WO2019196686A1

WO2019196686A1 - Methods and systems for time determination in carpool service

Info

Publication number: WO2019196686A1
Application number: PCT/CN2019/080527
Authority: WO
Inventors: Baotong Yang
Original assignee: Beijing Didi Infinity Technology And Development Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2018-04-09
Filing date: 2019-03-29
Publication date: 2019-10-17
Also published as: CN108573314B; CN108573314A

Abstract

A method for time determination in a carpool service may include receiving a service instruction from a terminal associated with a service requester. The method may include obtaining one or more carpool parameters based on the service instruction. The one or more carpool parameters may include a pick-up location and a drop-off location. The method may include estimating both a waiting time of the service requester for being picked up at the pick-up location and a travel time from the pick-up location to the drop-off location based on the one or more carpool parameters. The method may include determining an estimated time of arrival at the drop-off location based on a request time, the estimated waiting time, and the estimated travel time. The method may include transmitting signals including the estimated time of arrival to the terminal to direct the terminal to display the estimated time of arrival.

Description

METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR TIME DETERMINATION IN CARPOOL SERVICE

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201810312070.9 filed on April 9, 2018, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to an online to offline service, and more specifically, relates to methods and systems for time determination in a carpool service

BACKGROUND

With the development of cities and towns, the shortage of taxi resources, and the rising travel cost, carpooling has become a popular way of travel. Carpooling allows a plurality of individuals to share one transportation service in a vehicle, which makes full use of the passenger capacity of the vehicle, reducing the travel cost, air pollution, and energy consumption. However, during a process from the time when a passenger sends a carpool request to the time of arriving at the destination of the passenger, under the effect of the number of other passengers that share a vehicle with the passenger and the passengers’ different departure locations and destinations, the travel time may be uncontrollable. In this case, the passenger may not efficiently control the travel time to the destination and the arrival time at the destination, which may affect the routine business of the passenger because of a longer travel time in the carpool service. Therefore, it is desirable to provide systems and methods for estimating the arrival time at the destination to provide an option and/or a reference to the passenger, and to reduce the possibility of delaying the routine business of the passenger because of a longer travel time in the carpool service.

SUMMARY

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, a system for time determination in a carpool service may include one or more storage devices and one or more processors configured to communicate with the one or more storage devices. The one or more storage devices may include a set of instructions. When the one or more processors executing the set of instructions, the one or more processors may be directed to perform one or more of the following operations. The one or more processors may receive a service instruction from a terminal associated with a service requester. The one or more processors may obtain one or more carpool parameters based on the service instruction. The one or more carpool parameters may include a pick-up location and a drop-off location. The one or more processors may estimate both a waiting time of the service requester for being picked up at the pick-up location and a travel time from the pick-up location to the drop-off location based on the one or more carpool parameters. The one or more processors may determine an estimated time of arrival at the drop-off location based on a request time, the estimated waiting time, and the estimated travel time. The request time may be a time point when the service instruction is transmitted. The one or more processors may transmit signals including the estimated time of arrival to the terminal. The signals may direct the terminal to display the estimated time of arrival.

In some embodiments, to estimate the waiting time based on the one or more carpool parameters, the one or more processors may determine a target service provider for the service instruction based on the request time, the pick-up location, and the drop-off location. The one or more processors may estimate a first queuing time between the request time and a time when the target service provider is ready to go to the pick-up location based on the request time, the pick-up location, and the drop-off location. The one or more processors may determine a pick-up route based on the pick-up location and a location of the target service provider. The one or more processors may estimate a pick-up time based on the pick-up route. The one or more processors may determine the waiting time based on the first queuing time and the pick-up time.

In some embodiments, to estimate the waiting time based on the one or more carpool parameters, the one or more processors may estimate a second queuing time based on the pick-up location, the drop-off location, and a current transportation capacity. The one or more processors may determine a target service provider for the service instruction based on the request time, the pick-up location, and the drop-off location. The one or more processors may determine a pick-up route based on the pick-up location and a location of the target service provider. The one or more processors may estimate a pick-up time based on the pick-up route. The one or more processors may determine the waiting time based on the second queuing time and the pick-up time.

In some embodiments, to estimate the travel time based on the one or more carpool parameters, the one or more processors may determine whether there is at least one carpool request that is being served by the target service provider. In response to a determination that there is a carpool request that is being served by the target service provider, the one or more processors may estimate a first preliminary time of traveling from the pick-up location to the drop-off location based on the pick-up location, the drop-off location, and the target service provider. The one or more processors may determine a first buffer time based on the carpool request. The one or more processors may determine the travel time based on the first preliminary time and the first buffer time.

In some embodiments, to estimate the travel time based on the one or more carpool parameters, in response to a determination that there is no carpool request that is being served by the target service provider, the one or more processors may estimate a second preliminary time of traveling from the pick-up location to the drop-off location based on the pick-up location and the drop-off location and the target service provider. The one or more processors may obtain a protection rule corresponding to the service instruction. The one or more processors may determine a second buffer time based on the protection rule, the pick-up location, and the drop-off location. The one or more processors may determine the travel time based on the second preliminary time and the second buffer time.

In some embodiments, the protection rule may include at least one of a first rule of traveling from the pick-up location to the drop-off location without a detour, a second rule that a count of requests that are combined with the service instruction is less than a count threshold, and a third rule of permitting traveling with a detour from the pick-up location to the drop-off location and permitting any count of requests that are combined with the service instruction.

In some embodiments, the second buffer time corresponding to the first rule may be T ₁, the second buffer time corresponding to the second rule may be T ₂, the second buffer time corresponding to the third rule may be T ₃, and T ₁<T ₂<T ₃.

In some embodiments, a passenger of the at least one carpool request may be picked up or dropped off on a trip of the target service provider to the pick-up location.

In some embodiments, the pick-up route may be determined based on the pick-up location and the location of the target service provider corresponding to a time when the target service provider is ready to go to the pick-up location.

In some embodiments, the one or more processors may obtain an actual time of arrival of the target service provider at the drop-off location. The one or more processors may determine whether the actual time of arrival is later than the estimated time of arrival. In response to a determination that the actual time of arrival is later than the estimated time of arrival, the one or more processors may determine compensation information for the service requester based on a difference between the actual time of arrival and the estimated time of arrival. The one or more processors may transmit the compensation information to the terminal.

According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a method for time determination in a carpool service may include one or more of the following operations. One or more processors may receive a service instruction from a terminal associated with a service requester. The one or more processors may obtain one or more carpool parameters based on the service instruction. The one or more carpool parameters may include a pick-up location and a drop-off location. The one or more processors may estimate both a waiting time of the service requester for being picked up at the pick-up location and a travel time from the pick-up location to the drop-off location based on the one or more carpool parameters. The one or more processors may determine an estimated time of arrival at the drop-off location based on a request time, the estimated waiting time, and the estimated travel time. The request time may be a time point when the service instruction is transmitted. The one or more processors may transmit signals including the estimated time of arrival to the terminal. The signals may direct the terminal to display the estimated time of arrival.

According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a system for time determination in a carpool service may include an instruction obtaining module configured to receive a service instruction from a terminal associated with a service requester. The system may also include a time determination module configured to obtain one or more carpool parameters based on the service instruction. The one or more carpool parameters may include a pick-up location and a drop-off location. The time determination module may also be configured to estimate both a waiting time of the service requester for being picked up at the pick-up location and a travel time from the pick-up location to the drop-off location based on the one or more carpool parameters. The time determination module may also be configured to determine an estimated time of arrival at the drop-off location based on a request time, the estimated waiting time, and the estimated travel time. The request time may be a time point when the service instruction is transmitted. The system may also include a transmission module configured to transmit signals including the estimated time of arrival to the terminal. The signals may direct the terminal to display the estimated time of arrival.

According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, a non-transitory computer readable medium may comprise at least one set of instructions for time determination in a carpool service. The at least one set of instructions may be executed by one or more processors of a computer server. The one or more processors may receive a service instruction from a terminal associated with a service requester. The one or more processors may obtain one or more carpool parameters based on the service instruction. The one or more carpool parameters may include a pick-up location and a drop-off location. The one or more processors may estimate both a waiting time of the service requester for being picked up at the pick-up location and a travel time from the pick-up location to the drop-off location based on the one or more carpool parameters. The one or more processors may determine an estimated time of arrival at the drop-off location based on a request time, the estimated waiting time, and the estimated travel time. The request time may be a time point when the service instruction is transmitted. The one or more processors may transmit signals including the estimated time of arrival to the terminal. The signals may direct the terminal to display the estimated time of arrival.

Additional features will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following and the accompanying drawings or may be learned by production or operation of the examples. The features of the present disclosure may be realized and attained by practice or use of various aspects of the methodologies, instrumentalities and combinations set forth in the detailed examples discussed below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is further described in terms of exemplary embodiments. These exemplary embodiments are described in detail with reference to the drawings. These embodiments are non-limiting exemplary embodiments, in which like reference numerals represent similar structures throughout the several views of the drawings, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary online to offline service system according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating exemplary hardware and/or software components of a computing device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating exemplary hardware and/or software components of a mobile device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an exemplary processing engine according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an exemplary processing engine according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an exemplary processing engine according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for time determination in carpool service according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for time determination in carpool service according to some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for time determination in carpool service according to some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary interface displaying an estimated time of arrival at a drop-off location according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description is presented to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the present disclosure, and is provided in the context of a particular application and its requirements. Various modifications to the disclosed embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Thus, the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the claims.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular example embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the singular forms “a, ” “an, ” and “the” may be intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprise, ” “comprises, ” and/or “comprising, ” “include, ” “includes, ” and/or “including, ” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

These and other features, and characteristics of the present disclosure, as well as the methods of operation and functions of the related elements of structure and the combination of parts and economies of manufacture, may become more apparent upon consideration of the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, all of which form a part of this disclosure. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for the purpose of illustration and description only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. It is understood that the drawings are not to scale.

The flowcharts used in the present disclosure illustrate operations that systems implement according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. It is to be expressly understood, the operations of the flowchart may be implemented not in order. Conversely, the operations may be implemented in inverted order, or simultaneously. Moreover, one or more other operations may be added to the flowcharts. One or more operations may be removed from the flowcharts.

