IP Library › Granted Patent US 11,320,280
Granted Patent B2
US 11,320,280 · App. 16/374,272 · Granted May 3, 2022

Location safety determination system

Inventors: Kapil Gupta (Sunnyvale, CA); Houtan Shirani-Mehr (Santa Clara, CA); Mir Shahrouz Takyar (San Jose, CA); Jaikumar Ganesh (San Francisco, CA)
Assignee: Uber Technologies, Inc.
G01C21/3461G01C21/3423G06N20/00G06V20/52H04W4/029
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,320,280
App. No.
16/374,272
Granted
May 3, 2022
Kind
B2
Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for determining location data corresponding to a location of a user, retrieving candidate locations for pickup or drop-off locations based on the location data corresponding to the location of the user, and determining a safety score for each of the candidate locations. The systems and methods further select a best candidate location using the safety score associated with each of the candidate locations and provide a recommendation for a pickup or drop-off location comprising the best candidate location.

Claims (42)

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

determining, by a computing device, location data corresponding to a location of a user;

accessing, by the computing device, candidate locations for a pickup of the user, based on the location data corresponding to the location of the user;

generating, by the computing device, a safety score for each of the candidate locations based on a crime rate for each candidate location applied to GPS measurements, the GPS measurements generated based on a signal to noise ratio of a GPS signal for each candidate location;

automatically selecting, by the computing device, a safe pickup location for pickup of the user, the safe pickup location comprising a candidate location having a highest safety score of the safety scores for the candidate locations;

providing, by the computing device, a recommendation for a pickup location comprising the safe pickup location; and

providing, by the computing device, a travel route to travel to the safe pickup location.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is associated with the user and the location data comprises geographical coordinates corresponding to a location of the computing device, or the computing device is part of a server system and the location data comprises geographical coordinates received from a client computing device associated with the user.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein accessing candidate pickup locations comprises accessing one or more data sources to search and retrieve predetermined pickup or drop-off locations corresponding to the location of the user.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the safety score is further based on at least one of historical data such as popularity or frequency of pickup or drop-off of the candidate location, a fastest route, a shortest route, or a most scenic route.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the safety score is further based on an ambient light level and the ambient light level is generated based on at least one of ambient light sensor data from a plurality of computing devices when located in each candidate location or street light data for each candidate location.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the ambient light level is calculated based on at least one factor of a day of the week, a time of the day, or a month of the year.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the ambient light sensor data comprises weights associated with a reliability of sensor data from different types of computing devices of the plurality of computing devices.

8. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

generating a brightness profile for each candidate location based on the ambient light level; and

storing the brightness profile as data associated with each candidate.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

discarding candidate locations with safety scores below a specified threshold before selecting the safe pickup location.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the safety score is generated using a machine learning model for a specific time of day.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the safety score is further based on the signal to noise ratio of a GPS signal for each candidate location and at least one of a number of visible satellites, a pattern of satellite visibility, or a spread of visible satellites.

12. A computing device comprising:

a memory that stores instructions; and

one or more processors configured by the instructions to perform operations comprising:

determining location data corresponding to a location of a user;

accessing candidate locations for pickup of the user, based on the location data corresponding to the location of the user;

generating a safety score for each of the candidate locations based on a crime rate for each candidate location applied to GPS measurements, the GPS measurements generated based on a signal to noise ratio of a GPS signal for each candidate location;

automatically selecting a safe pickup location for pickup of the user, the safe pickup location comprising a candidate location having a highest safety score of the safety scores for the candidate locations;

providing a recommendation for a pickup location comprising the safe pickup location; and

providing a travel route to travel to the safe pickup location.

13. The computing device of claim 12 , wherein generating the safety score is further based on at least one of historical data such as popularity or frequency of pickup or drop-off of the candidate location, a fastest route, a shortest route, or a most scenic route.

14. The computing device of claim 12 , wherein generating the safety score is further based on an ambient light level and the ambient light level is generated based on at least one of ambient light sensor data from a plurality of computing devices when located in each candidate location or street light data for each candidate location.

15. The computing device of claim 14 , wherein the ambient light sensor data comprises weights associated with a reliability of sensor data from different types of computing devices of the plurality of computing devices.

16. The computing device of claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise:

discarding candidate locations with safety scores below a specified threshold before selecting the safe pickup location.

17. The computing device of claim 12 , wherein the safety score is generated using a machine learning model for a specific time of day.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon that are executable by at least one processor to cause a computing device to perform operations comprising:

determining location data corresponding to a location of a user;

accessing candidate locations for pickup of the user, based on the location data corresponding to the location of the user;

generating a safety score for each of the candidate locations based on a crime rate for each candidate location applied to GPS measurements, the GPS measurements generated based on a signal to noise ratio of a GPS signal for each candidate location;

automatically selecting a safe pickup location for pickup of the user, the safe pickup location comprising a candidate location having a highest safety score of the safety scores for the candidate locations;

providing a recommendation for a pickup location comprising the safe pickup location; and

providing, by the computing device, a travel route to travel to the safe pickup location.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Apr 11, 2019
From: SHIRANI-MEHR, HOUTAN; GUPTA, KAPIL; TAKYAR, MIR SHAHROUZ; GANESH, JAIKUMAR
To: UBER TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Reel/Frame 048853/0151 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20200318982A1 · Oct 8, 2020
Cited By (1)
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