WO2017075288A1 - A system for gender biased transportation - Google Patents

Abstract

A system and method are described for providing transportation to be arranged for individuals who identify as female in gender carrying handsets or mobile devices. In some embodiments, a customer can transmit a request for transport provided by a female driver from a given customer geographic location. A service may handle the request by selecting a female driver for the customer. The method for providing transportation services comprising: receiving a transportation request from a female passenger; tracking a passenger's position following the request using positions detection logic; and transmitting positional data identifying the passenger's position to a pickup vehicle operated by a female driver. A verification method is described to allow the gender identity of the passenger to be confirmed.

Description

A SYSTEM FOR GENDER BIASED TRANSPORTATION

This Patent Cooperation Treaty Patent Application claims the benefit of priority to United States Provisional Patent Application entitled, "A SYSTEM FOR GENDER BIASED TRANSPORTATION", having serial number 62/247,077, filed October 27, 2015, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments described herein pertain generally to a system and method for arranging transport amongst female parties through use of mobile devices that are carried by the respective female parties.

BACKGROUND

This method and system relates generally to the field of transportation services. The current form of on-demand transportation utilizing automobiles owned by a private party does not allow a female passenger to request a female driver. Similarly, female drivers cannot designate themselves to exclusively transport female passengers. This system will require verification of the passenger's gender in order to use the service.

BREIF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a system for enabling transportation to be arranged between female parties that are at different geographic locations, according to one or more embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart of a method according to one embodiment of the method and system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Overview

Current state of the art transport services do not allow female passengers to request transportation from potential drivers based on gender. It may be the case that female customers are more inclined to use the service provided if it is possible for her to request a female gendered driver. The female customer may feel safer with a female driver. Similarly, a female driver may feel safer with female passengers.

The present teachings disclose a system and method for arranging transport amongst female parties by female transport drivers through use of mobile devices.

In one embodiment, the computer-implemented method for operating a service to arrange transport between a female customer and a female driver, the method being implemented by one or more processors and comprising the steps of: (a) a request by a female customer for a female driver at a first geographic location for transport, (b) responding to the request by selecting a female driver at a second geographic location to transport the female customer; (c) upon the female customer being picked up by the female driver, tracking the customer and/or driver from the first geographic location to a third geographic location; (d) determining a fee for transport of the customer from the first geographic location to the third geographic location, (e) enabling the customer to provide a feedback to affect a service reputation of the driver upon completing transport.

According to some embodiments, the pairing of the party to the customer requesting the transport is performed programmatically and/or automatically, based on parameters such as the location of the female driver (or a vehicle of the transport party).

According to embodiments, individual female drivers may be selected as respondents to a female customer request, whom in turn have the option to accept the assignment. Once a female driver (or alternatively, female transport party) is selected and has accepted the assignment, information about the driver (e.g. the location of the driver when the fare was accepted, a picture of the driver, her rating etc.) may be communicated to a device of the customer (e.g. to the customer's handset). The driver may also be provided information about the customer (e.g. the picture of the customer, the customer's rating, the customer's precise location).

Additionally, some embodiments provide that the customer is provided updates as to the location of the vehicle of the driver en route to the customer. The updates may be provided in real-time or near-real time, to reflect the progression of the driver towards the customer.

An Exemplary Network Architecture

Embodiments of the disclosure may be implemented within a networking architecture such as illustrated in FIG. 1. The particular embodiment shown in FIG. 1 includes a wireless communication network 110 for supporting communication between two or more wireless devices (e.g., device 104). The wireless communication network 110 may also include a communication link to the larger network 112 such as the Internet over which a plurality of servers 114 and clients 116 communicate.

In one embodiment, a personal wireless device 104 operated by a female user 102 transmits and receives data as well as audio signals. The wireless device 104 of one embodiment is capable of communicating with servers 114 and/or clients 116 over the network 110 and/or directly over the wireless network 110 (e.g., with servers 118). In one embodiment, one or more transportation vehicles 106 are also equipped with wireless devices (not shown) capable of transmitting and receiving various types of data over the wireless network 110.

