Pickup location selection and augmented reality navigation

• US 10,508,925 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2017
• Issued: 12/17/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Badalamenti, John, Inch, Joshua, Sanchez, Christopher Michael, Sumers, Theodore Russell
• Primary Examiner(s): Butler, Rodney A
• Application Number:
  US15/693,317
• Publication Number:
  US 20190063935A1
• Time in Patent Office: 838 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3438 Rendez-vous, i.e. searching a destination where several users can meet, and the routes to this destination for these users; Ride sharing, i.e. searching a route such that at least two users can share a vehicle for at least part of the route
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3617 using user history, behaviour, conditions or preferences, e.g. predicted or inferred from previous use or current movement
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3647 Guidance involving output of stored or live camera images or video streams
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text

Abstract

A network system, such as a transport management system, selects a pickup location for a trip and navigates a rider to the selected pickup location using augmented reality (AR). Responsive to receiving a trip request including an origin location, a pickup location selection module selects candidate pickup locations within a threshold distance of the rider client device. The pickup location selection module filters and ranks the candidates based on historical service data and location characteristics associated with the origin location as well as any history of pickups of the rider at the origin location and data from the trip request. The top-ranked candidate is selected as the pickup location and sent to the rider and driver client devices. An AR navigation module instructs the rider client device to visually augment a live video stream with computer-generated AR elements to navigate the rider from a current location to the pickup location.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for selecting a pickup location for a transportation service, the method comprising:

receiving, at a network system including one or more processors, from a computing device associated with a rider, a set of service data, the set of service data including an origin location and a request for a driver to transport the rider from the origin location;

identifying, using historical service data and location characteristics associated with the origin location, a plurality of candidate pickup locations within a threshold distance of a current location of the computing device;

sending at least two of the candidate pickup locations to the computing device;

receiving, from the computing device, a selection of a candidate pickup location from the at least two candidate pickup locations;

generating navigation instructions from the current location to the selected pickup location;

instructing the computing device to display a live video feed, the video feed being captured by a camera on the computing device; and

instructing an augmented reality application on the computing device to visually augment the video feed with augmented reality elements based on the navigation instructions.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the historical service data includes data regarding past trips beginning at the origin location.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the location characteristics include one or more road or sidewalk conditions at the origin location.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising ranking the candidate pickup locations based on past trips associated with the user and beginning at the origin location.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending the selected pickup location to a driver computing device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the augmented reality elements include one or more of images, video, text, and graphics.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the computing device is not on a route from the current location to the selected pickup location; and

instructing the augmented reality application to display augmented reality elements to navigate the rider to the route.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

ranking the plurality of candidate pickup locations based on the historical service data and the location characteristics associated with the origin location; and

selecting at least two of the candidate pickup locations based on the ranking.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-executable instructions that, in response to executing, cause a device comprising a processor to perform operations, comprising:

receiving, at a network system including one or more processors, from a computing device associated with a rider, a set of service data, the set of service data including an origin location and a request for a driver to transport the rider from the origin location;

identifying, using historical service data and location characteristics associated with the origin location, a plurality of candidate pickup locations within a threshold distance of a current location of the computing device, sending at least two of the candidate pickup locations to the computing device;

receiving, from the computing device, a selection of a candidate pickup location from the at least two candidate pickup locations, generating navigation instructions from the current location to the selected pickup location;

instructing the computing device to display a live video feed, the video feed being captured by a camera on the computing device; and

instructing an augmented reality application on the computing device to visually augment the video feed with augmented reality elements based on the navigation instructions.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the historical service data includes data regarding past trips beginning at the origin location.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the location characteristics include one or more road or sidewalk conditions at the origin location.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, further comprising ranking the candidate pickup locations based on past trips associated with the user and beginning at the origin location.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, further comprising sending the selected pickup location to a driver computing device.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the augmented reality elements include one or more of images, video, text, and graphics.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, further comprising:

determining that the computing device is not on a route from the current location to the selected pickup location; and

instructing the augmented reality application to display augmented reality elements to navigate the rider to the route.

15. A computer system comprising:

one or more computer processors for executing computer program instructions; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions executable by the one or more computer processors to perform steps comprising;

receiving at a network system including one or more processors, from a computing device associated with a rider, a set of service data, the set of service data including an origin location and a request for a driver to transport the rider from the origin location;

identifying, using historical service data and location characteristics associated with the origin location, a plurality of candidate pickup locations within a threshold distance of a current location of the computing device;

sending at least two of the candidate pickup locations to the computing device;

receiving, from the computing device, a selection of a candidate pickup location from the at least two candidate pickup locations;

generating navigation instructions from the current location to the selected pickup location;

instructing the computing device to display a live video feed, the video feed being captured by a camera on the computing device; and

instructing an augmented reality application on the computing device to visually augment the video feed with augmented reality elements based on the navigation instructions.