Detecting and handling material left in vehicles by transportation requestors

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10127795-B1
Application number	US-201715859629-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Dec 31, 2017
Priority date	Dec 31, 2017
Publication date	Nov 13, 2018
Grant date	Nov 13, 2018

Abstract

The present disclosure includes embodiments of systems, methods, and computer readable media that enable a dynamic transportation system to detect when material has been left in a vehicle by a requestor. In some embodiments, the system detects the completion of the transportation request, analyzes data from a plurality of vehicle sensors, from a computing device associated with the vehicle, and from a computing device associated with the requestor, and then determines, based on the data analysis, that material has been left in the vehicle. The system then performs an action for handling the material based on one or more attributes of the material.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
detecting, by a dynamic transportation matching system, completion of a transportation request received from a requestor computing device;
analyzing data from one or more sensors associated with a vehicle, from a computing device associated with the vehicle, and from the requestor computing device, wherein analyzing the data comprises:
determining a geographic location of the requestor computing device after completion of the transportation request;
determining a geographic location of the computing device associated with the vehicle after completion of the transportation request; and
comparing the geographic location of the requestor computing device to the geographic location of the computing device associated with the vehicle to determine whether the requestor computing device is within a threshold distance of the computing device associated with the vehicle;

determining, based on the data analysis, that material has been left in the vehicle after the completion of the transportation request; and
performing an action for handling the material left in the vehicle based on one or more attributes of the material.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein detecting the completion of the transportation request comprises receiving from the computing device associated with the vehicle, an indication that a requestor associated with the requestor computing device has been dropped off at a destination location.

3. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein analyzing the data further comprises:
determining a signal strength between the requestor computing device and the computing device associated with the vehicle; and
determining, based on the signal strength, whether the requestor computing device is within a threshold distance of the computing device associated with the vehicle.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein analyzing the data further comprises:
analyzing motion data from the requestor computing device;
analyzing motion data from the computing device associated with the vehicle; and
comparing the motion data from the requestor computing device to the motion data from the computing device associated with the vehicle.

5. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the one or more sensors comprises one or more cameras, one or more audio sensors, one or more pressure sensors, one or more moisture sensors, or one or more olfactory sensors.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising determining one or more attributes of the material based on the data analysis, wherein the one or more attributes comprise a type of the material or a quantity of the material.

7. The method as recited in claim 6 , further comprising utilizing the one or more attributes to identify the action for handling the material left in the vehicle.

8. The method as recited in claim 7 , wherein the action comprises at least one of:
cancelling a subsequent transportation request matched to the computing device associated with the vehicle;
preventing a subsequent transportation request from being matched to the computing device associated with the vehicle;
initiating a communication with the computing device associated with the vehicle;
initiating a communication with the requestor computing device;
initiating a communication with an alternative computing device associated with the requestor;
sending a notification to the requestor computing device;
sending a notification to the computing device associated with the vehicle;
dispatching the computing device associated with the vehicle to a drop off location associated with the transportation request;
dispatching the computing device to a location of the requestor computing device;
initiating a phone call to an emergency contact associated with the requestor computing device;
causing the vehicle to emit a sound;
sending a message regarding the material left in the vehicle to a third-party system associated with the drop off location;
initiating a communication with a companion computing device associated with the requestor computing device; or
dispatching the computing device associated with the vehicle to a service station.

9. The method as recited in claim 8 , further comprising:
determining that the action was ineffective in handling the material left in the vehicle; and
in response to determining that the action was ineffective, performing a second action for handling the material left in the vehicle.

10. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein determining that material has been left in the vehicle after the completion of the transportation request comprises calculating, based on the data analysis, a confidence score indicating a likelihood that the material has been left in the vehicle.

11. A system comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing instructions thereon that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to:
detect a completion of a transportation request received from a requestor computing device;
analyze data from one or more sensors associated with a vehicle, from a computing device associated with the vehicle, and from the requestor computing device wherein analyzing the data comprises:
determining a geographic location of the requestor computing device after completion of the transportation request;
determining a geographic location of the computing device associated with the vehicle after completion of the transportation request; and
comparing the geographic location of the requestor computing device to the geographic location of the computing device associated with the vehicle to determine whether the requestor computing device is within a threshold distance of the computing device associated with the vehicle;

determine, based on the data analysis, that material has been left in the vehicle after the completion of the transportation request; and
perform an action for handling the material left in the vehicle based on one or more attributes of the material.

12. The system as recited in claim 11 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to determine one or more attributes of the material based on the data analysis, wherein the one or more attributes comprise a type of the material or a quantity of the material.

13. The system as recited in claim 11 , further comprising instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system to utilize the one or more attributes to identify the action for handling the material left in the vehicle.

14. The system as recited in claim 13 , wherein performing the action comprises at least one of:
cancelling a subsequent transportation request matched to the computing device associated with the vehicle;
preventing a subsequent transportation request from being matched to the computing device associated with the vehicle;
initiating a communication with the computing device associated with the vehicle;
initiating a communication with the requestor computing device;
initiating a communication with an alternative computing device associated with the requestor;
sending a notification to the requestor computing device;
sending a notification to the computing device associated with the vehicle;
dispatching the computing device associated with the vehicle to a drop off location associated with the transportation request;
dispatching the computing device associated with the vehicle to a location of the requestor computing device;
initiating a phone call to an emergency contact as

Assignees

• Lyft Inc

Inventors

• Hwang Thaddeus Insuk
• Garms Jesse Michael
• Vincent Luc

Classifications

• H04W4/023

  using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds · CPC title

• H04W4/025

  using location based information parameters · CPC title

• G08B25/08

  using communication transmission lines {(G08B13/19658, G08B21/0286, G08B25/016 take precedence)} · CPC title

• G08B21/24 Primary

  Reminder alarms, e.g. anti-loss alarms · CPC title

• H04W4/40

  for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P] · CPC title