Systems and methods for shopping detour during traffic congestion

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9354065-B2
Application number	US-201414481119-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 9, 2014
Priority date	Sep 9, 2014
Publication date	May 31, 2016
Grant date	May 31, 2016

Abstract

A system or a method is provided to provide shopping detours to users during traffic congestions. In particular, the system may detect that a user is experiencing or is about to experience a traffic congestion. The system may then estimate the additional travel time needed to go through the traffic congestion. The system may also find shopping detours which allow the user to take the shopping detours to make purchases and still arrive at the final destination at about the same time as if the user stays in the original route with the traffic congestion.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a non-transitory memory storing information about an account of a user; and
one or more hardware processors coupled to the non-transitory memory and configured to read instructions from the non-transitory memory to cause the system to perform operations comprising:
determining a first travel route for a user and calculating a first travel time to a first location;
detecting at least one travel delay along the first travel route and calculating a second travel time for the first travel route to the first location based on the at least one travel delay;
determining at least one shopping detour to a merchant;
calculating a third travel time for a second travel route to the at least one shopping detour and the first location; and
presenting the second travel route that includes the at least one shopping detour to the user when the third travel time is less than the second travel time.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to read instructions from the non-transitory memory to cause the system to perform operations comprising:
inferring a purchase target based on one or more of purchase history of the user, browsing history of the user, a to-do list of the user, a wish list of the user, a social network account of the user, and a calendar of the user;
searching for the merchant who offers the purchase target and located near a current location of the user or the first travel route of the user; and
mapping a shopping detour route from the current location of the user to the merchant.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to read instructions from the non-transitory memory to cause the system to perform operations comprising:
estimating a delay time caused by the travel delay;
estimating a shopping detour time for traveling to and shopping at the merchant; and
presenting the delay time and the shopping detour time to the user for comparison.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the delay time caused by the travel delay is estimated based on one or more of a speed of traffic flow through the traffic delay, a type of traffic delay, a duration of the traffic delay, a distance between the user and the traffic delay, and a distance stretch of the traffic delay.

5. The system of claim 3 , wherein the shopping detour time is estimated based on one or more of a travel distance to the merchant, a traffic flow speed along the shopping detour to the merchant, a wait time at the merchant, and a parking availability at the merchant.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to read instructions from the non-transitory memory to cause the system to perform operations comprising:
presenting the second travel time and the third travel time to the user for comparison.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to read instructions from the non-transitory memory to cause the system to perform operations comprising:
determining a desired arrival time at a final destination based on a calendar of the user;
selecting the first travel route or the second travel route that allows the user to arrive at the final destination on or before the desired arrival time; and
presenting the first travel route or the second travel route to the user.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to read instructions from the non-transitory memory to cause the system to perform operations:
estimating a first travel cost for taking the first travel route to a final destination;
estimating a second travel cost for taking the second travel route to the final destination; and
presenting the first and the second travel costs to the user for comparison.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the first and the second travel cost each include one or more of a fuel cost, an estimated cost of wear to a vehicle of the user, a toll charge, a carbon emission, and a cost of electricity.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more hardware processors are further configured to read instructions from the non-transitory memory to cause the system to perform operations comprising:
providing an user interface for the user to pre-order a product or a service from the merchant while the user is in-route to the merchant;
receiving a purchase order from the user; and
sending the purchase order to the merchant.

11. A method comprising:
determining a travel route for a user and calculating a first travel time to a first location;
detecting, by a hardware processor, at least one travel delay along the first travel route and calculating a second travel time for the first travel route to the first location based on the at least one travel delay;
determining, by the hardware processor, a plurality of shopping detours to respective merchants;
calculating a third travel time for a second travel route to least one shopping detour from the plurality of shopping detours and to the first location; and
presenting, by the hardware processor, the second travel route to the user when the third travel time is less than the second travel time.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising:
determining a probability score for each of the shopping detours indicating a likelihood that the user intends to or desires to take the shopping detour to visit a merchant; and
presenting one or more of the plurality of shopping detours to the user based on probability scores of the shopping detours.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the probability score is calculated based on one or more of a number of sources from which the shopping detour is inferred from and a type or types of sources from which the shopping detour is inferred from.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein,
the third travel time includes traveling to and shopping at least one of the respective merchants.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
presenting the plurality of shopping detours to the user based on how closely matching the shopping detour time of each of the shopping detours is to the delay time caused by the travel delay.

16. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
determining a travel cost for each of the plurality of shopping detours; and
presenting the plurality of shopping detours to the user based on the travel cost of each of the plurality of shopping detours.

17. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:
receiving a selection from the user selecting two or more shopping detours;
generating a new shopping detour combining the selected two or more shopping detours; and
presenting directions for the new shopping detour to the user.

18. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereon machine-readable instructions executable to cause a machine to perform operations comprising:
determining a first travel route for a user and calculating a first travel time to a first location;
detecting at least one travel delay along the first travel route and calculating a second travel time for the travel route to the first location based on the at least one travel delay;
determining a plurality of shopping detours to respective merchants;
calculating a third travel time for a second travel route to at least one shopping detour from the plurality of shopping detours and to the first location; and
presenting the second travel route to the user when the third travel time is less than the

Assignees

• Paypal Inc

Inventors

• Ikavalko Karin Andrea
• Thomas Jeffrey Joseph
• Alves Michael Joseph
• Pujals Michelle

Classifications

• G01C21/3415 Primary

  Dynamic re-routing, e.g. recalculating the route when the user deviates from calculated route or after detecting real-time traffic data or accidents · CPC title

• G01C21/3679

  Retrieval, searching and output of POI information, e.g. hotels, restaurants, shops, filling stations, parking facilities (G01C21/3611 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01C21/3484

  Personalized, e.g. from learned user behaviour or user-defined profiles · CPC title

• G01C21/3461

  Preferred or disfavoured areas, e.g. dangerous zones, toll or emission zones, intersections, manoeuvre types or segments such as motorways, toll roads or ferries · CPC title

• G01C21/3492

  employing speed data or traffic data, e.g. real-time or historical (traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968) · CPC title