WO2020037595A1

WO2020037595A1 - System and method for approving and tracking ride hailing

Info

Publication number: WO2020037595A1
Application number: PCT/CN2018/101921
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tuoya WULAN; Lei Yan
Original assignee: Beijing Didi Infinity Technology And Development Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2018-08-23
Filing date: 2018-08-23
Publication date: 2020-02-27
Also published as: CN111066053A; CN111066053B

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for approving and tracking ride hailing comprises: obtaining information of a planned transportation submitted through an applicant account; in response to receiving an approval for the planned transportation, enabling the applicant account to order one or more rides for a real transportation; tracking information of an applicant computing device associated with the applicant account during the real transportation to determine at least one of: if a starting time of the ride is within the approved time period, an ending time of the ride is within the approved time period, an origin of the ride is within a first threshold distance from the approved origin, a destination of the ride is within a second threshold distance from the approved destination, a cost of the ride is within the approved budget, or a number of rides for the ride is within the approved number of rides.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR APPROVING AND TRACKING RIDE HAILING

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This disclosure generally relates to computer technology, and in particular, to systems and methods for approving and tracking ride hailing.

BACKGROUND

Company employees routinely need transportation for business-related purposes. Traditionally, the employee will have to spend personal funds to pay for the transportation cost and apply for reimbursement from the company. Such process is complicated and time-consuming.

SUMMARY

Various embodiments of the present disclosure include systems, methods, and non-transitory computer readable media for approving and tracking ride hailing.

According to one aspect, a computer-implemented method for approving and tracking ride hailing, comprising: obtaining information of a planned transportation submitted through an applicant account, the information comprising at least one of: a planned time period, a planned origin, a planned destination, a budget, or a planned number of rides in the planned time period; in response to receiving an approval for the planned transportation from one or more approving computing devices, enabling the applicant account to order one or more rides for a real transportation, the approval comprising at least one condition of: an approved time period, an approved origin, an approved destination, an approved budget, or an approved number of rides in the approved time period; tracking information of an applicant computing device associated with the applicant account during the real transportation to determine at least one of: if a starting time of the ride is within the approved time period, an ending time of the ride is within the approved time period, an origin of the ride is within a first threshold distance from the approved origin, a destination of the ride is within a second threshold distance from the approved destination, a cost of the ride is within the approved budget, or a number of rides for the ride is within the approved number of rides; and in response to any of the determinations not being satisfied, transmitting the tracked information to the one or more approving computing devices for auditing the approval.

In some embodiments, tracking the information of the applicant computing device associated with the applicant account during the real transportation comprises: obtaining a Global Positioning System (GPS) position of the applicant computing device associated with the applicant account corresponding to a pick-up location as the origin of the ride, and obtaining a GPS position of the applicant computing device associated with the applicant account corresponding to a drop-off location as the destination of the ride.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises: in response to determining that the applicant computing device is ordering a current ride for the real transportation and determining at least one of: a current time is not within the approved time period, a current location of the applicant computing device is not within the first threshold distance from the approved origin, or a number of past rides in the approved time period for the real transportation is not within the approved number of rides, disabling the applicant computing device to order the current ride through the applicant account.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises: in response to any of the determinations not being satisfied, obtaining through the applicant account an explanation for mismatch and transmitting the explanation with the tracked information to the one or more approving computing devices for auditing the approval.

In some embodiments, the one or more approving computing devices comprise a first approving computing device and a second approving computing device. Receiving the approval for the planned transportation from one or more approving computing devices comprises: receiving a first approval from the first approving computing device; forwarding the planned transportation to the second approving computing device; and receiving a second approval from the second approving computing device.

In some embodiments, the applicant account is used by an applicant associated with an entity, the approving computing device is used by an officer of the entity, and the method further comprises disbursing the real transportation’s cost from the entity’s fund.

In some embodiments, before obtaining the information of the planned transportation submitted through the applicant account, the method further comprises: obtaining, from a configuration computing device, a threshold as an upper limit for the budget, an area definition as a geographic boundary for the planned transportation, and information of one or more officers for determining one or more officer accounts, wherein the approving computing devices are respectively associated with the officer accounts.