In one embodiment, the personal wireless device 104 of the user 102 and/or the driver contains a location-identification capability. For example, the wireless device 104 may include Global Positioning System ("GPS") logic or cell-based locator logic. In an embodiment which uses a form of GPS technology, the wireless device 104 may transmit and receive positional data to/from one or more global positioning satellites 108. Embodiments of System Operation

System operation according to one embodiment of the disclosure will now be described with respect to the flowchart illustrated in FIG. 2 as well as the network architecture of FIG. 1. This embodiment employs the wireless network 110 and/or the Internet 112 to coordinate the on-demand or scheduled pickup and drop-off of female passengers 102.

At 202, a female user 102 of the service indicates her need for transportation from point A to point B by transmitting a transportation request from the wireless device 104 and/or from a client computer 116 connected to the network 112 (if one is available). Accordingly, she may connect to a data center server (e.g., to server 118) over the wireless network 110 and/or the Internet 112.

In one embodiment, the female passenger's 102's location is automatically known by a GPS tracking device (not shown) embedded in the wireless communication device 104. Based on the GPS tracking information, at 204, a lookup performed on a data center server 118 (and/or 114) determines one or more suitable pickup locations for the passenger.

At 206 the data center identifies one or more vehicles 106 to comply with the transportation request based on the specifics of the request. The driver of 106 must be female. The gender of the female driver may be determined at the time of employment, at which time the driver's license number and record are verified. The determination as to which female operated vehicle is a most "appropriate" match for the passenger may be based on a number of different factors including, for example, the location of the user, whether a destination is provided (e.g., roundtrip journeys may be better for resource allocation), the length of time the driver has been driving or other safety/regulation- related factors, and/or the timeliness of the driver. At 208, once an appropriate female operated vehicle has been identified, the data center sends a pickup request to the driver of that vehicle 106 indicating that a potential passenger 102 is available and/or additional information related to that passenger 102 (e.g., the number of passengers, the time period within which the passengers require service, the location of the passengers, . . . etc). In an embodiment which generates a prioritized list of driver candidates, the initial driver candidate may be selected from the top of the list.

In one embodiment, if the driver accepts the pickup, the driver then confirms an estimated arrival time (e.g., within the time period specified by the passenger 102). Alternatively, the driver may indicate that she is unable or unwilling to make the pickup (determined at 210), in which case another suitable vehicle/driver is identified from the prioritized list of vehicle/driver candidates (in an embodiment which employs a prioritized list). In one embodiment, the passenger 102 is notified by the data center of the progress of her request.

Once a driver has accepted, at 212 a message is transmitted to the user/passenger 102 confirming pickup location, time, a quoted price and/or the confirmation code for the driver. In one embodiment, the passenger 102 is then asked to confirm that these parameters are acceptable. If so, then the driver is notified of the confirmation. At this stage, the passenger's cell phone (or other wireless device) number may be transmitted to the driver and/or the driver's cell phone number may be transmitted to the passenger 102, so that the two can communicate directly over the wireless network 110.

In one embodiment, the passenger's and driver's cell phone numbers (and any other potentially confidential data) are kept only at the data center and communications coordinated through the data center. In one embodiment, the driver and passenger are each given a unique identifier separate from their cell phone number or other wireless access device. The driver then proceeds to the pickup point. As the driver continues on her way, she may update the passenger 102 of any changes to the arrival time estimate including, for example, the fact that she has arrived at the pickup point. These updates can be in the form of either a "pull" transmission (e.g., wherein the passenger's wireless device 104 periodically polls the server 114 or 118 for a pickup update) or a "push" transmission (e.g., wherein the server 114 or 118 automatically transmits an update to the wireless device; or, alternatively, wherein a confirmation telephone call is placed to the passenger).