Moreover, while the systems and methods disclosed in the present disclosure are described primarily regarding a carpool service, it should also be understood that this is only an exemplary embodiment. The system or method of the present disclosure may be applied to any other kind of online to offline service. For example, the system or method of the present disclosure may be applied to different transportation systems including land, ocean, aerospace, or the like, or any combination thereof. Those transportation systems may provide transportation services transporting a subject from one location to another location using a vehicle. The subject may include passengers and/or goods. The vehicle of the transportation service may include a taxi, a private car, a hitch, a bus, a train, a bullet train, a high speed rail, a subway, a vessel, an aircraft, a spaceship, a hot-air balloon, a driverless vehicle, a bicycle, a tricycle, a motorcycle, or the like, or any combination thereof. The transportation services may include a taxi hailing service, a chauffeur service, a delivery service, a carpool service, a bus service, a take-out service, a driver hiring service, a shuttle service, or the like, or any combination thereof. The application scenarios of the system or method of the present disclosure may include a web page, a plug-in of a browser, a client terminal, a custom system, an internal analysis system, an artificial intelligence robot, or the like, or any combination thereof.

The carpool service in the present disclosure may refer to an arrangement that combines two or more transportation services into a new transportation service. For example, two taxi services may be combined into a new transportation service so that passengers related to the two taxi services travels in a vehicle. As another example, two delivery services may be combined into a new transportation services so that goods related to the two delivery services are delivered in a vehicle. As still another example, a taxi service and a delivery service may be combined into a new transportation service so that the passenger (s) related to the taxi service and goods related to the delivery service share a vehicle.

The terms “passenger, ” “requester, ” “service requester, ” “requester terminal, ” “passenger terminal, ” and “customer” in the present disclosure are used interchangeably to refer to an individual, an entity or a tool that may request or order a service. Also, the terms “driver, ” “provider, ” “service provider, ” “provider terminal, ” “driver terminal, ” and “supplier” in the present disclosure are used interchangeably to refer to an individual, an entity, or a tool that may provide a service or facilitate the providing of the service. The term “user” in the present disclosure may refer to an individual, an entity, or a tool that may request a service, order a service, provide a service, or facilitate the providing of the service. For example, the user may be a passenger, a driver, an operator, or the like, or any combination thereof.

The term “request, ” “service request, ” “order, ” “carpooling order, ” “carpool request, ” “vanpooling order” and “vanpooling request” in the present disclosure refers to a request that initiated by a passenger, a requester, a service requester, a customer, a driver, a provider, a service provider, a supplier, or the like, or any combination thereof. The service request may be accepted by any one of a passenger, a requester, a service requester, a customer, a driver, a provider, a service provider, or a supplier. The service request may be chargeable, or free.

The positioning technology used in the present disclosure may include a global positioning system (GPS) , a global navigation satellite system (GLONASS) , a compass navigation system (COMPASS) , a Galileo positioning system, a quasi-zenith satellite system (QZSS) , a wireless fidelity (WiFi) positioning technology, or the like, or any combination thereof. One or more of the above positioning technologies may be used interchangeably in the present disclosure.

The present disclosure relates to methods and systems for time determination in an online carpool service. The methods and systems may receive a request or a service intention from a terminal (e.g., smartphone) of a user (e.g., a passenger) . The methods and systems may determine an estimated time of arrival at the drop-off location and transmit the estimated time of arrival to the smartphone of the service requester for reference. If the service requester actually arrives at the drop-off location after the estimated time of arrival, the service requester may obtain compensation such as an electronic cash coupon. With the estimated time of arrival, the service requester may have a reference to determine whether to choose the carpool service, and/or make plans for business related to the drop-off location in advance if requesting the online carpool service, both of which may reduce the possibility of the delay of the routine business of the service requester caused by a longer travel time, thereby improving the user experience in the online carpool service and promoting the development of the online carpool service.

It should be noted that online to offline service, such as online carpool service, is a new form of service rooted only in post-Internet era. It provides technical solutions to service requesters and service providers that could raise only in post-Internet era. In pre-Internet era, when a passenger hails a taxi on street, the service request and acceptance occur only between the passenger and one taxi driver that sees the passenger. If the passenger hails a taxi through telephone call, the service request and acceptance may occur only between the passenger and one service provider (e.g., one taxi company or agent) . If a driver wants to provide a carpool service, the driver has to ask a passenger face to face and determine whether the carpool service is possible to be provided to the passenger by experience of the driver. Online carpool service, however, obtains service requests through Internet and finds combinative service requests in real-time and automatically. The carpool service also allows a service request initiated by a service requester (e.g., a passenger) to be distributed in real-time and automatically to a vast number of individual service providers (e.g., taxi drivers) distance away from the service requester and allows a plurality of service provides to respond to the service request simultaneously and in real-time. Therefore, through Internet, the online to offline service systems may provide a much more efficient transaction platform for the service requesters and the service providers that may never met in a traditional pre-Internet transportation service system.

In this disclosure, the description below takes a carpool service of combining taxi services into a new transportation service for example. It should be noted that the carpool service of combining taxi services into a new transportation service is merely provided for the purposes of illustration, and not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, this disclosure may be applied to a carpool service of combining other transportation services, for example, other services of taking people (e.g., bus services) , delivery services, etc.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary online to offline service system according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The online to offline service system 100 may include a server 110, a network 120, a requester terminal 130, a provider terminal 140, a storage device 150, a positioning system 160.

In some embodiments, the server 110 may be a single server or a server group. The server group may be centralized, or distributed (e.g., server 110 may be a distributed system) . In some embodiments, the server 110 may be local or remote. For example, the server 110 may access information and/or data stored in the requester terminal 130, the provider terminal 140, and/or the storage device 150 via the network 120. As another example, the server 110 may be directly connected to the requester terminal 130, the provider terminal 140, and/or the storage device 150 to access stored information and/or data. In some embodiments, the server 110 may be implemented on a cloud platform. Merely by way of example, the cloud platform may include a private cloud, a public cloud, a hybrid cloud, a community cloud, a distributed cloud, an inter-cloud, a multi-cloud, or the like, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, the server 110 may be implemented on a computing device 200 having one or more components illustrated in FIG. 2 in the present disclosure.

In some embodiments, the server 110 may include a processing engine 112 configured to process information and/or data to perform one or more functions described in the present disclosure. For example, the processing engine 112 may estimate a waiting time of a service requester for being picked up at a pick-up location and a travel time from the pick-up location to a drop-off location based on one or more carpool parameters of a service instruction from the service requester. The processing engine 112 may determine an estimated time of arrival at the drop-off based on a request time, the estimated waiting time, and the estimated travel time. The processing engine 112 may transmit signals including the estimated time of arrival to a terminal related to the service requester (e.g., the requester terminal 130) to direct the terminal to display the estimated time of arrival. In some embodiments, the server 110 may include one or more processing engines (e.g., single-core processing engine (s) or multi-core processor (s) ) . Merely by way of example, the server 110 may include one or more hardware processors, such as a central processing unit (CPU) , an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) , an application-specific instruction-set processor (ASIP) , a graphics processing unit (GPU) , a physics processing unit (PPU) , a digital signal processor (DSP) , a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) , a programmable logic device (PLD) , a controller, a microcontroller unit, a reduced instruction-set computer (RISC) , a microprocessor, or the like, or any combination thereof.

The network 120 may facilitate the exchange of information and/or data. In some embodiments, one or more components in the online to offline service system 100 (e.g., the server 110, the requester terminal 130, the provider terminal 140, the storage device 150, and the positioning system 160) may send/obtain information and/or data to/from other component (s) in the online to offline service system 100 via the network 120. For example, the server 110 may receive a carpool request from the requester terminal 130 via the network 120. As another example, the server 110 may transmit signals including an estimated time of arrival at a drop-off location to the requester terminal 130 via the network 120. In some embodiments, the network 120 may be any type of wired or wireless network, or a combination thereof. Merely by way of example, the network 120 may include a cable network, a wireline network, an optical fiber network, a telecommunications network, an intranet, the Internet, a local area network (LAN) , a wide area network (WAN) , a wireless local area network (WLAN) , a metropolitan area network (MAN) , a wide area network (WAN) , a public telephone switched network (PSTN) , a Bluetooth ^TM network, a ZigBee network, a near field communication (NFC) network, or the like, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, the network 120 may include one or more network access points. For example, the network 120 may include wired or wireless network access points such as base stations and/or internet exchange points 120-1, 120-2, …, through which one or more components of the online to offline service system 100 may be connected to the network 120 to exchange data and/or information.

In some embodiments, a requester may be a user of the requester terminal 130. In some embodiments, the user of the requester terminal 130 may be someone other than the requester. For example, a user A of the requester terminal 130 may use the requester terminal 130 to send a service request for a user B, or receive service and/or information or instructions from the server 110. In some embodiments, a provider may be a user of the provider terminal 140. In some embodiments, the user of the provider terminal 140 may be someone other than the provider. For example, a user C of the provider terminal 140 may use the provider terminal 140 to receive a service request for a user D, and/or information or instructions from the server 110.

In some embodiments, the requester terminal 130 may include a mobile device 130-1, a tablet computer 130-2, a laptop computer 130-3, a built-in device in a motor vehicle 130-4, or the like, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, the mobile device 130-1 may include a smart home device, a wearable device, a mobile device, a virtual reality device, an augmented reality device, or the like, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, the smart home device may include a smart lighting device, a control device of an intelligent electrical apparatus, a smart monitoring device, a smart television, a smart video camera, an interphone, or the like, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, the wearable device may include a bracelet, footgear, glasses, a helmet, a watch, clothing, a backpack, a smart accessory, or the like, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, the mobile device may include a mobile phone, a personal digital assistance (PDA) , a gaming device, a navigation device, a point of sale (POS) device, a laptop, a desktop, or the like, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, the virtual reality device and/or the augmented reality device may include a virtual reality helmet, a virtual reality glass, a virtual reality patch, an augmented reality helmet, augmented reality glasses, an augmented reality patch, or the like, or any combination thereof. For example, the virtual reality device and/or the augmented reality device may include a Google Glass ^TM, a RiftCon ^TM, a Fragments ^TM, a Gear VR ^TM, etc. In some embodiments, the built-in device in the motor vehicle 130-4 may include an onboard computer, an onboard television, etc. In some embodiments, the requester terminal 130 may be a device with positioning technology for locating the position of a user of the requester terminal 130 (e.g., a service requester) and/or the requester terminal 130.

In some embodiments, the provider terminal 140 may be a device that is similar to, or the same as the requester terminal 130. In some embodiments, the provider terminal 140 may be a device utilizing positioning technology for locating the position of a user of the provider terminal 140 (e.g., a service provider) and/or the provider terminal 140. In some embodiments, the requester terminal 130 and/or the provider terminal 140 may communicate with one or more other positioning devices to determine the position of the requester, the requester terminal 130, the provider, and/or the provider terminal 140. In some embodiments, the requester terminal 130 and/or the provider terminal 140 may send positioning information to the server 110.

