PERFORMING SELECTIVE OPERATIONS BASED ON MOBILE DEVICE LOCATIONS

• US 20160253617A1
• Filed: 04/10/2015
• Published: 09/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/26/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Truong, Michael, Proctor, Iain
• Granted Patent: US 10,282,684 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3822 specially adapted for use in vehicles H04B1/3827 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 10/50 Systems or methods supporting the power network operation or management, involving a certain degree of interaction with the load-side end user applications

Abstract

A system for performing selective operations based on location data provided by mobile computing devices is disclosed. The system can receive location information from individual mobile computing devices and can detect when a certain event occurs in connection with a mobile computing device, where the event is related to a particular geographic region. Based on whether the event occurs, the system can perform an operation for or in relation to the mobile computing device.

Claims

1. A method of transmitting vehicle information, the method being performed by a service arrangement system implemented by one or more computer systems and comprising:

communicating, over a network, with a plurality of mobile computing devices that individually execute an application registered with the service arrangement system, each of the plurality of mobile computing devices being operated by a corresponding driver of a plurality of drivers that utilizes the application to provide transport services;

wherein for each of the plurality of mobile computing devices, communicating over the network includes continuously tracking, in real-time, over a given duration of time, a location of the mobile computing device and an operational state of the driver application executing on the mobile computing device, the operational state being one of multiple possible operational states, the multiple possible operational states including one or more operational states that indicate whether the corresponding driver is available to provide transport and one or more operational states that indicate whether the driver is assigned to provide transport, wherein the location of the mobile computing devices are tracked by monitoring data from one or more location detection sensors of the respective mobile computing devices;

determining, over the given duration of time, that individual drivers are subject to a default set of rules for providing transport services when the location of the mobile computing device of that driver is outside a geofenced area;

determining, over the given duration of time, that the individual drivers are subject to one or more alternative sets of rules, specific to the geofenced area, for providing transport services based at least in part on (i) the location of the mobile computing device of that driver being inside the geofenced area, and (ii) the operational state of the driver application executed on the mobile computing device of that driver;

receiving a request from the mobile computing device of a user for transport services within the geofenced area; and

in response to receiving the request, applying the one or more alternative sets of rules to select one of the individual drivers, from drivers registered with the service arrangement system and located within the geofenced area, and communicating pickup location information to the mobile computing device of the individual driver selected to provide the transport services to the user.

30. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a record to count a number of times the individual drivers enter the geofenced area for the purpose of providing transport services in a given duration of time.

31. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a record to count a number of pickups and drop-offs performed by the individual drivers within the geofenced area for the purpose of providing transport services in a given duration of time.

32. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more alternative sets of rules specific to the geofenced area are determined by a third party.

33. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more alternative sets of rules to select one of the individual drivers includes an alternative selection process inside the geofenced area and a default selection process outside the geofenced area.

34. The method of claim 1, wherein the given duration of time includes a timestamp for a period of time when the individual drivers are located within the geofenced area for the purpose of providing transport services.

2-7. -7. (canceled)

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor of service arrangement system and implemented by one or more computer systems, causes the service arrangement system to:

communicating, over a network, with a plurality of mobile computing devices that individually execute an application registered with the service arrangement system, each of the plurality of mobile computing devices being operated by a corresponding driver of a plurality of drivers that utilizes the application to provide transport services;

wherein for each of the plurality of mobile computing devices, communicating over the network includes continuously tracking, in real-time, over a given duration of time, a location of the mobile computing device and an operational state of the driver application executing on the mobile computing device, the operational state being one of multiple possible operational states, the multiple possible operational states including one or more operational states that indicate whether the corresponding driver is available to provide transport and one or more operational states that indicate whether the driver is assigned to provide transport, wherein the location of the mobile computing devices are tracked by monitoring data from one or more location detection sensors;

determining, over the given duration of time, that individual drivers are subject to a default set of rules for providing transport services when the location of the mobile computing device of that driver is outside a geofenced area

determining, over the given duration of time, that the individual drivers are subject to one or more alternative sets of rules, specific to the geofenced area, for providing transport services based at least in part on (i) the location of the mobile computing device of that driver being inside the geofenced area, and (ii) the operational state of the driver application executed on the mobile computing device of that driver;

receiving a request from the mobile computing device of a user for transport services within the geofenced area; and

in response to receiving the request, applying the one or more alternative sets of rules to select one of the individual drivers, from drivers registered with the service arrangement system and located within the geofenced area, and communicating pickup location information to the mobile computing device of the individual driver selected to provide the transport services to the user.

35. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, further comprising instructions, which when executed by the processor of the service arrangement system and implemented by the one or more computer systems, cause the service arrangement system to perform operations comprising:

generating a record to count a number of times the individual drivers enter the geofenced area for the purpose of providing transport services in a given duration of time.

36. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, further comprising instructions, which when executed by the processor of the service arrangement system and implemented by the one or more computer systems, cause the service arrangement system to perform operations comprising:

generating a record to count a number of pickups and drop-offs performed by the individual drivers within the geofenced area for the purpose of providing transport services in a given duration of time.

37. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, further comprising instructions, which when executed by the processor of the service arrangement system and implemented by the one or more computer systems, cause the service arrangement system to perform operations wherein the one or more alternative sets of rules specific to the geofenced area are determined by a third party.

38. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, further comprising instructions, which when executed by the processor of the service arrangement system and implemented by the one or more computer systems, cause the service arrangement system to perform operations wherein the one or more alternative sets of rules to select one of the individual drivers includes an alternative selection process inside the geofenced area and a default selection process outside the geofenced area.

39. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, further comprising instructions, which when executed by the processor of the service arrangement system and implemented by the one or more computer systems, cause the service arrangement system to perform operations wherein the given duration of time includes a timestamp for a period of time when the individual drivers are located within the geofenced area for the purpose of providing transport services.

9-24. -24. (canceled)

25. A service arrangement system implemented by one or more computer systems comprising:

a memory to store a set of instructions;

one or more processors that use the instructions to;

communicate, over a network, with a plurality of mobile computing devices that individually execute an application registered with the service arrangement system, each of the plurality of mobile computing devices being operated by a corresponding driver of a plurality of drivers that utilizes the application to provide transport services;

wherein for each of the plurality of mobile computing devices, the one or more processors communicate over the network by continuously tracking, in real-time, over a given duration of time, a location of the mobile computing device and an operational state of the driver application executing on the mobile computing device, the operational state being one of multiple possible operational states, the multiple possible operational states including one or more operational states that indicate whether the corresponding driver is available to provide transport and one or more operational states that indicate whether the driver is assigned to provide transport, wherein the location of the mobile computing devices are tracked by monitoring data from one or more location detection sensors;

determine, over the given duration of time, that individual drivers are subject to a default set of rules for providing transport services when the location of the mobile computing device of that driver is outside a geofenced area;

determine, over the given duration of time, that the individual drivers are subject to one or more alternative sets of rules, specific to the geofenced area, for providing transport services based at least in part on (i) the location of the mobile computing device of that driver being inside the geofenced area, and (ii) the operational state of the driver application executed on the mobile computing device of that driver;

receive a request from the mobile computing device of a user for transport services within the geofenced area; and

in response to receiving the request, apply the one or more alternative sets of rules to select one of the individual drivers, from drivers registered with the service arrangement system and located within the geofenced area, and communicate pickup location information to the mobile computing device of the individual driver selected to provide the transport services to the user.

40. The service arrangement system implemented by the one or more computer systems of claim 25, wherein the one or more processors use the instructions to:

generate a record to count a number of times the individual drivers enter the geofenced area for the purpose of providing transport services in a given duration of time.

41. The service arrangement system implemented by the one or more computer systems of claim 25, wherein the one or more processors use the instructions to:

generate a record to count a number of pickups and drop-offs performed by the individual drivers within the geofenced area for the purpose of providing transport services in a given duration of time.

42. The service arrangement system implemented by the one or more computer systems of claim 25, wherein the one or more alternative sets of rules specific to the geofenced area are determined by a third party.

43. The service arrangement system implemented by the one or more computer systems of claim 25, wherein the one or more alternative sets of rules to select one of the individual drivers includes an alternative selection process inside the geofenced area and a default selection process outside the geofenced area.

44. The service arrangement system implemented by the one or more computer systems of claim 25, wherein the given duration of time includes a timestamp for a period of time when the individual drivers are located within the geofenced area for the purpose of providing transport services.

26-29. -29. (canceled)