System and method for providing dynamic supply positioning for on-demand services

• US 9,843,897 B1
• Filed: 05/06/2015
• Issued: 12/12/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 07/03/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Lin, Hungyu Henry, Kalanick, Travis Cordell, Wang, Emily
• Primary Examiner(s): Elhag, Magdi
• Application Number:
  US14/705,325
• Time in Patent Office: 951 Days
• Field of Search: 4554042, 4554561, 4554562, 4554563, 4554565, 4554566, 455457, 705 734, 705 13, 705 1453, 705 1454, 705 1458
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/10 Services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A method for providing on-demand service information is provided. One or more processors determine, for a given geographic region, position information for each of a plurality of requesters for an on-demand service and position information for each of a plurality of service providers that can provide the on-demand service. A plurality of sub-regions is identified for the given geographic region. Based, at least in part, on the position information of the requesters and the service providers, one or more sub-regions are determined as being under-supplied by the plurality of service providers as compared to one or more other sub-regions. Information identifying the under-supplied sub-regions are provided to one or more service provider devices.

Claims

1. A method for providing information for an on-demand service, the method being performed by a computer system comprising:

for a given duration of time, receiving requester information generated from a service application provided on a mobile computing device of each of a plurality of requesters and provider information generated from a service application provided on a mobile computing device of each of a plurality of providers, wherein the requester information for each requester includes (i) at least one of a pickup location for a transport request or a current location of that requester, and (ii) a requester state indicating whether that requester is currently receiving service from one of the plurality of providers, and wherein the provider information for each provider includes a position of a vehicle of each provider and a provider state of each provider that indicates whether that provider is currently available to provide service to one or more of the plurality of requesters;

identifying a plurality of sub-regions for a given geographic region;

determining, for the given geographic region, whether one or more sub-regions of the plurality of sub-regions are under-supplied or over-supplied by the plurality of providers based, at least in part, on the requester information and the provider information; and

providing, to the mobile computing device of one or more of the plurality of providers, sub-region information identifying the determined one or more sub-regions that are under-supplied or over-supplied by the plurality of providers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the sub-region information indicates sub-regions identified as under-supplied as mapped to a first color, and sub-regions identified as over-supplied as mapped to a second color.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the sub-region information is provided as visualization information capable of overlaying or merging with a map of the given geographic region.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that one or more sub-regions are under-supplied or over-supplied further comprises determining, for each sub-region, whether a ratio of requesters to available service providers in the sub-region is greater than, less than, or equal to a threshold ratio of requesters to available service providers.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the sub-region information includes categorizations of sub-regions based on their ratio of requesters to available service providers, and wherein each category of sub-regions is mapped to a color on a spectrum of colors indicating which sub-regions are under-supplied or over-supplied as compared to one or more other sub-regions, and wherein the sub-region information is provided as visualization information capable of overlaying or merging with a map of the given geographic region.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the sub-regions are identified using predetermined information about certain geographic regions.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the requester information for each of a plurality of requesters includes:

identification information of the requester and a service preference of the requester.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the provider information for each of a plurality of service providers includes:

identification information, a type of vehicle associated with the service provider, and an availability status of the provider.

9. The method of claim 1, forecasting, for a given sub-region, a number of requesters that will be present in the given sub-region during a future interval of time.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing a service application on a mobile computing device of each requester in the plurality of requesters to determine the requester'"'"'s current location and transmit the current location over a network to the computer system.

11. A system for providing on-demand service information comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more memory resources storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to;

for a given duration of time, receive requester information generated from a service application provided on a mobile computing device of each of a plurality of requesters and provider information generated from a service application provided on a mobile computing device of each of a plurality of providers, wherein the requester information for each requester includes (i) at least one of a pickup location for a transport request or a current location of that requester, and (ii) a requester state indicating whether that requester is currently receiving service from one of the plurality of providers, and wherein the provider information for each provider includes a position of a vehicle of each provider and a provider state of each provider that indicates whether that provider is currently available to provide service to one or more of the plurality of requesters;

identify a plurality of sub-regions for a given geographic region;

determine, for the given geographic region, whether one or more sub-regions of the plurality of sub-regions are under-supplied or over-supplied by the plurality of providers based, at least in part, on the requester information and the provider information; and

provide, to the mobile computing device of one or more of the plurality of providers, sub-region information identifying the determined one or more sub-regions that are under-supplied or over-supplied by the plurality of providers.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the sub-region information indicates sub-regions identified as under-supplied as mapped to a first color, and sub-regions identified as over-supplied as mapped to a second color, and wherein the sub-region information is provided as visualization information that overlays or merges with a map of the given geographic region.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the instructions further cause the service application on the mobile computing device of each requester in the plurality of requesters to determine the requester'"'"'s current location and transmit the current location over a network to the system.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the instructions further cause the system to categorize sub-regions based on their ratio of requesters to available service providers, and wherein each category of sub-regions is mapped to a color on a spectrum of colors indicating which sub-regions are under-supplied or over-supplied as compared to one or more other sub-regions, and wherein the sub-region information is provided as visualization information capable of overlaying or merging with a map of the given geographic region.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the instructions cause the system to determine that one or more sub-regions are under-supplied or over-supplied by determining, for each sub-region, whether a ratio of requesters to available service providers in the sub-region is greater than, less than, or equal to a threshold ratio of requesters to available service providers.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the requester information for each of a plurality of requesters includes identification information of the requester and a service preference of the requester.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the provider information for each of a plurality of service providers includes identification information, a type of vehicle associated with the service provider, and an availability status of the provider.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the system to:

store previously received requester information as historical data and forecasting, for a given sub-region, a number of requesters and position information for each requester at a future instance in time based on the requester information for the plurality of requesters and the historical data.