The storage device 150 may store data and/or instructions. In some embodiments, the storage device 150 may store data obtained from the requester terminal 130, the provider terminal 140, and/or the server 110. For example, the storage device 150 may store service requests obtained from the requester terminal 130. In some embodiments, the storage device 150 may store data and/or instructions that the server 110 may execute or use to perform exemplary methods described in the present disclosure. For example, the storage device 150 may store instructions that the server 110 may execute to determine an estimated time of arrival at a drop-off location. In some embodiments, the storage device 150 may include a mass storage, a removable storage, a volatile read-and-write memory, a read-only memory (ROM) , or the like, or any combination thereof. Exemplary mass storage may include a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a solid-state drive, etc. Exemplary removable storage may include a flash drive, a floppy disk, an optical disk, a memory card, a zip disk, a magnetic tape, etc. Exemplary volatile read-and-write memory may include a random access memory (RAM) . Exemplary RAM may include a dynamic RAM (DRAM) , a double date rate synchronous dynamic RAM (DDR SDRAM) , a static RAM (SRAM) , a thyrisor RAM (T-RAM) , and a zero-capacitor RAM (Z-RAM) , etc. Exemplary ROM may include a mask ROM (MROM) , a programmable ROM (PROM) , an erasable programmable ROM (EPROM) , an electrically-erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM) , a compact disk ROM (CD-ROM) , and a digital versatile disk ROM, etc. In some embodiments, the storage device 150 may be implemented on a cloud platform. Merely by way of example, the cloud platform may include a private cloud, a public cloud, a hybrid cloud, a community cloud, a distributed cloud, an inter-cloud, a multi-cloud, or the like, or any combination thereof.

In some embodiments, the storage device 150 may be connected to the network 120 to communicate with one or more components in the online to offline service system 100 (e.g., the server 110, the requester terminal 130, the provider terminal 140) . One or more components in the online to offline service system 100 may access the data or instructions stored in the storage device 150 via the network 120. In some embodiments, the storage device 150 may be directly connected to or communicate with one or more components in the online to offline service system 100 (e.g., the server 110, the requester terminal 130, the provider terminal 140) . In some embodiments, the storage device 150 may be part of the server 110.

The positioning system 160 may determine information associated with an object, for example, the requester terminal 130 and/or the provider terminal 140. In some embodiments, the positioning system 160 may be a global positioning system (GPS) , a global navigation satellite system (GLONASS) , a compass navigation system (COMPASS) , a BeiDou navigation satellite system (BDS) , a Galileo positioning system, a quasi-zenith satellite system (QZSS) , an inertial navigation system (INS) , etc. The location may be in the form of coordinates, such as, latitude coordinate and longitude coordinate, etc. The positioning system may include one or more satellites (e.g., 160-1, 160-2, 160-3, etc. ) . The satellites may determine the information mentioned above independently or jointly. The positioning system 160 may send the information mentioned above to the network 120, the requester terminal 130, or the provider terminal 140 via wireless connections.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating exemplary hardware and/or software components of a computing device on which the server 110 may be implemented according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the computing device 200 may include a processor 210, a storage 220, an input/output (I/O) 230, and a communication port 240.

The processor 210 (e.g., logic circuits) may execute computer instructions (e.g., program code) and perform functions of the server 110 in accordance with techniques described herein. For example, the processor 210 may include interface circuits and processing circuits (not shown in FIG. 2) therein. The interface circuits may be configured to receive electronic signals from a bus (not shown in FIG. 2) , wherein the electronic signals encode/include structured data and/or instructions for the processing circuits to process. The processing circuits may conduct logic calculations, and then determine a conclusion, a result, and/or an instruction encoded as electronic signals. Then the interface circuits may send out the electronic signals from the processing circuits via the bus.

The computer instructions may include, for example, routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, procedures, modules, and functions, which perform particular functions described herein. For example, the processor 210 may determine an estimated time of arrival at a drop-off location. In some embodiments, the processor 210 may include one or more hardware processors, such as a microcontroller, a microprocessor, a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) , an application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) , an application-specific instruction-set processor (ASIP) , a central processing unit (CPU) , a graphics processing unit (GPU) , a physics processing unit (PPU) , a microcontroller unit, a digital signal processor (DSP) , a field programmable gate array (FPGA) , an advanced RISC machine (ARM) , a programmable logic device (PLD) , any circuit or processor capable of executing one or more functions, or the like, or any combinations thereof.

Merely for illustration, only one processor is described in the computing device 200. However, it should be noted that the computing device 200 in the present disclosure may also include multiple processors, thus operations and/or method steps that are performed by one processor as described in the present disclosure may also be jointly or separately performed by the multiple processors. For example, if in the present disclosure the processor of the computing device 200 executes both step A and step B, it should be understood that step A and step B may also be performed by two or more different processors jointly or separately in the computing device 200 (e.g., a first processor executes step A and a second processor executes step B, or the first and second processors jointly execute steps A and B) .

The storage 220 may store data/information obtained from the requester terminal 130, the provider terminal 140, the storage device 150, and/or any other component of the online to offline service system 100. For example, the storage device 150 may store service requests obtained from the requester terminal 130. In some embodiments, the storage 220 may include a mass storage, a removable storage, a volatile read-and-write memory, a read-only memory (ROM) , or the like, or any combination thereof. For example, the mass storage may include a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a solid-state drives, etc. The removable storage may include a flash drive, a floppy disk, an optical disk, a memory card, a zip disk, a magnetic tape, etc. The volatile read-and-write memory may include a random access memory (RAM) . The RAM may include a dynamic RAM (DRAM) , a double date rate synchronous dynamic RAM (DDR SDRAM) , a static RAM (SRAM) , a thyristor RAM (T-RAM) , and a zero-capacitor RAM (Z-RAM) , etc. The ROM may include a mask ROM (MROM) , a programmable ROM (PROM) , an erasable programmable ROM (EPROM) , an electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM) , a compact disk ROM (CD-ROM) , and a digital versatile disk ROM, etc. In some embodiments, the storage 220 may store one or more programs and/or instructions to perform exemplary methods described in the present disclosure. For example, the storage 220 may store a program for the server 110 to determine an estimated time of arrival at a drop-off location.

The I/O 230 may input and/or output signals, data, information, etc. In some embodiments, the I/O 230 may enable a user interaction with the server 110. In some embodiments, the I/O 230 may include an input device and an output device. Examples of the input device may include a keyboard, a mouse, a touch screen, a microphone, or the like, or a combination thereof. Examples of the output device may include a display device, a loudspeaker, a printer, a projector, or the like, or a combination thereof. Examples of the display device may include a liquid crystal display (LCD) , a light-emitting diode (LED) -based display, a flat panel display, a curved screen, a television device, a cathode ray tube (CRT) , a touch screen, or the like, or a combination thereof.

The communication port 240 may be connected to a network (e.g., the network 120) to facilitate data communications. The communication port 240 may establish connections between the server 110 and the requester terminal 130, the provider terminal 140, the positioning system, or the storage device 150. The connection may be a wired connection, a wireless connection, any other communication connection that can enable data transmission and/or reception, and/or any combination of these connections. The wired connection may include, for example, an electrical cable, an optical cable, a telephone wire, or the like, or any combination thereof. The wireless connection may include, for example, a Bluetooth ^TM link, a Wi-Fi ^TM link, a WiMax ^TM link, a WLAN link, a ZigBee link, a mobile network link (e.g., 3G, 4G, 5G, etc. ) , or the like, or a combination thereof. In some embodiments, the communication port 240 may be and/or include a standardized communication port, such as RS232, RS485, etc.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating exemplary hardware and/or software components of a mobile device on which the requester terminal 130 and/or the provider terminal 140 may be implemented according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the mobile device 300 may include a communication platform 310, a display 320, a graphic processing unit (GPU) 330, a central processing unit (CPU) 340, an I/O 350, a memory 360, and a storage 370. In some embodiments, any other suitable component, including but not limited to a system bus or a controller (not shown) , may also be included in the mobile device 300. In some embodiments, a mobile operating system 361 (e.g., iOS ^TM, Android ^TM, Windows Phone ^TM, etc. ) and one or more applications 362 may be loaded into the memory 360 from the storage 370 in order to be executed by the CPU 340. The applications 362 (e.g., a taxi-hailing application) may include a browser or any other suitable mobile apps for receiving and rendering information relating to transportation services or other information from the server 110. User interactions with the information stream may be achieved via the I/O 350 and provided to the server 110 and/or other components of the online to offline service system 100 via the network 120. Merely by way of example, an estimated time of arrival at a drop-off location may be displayed in the requester terminal 130 through the display 320. As another example, a service requester may input a carpool request through the I/O 350.

To implement various modules, units, and their functionalities described in the present disclosure, computer hardware platforms may be used as the hardware platform (s) for one or more of the elements described herein. A computer with user interface elements may be used to implement a personal computer (PC) or any other type of work station or terminal device. A computer may also act as a server if appropriately programmed.

One of ordinary skill in the art would understand that when an element of the online to offline service system 100 performs, the element may perform through electrical signals and/or electromagnetic signals. For example, when the server 110 processes a task, such as making a determination, or identifying information, the server 110 may operate logic circuits in its processor to process such task. When the server 110 receives data (e.g., a carpool request) from the requester terminal 130, a processor of the server 110 may receive electrical signals encoding/including the data. The processor of the server 110 may receive the electrical signals through one or more information exchange ports. If the requester terminal 130 communicates with the server 110 via a wired network, the information exchange port may be physically connected to a cable. If the requester terminal 130 communicates with the server 110 via a wireless network, the information exchange port of the server 110 may be one or more antennas, which may convert the electrical signals to electromagnetic signals. Within an electronic device, such as the requester terminal 130, the provider terminal 140, and/or the server 110, when a processor thereof processes an instruction, sends out an instruction, and/or performs an action, the instruction and/or action is conducted via electrical signals. For example, when the processor retrieves or saves data from a storage medium (e.g., the storage device 150) , it may send out electrical signals to a read/write device of the storage medium, which may read or write structured data in the storage medium. The structured data may be transmitted to the processor in the form of electrical signals via a bus of the electronic device. Here, an electrical signal may refer to one electrical signal, a series of electrical signals, and/or a plurality of discrete electrical signals.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an exemplary processing engine according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The processing engine 112 may include an instruction obtaining module 410, a time determination module 420, and a transmission module 430.

The instruction obtaining module 410 may obtain a service instruction from a terminal (e.g., the requester terminal 130) associated with a service requester. The service instruction may be a service request (e.g., a normal request or a carpool request) or a service intention.

