IP Library › Granted Patent US 9,996,987
Granted Patent B2
US 9,996,987 · App. 15/253,869 · Granted Jun 12, 2018

Wireless incentive system for vehicle users

Inventors: Vinuth Rai (Mountain View, CA); Dustin Harber (Mountain View, CA); Divya Sai Toopran (Mountain View, CA); Matthew Kresse (Mountain View, CA); Ugur Oezdemir (Mountain View, CA)
G07C5/006G01C21/3484G01C21/3632G01C21/3697G06K19/06112G06Q30/0265G07C5/008H04W12/06G06Q50/01
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,996,987
App. No.
15/253,869
Filed
Sep 1, 2016
Granted
Jun 12, 2018
Kind
B2
Art Unit
3661
USPC
701/1
Abstract

The disclosure includes a system and method for determining, based on vehicle sensor data associated with the vehicle, a current vehicle condition that is detrimental to operation of the vehicle, transmitting, by a mobile computing device programmed to perform the transmitting, a description of the current vehicle condition to a condition message provider, and receiving a condition message that includes offer data and mitigating plan data describing one or more steps configured to alter the current vehicle condition.

Claims (42)

1. A method comprising:

determining, based on vehicle sensor data associated with a vehicle, a current vehicle condition associated with the vehicle that is detrimental to operation of the vehicle; and

receiving a condition message that includes offer data and mitigating action plan data describing one or more steps configured to alter the current vehicle condition, the mitigating action plan data including an offer fulfillment location included in a route of a journey for the vehicle and the offer data including an offer for a good or service associated with the offer fulfillment location.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the offer data includes a wait time at the offer fulfillment location.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining turn-by-turn navigation instructions based on the mitigating action plan data and user input indicating that a user accepts the one or more steps of the mitigating action plan data; and

providing the turn-by-turn navigation instructions during the journey from a current location to the offer fulfillment location, wherein the journey includes a start point and end point determined prior to receipt of the mitigating action plan and the mitigating action plan is configured so that (1) the offer fulfillment location is between the start point and the end point and (2) the offer is more likely to be accepted because the journey does not have to be changed.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining the journey for the vehicle based on a most frequently travelled route for a current location at a current time.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

displaying the mitigating action plan data and the offer data on a display of a mobile computing device associated with a user of the vehicle and the mobile computing device;

responsive to the vehicle arriving at the offer fulfillment location, receiving graphical data that displays a barcode; and

displaying the barcode on the display of the mobile computing device.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

detecting a presence of the vehicle that is paired with a mobile computing device; and

receiving the vehicle sensor data from the vehicle; and

wherein determining the current vehicle condition is performed by the mobile computing device.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising, responsive to detecting the presence of the vehicle that is paired with the mobile computing device, determining that the journey begins.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the vehicle detects a presence of a mobile computing device that is paired with the vehicle; and

determining the current vehicle condition is performed by the vehicle.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising providing authentication data to the vehicle to authenticate that the mobile computing device is authorized to receive the current vehicle condition from the vehicle.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the vehicle detects the presence of the mobile computing device using direct point-to-point wireless communication between the vehicle and the mobile computing device associated with a user.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending fulfillment transaction data to a condition message provider.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising registering a user, including importing information from at least one of a social network account associated with the user and an online calendar account associated with the user.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein determining the journey for the vehicle is further the at least one of the social network account associated with the user and the online calendar account associated with the user.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the offer data includes an expiration time that is calculated based on an estimated time of arrival at the offer fulfillment location.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer instructions stored thereon that are executable by a processing device to perform or control performance of operations comprising:

determining, based on vehicle sensor data associated with a vehicle, a current vehicle condition that is detrimental to operation of the vehicle; and

receiving a condition message that includes offer data and mitigating action plan data describing one or more steps configured to alter the current vehicle condition, the mitigating action plan data including an offer fulfillment location included in a route of a journey for the vehicle and the offer data including an offer for a good or service associated with the offer fulfillment location.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the offer data includes a wait time at the offer fulfillment location.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , the operations further comprising:

determining turn-by-turn navigation instructions based on the mitigating action plan data and user input indicating that the user accepts the one or more steps of the mitigating action plan data; and

providing the turn-by-turn navigation instructions during the journey from a current location to the offer fulfillment location.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , the operations further comprising determining the journey for the vehicle based on historical journey data describing a most frequently travelled route for a current location of the vehicle at a current time.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , the operations further comprising:

displaying the mitigating action plan data and the offer data on a display of a mobile computing device;

responsive to the vehicle arriving at the offer fulfillment location, receiving graphical data that displays a barcode; and

displaying the barcode on the display of the mobile computing device.

20. A system comprising:

a vehicle comprising a vehicle status application stored on an onboard computer of the vehicle, the vehicle status application including instructions that, when executed by the onboard computer, cause the onboard computer to:

determine, based on vehicle sensor data associated with the vehicle, a current vehicle condition associated with the vehicle that is detrimental to operation of the vehicle; and

receive a condition message that includes offer data and mitigating action plan data describing one or more steps configured to alter the current vehicle condition, the mitigating action plan data including an offer fulfillment location included in a route of a journey for the vehicle and the offer data including an offer for a good or service associated with the offer fulfillment location.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Oct 4, 2017
From: RAI, VINUTH; HARBER, DUSTIN; TOOPRAN, DIVYA SAI; KRESSE, MATTHEW; OEZDEMIR, UGUR
To: TOYOTA INFOTECHNOLOGY CENTER USA, INC.
Reel/Frame 043775/0214 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 1, 2016
From: RAI, VINUTH; HARBER, DUSTIN; TOOPRAN, DIVYA SAI; KRESSE, MATTHEW; OEZDEMIR, UGUR
To: TOYOTA INFOTECHNOLOGY CENTER USA, INC.
Reel/Frame 039607/0847 →
Continuity (2)
Continuation 14578197 · Dec 19, 2014
Related Publication 20160371894A1 · Dec 22, 2016