Physical object-based people matching method, system, and device

• US 9,906,899 B2
• Filed: 04/27/2015
• Issued: 02/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Flinn, Steven Dennis, Moneypenny, Naomi Felina
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Uyen
• Application Number:
  US14/696,637
• Publication Number:
  US 20150230052A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,037 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/17306 Intercommunication techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/335 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles filtering in web context G06F16/9535, G06F16/9536
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/90 Details of database functions independent of the retrieved data types
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/04 Inference or reasoning models
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/046 Forward inferencing; Production systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]

Abstract

A physical object-based people matching method, system, and device recommends a first person to a second person based on the geographic proximity of a location associated with the first person to one or more physical objects that are associated with the second person. The geographic proximity may be determined from the use of a location-aware portable device. The recommendation may be further informed by a mobility inference. The first person is enabled to send an expression of interest to the second person in response to the recommendation, and the second person may be enabled to send an expression of interest to the first person in response to receiving the expression of interest. An explanation for the recommendation may be delivered to the first person that references a mobility inference or a computer-implemented map.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

determining a current geographic location of a first person through the first person'"'"'s use of a first processor-based device;

accessing a computer-implemented map that comprises geographic location information associated with a plurality of non-human physical objects;

determining, from the geographic location information associated with the plurality of non-human physical objects, a non-human physical object that is proximal to the current geographic location of the first person;

based, at least in part, on the current geographic location of the first person and a geographic location of the non-human physical object, determining a mutual interest between the first person and a second person, the second person being associated with the non-human physical object;

based on the determined mutual interest, automatically generating a first recommendation for the first person, the first recommendation corresponding to the second person and comprising a reference to the non-human physical object;

delivering, to the first processor-based device of the first person, the first recommendation and explanatory information providing a rational for the first recommendation; and

based on an indicated expression of interest in the non-human physical object by the first person, delivering a second recommendation to a second processor-based device of the second person, wherein the second recommendation corresponds to the first person.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring usage behavior corresponding to the first person'"'"'s usage of a computer-implemented system;

wherein the first recommendation is further based on a trend pattern indicated in the usage behavior of the first person.

3. The method of claim 1,

wherein a reference to the current geographic location of the first person is explicitly inputted into the first processor-based device by the first person.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first person explicitly inputs the indicated expression of interest into the first processor-based device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on delivering the second recommendation, detecting a second expression of interest in the first person by the second person; and

in response to detecting the second expression of interest, revealing the mutual interest to both the first person and the second person.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the second expression of interest is detected based on at least one of an implicit or involuntary response by the second person to the second recommendation.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the current geographic location of the first person is determined based on receiving location information from location monitoring hardware of the first processor-based device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first person explicitly inputs the indicated expression of interest into the first processor-based device.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the indicated expression of interest based on at least one of an implicit or involuntary response by the first person to the first recommendation.

10. A system comprising one or more processor-based devices configured to:

determine a current geographic location of a first person through the first person'"'"'s use of a first processor-based device;

access a computer-implemented map that comprises geographic location information associated with a plurality of non-human physical objects;

determine, from the geographic location information associated with the plurality of non-human physical objects, a non-human physical object that is proximal to the geographic location of the first person;

based, at least in part, on the current geographic location of the first person and a geographic location of the non-human physical object, determine a mutual interest between the first person and a second person, the second person being associated with the non-human physical object;

based on the determined mutual interest, automatically generate a first recommendation for the first person, the first recommendation corresponding to the second person and comprising a reference to the non-human physical object;

deliver, to the first processor-based device, the first recommendation and explanatory information providing a rational for the first recommendation; and

based on an indicated expression of interest in the non-human physical object by the first person, deliver a second recommendation to a second processor-based device of the second person, wherein the second recommendation corresponds to the first person.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein a reference to the current geographic location of the first person is explicitly inputted into the first processor-based device by the first person.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the first person explicitly inputs the indicated expression of interest into the first processor-based device.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more processor-based devices are further configured to:

based on delivering the second recommendation, detecting a second expression of interest in the first person by the second person; and

in response to detecting the second expression of interest, reveal the mutual interest to both the first person and the second person.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the one or more processor-based devices are configured to detect the second expression of interest based on at least one of an implicit or involuntary response by the second person to the second recommendation.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more processor-based devices are further configured to:

monitor usage behavior corresponding to the first person'"'"'s usage of a computer-implemented system;

wherein the first recommendation is further based on a trend pattern indicated in the usage behavior of the first person.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more processor-based devices determine the current geographic location of the first person based on receiving location information from location monitoring hardware of the first processor-based device.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the first person explicitly inputs the indicated expression of interest into the first processor-based device.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more processor-based devices are further configured to:

determine the indicated expression of interest based on at least one of an implicit or involuntary response by the first person to the first recommendation.

19. A portable processor-based device comprising:

geographic location monitoring hardware; and

one or more processors configured to;

determine a current geographic location of a first person who is a user of the portable processor-based device from the geographic location monitoring hardware;

provide the current geographic location of the first person to a computer-implemented system that uses a computer-implemented map to determine a non-human physical object that is proximal to the current geographic location of the first person;

based on an inferred mutual interest between the first person and a second person associated with the non-human physical object, receive a first recommendation corresponding to a second person and comprising a reference to the non-human physical object, the first recommendation comprising explanatory information providing a rational for the first recommendation; and

based on an indicated expression of interest in the non-human physical object by the first person and an expression of interest in the first person by the second person, receive an indication of the mutual interest between the first person and the second person.

20. The portable processor-based device of claim 19, wherein the geographic location monitoring hardware comprises:

a global positioning system receiver.