System and method for managing shared personal mobility device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12503182-B2
Application number	US-202318239350-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 29, 2023
Priority date	Aug 31, 2022
Publication date	Dec 23, 2025
Grant date	Dec 23, 2025

Abstract

Disclosed are a system and method for managing a shared personal mobility device (SPM) capable of acquiring accurate location information of the SPM. The system for managing the SPM may include a dock configured to store SPMs, and an SPM management server configured to receive, from the dock and using an LPWA protocol, state information associated with the doc. The state information may include coordinates of the dock. The SPM management server may be further configured to receive location information associated with a returned SPM, and update, based on the coordinates of the dock, the location information associated with the returned SPM.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system comprising:
a dock configured to store one or more shared personal mobility devices (SPMs); and an SPM management server configured to: receive, from the dock using a low power wide area (LPWA) communication protocol, state information associated with the dock, wherein the state information comprises coordinates of the dock; receive, from an SPM operator server, location information associated with a returned SPM; compare the state information of the dock and the location information associated with the returned SPM; and update, based on the coordinates of the dock, the location information associated with the returned SPM in a database connected to the SPM operator server.

2 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the dock comprises:
one or more sensors configured to sense whether one or more SPMs is stored at the dock; a communication interface configured to communicate with the SPM management server; and a controller configured to control the communication interface to transmit the state information associated with the dock to the SPM management server.

3 . The system according to claim 2 , wherein each of the one or more sensors comprise a proximity sensor configured to detect an object within one meter.

4 . The system according to claim 3 , wherein the proximity sensor comprises at least one of: an infrared sensor, a laser sensor, an ultrasound sensor, a metal sensor, or a Hall sensor.

5 . The system according to claim 2 , wherein the communication interface is configured to transmit sensor information, of each of the one or more sensors, to the SPM management server at an interval of time of less than 10 seconds.

6 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the LPWA protocol comprises at least one of: a long range (LoRa) protocol, a Long-Term Evolution Machine Type Communication (LTE-M) protocol, or a Narrowband Internet of things (NB-IoT) protocol.

7 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the SPM management server is configured to receive the location information using a crawling scheme.

8 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the SPM management server is configured to receive the location information from an SPM operator using an application programming interface (API).

9 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the state information further comprises:
a state indicator of a rack identifier of the dock, wherein the state indicator indicates a returned state of a sensed SPM; and first time information associated with a returned time of the sensed SPM, and wherein the coordinates of the dock comprises absolute coordinates of the dock.

10 . The system according to claim 9 , wherein the SPM management server is configured to receive the location information associated with the returned SPM by:
receiving, from the SPM operator server, a return notification associated with the returned SPM, wherein the return notification associated with the returned SPM comprises:
an SPM identifier of the returned SPM;
the location information associated with the returned SPM; and
second time information associated with a returned time of the returned SPM,
wherein the location information associated with the returned SPM comprises information of second coordinates, and
wherein a difference between the absolute coordinates of the dock and the second coordinates is within a threshold difference.

11 . The system according to claim 10 , wherein the SPM management server is configured to update the location information by:
correcting the location information associated with the returned SPM with the absolute coordinates of the dock in the database connected to the SPM operator server.

12 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the SPM management server is configured to:
receive second sensor information from a second dock, wherein the second sensor information comprises:
a second state indicator of a second rack identifier of the second dock, wherein the second state indicator indicates a returned state of a second sensed SPM;
second time information associated with a returned time of the second sensed SPM; and
the coordinates of the second dock;
compare the second sensor information of the second dock and at least one location information received from the SPM operator server; and based on a time duration associated with the second state indicator being greater than a threshold time duration, determine that a rack of the second dock corresponding to the second rack identifier is unavailable.

13 . A method comprising:
receiving, by a shared personal mobility device (SPM) management server, sensor information from a dock storing one or more shared personal mobility devices (SPMs), wherein the sensor information comprises coordinates of the dock; receiving, by the SPM management server from an SPM operator server, location information associated with a returned SPM; comparing the sensor information of the dock and the location information associated with the returned SPM; and updating, by the SPM management server and based on the coordinates of the dock, the location information associated with the returned SPM in a database connected to the SPM operator server.

14 . The method according to claim 13 , wherein the receiving of the location information is performed using a crawling scheme.

15 . The method according to claim 13 , wherein the receiving of the location information comprises receiving, using an application programming interface (API), the location information from an SPM operator.

16 . The method according to claim 13 , wherein the sensor information further comprises:
a state indicator of a rack identifier of the dock, wherein the state indicator indicates a returned state of a sensed SPM; and first time information associated with a returned time of the sensed SPM, and wherein the coordinates of the dock comprises absolute coordinates of the dock.

17 . The method according to claim 16 , wherein the receiving of the location information associated with the returned SPM comprises:
receiving, by the SPM management server from the SPM operator server, a return notification associated with the returned SPM, wherein the return notification associated with the returned SPM comprises:
an SPM identifier of the returned SPM;
the location information associated with the returned SPM; and
second time information associated with a returned time of the returned SPM,
wherein the location information associated with the returned SPM comprises information of second coordinates, and
wherein a difference between the absolute coordinates of the dock and the second coordinates is within a threshold difference.

18 . The method according to claim 17 , wherein the updating of the location information comprises:
correcting, by the SPM management server, the location information associated with the returned SPM with the absolute coordinates of the dock in the database connected to the SPM operator server.

19 . The method according to claim 16 , further comprising:
receiving, by the SPM management server, second sensor information from a second dock, wherein the second sensor information comprises:
a second state indicator of a second rack identifier of the second dock, wherein the second state indicator indicates a returned state of a second sensed SPM;
second time information associated with a returned time of the second sensed SPM; and
the coordinates of the second dock.

20 . The me

Assignees

• Hyundai Motor Co Ltd
• Kia Corp

Inventors

• Shin Jae Dong
• Yoo Yong Kyu
• Na Ho Kwon

Classifications

• H04W64/003 Primary

  locating network equipment · CPC title

• B62M6/80

  Accessories, e.g. power sources; Arrangements thereof · CPC title

• B62H2003/005

  Supports or holders associated with means for bike rental · CPC title

• B60L2200/24

  Personal mobility vehicles · CPC title

• B62H2700/00

  Supports or stands for two-wheel vehicles · CPC title