AUTOMATIC BOOKING OF TRANSPORTATION BASED ON CONTEXT OF A USER OF A COMPUTING DEVICE

• US 20170147951A1
• Filed: 11/23/2015
• Published: 05/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/23/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Meyer, Cayden, Kilpatrick, Jennifer King, Yang, Xudong, Caston, Nicholas, Kim, Harold H.W.
• Granted Patent: US 10,685,297 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/14 Travel agencies

Abstract

A system is described that infers that a user will need to complete a trip and selects a transportation service that the user can use to complete the trip. The system predicts a time to request a vehicle associated with the transportation service for completing the trip such that the request has sufficiently high degree of likelihood, of causing the vehicle to arrive at a future location by a final departure time; the final departure time being a latest time at which the user is predicted to need to begin traveling. Responsive to determining that a current time is within a threshold amount of time of the predicted time, the system sends, to a reservation system associated with the transportation service, a reservation request for the vehicle associated with the transportation service for completing the trip.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

inferring, by a computing system, based on information associated with a user of a computing device, that the user will need to complete a trip by traveling from a future location so as to arrive at a future destination by a future time;

selecting, by the computing system, a transportation service that the user can use to complete the trip;

determining, by the computing system, a predicted time to request a vehicle associated with the transportation service for completing the trip, wherein;

a request of the vehicle sent at the predicted time has a degree of likelihood, of causing the vehicle to arrive at the future location by a final departure time, that satisfies a threshold; and

the final departure time is a latest time at which the user is predicted to need to begin traveling from the future location to complete the trip and arrive at the future destination by the future time;

responsive to determining that a current time is within a threshold amount of time of the predicted time to request the vehicle, sending, by the computing system, to a reservation system associated with the transportation service, a reservation request for the vehicle associated with the transportation service for completing the trip; and

responsive to receiving, from the reservation system, an acknowledgement indicating the reservation request can be satisfied, sending, by the computing system, to the computing device, information for notifying the user that the vehicle is scheduled to arrive at the future location by the final departure time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the predicted time to request the vehicle comprises:

determining, by the computing system, an estimated trip duration associated with the transportation service for completing the trip;

determining, by the computing system, based on the estimated trip duration, the final departure time as being the latest time at which the user is predicted to need to begin traveling from the future location to complete the trip and arrive at the future destination by the future time;

determining, by the computing system, based on the final departure time, an estimated booking delay, after sending the reservation request, before the vehicle is predicted to arrive at the future location; and

determining, by the computing system, the predicted time as being earlier than the final departure time by at least the estimated booking delay.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the predicted time to request the vehicle comprises:

responsive to determining that the predicted time coincides within a period of time determined to be associated with surges in market price associated with the transportation service, adjusting, by the computing system, the predicted time to avoid the period of time.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the reservation request specifies a particular class of service requested for completing the trip, the method further comprising:

responsive to determining that the predicted time coincides within a period of time determined to be associated with surges in market price associated with the transportation service, selecting, by the computing system, the particular class to obtain a lowest price for the transportation service.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the information associated with the user comprises context information including at least one of:

calendar information, communication information, sensor information, and location information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the transportation service is selected in response to determining that the transportation service is a lowest cost service from one or more available services that the user can use to complete the trip.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating, by the computing device, the predicted time in response to detecting a change to at least one of;

the future time, the final departure time, or the degree of likelihood of causing the vehicle to arrive at the future location by the final departure time.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the reservation request is further sent in response to receiving, by the computing system, from the computing device, an indication confirming that the user intends to take the trip.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the indication confirming that the user intends to take the trip comprises location information that indicates the computing device is within a threshold distance of the future location.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

prior to sending the reservation request, sending, by the computing system, to the computing device, a request confirming that the user intends to take the trip,

wherein the indication confirming that the user intends to take the trip comprises an acknowledgement received from the computing device in response to the request.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the transportation service is selected in response to determining that the final destination location is greater than a minimum distance threshold, and less than a maximum distance threshold, from the future location, wherein:

the minimum distance threshold is determined based at least in part on a first maximum distance that the user typically walks to events; and

the maximum distance threshold is determined based at least in part on a second maximum distance that the user typically drives to events.

12. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor of a computing system to:

infer, based on information associated with a user of a computing device, that the user will need to complete a trip by traveling from a future location so as to arrive at a future destination by a future time;

select a transportation service that the user can use to complete the trip;

determine a predicted time to request a vehicle associated with the transportation service for completing the trip, wherein;

a request of the vehicle sent at the predicted time has a degree of likelihood, of causing the vehicle to arrive at the future location by a final departure time, that satisfies a threshold; and

the final departure time is a latest time at which the user is predicted to need to begin traveling from the future location to complete the trip and arrive at the future destination by the future time;

responsive to determining that a current time is within a threshold amount of time of the predicted time to request the vehicle, send, to a reservation system associated with the transportation service, a reservation request for the vehicle associated with the transportation service for completing the trip; and

responsive to receiving, from the reservation system, an acknowledgement indicating the reservation request can be satisfied, send, to the computing device, information for notifying the user that the vehicle is scheduled to arrive at the future location by the final departure time.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause that at least one processor to determine the predicted time to request the vehicle by at least:

determining an estimated trip duration associated with the transportation service for completing the trip;

determining, based on the estimated trip duration, the final departure time as being the latest time at which the user is predicted to need to begin traveling from the future location to complete the trip and arrive at the future destination by the future time;

determining, based on the final departure time, an estimated booking delay, after sending the reservation request, before the vehicle is predicted to arrive at the future location; and

determining, by the computing system, the predicted time as being earlier than the final departure time by at least the estimated booking delay.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause that at least one processor to determine the predicted time to request the vehicle by at least:

responsive to determining that the predicted time coincides within a period of time determined to be associated with surges in market price associated with the transportation service, adjusting the predicted time to avoid the period of time.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the reservation request specifies a particular class of service requested for completing the trip and the instructions, when executed, further cause that at least one processor to:

responsive to determining that the predicted time coincides within a period of time determined to be associated with surges in market price associated with the transportation service, select, the particular class to obtain a lowest price for the transportation service.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the information associated with the user comprises context information including at least one of:

calendar information, communication information, sensor information, and location information.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause that at least one processor to select the transportation service in response to determining that the transportation service is a lowest cost service from one or more available services that the user can use to complete the trip.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause that at least one processor to update the predicted time in response to detecting a change to at least one of:

the future time, the final departure time, or the degree of likelihood of causing the vehicle to arrive at the future location by the final departure time.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause that at least one processor to:

send the reservation request in response to receiving, from the computing device, a first indication confirming that the user intends to take the trip; and

refrain from sending the reservation request in response to receiving, from the computing device, a second indication confirming that the user does not intend to take the trip.

20. A computing system comprising:

at least one processor;

at least one module operable by the at least one processor to;

infer, based on information associated with a user of a computing device, that the user will need to complete a trip by traveling from a future location so as to arrive at a future destination by a future time;

select a transportation service that the user can use to complete the trip;

determine a predicted time to request a vehicle associated with the transportation service for completing the trip, wherein;

a request of the vehicle sent at the predicted time has a degree of likelihood, of causing the vehicle to arrive at the future location by a final departure time, that satisfies a threshold; and

the final departure time is a latest time at which the user is predicted to need to begin traveling from the future location to complete the trip and arrive at the future destination by the future time;

responsive to determining that a current time is within a threshold amount of time of the predicted time to request the vehicle, send, to a reservation system associated with the transportation service, a reservation request for the vehicle associated with the transportation service for completing the trip; and

responsive to receiving, from the reservation system, an acknowledgement indicating the reservation request can be satisfied, send, to the computing device, information for notifying the user that the vehicle is scheduled to arrive at the future location by the final departure time.