The time determination module 420 may obtain one or more carpool parameters based on the service instruction. The one or more carpool parameters may include a pick-up location, a drop-off location, or the like, or any combination thereof.

The time determination module 420 may also estimate both a waiting time of the service requester for being picked up at the pick-up location and a travel time from the pick-up location to the drop-off location based on the one or more carpool parameters.

The time determination module 420 may also determine an estimated time of arrival at the drop-off location based on the request time, the estimated waiting time, and the estimated travel time.

The transmission module 430 may transmit signals including the estimated time of arrival to the terminal (e.g., the requester terminal 130) associated with the service requester. The signals may direct the requester terminal 130 to show the estimated time of arrival.

The modules in the processing engine 112 may be connected to or communicate with each other via a wired connection or a wireless connection. The wired connection may include a metal cable, an optical cable, a hybrid cable, or the like, or any combination thereof. The wireless connection may include a Local Area Network (LAN) , a Wide Area Network (WAN) , a Bluetooth, a ZigBee, a Near Field Communication (NFC) , or the like, or any combination thereof. Two or more of the modules may be combined as a single module, and any one of the modules may be divided into two or more units.

It should be noted that the above description is merely provided for the purposes of illustration, and not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. For persons having ordinary skills in the art, multiple variations and modifications may be made under the teachings of the present disclosure. However, those variations and modifications do not depart from the scope of the present disclosure. For example, the processing engine 112 may further include a storage module (not shown in FIG. 4) . The storage module may be configured to store data generated during any process performed by any component of in the processing engine 112. As another example, each of components of the processing engine 112 may include a storage device. Additionally or alternatively, the components of the processing engine 112 may share a common storage device.

FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an exemplary processing engine according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The processing engine 112 may include an instruction obtaining module 502, a first queuing time estimation module 504, a first pick-up time estimation module 506, a first waiting time determination module 508, a carpool judgement module 510, a first preliminary time estimation module 512, a first travel time determination module 514, a transmission module 516, an actual time determination module 518, and an information transmission module 520.

The instruction obtaining module 502 may obtain a service instruction from a terminal (e.g., the requester terminal 130) associated with a service requester. In some embodiments, the instruction obtaining module 502 may be similar to the instruction module 410.

The first queuing time estimation module 504 may determine a target service provider and a first queuing time based on a request time and one or more carpool parameters of the service instruction. The first queuing time estimation module 504 may also determine one or more carpool parameters based on the service instruction. The one or more carpool parameters may include a pick-up location, a drop-off location, or the like, or any combination thereof. The request time may be a time point when the service instruction is transmitted from the requester terminal 130 and/or a time point when the server 110 receives the service instruction. In some embodiments, the network delay between the requester terminal 130 and the server 110 may be omitted.

The first pick-up time determination module 506 may determine a pick-up route based on the pick-up location and a location of the target service provider, and determine a pick-up time based on the pick-up route.

The first waiting time determination module 508 may determine a waiting time by determining a sum of the first queuing time and the pick-up time.

The carpool judgement module 510 may determine whether there is at least one second request (e.g., carpool requests) that is being served by the target service provider. The passenger of the at least one second request may be picked up or dropped off during traveling from the pick-up location to the drop-off location.

The first preliminary time determination module 512 may estimate a first preliminary time of traveling from the pick-up location to the drop-off location based on the pick-up location, the drop-off location, and the target service provider in response to a determination that there is at least one second request.

The first travel time determination module 514 may determine a travel time from the pick-up location to the drop-off location by determining a sum of the first preliminary time and a first buffer time.

The first travel time determination module 514 may also determine an estimated time of arrival at the drop-off location based on the request time, the waiting time, and the travel time.

The transmission module 516 may transmit signals including the estimated time of arrival at the drop-off location to the terminal (e.g., the requester terminal 130) related to the service requester. The signals may direct the requester terminal 130 to show the estimated arrival of time. In some embodiments, the transmission module 516 may be similar to the transmission module 430.

The actual time determination module 518 may obtain an actual time of arrival of the target service provider at the drop-off location if the service requester requests a carpool service.

The information transmission module 520 may determine whether the actual time of arrival is later than the estimated time of arrival, determine compensation information for the service requester based on a difference between the estimated time of arrival and the actual time of arrival in response to a determination that the actual time of arrival is later than the estimated time of arrival, and transmit the compensation information to the terminal (e.g., the requester terminal 130) related to the service requester. The compensation information may include one or more electronic items, such as a cash coupon, a discount coupon, a gift coupon, or the like, or any combination thereof.

It should be noted that the above description is merely provided for the purposes of illustration, and not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. For persons having ordinary skills in the art, multiple variations and modifications may be made under the teachings of the present disclosure. However, those variations and modifications do not depart from the scope of the present disclosure. For example, the processing engine 112 may further include a storage module (not shown in FIG. 5) . The storage module may be configured to store data generated during any process performed by any component of in the processing engine 112. As another example, each of components of the processing engine 112 may include a storage device. Additionally or alternatively, the components of the processing engine 112 may share a common storage device.

FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram illustrating an exemplary processing engine according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The processing engine 112 may include an instruction obtaining module 602, a second queuing time estimation module 604, a second pick-up time estimation module 606, a second waiting time determination module 608, a carpool judgement module 610, a second preliminary time estimation module 612, a buffer time determination module 614, a second travel time determination module 616, a transmission module 618, an actual time determination module 620, and an information transmission module 622.

The instruction obtaining module 602 may obtain a service instruction from a terminal (e.g., the requester terminal 130) associated with a service requester. In some embodiments, the instruction obtaining module 602 may be similar to the instruction module 410 and/or the instruction obtaining module 502.

The second queuing time estimation module 604 may estimate a second queuing time based on the pick-up location, the drop-off location, and current transportation capacity.

The second queuing time may be from the request time to the time when a target service provider is ready to go to the pick-up location (e.g., a search time when the processing engine 112 finds the target service provider for the service requester) . The second queuing time may be a time period in which the processing engine 112 identifies the target service provider for the service requester. The second queuing time is an estimated value because the second queuing time estimation module 604 may estimate the second queuing time immediately after the service instruction is received by the processing engine 112. At the moment, the processing engine 112 has not found a target service provider for the service requester.

The second pick-up time determination module 606 may determine a pick-up route based on the pick-up location and a location of a target service provider, and determine a pick-up time based on the pick-up route. In some embodiments, the second pick-up time determination module 606 may be similar to the first pick-up time determination module 506.

The second waiting time determination module 608 may determine a waiting time by determining a sum of the second queuing time and the pick-up time.

The carpool judgement module 610 may determine whether there is at least one second request (e.g., carpool requests) that is being served by the target service provider. The passenger of the at least one second request may be picked up or dropped off during traveling from the pick-up location to the drop-off location. In some embodiments, the carpool judgement module 610 may be similar to the carpool judgement module 510.

The second preliminary time determination module 612 may estimate a second preliminary time of traveling from the pick-up location to the drop-off location based on the pick-up location, the drop-off location, and the target service provider.

The buffer time determination module 614 may determine a second buffer time based on a protection rule corresponding to the service requester.

The second travel time determination module 616 may determine a travel time from the pick-up location to the drop-off location by determining a sum of the second preliminary time and the second buffer time.

The second travel time determination module 616 may also determine an estimated time of arrival at the drop-off location based on the request time, the waiting time, and the travel time.

The transmission module 618 may transmit signals including the estimated time of arrival at the drop-off location to the terminal (e.g., the requester terminal 130) related to the service requester. The signals may direct the requester terminal 130 to show the estimated arrival of time. In some embodiments, the transmission module 618 may be similar to the transmission module 430 and/or the transmission module 516.

The actual time determination module 620 may obtain an actual time of arrival of the target service provider at the drop-off location if the service requester requests a carpool service. In some embodiments, the actual time determination module 620 may be similar to the actual time determination module 518.

The information transmission module 622 may determine whether the actual time of arrival is later than the estimated time of arrival, determine compensation information for the service requester based on a difference between the estimated time of arrival and the actual time of arrival in response to a determination that the actual time of arrival is later than the estimated time of arrival, and transmit the compensation information to the terminal (e.g., the requester terminal 130) related to the service requester. The compensation information may include one or more electronic items, such as a cash coupon, a discount coupon, a gift coupon, or the like, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, the information transmission module 622 may be similar to the information transmission module 520.

It should be noted that the above description is merely provided for the purposes of illustration, and not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure. For persons having ordinary skills in the art, multiple variations and modifications may be made under the teachings of the present disclosure. However, those variations and modifications do not depart from the scope of the present disclosure. For example, the processing engine 112 may further include a storage module (not shown in FIG. 6) . The storage module may be configured to store data generated during any process performed by any component of in the processing engine 112. As another example, each of components of the processing engine 112 may include a storage device. Additionally or alternatively, the components of the processing engine 112 may share a common storage device.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for time determination in carpool service according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the process 700 may be implemented in the online to offline service system 100 illustrated in FIG. 1. For example, the process 700 may be stored in a storage medium (e.g., the storage device 150, or the storage 220 of the processing engine 112) as a form of instructions, and can be invoked and/or executed by the server 110 (e.g., the processing engine 112, the processor 210 of the processing engine 112, or one or more modules in the processing engine 112 illustrated in FIG. 4, FIG. 5, and/or FIG. 6) . The operations of the illustrated process 700 presented below are intended to be illustrative. In some embodiments, the process 700 may be accomplished with one or more additional operations not described, and/or without one or more of the operations discussed. Additionally, the order in which the operations of the process 700 as illustrated in FIG. 7 and described below is not intended to be limiting.

In 710, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the instruction obtaining module 410) may obtain a service instruction from a terminal (e.g., the requester terminal 130) associated with a service requester.

In some embodiments, the requester terminal 130 and/or the provider terminal 140 may establish a communication (e.g., wireless communication) with the server 110, through an application (e.g., the application 362 in FIG. 3) installed in the requester terminal 130 and/or the provider terminal 140 via the network 120. The application may associate with the online to offline service system 100. For example, the application may be a taxi-hailing application associated with the online to offline service system 100.

In some embodiments, the request instruction may be a first request or a service intention.

In some embodiments, a service request may refer to information of a transportation service that is formally requested and sent out by a service requester to the server 110 via the requester terminal 130. For example, when the service requester sends out the information of the transportation service to the server 110, the service requester may do so by pressing a button on the interface of the application installed in the requester terminal 130. Upon receiving the information of the transportation service, the server 110 may determine that the information of the transportation service is formally sent out and determine the information of the transportation service as a service order. In some embodiments, a carpool request may be a service request that allows to be combined with other service request (s) . A normal request may be a service request that does not allow to be combined with other service request (s) .

