PROGRAMMATICALLY DETERMINING LOCATION INFORMATION IN CONNECTION WITH A TRANSPORT SERVICE

• US 20160232719A1
• Filed: 02/05/2016
• Published: 08/11/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Brinig, Kevin, Heller, Daniel, Sifleet, Todd, Pulakunta, Jyothidhar
• Granted Patent: US 9,852,551 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• 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: G01S 19/42 Determining position
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 13/06 Driving arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 13/10 automatically actuated
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 15/02 taking into account a variable factor such as distance or time, e.g. for passenger transport, parking systems or car rental systems G07B15/06 takes precedence; taximeters G07B13/00; parking meters per se G07F17/24; car rental systems per se G07B15/00

Abstract

A system for programmatically determining location information in connection with a transport service is disclosed. A driver can operate a driver device and can be assigned to provide a transport service for a user. Based on the current location of the driver device with respect to the pickup location for the user, and based on when the driver provides input indicating that the transport service has begun, the system can identify a previous location of the driver device as a start location of the transport service.

Claims

1. A method of programmatically determining location information in connection with a transport service, the method being performed by a computing system and comprising:

arranging, by the computing system, a transport service to be provided by a driver for a rider;

periodically receiving, from a driver device of the driver over one or more networks, a location data point corresponding to a current location of the driver device;

determining, at a first instance in time, that the current location of the driver device is within a first predetermined distance or a first predetermined estimated travel time away from a pickup location of the rider;

determining, at a second instance in time subsequent to the first instance in time, that the current location of the driver device is more than a second predetermined distance or a second predetermined estimated travel time away from the pickup location;

subsequently, while the current location of the driver device is more than the second predetermined distance or the second predetermined estimated travel time away from the pickup location, receiving, from the driver device, first data indicating that the transport service has begun;

in response to receiving the first data, causing a driver application running on the driver device to present a user interface including at least one selectable feature;

receiving, from the driver device, second data indicating that the at least one selectable feature has been selected indicating that the transport service had previously begun at or near the pickup location, as opposed to a location of the driver device when the first data was received; and

in response to receiving the second data, identifying, at the computing system, a previous location data point received from the driver device as a start location of the transport service.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first predetermined distance or the first predetermined estimated travel time and the second predetermined distance or the second predetermined estimated travel time is a user-configurable parameter;

and

wherein the first predetermined distance or the first predetermined estimated travel time is different than the second predetermined distance or the second predetermined estimated travel time, respectively.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the periodically received location data points in a memory resource, the periodically received location data points being associated with a record of the transport service.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein each of the periodically received location data points corresponds to a location data point determined from a global positioning system (GPS) receiver of the driver device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein identifying the previous location data point of the driver device as the start location of the transport service includes determining, from the stored location data points, a first set of location data points that are substantially identical to each other.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein each of the first set of location data points (i) are positioned within the first predetermined distance or the first predetermined estimated travel time away from the pickup location and within the second predetermined distance or the second predetermined estimated travel time away from the pickup location, and (ii) has an associated timestamp between the first instance in time and the second instance in time.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein identifying the previous location data point of the driver device as the start location of the transport service includes (i) selecting, from the first set of location data points, a first location data point having the most recent timestamp, and (ii) designating the first location data point as the start location of the transport service.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

determining a second set of location data points from the stored location data points, each of the second set of location data points having an associated timestamp subsequent to the associated timestamp of the first location data point; and

recording the first location data point as the start location of the transport service and the second set of location data points in the record for the transport service.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a computing system, cause the computing system to:

arrange, by the computing system, a transport service to be provided by a driver for a rider;

periodically receive, from a driver device of the driver over one or more networks, a location data point corresponding to a current location of the driver device;

determine, at a first instance in time, that the current location of the driver device is within a first predetermined distance or a first predetermined estimated travel time away from a pickup location of the rider;

determine, at a second instance in time subsequent to the first instance in time, that the current location of the driver device is more than a second predetermined distance or a second predetermined estimated travel time away from the pickup location;

subsequently, while the current location of the driver device is more than the second predetermined distance or the second predetermined estimated travel time away from the pickup location, receive, from the driver device, first data indicating that the transport service has begun;

in response to receiving the first data, cause a driver application running on the driver device to present a user interface including at least one selectable feature;

receive, from the driver device, second data indicating that the at least one selectable feature has been selected indicating that the transport service had previously begun at or near the pickup location, as opposed to a location of the driver device when the first data was received; and

in response to receiving the second data, identify, at the computing system, a previous location data point received from the driver device as a start location of the transport service.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the first predetermined distance or the first predetermined estimated travel time and the second predetermined distance or the second predetermined estimated travel time is a user-configurable parameter;

and

wherein the first predetermined distance or the first predetermined estimated travel time is different than the second predetermined distance or the second predetermined estimated travel time, respectively.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions further cause the computing system to:

store the periodically received location data points in a memory resource, the periodically received location data points being associated with a record of the transport service.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions cause the computing system to identify the previous location data point of the driver device as the start location of the transport service by determining, from the stored location data points, a first set of location data points that are substantially identical to each other.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 12, wherein each of the first set of location data points (i) are positioned within the first predetermined distance or the first predetermined estimated travel time away from the pickup location and within the second predetermined distance or the second predetermined estimated travel time away from the pickup location, and (ii) has an associated timestamp between the first instance in time and the second instance in time;

and

wherein the instructions cause the computing system to identify the previous location data point of the driver device as the start location of the transport service by (i) selecting, from the first set of location data points, a first location data point having the most recent timestamp, and (ii) designating the first location data point as the start location of the transport service.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the computing system to:

determine a second set of location data points from the stored location data points, each of the second set of location data points having an associated timestamp subsequent to the associated timestamp of the first location data point; and

record the first location data point as the start location of the transport service and the second set of location data points in the record for the transport service.

15. A method of programmatically determining location information in connection with a transport service, the method comprising:

determining, at a first instance in time, that a current location of a driver device is within a first predetermined distance of a specified pickup location data point of a transport service, the current location corresponding to a location data point determined from a global positioning system (GPS) receiver of the driver device;

in response to determining that the current location of the driver device is within the first predetermined distance, causing a driver application that is operating on the driver device to operate in a first state;

while the driver application operates in the first state, determining, at a second instance in time subsequent to the first instance in time, that the current location of the driver device is more than a second predetermined distance away from the specified pickup location data point;

subsequently, while the current location of the driver device is more than the second predetermined distance away from the specified pickup location data point, receiving, from the driver device, first data corresponding to the driver indicating that the transport service has begun;

in response to receiving the first data, (i) causing the driver application to present a user interface including at least one selectable feature, and (ii) changing the operation of the driver application from the first state to a second state;

receiving, from the driver device, second data indicating that the at least one selectable feature has been selected indicating that the transport service had previously begun at or near the pickup location, as opposed to a location of the driver device when the first data was received; and

in response to receiving the second data, identifying, at the computing system, a previous location data point received from the driver device as a start location of the transport service.