According to another aspect, a system for approving and tracking ride hailing comprises a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform a method. The method comprises: obtaining information of a planned transportation submitted through an applicant account, the information comprising at least one of: a planned time period, a planned origin, a planned destination, a budget, or a planned number of rides in the planned time period; in response to receiving an approval for the planned transportation from one or more approving computing devices, enabling the applicant account to order one or more rides for a real transportation, the approval comprising at least one condition of: an approved time period, an approved origin, an approved destination, an approved budget, or an approved number of rides in the approved time period; tracking information of an applicant computing device associated with the applicant account during the real transportation to determine at least one of: if a starting time of the ride is within the approved time period, an ending time of the ride is within the approved time period, an origin of the ride is within a first threshold distance from the approved origin, a destination of the ride is within a second threshold distance from the approved destination, a cost of the ride is within the approved budget, or a number of rides for the ride is within the approved number of rides; and in response to any of the determinations not being satisfied, transmitting the tracked information to the one or more approving computing devices for auditing the approval.

According to another aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium stores instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method. The method comprises obtaining information of a planned transportation submitted through an applicant account, the information comprising at least one of: a planned time period, a planned origin, a planned destination, a budget, or a planned number of rides in the planned time period; in response to receiving an approval for the planned transportation from one or more approving computing devices, enabling the applicant account to order one or more rides for a real transportation, the approval comprising at least one condition of: an approved time period, an approved origin, an approved destination, an approved budget, or an approved number of rides in the approved time period; tracking information of an applicant computing device associated with the applicant account during the real transportation to determine at least one of: if a starting time of the ride is within the approved time period, an ending time of the ride is within the approved time period, an origin of the ride is within a first threshold distance from the approved origin, a destination of the ride is within a second threshold distance from the approved destination, a cost of the ride is within the approved budget, or a number of rides for the ride is within the approved number of rides; and in response to any of the determinations not being satisfied, transmitting the tracked information to the one or more approving computing devices for auditing the approval.

These and other features of the systems, methods, and non-transitory computer readable media disclosed herein, as well as the methods of operation and functions of the related elements of structure and the combination of parts and economies of manufacture, will become more apparent upon consideration of the following description and the appended claims with reference to the accompanying drawings, all of which form a part of this specification, wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding parts in the various figures. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for purposes of illustration and description only and are not intended as a definition of the limits of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Certain features of various embodiments of the present technology are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. A better understanding of the features and advantages of the technology will be obtained by reference to the following detailed description that sets forth illustrative embodiments, in which the principles of the invention are utilized, and the accompanying drawings of which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary environment for approving and tracking ride hailing, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary system interaction for approving and tracking ride hailing, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 3A illustrates an exemplary interface for configuring ride hailing application, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 3B illustrates exemplary interfaces for configuring approving officers, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 3C illustrates an exemplary interface for applying for transportation approval, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 3D illustrates an exemplary interface for displaying application status, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 3E illustrates an exemplary interface for approving application, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 3F illustrates an exemplary interface for displaying an approved application, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary method for approving and tracking ride hailing, in accordance with various embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary computer system in which any of the embodiments described herein may be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Company employees routinely need transportation for business-related purposes. Traditionally, the employee will have to apply for reimbursement approval, spend personal funds to pay for the transportation cost, and submit travel documents for reimbursement. Some company officers may screen these applications and make a reimbursement decision. Such process is complicated and time-consuming. Further, the officers may approve the application for a specific transportation with specific conditions, which are difficult to verify based on the submitted documents that only have limited information such as time and cost. Thus, with an increasing number of employees, managing the reimbursement program becomes burdensome. The lack of verification mechanism further creates room for misuses, abuses, and frauds.

The disclosed systems and methods can at least mitigate the above-described technical problems of current practice. Various embodiments of the present disclosure include systems, methods, and non-transitory computer readable media for approving and tracking ride hailing. An exemplary method may be implemented through a software with server-end and/or client-end functionalities, such that an entity can streamline employee ride hailing application, approval, and tracking. The client-end may have different interfaces and functions for different user groups: enterprise manager, approving officer, applicant, etc. The client-end may interact with the server-end to implement various functions. Reimbursable transportation application may be configured by the enterprise manager to define various fields for collecting application information of a planned transportation (e.g., time period, location, approving officers) . An employee applicant may submit the planned transportation, subject to approval from one or more approving officers. The approving officers may review and approve/reject the application. Once the application is approved, the applicant can directly order transportation based on the granted authorization, by which the transportation cost is covered by the entity. By tracking the computing device of the applicant, the ordered transportation can be ensured to comply with the approved plan. Thus, the transportation reimbursement can be efficiently processed, tracked, and managed, and misuses and abuses of entity funds can be prevented.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary environment 100 for approving and tracking ride hailing, in accordance with various embodiments. As shown in FIG. 1, the exemplary environment 100 can comprise at least one computing system 102 that includes one or more processors 104 and memory 106. The memory 106 may be non-transitory and computer-readable. The memory 106 may store instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors 104, cause the one or more processors 104 to perform various operations described herein. The system 102 may be implemented on or as various devices such as mobile phone, tablet, server, computer, wearable device, etc. The system 102 above may be installed with appropriate software and/or hardware (e.g., wires, wireless connections, etc. ) to access other devices of the environment 100.