Alternatively, or in addition, the updates may be comprised of a combination of both pull and push communications technology (e.g. pull up to a fixed time before arrival then a push notification). In one particular embodiment, the pull mechanism is a periodic reference to an updated WAP page or Web page by the wireless device 104, and the push mechanism is a Short Message Service ("SMS") message or pager notification transmitted by the server 114, 118 for wireless environments and/or an email or instant message for wired modes.

While the passenger 102 waits for the transportation, she can notify the data center and/or the driver that she has decided to cancel the trip, change the pickup time, pickup location, and/or any other changes to her itinerary.

As mentioned above, in one embodiment, passenger and/or driver billing information is maintained at the data center. Accordingly, when driver arrives at the destination, a new billing record may be generated in the billing database. The bill may be directly applied to the passenger's credit card, or, alternatively, may be mailed to the passenger. Similarly, the driver's account may be credited by the amount of the bill or some percentage of the amount.

In one embodiment, the user may use a computer such as client 116 connected to the Internet 112 to schedule or request transportation (i.e., rather than a wireless device). In this embodiment, pickup locations may be entered directly by the user and/or stored in a cookie on the user's hard drive. This embodiment could be in the form of a dedicated kiosk or a general -purpose computer anywhere on the network 112. In this embodiment, a cookie may correspond to multiple locations to allow for multiple resources (e.g., such as a laptop computer). In one embodiment, users may schedule pickups for future dates/times from the client 116 as well as the wireless device 104. In this embodiment, the billing system may be programmed to provide discounted transportation fees for transportation scheduled far enough in advance.

Pickup points may be determined using a variety of techniques including, but not limited to, identifying the nearest addressable building or the nearest street crossing; preselecting a number of pickup points in a given area; using pickup points frequently chosen by other similar passengers based on collaborative or other matching technology; and/or using pickup points designated by others other entities such as a driver, an airport authority, a city bus authority, . . . etc.

In one embodiment of the disclosure, a map of the region surrounding the pickup point may be displayed on the user's wireless device 104 or computer 116 to simplify the process of selecting a pickup point. The user may select a particular point on the map and this data may be transmitted to the data center for processing. Moreover, once a point has been identified at the data center (e.g., based on driver availability), the data center may transmit a map to the user with an indication of the pickup point.

In one embodiment of the disclosure, a map of the region surrounding the pickup point may be displayed on the user's wireless device 104 or computer 116 to allow the female passenger to see the location of drivers available. The location of the drivers may be identified as an image of a car. The color of a driver's vehicle may be identified by a gender-specific color (e.g. pink or white for female drivers). The female passenger may use the color of available drivers as a means of choosing whether to use the gender biased transportation service over the current transportation on-demand service provider based on proximity to the desired pick-up location. In one embodiment the female passenger's gender may be verified prior to using the service. The prospective female passenger may request verification from the female driver, regarding whether female driver is in fact a female through a computer website, cloud-based server, or app. The service provider may then provide a verification protocol to the prospective female passenger. For example, the passenger may be required to enter her government issued driver's license or photo ID card information into a server compatible with the Department of Motor Vehicles' (DMV) database. In another variation the female passenger may be able to take a photo of her state-issued photo-ID within a mobile app. The gender and identification number of the uploaded photo ID will be verified with the DMV database. Once the passenger's gender is verified, the female passenger will be allowed access to the female driver-only service.

In one variation the female passenger's gender may be verified upon using a non-gender specific service. The current transportation on demand service provider may assign a driver to pickup the passenger. The passenger may provide the assigned drivers license proof of gender, such as providing a valid government issued photo ID card to the driver, who may then manually confirm the gender of the passenger within the on-demand transportation software. In the case that the passenger's gender is not confirmed as female at the time of pick up, the driver may cancel the trip with the passenger and will not be obligated to provide service to the passenger.