In some embodiments, a service intention may indicate an interest in requesting an online to offline service. In certain embodiments, the service intention reflects a likelihood that a service request is made before it is actually being made. For example, the application installed in the requester terminal 130 may direct the requester terminal 130 to monitor, continuously or periodically, input from a service requester and transmit the input to the online to offline service system 100 via the network 120. Consequently, the requester terminal 130 may inform the online to offline service system 100 about the service requester’s input in real-time or substantially real-time. As a result, when the service requester starts to input a departure location (e.g., an intended departure location) and/or a destination (e.g., an intended destination) , the online to offline service system 100 may receive enough information to determine an intention of the service requester. For example, when the service requester inputs all or part of a depature location and a destination, and before sending out the depature location and the destination to the online to offline service system 100, the online to offline service system 100 may have already received the depature location and the destination, and determine that the service requester intends to request an online to offline service.

In some embodiments, the service instruction may include a departure location, a destination, a request time, the number of passengers, or the like, or any combination thereof. The request time may be a time point when the service instruction is transmitted from the requester terminal 130 and/or a time point when the server 110 receives the service instruction. In some embodiments, the network delay between the requester terminal 130 and the server 110 may be omitted.

In some embodiments, the departure location, the destination, and/or the number of passengers may be input by the service requester in an interface of an application (e.g., the taxi-hailing application) installed in the requester terminal 130 through, for example, the I/O 350 in FIG. 3. In some embodiments, the requester terminal 130 may automatically obtain the departure location, the number of passenger, and/or the destination. For example, an event such as “Attending a meeting at location J from location L at 10: 00 a.m. on Wednesday” is recorded in a calendar in the requester terminal 130. The requester terminal 130 may automatically determine location J as the destination and determine location L as the departure location based on the event in the calendar. As another example, the requester terminal 130 may obtain its location (which is referred to as the location of the service requester) herein through a positioning technology in the requester terminal 130, for example, the GPS, GLONASS, COMPASS, QZSS, BDS, WiFi positioning technology, INS, or the like, or any combination thereof. The requester terminal 130 may determine its real-time location as the departure location. As still another example, the server 110 may analyze history requests of the requester terminal 130 using, for example, machine learning, and estimate the departure location, the destination, or the number of passengers based on the request time. The server 110 may transmit the estimated result to the requester terminal 130 for the service requester’s choice.

In 720, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the time determination module 420) may obtain one or more carpool parameters based on the service instruction. The one or more carpool parameters may include a pick-up location, a drop-off location, or the like, or any combination thereof. The processing engine 112 (e.g., the time determination module 420) may also estimate both a waiting time of the service requester for being picked up at the pick-up location and a travel time from the pick-up location to the drop-off location based on the one or more carpool parameters. In some embodiments, the waiting time may be from the request time to the time when the service request is picked up at the pick-up location. In some embodiments, because of the instability of the road condition, the waiting time and the travel time may be estimated values. Details regarding determining the waiting time and/or the travel time may be found elsewhere in the present disclosure (e.g., the description in connection with FIG. 8 and/or FIG. 9) .

In some embodiments, the pick-up location and the departure location may be the same or different. For example, the processing engine 112 may determine the departure location as the pick-up location. As another example, the processing engine 112 may determine the pick-up location based on the departure location, the destination, the traffic rule (e.g., whether parking is allowed at a certain location) , the road condition (e.g., whether there is an available place for parking at present) , or the like, or any combination thereof.

Merely by way of example, the processing engine 112 may determine a plurality of candidate pick-up locations in advance. After receiving the service instruction, the processing engine 112 may select one of the plurality of candidate pick-up locations as the pick-up location of the service instruction. For example, the processing engine 112 may determine the candidate pick-up location closest to the departure location among the plurality of candidate pick-up locations as the pick-up location of the service instruction.

In some embodiments, the drop-off location and the destination may be the same or different. For example, the processing engine 112 may determine the destination as the drop-off location. As another example, the processing engine 112 may determine the drop-off location based on the destination, the traffic rule (e.g., whether parking is allowed at a certain location) , the road condition (e.g., whether there is an available place for parking at present) , or the like, or any combination thereof. The process for determining the drop-off location may be similar to the process for determining the pick-up location described above.

In 730, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the time determination module 420) may determine an estimated time of arrival at the drop-off location based on the request time, the estimated waiting time, and the estimated travel time. The processing engine 112 (e.g., the transmission module 430) may transmit signals including the estimated time of arrival to the terminal (e.g., the requester terminal 130) associated with the service requester. The signals may direct the requester terminal 130 to show the estimated time of arrival. The estimated time of arrival may be showed in the requester terminal 130 in form of text, images, videos, voice, or the like, or any combination thereof. For example, the signals may direct the requester terminal 130 to display the estimated time of arrival through, for example, the display 320. As another example, the requester terminal 130 may display a text of “For carpool, the estimated time of arrival at drop-off location M is 10: 00 a.m. ” , a text of “For carpool, you will arrive at drop-off location M before 10: 00 a.m. ” , or a text of “For carpool, we promise that you will arrive at drop-off location M before 10: 00 a.m., otherwise you will obtain 10 yuan at most in compensation. ”

In some embodiments, in the process 700, the processing engine 112 may estimate the estimated time of arrival of the service requester at the drop-location and direct the requester terminal 130 to show the estimated time of arrival. With the estimated time of arrival, the service requester may have a reference to determine whether to choose the carpool service, and/or make plans for business related to the drop-off location in advance if requesting the online carpool service, both of which may reduce the possibility of the delay of the routine business of the service requester caused by a longer travel time, thereby improving the user experience in the online carpool service and promoting the development of the online carpool service.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for time determination in carpool service according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the process 800 may be implemented in the online to offline service system 100 illustrated in FIG. 1. For example, the process 800 may be stored in a storage medium (e.g., the storage device 150, or the storage 220 of the processing engine 112) as a form of instructions, and can be invoked and/or executed by the server 110 (e.g., the processing engine 112, the processor 210 of the processing engine 112, or one or more modules in the processing engine 112 illustrated in FIG. 4, FIG. 5, and/or FIG. 6) . The operations of the illustrated process 800 presented below are intended to be illustrative. In some embodiments, the process 800 may be accomplished with one or more additional operations not described, and/or without one or more of the operations discussed. Additionally, the order in which the operations of the process 800 as illustrated in FIG. 8 and described below is not intended to be limiting.

In 802, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the instruction obtaining module 410 and/or the instruction obtaining module 502) may obtain a service instruction from a terminal (e.g., the requester terminal 130) associated with a service requester. Details regarding the service instruction may be found elsewhere in the present disclosure (e.g., the description in connection with operation 710 of FIG. 7) .

In 804, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the time determination module 420 and/or the first queuing time estimation module 504) may determine a target service provider and a first queuing time based on a request time and one or more carpool parameters of the service instruction. The one or more carpool parameters may include a pick-up location, a drop-off location, or the like, or any combination thereof. Details regarding determining the one or more carpool parameters may be found elsewhere in the present disclosure (e.g., the description in connection with operation 720 of FIG. 7) . The request time may be a time point when the service instruction is transmitted from the requester terminal 130 and/or a time point when the server 110 receives the service instruction. In some embodiments, the network delay between the requester terminal 130 and the server 110 may be omitted.

In some embodiments, the processing engine 112 may use any suitable process to determine the target service provider. For example, the processing engine 112 may determine a plurality of available service providers that are within a predetermined distance away from the pick-up location. A service provider that is providing no service at present may be an available service provider. When a service provider is providing a service for one or more carpool requests, if it is possible for the service provider to accept other carpool requests at present, the service provider may also be an available service provider. The processing engine 112 may select one of the plurality of available service providers as the target service provider based on the pick-up location, the drop-off location, the current locations of the plurality of available service providers, the carpool requests that the plurality of available service providers are serving, or the like, or any combination thereof.

In some embodiments, if the service instruction is the first request, the processing engine 112 may transmit information (e.g., the plate number, the vehicle type, the vehicle color, the phone number, the current location, the name, the favorable rate, etc. ) of the target service provider to the requester terminal 130 of the service requester. In some embodiments, if the service instruction is the service intention, the processing engine 112 may not transmit the information of the target service provider to the requester terminal 130 of the service requester. The processing engine 112 may block the target service provider for the service requester for a predetermined time period (e.g., 1 minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, etc. ) . If the service requester formally transmits a carpool request in the predetermined time period, the service requester has a priority to be assigned to the target service provider.

The first queuing time may be from the request time to the time when the target service provider is ready to go to the pick-up location (e.g., a search time when the processing engine 112 finds the target service provider) . The first queuing time may be a time period in which the processing engine 112 identifies the target service provider for the service instruction. In the embodiment of the process 800, the first queuing time is an actual value because the processing engine 112 first determines the target service provider and then determines the first queuing time.

In 806, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the time determination module 420 and/or the first pick-up time determination module 506) may determine a pick-up route based on the pick-up location and a location of the target service provider, and determine a pick-up time based on the pick-up route. The pick-up route may be from a location of the target service provider when the target service provider is ready to go to the pick-up location to the pick-up location. For example, the pick-up route may be from a location of the target service provider when the processing engine 112 finds the target service provider for the service instruction. The pick-up time may be from the time when the target service provider is ready to go to the pick-up location to the time when the service requester is picked up at the pick-up location. For example, the pick-up time may be from the search time to the time when the service requester is picked up at the pick-up location. The pick-up time may be an estimated value.

In some embodiments, if the target service provider does not need to go elsewhere to pick up or drop off other passengers (e.g., the target service provider is not serving other passengers or the target service provider will pick up or drop off other passengers after picking up the service requester) on the way to the pick-up location, the processing engine 112 may determine the pick-up route based on the location of the target service provider at the search time and the pick-up location. The processing engine 112 may estimate the pick-up time based on the length of the pick-up route, the speed of the target service provider, the road condition, or the like, or any combination thereof.

In some embodiments, if the target service provider needs to go elsewhere to pick up or drop off other passengers on the way to the pick-up location, the processing engine 112 may determine the pick-up route based on the location of the target service provider at the search time, the pick-up location, and the locations where the target service provider needs to go to pick up or drop off the other passengers. The processing engine 112 may estimate the pick-up time based on the length of the pick-up route, the speed of the target service provider, the road condition, the number of the other passengers, a transition time, or the like, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, if the target service provider goes to a location to pick up a passenger and arrives at the location before the passenger, the target service provider may wait for the passenger at the location. The transition time may be a time of stay at the locations where the target service provider needs to go to pick up or drop off the other passengers. The larger the number of the other passengers is, the longer the transition time is.