The environment 100 may include one or more data stores (e.g., a data store 108) and one or more computing devices (e.g., a computing device 109) that are accessible to the system 102. In some embodiments, the system 102 may be configured to obtain data (e.g., map data, user data) from and/or store data into the data store 108 (e.g., user dataset, map database) and/or the computing device 109 (e.g., computer, server, mobile phone) .

The environment 100 may further include one or more computing devices (e.g.,

computing devices

107, 110, 111, and 112) coupled to the system 102. The each computing device may be, for example, mobile phone, tablet, computer, wearable device (smart watch) , etc. The computing devices may each transmit data to and/or receive data from the system 102. The transmitted data may comprise user profile data, time data, location data, etc. The location data may comprise GPS (Global Positioning System) coordinates. The computing device 107 may be associated with an entity’s personal overseeing transportation reimbursement (e.g., an enterprise manager in charge of finance and budgeting) . The computing device 110 may be associated with an applicant (e.g., a company employee who applies for transportation reimbursement and is also a passenger of the actual transportation) . The computing device 111 may be associated with an approving officer (e.g., a manager of the enterprise) . The computing device 112 may be associated with another approving officer (e.g., another manager of the enterprise) . The

computing devices

107, 110, 111, and 112 may have different interfaces and functions tailored for corresponding user groups.

In some embodiments, the system 102 may implement an online information or service platform (e.g., in the form of a software application) . The platform may be referred to as a vehicle platform (or service hailing platform, ride order dispatching platform) . The service may be associated with vehicles (e.g., cars, bikes, boats, airplanes, etc. ) . The platform may accept requests for transportation, identify vehicles to fulfill the requests, arrange for pick-ups, and process transactions. For example, a user may use the computing device 110 (e.g., a mobile phone installed with the software application associated with the platform) to request transportation from the platform. The system 102 may receive the request (e.g., including a pick-up time, a pick-up location, and a destination) and relay it to various vehicle drivers (e.g., by posting the request to mobile phones carried by the drivers) . A vehicle driver may use his computing device (e.g., another mobile phone installed with the application associated with the platform) to accept the posted transportation request, proceed to the pick-up location, and transport the user to the destination. Fees (e.g., transportation fees) can be transacted among the system 102, the computing device 110, and the driver’s computing device. Some platform data may be stored in the memory 106 or retrievable from the data store 108 and/or the

computing devices

107, 109, 110, and 111. For example, for each trip, the locations of the origin and destination (e.g., as transmitted by the computing devices 110 and/or the driver’s computing device) , the fee (e.g., as determined by the system 102) , and the time can be obtained by the system 102.

In some embodiments, the software application may provide various user modes. For one user mode, the user may use the vehicle platform without authorization and reimbursement of a third-party (e.g., an enterprise employer of the user) . The user may order transportation and pay with own funds. For another user mode described herein, the user may use the vehicle platform to apply for reimbursement for a planned (future) transportation. With an approval, the user can directly order transportation that is partially or entirely reimbursed by the third-party through the software application.

In some embodiments, the system 102 and the one or more of the computing devices (e.g., the computing device 109) may be integrated in a single device or system. Alternatively, the system 102 and the one or more computing devices may operate as separate devices. The data store (s) may be anywhere accessible to the system 102, for example, in the memory 106, in the computing device 109, in another device (e.g., network storage device) coupled to the system 102, or another storage location (e.g., cloud-based storage system, network file system, etc. ) , etc. Although the system 102 and the computing device 109 are shown as single components in this figure, it is appreciated that the system 102 and the computing device 109 can be implemented as single devices or multiple devices coupled together. The system 102 may be implemented as a single system or multiple systems coupled to each other. In general, the system 102, the computing device 109, the data store 108, and the

computing device

107, 110, 111, and 112 are able to communicate with one another through one or more wired or wireless networks (e.g., the Internet) through which data is communicated. Various aspects of the environment 100 are described below in reference to FIG. 2 to FIG. 5.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary system interaction for approving and tracking ride hailing, in accordance with various embodiments. The operations shown in FIG. 2 and presented below are intended to be illustrative. Depending on the implementation, the operations shown in FIG. 2 and presented below may include additional, fewer, or alternative steps performed in various orders or in parallel. In this disclosure, the company and enterprise are defined broadly and may include any type of organization or a group of organizations. Though the employee applicant is used as an example throughout this disclosure, other types of applicant-organization relationship may also be applicable.