Using this service, the female passenger may agree to participate in a service designed to offer transportation to a plurality of female passengers. The transportation provided by a female driver would be discounted, compared to the private driver service. In one embodiment, a plurality of female passengers requiring transportation to an identical location, or a point along a transit pathway of other ones of the plurality of female passengers may collectively "pool" together such that they physically travel together in the same vehicle, whereby costs for transportation expenses to each one of the plurality of female passengers is reduced divisionally according to how many females are present during common lengths along the transit pathway. In one illustrative embodiment, a first female passenger reserves a driver for a trip and a second female passenger reserves the same vehicle for 50% of the length of the first female passenger's total trip distance. In this embodiment, because there are two female passengers for 50% of the total trip distance, along that portion of the trip, the total cost is lowered by 50% to each female passenger, as they split the total cost along that portion of the trip.

The present teachings may be practiced with other system configurations, including handheld devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network PC's, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. The present teachings may also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

The embodiments described herein above may operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote devices. These logical connections can be achieved using a communication device that is coupled to or be a part of the computer; the present teachings are not limited to a particular type of communications device. The remote device may be a computer, a microprocessor, a server, a router, a network PC, a client, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described above. The logical connections include a local-area network (LAN) and a wide-area network (WAN). Such networking environments are commonplace in office networks, enterprise-wide computer networks, intranets and the Internet, which are all types of networks.

When used in a LAN-networking environment, the computer is connected to the local network through a network interface or adapter, which is one type of communications device. When used in a WAN-networking environment, the computer typically includes a modem, a type of communications device, or any other type of communications device for establishing communications over the wide area network, such as the Internet. Alternative implementations are suggested, but it is impractical to list all alternative implementations of the present teachings. Therefore, the scope of the presented disclosure should be determined only by reference to the appended claims, and should not be limited by features illustrated in the foregoing description except insofar as such limitation is recited in an appended claim.

While the above description has pointed out novel features of the present disclosure as applied to various embodiments, the skilled person will understand that various omissions, substitutions, permutations, and changes in the form and details of the present teachings illustrated may be made without departing from the scope of the present teachings.

Each practical and novel combination of the elements and alternatives described hereinabove, and each practical combination of equivalents to such elements, is contemplated as an embodiment of the present teachings. Because many more element combinations are contemplated as embodiments of the present teachings than can reasonably be explicitly enumerated herein, the scope of the present teachings is properly defined by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description. All variations coming within the meaning and range of equivalency of the various claim elements are embraced within the scope of the corresponding claim. Each claim set forth below is intended to encompass any apparatus or method that differs only insubstantially from the literal language of such claim, as long as such apparatus or method is not, in fact, an embodiment of the prior art. To this end, each described element in each claim should be construed as broadly as possible, and moreover should be understood to encompass any equivalent to such element insofar as possible without also encompassing the prior art. Furthermore, to the extent that the term "includes" is used in either the detailed description or the claims, such term is intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term "comprising".

Claims

A system for gender biased transportation for a female passenger to coordinate on-demand pickup and drop off by a female driver from a first geographic location to a second geographic location, comprising:

a. a personal wireless device, operated by the female passenger, for sending a request for transportation services;

b. a wireless network, operatively coupled to the personal wireless device; c. a server, operatively coupled to the wireless network, and;

d. a transportation vehicle, for picking up and dropping off the female

passenger.

The system of Claim 1, further comprising a network.

The system of Claim 1, further comprising a global positioning system.

The system of Claim 2, further comprising a global positioning system.

A method for picking up a female user for transporting from a first geographic location to a second geographic location, comprising:

a. requesting transportation services from a data center;

b. identifying a suitable pickup location;

c. identifying one or more female drivers based on transportation variables; d. transmitting a request for a vehicle/driver candidate;

e. accepting a candidate;

f. transmitting pickup data to a female passenger, and;

g. providing pickup updates.