In some embodiments, the processing engine 112 may estimate the transition time based on the number of the other passengers, the road condition, the speed of the target service provider, the speed of the other passengers, the estimated arrival time of the target service provider at the location, the estimated arrival time of the other passengers at the location, the allowed latest departure time from the location, a route of the other passengers to the location, the pick-up route, or the like, or any combination thereof, using, for example, machine learning. The transition time may improve the accuracy of estimating the pick-up time in the case that the target service provider needs to go elsewhere to pick up or drop off other passengers on the way to the pick-up location.

In 808, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the time determination module 420 and/or the first waiting time determination module 508) may determine a waiting time by determining a sum of the first queuing time and the pick-up time.

In 810, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the time determination module 420 and/or the carpool judgement module 510) may determine whether there is at least one second request (e.g., carpool requests) that is being served by the target service provider. The passenger of the at least one second request may be picked up or dropped off during traveling from the pick-up location to the drop-off location. For example, if the target service provider is serving request A at present and the passenger of request A is dropped off before the target service provider arrives at the pick-up location or at the pick-up location, request A may not be a second request because request A may not make the travel time from the pick-up location to the drop-location longer. As another example, if the target service provider is serving request B at present and the passenger of request B is picked up before the target service provider arrives at the pick-up location and is dropped off after the target service provider arrives at the drop-off location, request B may not be a second request because request B may not make the travel time from the pick-up location to the drop-location longer. As still another example, if the target service provider is serving request C and the passenger of request C is picked up at the pick-up location, request C may be a second request because the service requester is possible to wait the passenger of request B for departure, which may delay the departure time from the pick-up location and make the travel time from the pick-up location to the drop-location longer.

In response to a determination that there is at least one second request, the processing engine 112 may determine a travel time from the pick-up location to the drop-off location by considering the effect of the at least one second request on the travel time from the pick-up location to the drop-off location, because the target service provider is possible to make a detour to pick up or drop off the passenger of the at least one second request during traveling from the pick-up location to the drop-off location, and the picking up and/or the dropping off may also take some time, which may make the travel time form the pick-up location to the drop-off location longer. The process 800 may proceed to operation 812.

In 812, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the time determination module 420 and/or the first preliminary time determination module 512) may estimate a first preliminary time of traveling from the pick-up location to the drop-off location based on the pick-up location, the drop-off location, and the target service provider. In some embodiments, the processing engine 112 may determine a carpool route from the pick-up location to the drop-off location based on the pick-up location, the drop-off location, and the at least one second request. The processing engine 112 may determine the first preliminary time based on the length of the carpool route, the speed of the target service provider, the road condition, or the like, or any combination thereof.

In 814, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the time determination module 420 and/or the first travel time determination module 514) may determine a travel time from the pick-up location to the drop-off location by determining a sum of the first preliminary time and a first buffer time. In some embodiments, the first buffer time may be a delay time caused by the at least one second request. The more the second request, the longer the first buffer time. In some embodiments, for a certain count of the at least one second request, the first buffer time may be a preset value. For example, the processing engine 112 may preset that the first buffer time for 1 second request is 2 minutes and the first buffer time for 2 second requests is 5 minutes.

In some embodiments, the processing engine 112 may estimate the first buffer time based on the number of the at least one second request, a pick-up location of the at least one second request, a drop-off location of the at least one second request, the road condition, or the like, or any combination thereof, using, for example, machine learning. The first buffer time may improve the accuracy of the estimation of the travel time.

In response to a determination that there is no second request, the process 800 may proceed to operation 816.

In 816, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the time determination module 420 and/or the second preliminary time estimation module 612) may estimate a second preliminary time of traveling from the pick-up location to the drop-off location based on the pick-up location, the drop-off location, and the target service provider. In some embodiments, the processing engine 112 may determine a shortest route from the pick-up location to the drop-off location. The processing engine 112 may estimate the second preliminary time based on the length of the shortest route, the speed of the target service provider, the road condition, or the like, or any combination thereof.

In 818, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the time determination module 420 and/or the buffer time determination module 614) may determine a second buffer time based on a protection rule corresponding to the service requester. The second buffer time may be a predicted delay time caused by potential requests that will be served by the target service provider during traveling from the pick-up location to the drop-off location.

The protection rule may include a first rule of traveling from the pick-up location to the drop-off location without a detour, a second rule that a count of requests that are combined with the service instruction is less than a count threshold (e.g., 1 or 2) , a third rule of permitting traveling with a detour from the pick-up location to the drop-off location and permitting any count of requests that are combined with the service instruction, or the like, or any combination thereof.

In some embodiments, the service requester may input the protection rule through the requester terminal 130 and transmit the protection rule to the processing engine 112 along with the service instruction. In some embodiments, the processing engine 112 may automatically determine the protection rule for the service instruction. For example, the processing engine 112 may analyze the protection rule corresponding to historical requests related to the service requester and determine the protection rule for the service instruction based on historical protection rules, pick-up locations, drop-off locations, and request times, etc. of the historical requests using, for example, machine learning. In some embodiments, the protection rule may be default for the service request and be stored in a storage medium (e.g., the storage device 150, the storage 220) of the online to offline service system 100.

In some embodiments, the second buffer time corresponding to the first rule may be referred to as T ₁, the second buffer time corresponding to the second rule may be referred to as T ₂, and the second buffer time corresponding to the third rule may be referred to as T ₃. For the first rule, the service requester may travel along a shortest route from the pick-up location and the drop-off location. T ₁ may be the minimum among T ₁, T ₂, and T ₃. For the second rule, the number of requests that are combined with the service instruction is limited. T ₂ may be shorter than T ₁. Therefore, T ₁, T ₂, and T ₃ may satisfy a condition of T ₁<T ₂<T ₃.

In 820, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the time determination module 420 and/or the second travel time determination module 616) may determine a travel time from the pick-up location to the drop-off location by determining a sum of the second preliminary time and the second buffer time.

In 822, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the time determination module 420 and/or the first travel time determination module 514) may determine an estimated time of arrival at the drop-off location based on the request time, the waiting time, and the travel time. The processing engine 112 (e.g., the transmission module 430 and/or the transmission module 516) may transmit signals including the estimated time of arrival at the drop-off location to the terminal (e.g., the requester terminal 130) related to the service requester. The signals may direct the requester terminal 130 to show the estimated arrival of time. The estimated time of arrival may be showed in the requester terminal 130 in form of text, images, videos, voice, or the like, or any combination thereof. For example, the signals may direct the requester terminal 130 to display the estimated time of arrival through, for example, the display 320. As another example, the requester terminal 130 may display a text of “For carpool, the estimated time of arrival at drop-off location M is 10: 00 a.m. ” , a text of “For carpool, you will arrive at drop-off location M before 10: 00 a.m. ” , or a text of “For carpool, we promise that you will arrive at drop-off location M before 10: 00 a.m., otherwise you will obtain 10 yuan at most in compensation. ”

If the service instruction is a carpool request, the service requester may make plans for business related to the drop-off location in advance based on the estimated time of arrival. If the service instruction is a normal request, the processing engine 112 may further direct the requester terminal 130 to display an option for requesting a carpool service. The service requester may determine whether to choose the carpool service based on the estimated time of arrival. If the service requester still chooses the normal request and the target service provider is serving other requests, the processing engine 112 may determine a new service provider for the service requester.

If the service instruction is the service intention (e.g., the service request has not formally sent out a request) , the service requester may have a reference to determine whether to choose the carpool service.

For example, the request time is 9: 00 a.m. The estimated waiting time is 5 minutes. The estimated travel time is 30 minutes. The estimated time of arrival may be 9: 35 a.m.

In some embodiments, the processing engine 112 may determine the estimated time of arrival based on the acceptance time, the estimated pick-up time, and the estimated travel time. For example, the request time is 9: 00 a.m. The acceptance time is 9: 01 a.m. The estimated pick-up time is 5 minutes. The estimated travel time is 30 minutes. The estimated time of arrival may be 9: 36 a.m.

In some embodiments, in operations 802-822 of the process 800, the processing engine 112 may estimate the estimated time of arrival of the service requester at the drop-location and direct the requester terminal 130 to show the estimated time of arrival. With the estimated time of arrival, the service requester may have a reference to determine whether to choose the carpool service, and/or make plans for business related to the drop-off location in advance if requesting the online carpool service, both of which may reduce the possibility of the delay of the routine business of the service requester caused by a longer travel time, thereby improving the user experience in the online carpool service and promoting the development of the online carpool service.

In 824, if the service requester requests a carpool service, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the actual time determination module 518) may obtain an actual time of arrival of the target service provider at the drop-off location. Merely by way of example, when arriving at the drop-off location, the target service provider may press a button in an interface of the application in the provider terminal 140 to inform the processing engine 112 of arriving at the drop-off location and/or ask for a bill for the carpool request. Then the processing engine 112 may obtain the actual time of arrival of the target service provider at the drop-off location.

In 826, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the information transmission module 520) may determine whether the actual time of arrival is later than the estimated time of arrival, determine compensation information for the service requester based on a difference between the estimated time of arrival and the actual time of arrival in response to a determination that the actual time of arrival is later than the estimated time of arrival, and transmit the compensation information to the terminal (e.g., the requester terminal 130) related to the service requester. The compensation information may include one or more electronic items, such as a cash coupon, a discount coupon, a gift coupon, or the like, or any combination thereof.

In some embodiments, the larger the difference between the estimated time of arrival and the actual time of arrival is, the higher value of the compensation information for the service requester is. For example, the difference of subtracting the estimated time of arrival from the actual time of arrival may be referred to as t. The processing engine 112 may transmit an electronic cash coupon of 3 yuan to the requester terminal 130 if 0<t≤10 minutes. The processing engine 112 may transmit an electronic cash coupon of 5 yuan to the requester terminal 130 if 10 minutes<t≤20 minutes. The processing engine 112 may transmit an electronic cash coupon of 10 yuan to the requester terminal 130 if t≥20 minutes. The compensation information may contribute to maintain the users of the online to offline service system 100 and reduce the loss of users in the online carpool service.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an exemplary process for time determination in carpool service according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the process 900 may be implemented in the online to offline service system 100 illustrated in FIG. 1. For example, the process 900 may be stored in a storage medium (e.g., the storage device 150, or the storage 220 of the processing engine 112) as a form of instructions, and can be invoked and/or executed by the server 110 (e.g., the processing engine 112, the processor 210 of the processing engine 112, or one or more modules in the processing engine 112 illustrated in FIG. 4, FIG. 5, and/or FIG. 6) . The operations of the illustrated process 900 presented below are intended to be illustrative. In some embodiments, the process 900 may be accomplished with one or more additional operations not described, and/or without one or more of the operations discussed. Additionally, the order in which the operations of the process 900 as illustrated in FIG. 9 and described below is not intended to be limiting.

