System for connecting a driver and a rider

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017193404-A1
Application number	US-201313828913-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 14, 2013
Priority date	Mar 14, 2013
Publication date	Jul 6, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

A system for connecting a driver and a rider comprises a processor and an interface. The processor is configured to select a driver for a requested ride from the rider. The interface is configured to, in the event that the driver accepts the rider, provide a connect notification to the rider. The connect notification comprises an image associated with the driver, an image associated with the driver's car, and an anonymized interface for contacting the driver.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A matching system for connecting a driver and a rider, comprising:
a server computer configured to:
receive a ride request associated with a requestor computing device of a rider, wherein the ride request includes a pick-up location;
determine a plurality of potential start locations located within a predetermined distance from the pick-up location based on recorded pick-up events associated with the requestor computing device, the plurality of potential start locations including location clusters of recorded pick-up events, each of the recorded pick-up events being associated with one of the plurality of potential start locations;
determine a location score for each of the plurality of potential start locations based on the recorded pick-up events associated with each of the plurality of potential start locations;
select a start location from the plurality of potential start locations based on the location score of each of the plurality of potential start locations;
select a provider computing device associated with a driver for the ride request; and
send the selected start location to the provider computing device.

2 . (canceled)

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the pick-up location is determined based at least in part on a current location of the rider device.

4 .- 5 . (canceled)

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the ride request has an associated destination location.

7 . (canceled)

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the ride request has an associated time limit for acceptance.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein, in the event that the driver does not accept the ride request, a next selected driver is selected.

10 . The system of claim 9 , wherein the next selected driver comprises a potential driver provided to the rider device.

11 .- 12 . (canceled)

13 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the interface is further configured to receive an indication of a ride start.

14 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the indication of the ride start comprises a ride start time.

15 . (canceled)

17 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the server computer is further configured to receive an indication of a ride stop.

18 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the server computer is further configured to provide a notification of a completed ride to the requestor computing device.

19 .- 25 . (canceled)

26 . A method for connecting a driver and a rider, comprising:
receiving, by a matching system, a ride request associated with a requestor computing device of a rider, the ride request including a pick-up location; determining a plurality of potential start locations located within a predetermined distance from the pick-up location based on recorded pick-up events associated with the requestor computing device, the plurality of potential start locations including location clusters of recorded pick-up events, each of the recorded pick-up events being associated with one of the plurality of potential start locations; determining a location score for each of the plurality of potential start locations based on the recorded pick-up events associated with each of the plurality of potential start locations; selecting a start location from the plurality of potential start locations based on the location score of each of the plurality of potential start locations; selecting a provider computing device associated with a driver for the ride request; and sending, by the matching system, the selected start location to the provider computing device.

27 . A computer program product for connecting a driver and a rider, the computer program product being embodied in a tangible non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:
receiving, by a matching system, a ride request associated with a requestor computing device of a rider, the ride request including a pick-up location; determining a plurality of potential start locations located within a predetermined distance from the pick-up location based on recorded pick-up events associated with the requestor computing device, the plurality of potential start locations including location clusters of recorded pick-up events, each of the recorded pick-up events being associated with one of the plurality of potential start locations; determining a location score for each of the plurality of potential start locations based on the recorded pick-up events associated with each of the plurality of potential start locations; selecting a start location from the plurality of potential start locations based on the location score of each of the plurality of potential start locations; selecting a provider computing device associated with a driver for the ride request; and sending, by the matching system, the selected start location to the provider computing device.

28 . The system of claim 1 , wherein determining a location score for each of the plurality of potential start locations based on the recorded pick-up events associated with each of the plurality of potential start locations comprises:
determining a set of recorded pick-up events associated with each of the plurality of potential start locations; determining a weighting coefficient for each of the set of recorded pick-up events wherein the weighting coefficient is based at least in part on a pick-up location selection method relating to the each of the set of recorded pick-up events, and determining the location score associated with each of the plurality of potential start locations based at least in part on the weighting coefficient of each of the set of recorded pick-up events associated with each of the plurality of potential start locations.

29 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the pick-up location includes a present location of the requestor computing device, the present location of the requestor computing device being determined by a GPS component of the requestor computing device.

30 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the pick-up location and the selected start location are both associated with a same postal address and wherein the pick-up location and the selected start location are both associated with different geographic locations.

31 . The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the location clusters of recorded pick-up events include a subset of pick-up events within a threshold distance from one another.

32 . The system of claim 31 , wherein the server computer is further configured to:
determine the pick-up location is located within a location cluster of the location clusters of recorded pick-up events; and identify the plurality of potential start locations from the potential start locations associated with the recorded pick-up events in the location cluster.

33 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the server computer is further configured to:
determine a current location of the provider computing device associated with the driver; generate a navigation route from the location of the provider computing device to the selected start location; and provide the navigation route to the provider computing device for the ride request.

34 . The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the recorded pick-up events includes a location, a time, and a pick-up location selection method indicating a means of entering the pick-up location into an application of the requestor computing device.

35 . The system of

Assignees

• Lyft Inc

Inventors

• Yoo Frank Taehyun
• Goldin Evan
• Brannstrom Sebastian Rolf Johan
• Rico Eduardo Alfio Perez

Classifications

• G06Q10/02 Primary

  Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events · CPC title

• H04W4/023

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

• G06Q20/322

  Aspects of commerce using mobile devices [M-devices] · CPC title

• G06Q10/06

  Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling · CPC title

• H04W4/024

  Guidance services · CPC title