit, over the one or more networks, a match code to the rider application executing on the computing device of the requesting user;

receive, over the one or more networks, data indicating the match code from the driver application executing on a computing device of an available driver, the received data signifying a pick-up event between the requesting user and the available driver within the mass given region; and

record a state for both the requesting user and the available driver indicating an initiation of a ride to a destination of the requesting user.

13. A computer-implemented method of implementing a transport service for a given region, the method being performed by one or more processors and comprising:

communicating, over one or more networks, with (i) a rider application executing on computing devices of users of the transport service, and (ii) a driver application executing on computing devices of drivers of the transport service;

receiving, over the one or more networks, a pick-up request from the rider application executing on a computing device of a requesting user within the given region;

in response to receiving the pick-up request, transmitting, over the one or more networks, a match code to the rider application executing on the computing device of the requesting user;

receiving, over the one or more networks, data indicating the match code from the driver application executing on a computing device of an available driver, the received data signifying a pick-up event between the requesting user and the available driver within the given region; and

recording a state for both the requesting user and the available driver indicating an initiation of a ride to a destination of the requesting user.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

generating a geo-fence area including at least a portion of the given region, wherein the driver application executing on the computing device of the available driver, operates in a normal service state when the available driver is external to the geo-fence area.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving, over the one or more networks, location data from a location-based resource of the computing device of the available driver, the location data indicating a dynamic current location of the available driver traveling throughout the given region;

based on the dynamic current location of the available driver, detecting the available driver entering the geo-fence area; and

in response to the available driver entering the geo-fence area, transmitting, over the one or more networks, trigger data to the driver application executing on the computing device of the available driver, the trigger data causing the driver application to switch from the normal service state to a late-binding state, the late-binding state enabling reception of the match code on the computing device of the available driver to pair the available driver with the requesting user.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the match code comprises a personal identification number (PIN) displayed on a user interface of the rider application, and wherein receiving the data indicating the match code from the computing device of the available driver corresponds to the available driver inputting the PIN on the computing device of the available driver.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the match code comprises a quick response (QR) code displayed on a user interface of the rider application, and wherein receiving the data indicating the match code from the computing device of the available driver corresponds to the available driver scanning the QR code with the computing device of the available driver.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the match code comprises an ultrasonic signature to be outputted by an audio system of the computing device of the requesting user, and wherein receiving the data indicating the match code from the computing device of the available driver corresponds to the computing device of the available driver detecting the ultrasonic signature outputted from the computing device of the requesting user.