In 902, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the instruction obtaining module 410 and/or the instruction obtaining module 602) may obtain a service instruction from a terminal (e.g., the requester terminal 130) associated with a service requester. Details regarding the service instruction may be found elsewhere in the present disclosure (e.g., the description in connection with operation 710 of FIG. 7) .

In 904, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the time determination module 420 and/or the second queuing time estimation module 604) may estimate a second queuing time based on the pick-up location, the drop-off location, and current transportation capacity.

The second queuing time may be from the request time to the time when a target service provider is ready to go to the pick-up location (e.g., a search time when the processing engine 112 finds the target service provider for the service requester) . The second queuing time may be a time period in which the processing engine 112 identifies the target service provider for the service requester. In the embodiment of the process 900, the second queuing time is an estimated value because the processing engine 112 may estimate the second queuing time immediately after receiving the service instruction. At the moment, the processing engine 112 has not found a target service provider for the service requester.

In some embodiments, the processing engine 112 may estimate the second queuing time based on the current transportation capacity, a ratio between the completed requests and the total requests, a ratio between the accepted requests and the total requests, a ratio between the requests that are combined with other requests and the total requests, or the like, or any combination thereof. The current transportation capacity may relate to the supply (e.g., available service providers) and the demand (e.g., pending requests that have not been accepted by a service provider) . The current transportation capacity may include the amount of the supply and/or the demand, the difference between the supply and the demand, the ratio between the supply and the demand, or the like, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, the processing engine 112 may estimate the second queuing time using a preset algorithm (e.g., machine learning) and/or through comparing historical requests related to the service requester.

In 906, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the time determination module 420 and/or the second pick-up time estimation module 606) may determine a pick-up route based on the pick-up location and a location of a target service provider, and estimating a pick-up time based on the pick-up route.

In some embodiments, the processing engine 112 may estimate the second queuing time and determine the target service provider simultaneously. Details regarding determining the target service provider may be found elsewhere in the present disclosure (e.g., the description in connection with operation 804 of the process 800 in FIG. 8) . Details regarding determining the pick-up route and the pick-up time may be found elsewhere in the present disclosure (e.g., the description in connection with operation 806 of the process 800 in FIG. 8) .

In 908, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the time determination module 420 and/or the second waiting time determination module 608) may determine a waiting time by determining a sum of the second queuing time and the pick-up time. Alternatively, the processing engine 112 may determine the waiting time by determining a sum of the pick-up time and an actual time from the request time to the search time.

In 910, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the time determination module 420 and/or the carpool judgement module 610) may determine whether there is at least one second request that is being served by the target service provider. The passenger of the at least one second request may be picked up or dropped off during traveling from the pick-up location to the drop-off location. In response to a determination that there is at least one second request, the processing engine 112 may determine a travel time from the pick-up location to the drop-off location by considering the effect of the at least one second request on the travel time from the pick-up location to the drop-off location, because the target service provider is possible to make a detour to pick up or drop off the passenger of the at least one second request during traveling from the pick-up location to the drop-off location, which may make the travel time form the pick-up location to the drop-off location longer. The process 900 may proceed to operation 912.

In 912, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the time determination module 420 and/or the first preliminary time determination module 512) may estimate a first preliminary time of traveling from the pick-up location to the drop-off location based on the pick-up location, the drop-off location, and the target service provider.

In 914, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the time determination module 420 and/or the first travel time determination module 514) may determine a travel time from the pick-up location to the drop-off location by determining a sum of the first preliminary time and a first buffer time.

In response to a determination that there is no second request, the process 900 may proceed to operation 916.

In 916, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the time determination module 420 and/or the second preliminary time estimation module 612) may estimate a second preliminary time of traveling from the pick-up location to the drop-off location based on the pick-up location, the drop-off location, and the target service provider.

In 918, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the time determination module 420 and/or the buffer time determination module 614) may determine a second buffer time based on a protection rule corresponding to the service requester.

In 920, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the time determination module 420 and/or the second travel time determination module 616) may determine a travel time from the pick-up location to the drop-off location by determining a sum of the second preliminary time and the second buffer time.

In 922, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the time determination module 420 and/or the second travel time determination module 616) may determine an estimated time of arrival at the drop-off location based on the request time, the waiting time, and the travel time. The processing engine 112 (e.g., the transmission module 430 and/or the transmission module 618) may transmit signals including the estimated time of arrival at the drop-off location to the terminal (e.g., the requester terminal 130) related to the service requester. The signals may direct the requester terminal 130 to show the estimated arrival of time.

In 924, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the actual time determination module 620) may obtain an actual time of arrival of the target service provider at the drop-off location.

In 926, the processing engine 112 (e.g., the information transmission module 622) may determine whether the actual time of arrival is later than the estimated time of arrival, determine compensation information for the service requester based on a difference between the estimated time of arrival and the actual time of arrival in response to a determination that the actual time of arrival is later than the estimated time of arrival, and transmit the compensation information to the terminal (e.g., the requester terminal 130) related to the service requester.

Details regarding operations 910-926 may be found elsewhere in the present disclosure (e.g., the description in connection with operations 810-826 of the process 800 in FIG. 8) .

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary interface displaying an estimated time of arrival at a drop-off location according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. After a service requester inputs an intended departure location and an intended destination in the requester terminal 130 and before the departure location and the destination is formally sent out, the processing engine 112 may receive enough information to determine an intention of the service requester. The processing engine 112 may determine an estimated time of arrival at the drop-off location of the service requester based on methods (the process 700, the process 800, and/or the process 900) in the present disclosure and transmit the estimated time of arrival to the requester terminal 130 of the service requester. As shown in FIG. 10, the requester terminal 130 may display a text of “For carpool, we promise that you will arrive at the drop-off location before 10: 00 a.m., otherwise you will obtain 10 yuan at most in compensation. ” With the estimated time of arrival for reference, the service requester may determine whether to choose the carpool service based on his/her own situation.

Having thus described the basic concepts, it may be rather apparent to those skilled in the art after reading this detailed disclosure that the foregoing detailed disclosure is intended to be presented by way of example only and is not limiting. Various alterations, improvements, and modifications may occur and are intended to those skilled in the art, though not expressly stated herein. These alterations, improvements, and modifications are intended to be suggested by this disclosure, and are within the spirit and scope of the exemplary embodiments of this disclosure.

Moreover, certain terminology has been used to describe embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the terms “one embodiment, ” “an embodiment, ” and/or “some embodiments” mean that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Therefore, it is emphasized and should be appreciated that two or more references to “an embodiment” or “one embodiment” or “an alternative embodiment” in various portions of this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined as suitable in one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

Further, it will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the present disclosure may be illustrated and described herein in any of a number of patentable classes or context including any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof. Accordingly, aspects of the present disclosure may be implemented entirely hardware, entirely software (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc. ) or combining software and hardware implementation that may all generally be referred to herein as a “unit, ” “module, ” or “system. ” Furthermore, aspects of the present disclosure may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer readable media having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signal with computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, in baseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may take any of a variety of forms, including electro-magnetic, optical, or the like, or any suitable combination thereof. A computer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium that is not a computer readable storage medium and that may communicate, propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. Program code embodied on a computer readable signal medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including wireless, wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, or the like, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Java, Scala, Smalltalk, Eiffel, JADE, Emerald, C++, C#, VB. NET, Python or the like, conventional procedural programming languages, such as the "C" programming language, Visual Basic, Fortran 2003, Perl, COBOL 2002, PHP, ABAP, dynamic programming languages such as Python, Ruby and Groovy, or other programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN) , or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider) or in a cloud computing environment or offered as a service such as a Software as a Service (SaaS) .

Furthermore, the recited order of processing elements or sequences, or the use of numbers, letters, or other designations therefore, is not intended to limit the claimed processes and methods to any order except as may be specified in the claims. Although the above disclosure discusses through various examples what is currently considered to be a variety of useful embodiments of the disclosure, it is to be understood that such detail is solely for that purpose, and that the appended claims are not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, are intended to cover modifications and equivalent arrangements that are within the spirit and scope of the disclosed embodiments. For example, although the implementation of various components described above may be embodied in a hardware device, it may also be implemented as a software only solution, e.g., an installation on an existing server or mobile device.

Similarly, it should be appreciated that in the foregoing description of embodiments of the present disclosure, various features are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure aiding in the understanding of one or more of the various embodiments.

This method of disclosure, however, is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed subject matter requires more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, claimed subject matter may lie in less than all features of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment.

Claims

A system for time determination in a carpool service, comprising:

at least one storage device including a set of instructions;

at least one processor in communication with the at least one storage device, wherein when executing the set of instructions, the at least one processor is directed to cause the system to:

receive a service instruction from a terminal associated with a service requester;

obtain one or more carpool parameters based on the service instruction, the one or more carpool parameters including a pick-up location and a drop-off location;

estimate both a waiting time of the service requester for being picked up at the pick-up location and a travel time from the pick-up location to the drop-off location based on the one or more carpool parameters;

determine an estimated time of arrival at the drop-off location based on a request time, the estimated waiting time, and the estimated travel time, wherein the request time is a time point when the service instruction is transmitted; and

transmit signals including the estimated time of arrival to the terminal, and the signals directing the terminal to display the estimated time of arrival.
The system of claim 1, wherein to estimate the waiting time based on the one or more carpool parameters, the at least one processor is directed to cause the system to:

determine a target service provider for the service instruction based on the request time, the pick-up location, and the drop-off location;

estimate a first queuing time between the request time and a time when the target service provider is ready to go to the pick-up location based on the request time, the pick-up location, and the drop-off location;

determine a pick-up route based on the pick-up location and a location of the target service provider;

estimate a pick-up time based on the pick-up route; and

determine the waiting time based on the first queuing time and the pick-up time.
The system of claim 1, wherein to estimate the waiting time based on the one or more carpool parameters, the at least one processor is directed to cause the system to:

estimate a second queuing time based on the pick-up location, the drop-off location, and a current transportation capacity;

determine a target service provider for the service instruction based on the request time, the pick-up location, and the drop-off location;

determine a pick-up route based on the pick-up location and a location of the target service provider;

estimate a pick-up time based on the pick-up route; and

determine the waiting time based on the second queuing time and the pick-up time.
The system of claim 2 or 3, wherein to estimate the travel time based on the one or more carpool parameters, the at least one processor is directed to cause the system to:

