Determining an estimated time of arrival of a vehicle at an endpoint of a journey

• US 9,581,456 B2
• Filed: 01/23/2015
• Issued: 02/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Suzuki, Hidenobu, Namba, Toshiyuki, Liao, Jackie, Melen, Roger, Rai, Vinuth
• Primary Examiner(s): Smith, Jelani
• Assistant Examiner(s): MOTT, GENNA M
• Application Number:
  US14/604,391
• Publication Number:
  US 20160216123A1
• Time in Patent Office: 767 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3484 Personalized, e.g. from learned user behaviour or user-defined profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/362 received from an external device or application, e.g. PDA, mobile phone or calendar application
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 13/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location

Abstract

The disclosure includes a system and method for determining a current location of a user at a current time. The method may include determining journey data associated with one or more of the user, the current location, and the current time, where journey data describes one or more historical journeys of the user. The method may include determining, based on the journey data, an estimated time of arrival (ETA) describing an arrival estimate of when the user and a vehicle will arrive at an endpoint of a journey; and transmitting the ETA to a network.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving sensor data from sensors in a vehicle;

determining, by one or more processors, a current location of a user at a current time based on the sensor data;

determining, by the one or more processors, journey data associated with the user based on the current location and the current time, wherein the journey data describes one or more historical journeys of the user;

determining, by the one or more processors, based on the journey data, an estimated time of arrival (ETA) at an endpoint, the ETA describing an arrival estimate of when the user and the vehicle will arrive at the endpoint of a journey of the vehicle;

determining, by the one or more processors, based on the journey data, an estimated time of departure (ETD) describing a departure estimate of when the user will depart from the endpoint of the journey;

transmitting, by the one or more processors, the ETA and the ETD to a network, wherein the ETA and the ETD are received by a management device at the endpoint and the management device determines, based on a user preference associated with the user and a difference between the ETA and the ETD, one or more operations to perform at the endpoint;

determining, by the one or more processors, whether a user action will alter the ETA or the ETD; and

responsive to determining that the user action alters the ETA or the ETD, transmitting, by the one or more processors, a first revised ETA or a first revised ETD to the network, wherein the management device revises the one or more operations to perform at the endpoint based on the first revised ETA or the first revised ETD.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user action includes a recent request from the user for driving directions to a particular location.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining driving data describing one or more driving conditions that occur between the current location of the user and the endpoint of the journey;

determining whether the driving data will alter the ETA or the ETD by a relevant amount; and

responsive to the driving data altering the ETA or the ETD by the relevant amount, transmitting a second revised ETA or a second revised ETD to the network.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the driving data is based on at least one of traffic, weather conditions, and an indication that the endpoint of the journey has changed.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the user action includes a recent request from the user for information about a particular location.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the current location of the user to the network.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a state of mind associated with the user; and

transmitting the state of mind to the network.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining vehicle conditions based on the sensor data; and

transmitting the vehicle conditions to the network, wherein the network provides the vehicle conditions to a management application to determine operations to create endpoint conditions that are similar to the vehicle conditions.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the endpoint is a home associated with the user.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the current location of the user is determined based on location data wirelessly received from a mobile device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the mobile device is selected from a group consisting of a smartphone, a smartwatch, a fitness tracker, a tablet computer, a personal computer, a laptop, and a personal digital assistant.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a score that indicates a likelihood that the user is arriving at the endpoint based on the current location and a comparison of the current location and the current time to the journey data.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising, responsive to the score exceeding a predetermined threshold, transmitting a communication for the management device that indicates that the endpoint for the journey is a home associated with the management device.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating the journey data by recording the user'"'"'s location over a period of time.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer instructions stored thereon that are executable by a processing device to perform or control performance of steps comprising:

receiving sensor data from sensors in a vehicle;

determining a current location of a user at a current time based on the sensor data;

determining journey data associated with the user based on the current location and the current time, wherein the journey data describes one or more historical journeys of the user;

determining based on the journey data, an estimated time of arrival (ETA) at an endpoint, the ETA describing an arrival estimate of when the user and the vehicle will arrive at the endpoint of a journey;

determining based on the journey data, an estimated time of departure (ETD) describing a departure estimate of when the user will depart from the endpoint of the journey;

transmitting the ETA and the ETD to a network, wherein the ETA and the ETD are received by a management device at the endpoint and the management device determines, based on a user preference associated with a user and a difference between the ETA and the ETD, one or more operations to perform at the endpoint;

determining whether a user action will alter the ETA or the ETD; and

responsive to determining that the user action alters the ETA or the ETD, transmitting a first revised ETA or a first revised ETD to the network, wherein the management device revises the one or more operations to perform at the endpoint based on the first revised ETA or the first revised ETD.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the user action includes a recent request from the user for driving directions to a particular location.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, the steps further comprising:

determining driving data describing one or more driving conditions that occur between the current location of the user and the endpoint of the journey;

determining whether the driving data will alter the ETA or the ETD by a relevant amount; and

responsive to the driving data altering the ETA or the ETD by the relevant amount, transmitting a second revised ETA or a second revised ETD to the network.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the driving data is based on at least one of traffic, weather conditions, and an indication that the endpoint of the journey has changed.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the user action includes a recent request from the user for information about a particular location.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, the steps further comprising transmitting the current location of the user to the network.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, the steps further comprising:

determining a state of mind associated with the user; and

transmitting the state of mind to the network.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, the steps further comprising:

determining vehicle conditions based on the sensor data; and

transmitting the vehicle conditions to the network, wherein the network provides the vehicle conditions to a management application to determine operations to create endpoint conditions that are similar to the vehicle conditions.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the endpoint is a home associated with the user.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, the steps further comprising generating a score that indicates a likelihood that the user is arriving at the endpoint based on the current location and a comparison of the current location and the current time to the journey data.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 24, the steps further comprising, responsive to the score exceeding a predetermined threshold, transmitting a communication for the management device that indicates that the endpoint for the journey is a home associated with the management device.

26. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, the steps further comprising generating the journey data by recording the user'"'"'s location over a period of time.

27. A method comprising:

receiving, by one or more processors, an estimated time of arrival (ETA) at an endpoint of a journey and an estimated time of departure (ETD) from the endpoint, the ETA and the ETD corresponding to a user and a vehicle associated with the journey;

determining, by the one or more processors, based on a user preference associated with the user and a difference between the ETA and the ETD, one or more operations to perform at the endpoint;

receiving, by the one or more processors, a revised ETA or a revised ETD based on user actions associated with the user that will alter the ETA or the ETD;

revising, by the one or more processors, the one or more operations to perform at the endpoint based on the revised ETA or the revised ETD;

modifying, by the one or more processors, one or more settings for the one or more operations based on a utility preference; and

performing, the one or more operations by at least one of a thermostat, an oven, a boiler, a rice cooker, a yogurt maker, a coffee maker, a water heater, a home security system, a lighting system, a stereo system, an entertainment system, and a garage door opener.