FIG. 2 illustrates a system 102 (e.g., server) , a configuration computing device 107 (e.g., laptop used by an enterprise manager or controller) , an applicant computing device 110 (e.g., mobile phone used by an enterprise employee applicant) , a first approving computing device 111 (e.g., mobile phone used by an enterprise manager) , and a second approving computing device 112 (e.g., computer of another enterprise manager) described above with reference to FIG. 1. To access the

computing device

107, 110, 111, or 112, the user may need to log into a corresponding account or otherwise authenticate the identity. For example, a configuration account authentication may be required for performing various steps (described below) through the configuration computing device 107, an applicant account authentication may be required for performing various steps (described below) through the applicant computing device 110, a first officer account authentication may be required for performing various steps (described below) through the first approving computing device 111, and a second officer account authentication may be required for performing various steps (described below) through the second approving computing device 112. Thus, the

computing device

107, 110, 111, or 112 shown in this figure may each represent one or more computing devices, and the user can access any of the computing devices to perform the described steps as long as authenticating the corresponding account. For example, an applicant may apply for transportation reimbursement (e.g., step 202) from a personal laptop and later order a real transportation (e.g., after step 206) from a personal mobile phone.

In some embodiments, the

computing devices

107, 110, 111, and 112 may each be installed with a software (e.g., mobile phone APP, desktop software) for the vehicle platform. The software may have different interfaces and functions for different user groups. For example, the computing device 107 may install an enterprise-end software version, and the enterprise manager may access the software by logging into a configuration account. The computing device 110 may install an applicant/passenger-end software version, and the applicant may access the software by logging into an applicant account. The

computing devices

111 and 112 may install an officer-end software version, and the officer may access the software by logging into an officer account. The software installed on the computing device 110 may provide the vehicle hailing function described above. A transportation provider’s computing device (not shown) such as a driver’s mobile phone may install a driver-end software version. The system 102 may host a server-end of the software application. The software installed on the system 102 and various computing devices may provide the application, approval, and tracking functions discussed in more details below.

FIG. 2 illustrates interactions among the system 102 and the

computing devices

107, 110, 111, and 112. The operations of the interaction presented below are intended to be illustrative. Depending on the implementation, the operations may include additional, fewer, or alternative steps performed in various orders or in parallel.

In some embodiments, at step 201, a user (e.g., enterprise manager) may access a configuration account through a configuration computing device 107 to configure settings for transportation reimbursement applications. For example, the system 102 may obtain, from the configuration computing device 107, a threshold as an upper limit for budget, an area definition as a geographic boundary for a planned transportation, and information of one or more officers for determining one or more officer accounts. The officers selected in this configuration will be delegated to review and approve applications. More details of exemplary interfaces for configuration is described below with reference to FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B. The system 102 may cause the applicant/passenger-end software on the applicant computer device 110 to display a corresponding interface for obtaining application information. At step 202, the system 102 may obtain information of a planned transportation submitted through an applicant account. The information may comprise: a planned time period, a planned origin, a planned destination, a budget, and/or a planned number of rides in the planned time period. More details of an exemplary interface for obtaining the information is described below with reference to FIG. 3C. The system 102 may automatically compile an application based on the obtained information and forward the application to one or more approving officers. For example, at step 203, the system 102 forwards the application to a first approving account. Based on an exemplary approval configuration, if the first officer approves the application from the computing device 111 and notifies the system 102 at step 204, the system 102 may forward the application to a second approving account at step 205. More details of an exemplary interface for viewing application status at the applicant end is described below with reference to FIG. 3D. More details of an exemplary interface for approving an application at the officer end is described below with reference to FIG. 3E. If the second officer also approves the application at step 206, the system 102 may notify the applicant account about the approval at step 207. More details of an exemplary interface for ordering transportation based on the approval is described below with reference to FIG. 3F.

