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

• US 10,439,973 B2
• Filed: 04/06/2018
• Issued: 10/08/2019
• 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:
  US15/947,012
• Publication Number:
  US 20180227258A1
• Time in Patent Office: 550 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 providing information in connection with a transport service to a computing device, the method being performed by a computing system and comprising:

arranging a transport service to be provided by a driver operating the computing device;

during progress of the transport service, receiving a set of location data points from the computing device over one or more networks, the set of location data points being determined using a global positioning system (GPS) receiver of the computing device, wherein each of the set of location data points corresponds to a location of the computing device at an instance in time;

determining one or more price parameters for the transport service, wherein at least one of the price parameters is based on at least one of the set of location data points; and

transmitting the one or more price parameters to the computing device to enable independent determination of a value that corresponds to a monetary amount for the transport service, the value being related to at least one of a distance or time of travel for the transport service;

wherein the computing device determines the value upon determining that the computing device has not received data corresponding to the value from the computing system during a predetermined duration of time after transmitting a message to the computing system indicating that the transport service has been completed.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more price parameters include a vehicle type used by the driver, price data associated with the vehicle type in a geographic region identified from the set of location data points, and/or a current price multiplier as compared to the price data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device determines the value based at least on the one or more price parameters and at least one of the distance or time of travel for the transport service.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein after the predetermined duration of time has elapsed, the computing device displays content that identifies the value on a display of the computing device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to receiving the message, concurrently (i) initiating a value determination operation to update the value using at least some of the set of location data points, and (ii) initiating a processing operation for the transport service;

making a determination that the processing operation for the transport service has exceeded a programmed duration of time; and

based on the determination, transmitting, to the computing device, information corresponding to the updated value.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the processing operation includes a value calculation operation using at least some of the set of location data points and time information associated with the transport service, and wherein the processing operation further includes one or more of (i) a data storage operation corresponding to aggregating the set of location data points and other data associated with the transport service and storing the aggregated data in a persistent memory resource, or (ii) a fraud detection operation corresponding to analyzing the transport service to determine a fraud score.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the value calculation operation uses more location data points of the set of location data points than the value determination operation uses.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein initiating the processing operation includes adding information about the transport service in a queue.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein arranging the transport service to be provided by the driver operating the computing device includes receiving a request for transport from a user, and selecting the driver to provide the transport service, and further comprising:

determining, from the request for transport, a payment profile corresponding to a payment method that the user has specified to pay for the transport service.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein concurrently initiating the value determination operation and initiating the processing operation is performed based on the payment profile specified by the user.

11. A computing system comprising:

a memory resource to store instructions; and

one or more processors using the instructions stored in the memory resource to perform operations including;

arranging a transport service to be provided by a driver operating a computing device;

during progress of the transport service, receiving a set of location data points from the computing device over one or more networks, the set of location data points being determined using a global positioning system (GPS) receiver of the computing device, wherein each of the set of location data points corresponds to a location of the computing device at an instance in time;

determining one or more price parameters for the transport service, wherein at least one of the price parameters is based on at least one of the set of location data points; and

transmitting the one or more price parameters to the computing device to enable independent determination of a value that corresponds to a monetary amount for the transport service, the value being related to at least one of a distance or time of travel for the transport service;

wherein the computing device determines the value upon determining that the computing device has not received data corresponding to the value from the computing system during a predetermined duration of time after transmitting a message to the computing system indicating that the transport service has been completed.

12. The computing system of claim 11, wherein the one or more price parameters include a vehicle type used by the driver, price data associated with the vehicle type in a geographic region identified from the set of location data points, and/or a current price multiplier as compared to the price data.

13. The computing system of claim 11, wherein the computing device determines the value based at least on the one or more price parameters and at least one of the distance or time of travel for the transport service.

14. The computing system of claim 11, wherein after the predetermined duration of time has elapsed, the computing device displays content that identifies the value on a display of the computing device.

15. The computing system of claim 11, including further instructions for:

in response to receiving the message, concurrently (i) initiating a value determination operation to update the value using at least some of the set of location data points, and (ii) initiating a processing operation for the transport service;

making a determination that the processing operation for the transport service has exceeded a programmed duration of time; and

based on the determination, transmitting, to the computing device, information corresponding to the updated value.

16. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the processing operation includes a value calculation operation using at least some of the set of location data points and time information associated with the transport service, and wherein the processing operation further includes one or more of (i) a data storage operation corresponding to aggregating the set of location data points and other data associated with the transport service and storing the aggregated data in a persistent memory resource, or (ii) a fraud detection operation corresponding to analyzing the transport service to determine a fraud score.

17. The computing system of claim 16, wherein the value calculation operation uses more location data points of the set of location data points than the value determination operation uses.

18. The computing system of claim 15, wherein initiating the processing operation includes adding information about the transport service in a queue.

19. The computing system of claim 15, wherein arranging the transport service to be provided by the driver operating the computing device includes receiving a request for transport from a user, and selecting the driver to provide the transport service, and including further instructions for:

determining, from the request for transport, a payment profile corresponding to a payment method that the user has specified to pay for the transport service.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores instructions, executable by one or more processors of a computing system, to cause the one or more processors to perform operations including:

arranging a transport service to be provided by a driver operating a computing device;

during progress of the transport service, receiving a set of location data points from the computing device over one or more networks, the set of location data points being determined using a global positioning system (GPS) receiver of the computing device, wherein each of the set of location data points corresponds to a location of the computing device at an instance in time;

determining one or more price parameters for the transport service, wherein at least one of the price parameters is based on at least one of the set of location data points; and

transmitting the one or more price parameters to the computing device to enable independent determination of a value that corresponds to a monetary amount for the transport service, the value being related to at least one of a distance or time of travel for the transport service;

wherein the computing device determines the value upon determining that the computing device has not received data corresponding to the value from the computing system during a predetermined duration of time after transmitting a message to the computing system indicating that the transport service has been completed.