determine whether there is at least one carpool request that is being served by the target service provider;

in response to a determination that there is a carpool request that is being served by the target service provider, estimate a first preliminary time of traveling from the pick-up location to the drop-off location based on the pick-up location, the drop-off location, and the target service provider;

determine a first buffer time based on the carpool request; and

determine the travel time based on the first preliminary time and the first buffer time.
The system of claim 4, wherein to estimate the travel time based on the one or more carpool parameters, the at least one processor is directed to cause the system to:

in response to a determination that there is no carpool request that is being served by the target service provider, estimate a second preliminary time of traveling from the pick-up location to the drop-off location based on the pick-up location and the drop-off location and the target service provider;

obtain a protection rule corresponding to the service instruction;

determine a second buffer time based on the protection rule, the pick-up location, and the drop-off location; and

determine the travel time based on the second preliminary time and the second buffer time.
The system of claim 5, wherein the protection rule includes at least one of

a first rule of traveling from the pick-up location to the drop-off location without a detour,

a second rule that a count of requests that are combined with the service instruction is less than a count threshold, and

a third rule of permitting traveling with a detour from the pick-up location to the drop-off location and permitting any count of requests that are combined with the service instruction.
The system of claim 6, wherein the second buffer time corresponding to the first rule is T ₁, the second buffer time corresponding to the second rule is T ₂, the second buffer time corresponding to the third rule is T ₃, and T ₁<T ₂<T ₃.
The system of claim 4, wherein a passenger of the at least one carpool request is picked up or dropped off on a trip of the target service provider to the pick-up location.
The system of claim 2 or 3, wherein the pick-up route is determined based on the pick-up location and the location of the target service provider corresponding to a time when the target service provider is ready to go to the pick-up location.
The system of any one of claims 2-9, wherein when executing the set of instructions, the at least one processor is further directed to cause the system to:

obtain an actual time of arrival of the target service provider at the drop-off location;

determine whether the actual time of arrival is later than the estimated time of arrival;

in response to a determination that the actual time of arrival is later than the estimated time of arrival, determine compensation information for the service requester based on a difference between the actual time of arrival and the estimated time of arrival; and

transmit the compensation information to the terminal.
A method for time determination in a carpool service implemented on a computing device having one or more processors and one or more storage devices, the method comprising:

receiving a service instruction from a terminal associated with a service requester;

obtaining one or more carpool parameters based on the service instruction, the one or more carpool parameters including a pick-up location and a drop-off location;

estimating both a waiting time of the service requester for being picked up at the pick-up location and a travel time from the pick-up location to the drop-off location based on the one or more carpool parameters;

determining an estimated time of arrival at the drop-off location based on a request time, the estimated waiting time, and the estimated travel time, wherein the request time is a time point when the service instruction is transmitted; and

transmitting signals including the estimated time of arrival to the terminal, and the signals directing the terminal to display the estimated time of arrival.
The method of claim 11, wherein the estimating the waiting time based on the one or more carpool parameters includes:

determining a target service provider for the service instruction based on the request time, the pick-up location, and the drop-off location;

estimating a first queuing time between the request time and a time when the target service provider is ready to go to the pick-up location based on the request time, the pick-up location, and the drop-off location;

determining a pick-up route based on the pick-up location and a location of the target service provider;

estimating a pick-up time based on the pick-up route; and

determining the waiting time based on the first queuing time and the pick-up time.
The method of claim 11, wherein the estimating the waiting time based on the one or more carpool parameters includes:

estimating a second queuing time based on the pick-up location, the drop-off location, and a current transportation capacity;

determining a target service provider for the service instruction based on the request time, the pick-up location, and the drop-off location;

determining a pick-up route based on the pick-up location and a location of the target service provider;

estimating a pick-up time based on the pick-up route; and

determining the waiting time based on the second queuing time and the pick-up time.
The method of claim 12 or 13, wherein the estimating the travel time based on the one or more carpool parameters includes:

determining whether there is at least one carpool request that is being served by the target service provider;

in response to a determination that there is a carpool request that is being served by the target service provider, estimating a first preliminary time of traveling from the pick-up location to the drop-off location based on the pick-up location, the drop-off location, and the target service provider;

determining a first buffer time based on the carpool request; and

determining the travel time based on the first preliminary time and the first buffer time.
The method of claim 14, wherein the estimating the travel time based on the one or more carpool parameters includes:

in response to a determination that there is no carpool request that is being served by the target service provider, estimating a second preliminary time of traveling from the pick-up location to the drop-off location based on the pick-up location and the drop-off location and the target service provider;

obtaining a protection rule corresponding to the service instruction;

determining a second buffer time based on the protection rule, the pick-up location, and the drop-off location; and

determining the travel time based on the second preliminary time and the second buffer time.
The method of claim 15, wherein the protection rule includes at least one of

a first rule of traveling from the pick-up location to the drop-off location without a detour,

a second rule that a count of requests that are combined with the service instruction is less than a count threshold, and

a third rule of permitting traveling with a detour from the pick-up location to the drop-off location and permitting any count of requests that are combined with the service instruction.
The method of claim 16, wherein the second buffer time corresponding to the first rule is T ₁, the second buffer time corresponding to the second rule is T ₂, the second buffer time corresponding to the third rule is T ₃, and T ₁<T ₂<T ₃.
The method of claim 14, wherein a passenger of the at least one carpool request is picked up or dropped off on a trip of the target service provider to the pick-up location.
The method of claim 12 or 13, wherein the pick-up route is determined based on the pick-up location and the location of the target service provider corresponding to a time when the target service provider is ready to go to the pick-up location.
The method of any one of claims 12-19, further comprising:

obtaining an actual time of arrival of the target service provider at the drop-off location;

determining whether the actual time of arrival is later than the estimated time of arrival;

in response to a determination that the actual time of arrival is later than the estimated time of arrival, determining compensation information for the service requester based on a difference between the actual time of arrival and the estimated time of arrival; and

transmitting the compensation information to the terminal.
A system for time determination in a carpool service, comprising:

an instruction obtaining module configured to receive a service instruction from a terminal associated with a service requester;

a time determination module configured to

obtain one or more carpool parameters based on the service instruction, the one or more carpool parameters including a pick-up location and a drop-off location;

estimate both a waiting time of the service requester for being picked up at the pick-up location and a travel time from the pick-up location to the drop-off location based on the one or more carpool parameters; and

determine an estimated time of arrival at the drop-off location based on a request time, the estimated waiting time, and the estimated travel time, wherein the request time is a time point when the service instruction is transmitted; and

a transmission module configured to transmit signals including the estimated time of arrival to the terminal, and the signals directing the terminal to display the estimated time of arrival.
The system of claim 21, wherein the estimating the waiting time based on the one or more carpool parameters includes:

determining a target service provider for the service instruction based on the request time, the pick-up location, and the drop-off location;

estimating a first queuing time between the request time and a time when the target service provider is ready to go to the pick-up location based on the request time, the pick-up location, and the drop-off location;

determining a pick-up route based on the pick-up location and a location of the target service provider;

estimating a pick-up time based on the pick-up route; and

determining the waiting time based on the first queuing time and the pick-up time.
The system of claim 21, wherein the estimating the waiting time based on the one or more carpool parameters includes:

estimating a second queuing time based on the pick-up location, the drop-off location, and a current transportation capacity;

determining a target service provider for the service instruction based on the request time, the pick-up location, and the drop-off location;

determining a pick-up route based on the pick-up location and a location of the target service provider;

estimating a pick-up time based on the pick-up route; and

determining the waiting time based on the second queuing time and the pick-up time.
The system of claim 22 or 23, wherein the estimating the travel time based on the one or more carpool parameters includes:

determining whether there is at least one carpool request that is being served by the target service provider;

in response to a determination that there is a carpool request that is being served by the target service provider, estimating a first preliminary time of traveling from the pick-up location to the drop-off location based on the pick-up location, the drop-off location, and the target service provider;

determining a first buffer time based on the carpool request; and

determining the travel time based on the first preliminary time and the first buffer time.
The system of claim 24, wherein the estimating the travel time based on the one or more carpool parameters includes:

in response to a determination that there is no carpool request that is being served by the target service provider, estimating a second preliminary time of traveling from the pick-up location to the drop-off location based on the pick-up location and the drop-off location and the target service provider;

obtaining a protection rule corresponding to the service instruction;

determining a second buffer time based on the protection rule, the pick-up location, and the drop-off location; and

determining the travel time based on the second preliminary time and the second buffer time.
The system of claim 25, wherein the protection rule includes at least one of

a first rule of traveling from the pick-up location to the drop-off location without a detour,

a second rule that a count of requests that are combined with the service instruction is less than a count threshold, and

a third rule of permitting traveling with a detour from the pick-up location to the drop-off location and permitting any count of requests that are combined with the service instruction.
The system of claim 26, wherein the second buffer time corresponding to the first rule is T ₁, the second buffer time corresponding to the second rule is T ₂, the second buffer time corresponding to the third rule is T ₃, and T ₁<T ₂<T ₃.
The system of claim 24, wherein a passenger of the at least one carpool request is picked up or dropped off on a trip of the target service provider to the pick-up location.
The system of claim 22 or 23, wherein the pick-up route is determined based on the pick-up location and the location of the target service provider corresponding to a time when the target service provider is ready to go to the pick-up location.
The system of any one of claims 22-29, wherein the time determination module is further configured to

obtain an actual time of arrival of the target service provider at the drop-off location;

determine whether the actual time of arrival is later than the estimated time of arrival; and

in response to a determination that the actual time of arrival is later than the estimated time of arrival, determine compensation information for the service requester based on a difference between the actual time of arrival and the estimated time of arrival; and

wherein the transmission module is further configured to transmit the compensation information to the terminal.
A non-transitory computer readable medium, comprising at least one set of instructions for time determination in a carpool service, wherein when executed by one or more processors of a computing device, the at least one set of instructions causes the computing device to perform a method, the method comprising:

receiving a service instruction from a terminal associated with a service requester;

obtaining one or more carpool parameters based on the service instruction, the one or more carpool parameters including a pick-up location and a drop-off location;

estimating both a waiting time of the service requester for being picked up at the pick-up location and a travel time from the pick-up location to the drop-off location based on the one or more carpool parameters;

determining an estimated time of arrival at the drop-off location based on a request time, the estimated waiting time, and the estimated travel time, wherein the request time is a time point when the service instruction is transmitted; and

transmitting signals including the estimated time of arrival to the terminal, and the signals directing the terminal to display the estimated time of arrival.