Providing Transit Information

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016238693-A1
Application number	US-201615069642-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 14, 2016
Priority date	Sep 6, 2013
Publication date	Aug 18, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer program products for determining transit routes through crowd-sourcing, for determining an estimated time of arrival (ETA) of a vehicle of the transit route at a given location, and for providing predictive reminders to a user for catching a vehicle of the transit route. A server receives signal source information about wireless signal sources detected by user devices, including information about a first wireless signal source detected by some devices. The server determines that the first wireless signal source is moving. The server determines that the first wireless signal source is associated with a public transit route upon determining that the signal source information satisfies one or more selection criteria. The server stores information associating the first wireless signal source with the public transit route as transit movement data corresponding to the public transit route.

First claim

1 - 20 . (canceled)

21 . A method comprising:
obtaining, by a user device, a state model that includes one or more states, each state representing a stationary location designated as significant to a user of the user device; determining the current location of the user device; predicting, using the state model and based on the current location of the user device, that a first location that corresponds to a state in the state model is the next significant location to the user; and determining an estimated time of arrival (ETA) of a transit vehicle at the first location.

22 . The method of claim 21 , further comprising:
sending a message to the user indicating the ETA of the transit vehicle at the first location.

23 . The method of claim 21 , wherein each state in the state model is further associated with a time that is significant to the user, and wherein determining the ETA of the transit vehicle at the first location comprises:
obtaining the current time; based on the current location of the user device and the current time, predicting, using the state model, that a first time associated with the first location in the state model is the next significant time to the user; and determining, based on cached information, that the user is expected to board the transit vehicle at the first location at the first time.

24 . The method of claim 21 , wherein each state in the state model is further associated with a time that is significant to the user, and wherein determining the ETA of the transit vehicle at the first location comprises:
determining that the user is travelling aboard the transit vehicle; obtaining the current time; and based on the current location of the user device and the current time, predicting, using the state model, that the user will disembark the transit vehicle at the first location.

25 . The method of claim 21 , wherein determining the ETA of the transit vehicle at the first location comprises:
sending, by the user device and to a location server through a network connection, a message requesting ETA of the transit vehicle at the first location, the message including information identifying the transit vehicle; and receiving, from the location server, the ETA of the transit vehicle at the first location.

26 . The method of claim 25 , wherein each state in the state model is further associated with a time that is significant to the user, and wherein sending the message including information identifying the transit vehicle comprises:
determining, by the user device, that the first location is serviced by different transit vehicles at different times; obtaining the current time; based on the current location of the user device and the current time, predicting, using the state model, that a first time associated with the first location in the state model is the next significant time to the user; identifying, based on cached information, a first transit vehicle that is expected to service the first location at the first time; and sending, to the location server, the message including information identifying the first transit vehicle.

27 . The method of claim 21 , wherein the first location is stored at the user device in association with the state model, the method comprising:
detecting, by the user device, a first wireless signal source at the first location; obtaining, by the user device, information indicating that the first wireless signal source is moving; based on obtaining the information, determining, by the user device, that the first wireless signal source is associated with a transit route; associating, by the user device, the first location with the transit route; and storing, by the user device, the first location and the transit route as associated with the first location.

28 . The method of claim 27 , wherein the user device obtains the information indicating that the first wireless signal source is moving from a location server, the method comprising:
receiving, at the location server, locations of the first wireless signal source detected by one or more user devices that include one or more of:
a first user device travelling on board a vehicle associated with the first wireless signal source, or
a second user device that detects the first wireless signal source as the vehicle associated with first wireless signal source moves past the second user device.

29 . The method of claim 27 , wherein the user device determines that the first wireless signal source is associated with the transit route based on information received from a location server, the method comprising:
receiving, at the location server, a query from the user device that includes identifying information of the first wireless signal source; determining, by the location server, that the first wireless signal source is a public signal source upon determining that the first signal source satisfies one or more selection criteria, including that a number of user devices observing the first wireless signal source satisfies a threshold number; and sending, by the location server to the user device, information indicating that the first wireless signal source is a public signal source.

30 . The method of claim 27 , wherein detecting the first wireless signal source at the first location includes a plurality of detections of the first wireless signal source at the first location, the method further comprising:
determining that the plurality of detections satisfy a threshold value; in response to the determination, designating the first location as a location that is significant to a movement pattern of the user; and storing the first location and the transit route in association with the state model as significant to the movement pattern of the user.

31 . A system comprising:
a user device that is configured to perform operations comprising:
obtaining a state model that includes one or more states, each state representing a stationary location designated as significant to a user of the user device;
determining the current location of the user device;
predicting, using the state model and based on the current location of the user device, that a first location that corresponds to a state in the state model is the next significant location to the user; and
determining an estimated time of arrival (ETA) of a transit vehicle at the first location.

32 . The system of claim 31 , wherein the operations further comprise:
sending a message to the user indicating the ETA of the transit vehicle at the first location.

33 . The system of claim 31 , wherein each state in the state model is further associated with a time that is significant to the user, and wherein determining the ETA of the transit vehicle at the first location comprises:
obtaining the current time; based on the current location of the user device and the current time, predicting, using the state model, that a first time associated with the first location in the state model is the next significant time to the user; and determining, based on cached information, that the user is expected to board the transit vehicle at the first location at the first time.

34 . The system of claim 31 , wherein each state in the state model is further associated with a time that is significant to the user, and wherein determining the ETA of the transit vehicle at the first location comprises:
determining that the user is travelling aboard the transit vehicle; obtaining the current time; and based on the current location of the user device and the current time, predicting, using the state model, that the user will di

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Jouaux Francois M
• Chitta Rama Krishna
• Marti Lukas M
• Dal Santo Michael P
• Huang Ronald Keryuan

Classifications

• H04W4/023 Primary

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

• G01C21/26

  specially adapted for navigation in a road network · CPC title

• H04W4/028

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G01S5/0294 Primary

  Trajectory determination or predictive filtering, e.g. target tracking or Kalman filtering · CPC title

• G06Q10/101

  Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services · CPC title