User location driven identification of service vehicles

• US 20060217885A1
• Filed: 03/24/2005
• Published: 09/28/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Shoji, Russell Y., Chu, Michael J., Crady, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 8,370,054 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/213
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3889 Transmission of selected map data, e.g. depending on route
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0287 involving a plurality of land vehicles, e.g. fleet or convoy travelling traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/00, particularly anticollision systems G08G1/16

Abstract

A vehicle position aggregation system receives position information for service vehicles from various fleet management systems, and maintains the current location of the vehicles in a database, including information identifying each vehicle'"'"'s associated fleet and related contact information. End users can query the vehicle position aggregation system to obtain information about service vehicles in the vicinity of the user'"'"'s input location.

Claims

1. A method of providing location information for service vehicles to end users, the method comprising:

receiving from at least one fleet management system location information of the current locations of a plurality of service vehicles in a fleet;

receiving from a device of an end user a request comprising a location;

determining location information for service vehicles in a vicinity of the received location;

transmitting the location information to the end user device for display.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the end user device is a GPS enabled device, the location is specified as longitude and latitude values, and is provided automatically in the request.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the end user device is a GPS enabled cellular telephone, the location is specified as longitude and latitude values, and is provided automatically in the request.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the location is provided by text entry by the end user.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining display attributes of the end user device from which the request was received; and

formatting the location information for the service vehicles according to the display attributes of the end user device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the request includes a type of service vehicle requested, and determining location information for service vehicles in a vicinity of the received location further comprises determining the location information of service vehicles of the requested type.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the request includes at least one attribute of a service to be provided to the end user, and determining location information for service vehicles in a vicinity of the received location further comprises determining the location information of service vehicles having the requested at least one attribute.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the service vehicles include service vehicles from at least two different and unrelated service companies.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the location information further comprises transmitting at least one map image onto which the locations of the determined service vehicles can be displayed.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting secondary information for at least one of the determined service vehicles, the secondary information including contact information for contacting at least one of the driver of the service vehicle, or a company operating the service vehicle.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein determining location information for service vehicles in a vicinity of the received location comprises:

determining the granularity of the location information;

determining the service vehicles in the vicinity of the location based on the granularity of the location information.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting to the end user device contact data for enabling the end user to directly contact from the end user device, a service company associated with a service vehicle.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the contact data comprises a URL for enabling the end user to directly access a web site of the service company.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the location information of the current locations of the plurality of service vehicles in a vehicle position database.

15. A method for obtaining current location information for service vehicles, the method comprising:

transmitting from an end user device to a vehicle position aggregation system, a request including a location, the vehicle position aggregation system including a vehicle position database comprising real time location information for a plurality of services vehicles operated by a plurality of service vehicle fleets;

receiving from the vehicle position aggregation system location information for a plurality of service vehicles in a vicinity of the requested location; and

displaying a map of a vicinity of the requested location and icons representing service vehicles in the vicinity based on the received location information.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the end user device is a GPS enabled device, the location is specified as longitude and latitude values, and is provided automatically in the request.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein transmitting a request includes transmitting display attribute information of the end user device, and wherein the received location information is formatted according to the display attribute information.

18. The method of claim 15, further comprising display contact information for directly contacting a service business associated with at least one of the service vehicles for which location information was received.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising in response to a user input, establishing a connection from the end user device to a computer system operated by a service business associated with at least one of the service vehicles for which location information was received.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising in response to a user input, establishing a connection via a telephone network from the end user device to a service business associated with at least one of the service vehicles for which location information was received.

21. The method of claim 15, further comprising in response to a user input, establishing a connection via a telephone network from the end user device to a driver of a one of the service vehicles for which location information was received.

22. The method of claim 15, further comprising in response to a user input, transmitting a telephone number of the end user to a service business associated with at least one of the service vehicles for which location information was received.

23. The method of claim 15, further comprising in response to a user input, transmitting a telephone number of the end user to a driver of a one of the service vehicles for which location information was received.

24. The method of claim 15, further comprising in response to a user input, transmitting the requested location to a service business associated with at least one of the service vehicles for which location information was received.

25. The method of claim 15, further comprising in response to a user input, transmitting the requested location to a driver of a one of the service vehicles for which location information was received.

26. A system for providing location information for service vehicles, the system comprising:

a data aggregation system interface for receiving from at least one fleet management system location information of the current locations of a plurality of service vehicles in a fleet;

a vehicle position database communicatively coupled to the data aggregation system for receiving and maintaining the location information for the plurality of service vehicles, each vehicle associated with a vehicle identifier, a fleet identifier, and a current location of the vehicle;

a presentation system for receiving from an end user device a request including a location, querying the vehicle position database to determine a set of service vehicles in a vicinity of the requested location, and transmitting location information of the determined service vehicles to the end user device for display.