Still referring to FIG. 2, in response to receiving the approval for the planned transportation from one or more approving

computing devices

111 and 112, the system 102 may enable the applicant account to order one or more rides for a real transportation. The approval may comprise one or more of the following conditions: an approved time period, an approved origin, an approved destination, an approved budget, and an approved number of rides in the approved time period. These conditions may be verified by tracking the applicant’s computing device. At step 208, the system 102 may track information of an applicant computing device (e.g., the applicant computing device 110) associated with the applicant account during the real transportation to determine: if a starting time of the ride is within the approved time period, an ending time of the ride is within the approved time period, an origin of the ride is within a first threshold distance from the approved origin, a destination of the ride is within a second threshold distance from the approved destination, a cost of the ride is within the approved budget, and/or a number of rides for the ride is within the approved number of rides. If any of the determinations is not satisfied, the system 102 may notify the applicant account at step 209a and seek an explanation for the discrepancy, and transmit the tracked information to the one or more approving

computing devices

111 and 112 at

steps

209b and 209c for auditing the approval. That is, the system 102 may obtain through the applicant account an explanation for the mismatch and transmit the explanation with the tracked information to the one or more approving computing devices for auditing the approval. The approving officers may determine if the mismatch is allowed in light of the explanation. If the transportation is ordered with the conditions complied with, the system 102 may disburse the real transportation’s cost from the entity’s fund to the driver’s account.

In some embodiments, if the system 102 determines that the applicant computing device 110 is ordering a current ride for the real transportation and determines at least one of: a current time is not within the approved time period, a current location of the applicant computing device is not within the first threshold distance from the approved origin, or a number of past rides in the approved time period for the real transportation is not within the approved number of rides, the system 102 may disable the applicant computing device to order the current ride through the applicant account. That is, the applicant may not order a reimbursed ride that does not comply with the approval conditions. Nevertheless, the applicant may still order a ride through a personal account without getting reimbursement.

In some embodiments, to track the information of the applicant computing device 110 associated with the applicant account during the real transportation, the system 102 may obtain a Global Positioning System (GPS) position of the applicant computing device 110 associated with the applicant account corresponding to a pick-up location as the origin of the ride, and obtain a GPS position of the applicant computing device 110 associated with the applicant account corresponding to a drop-off location as the destination of the ride. For example, when placing an order for the real transportation, the computing device 110 may indicate a planned pick-up location and transmit the location to the system 102. This planned location may be used as the actual pick-up location. Additionally or alternatively, when the user is picked up, the driver may indicate through the driver-end software that the user is picked up, and the current location of either the computing device 110 or the driver’s computing device can also be used as the origin of the transportation. When the destination is arrived, the driver may indicate through the driver-end software that the user is dropped off, and the current location of either the computing device 110 or the driver’s computing device can be used as the destination of the transportation.

FIGs. 3A-3F illustrate exemplary interfaces of an application for approving and tracking ride hailing, in accordance with various embodiments. The operations shown in FIGs. 3A-3F and presented below are intended to be illustrative.

FIG. 3A illustrates an exemplary interface 300 for configuring ride hailing application, in accordance with various embodiments. The interface 300 may be provided on an enterprise-end software from the configuration computing device 107. Thus, an enterprise manager with authorization to access the configuration account can configure settings at this interface to reflect the enterprise standard for transportation reimbursement application and approval. As shown in FIG. 3A, the interface 300 may provide configuration settings for various employee travel scenarios that the enterprise may reimburse, for example, over-time work, commute to workplace, business travel, airport pick-up/drop-off, for-business car rental, etc. In this figure, configuration settings for reimbursing business travel are shown. Other scenarios may have similar configuration settings.

The configuration settings may include: application type, planned number of rides, ride threshold, personal limit, planned time period, planned route, area definition, usable vehicle type, approving officer (s) , etc. The application type may include, for example, “application by number of rides” or “by time period. ” “Application by number of rides” may apply to single-day travel for which the applicant may need one or more rides. “Application by time period” may apply to multi-day travel. As shown in thickened borderline, “by number of rides” is chosen in this example. Other application type and configuration setting can be additionally or alternatively used. Each application may apply for a high level “transportation, ” which may comprise one or more rides between various locations. The planned number of rides may be inputted by the applicant or limited by the enterprise manager. The ride threshold may be used as an upper limit for the reimbursement budget for each ride. The personal limit may refer to a maximum amount that can be reimbursed for a single person, for example, for each transportation, for each time period, etc. The planned time period may be filled in by the applicant or limited by the enterprise manager. The planned route (e.g., in terms of origin and destination location) may be filled in by the applicant or limited by the enterprise manager. For example, the enterprise manager may limit the origin to within one mile from the enterprise corporate location. The area definition may provide an option to limit the origin and destination to the same city, to prevent incurring high costs from inter-city long distance travels. The usable vehicle type may define one or more types of vehicles approved for the applicant to order. The approving officer configuration may be used to configure information of one or more approving officers in charge of reviewing the application. Each officer has an officer account, to which the application may be forwarded for approval.

FIG. 3B illustrates exemplary interfaces 311-313 for configuring the approving officers, in accordance with various embodiments. The interfaces 311-313 may be provided on an enterprise-end software from the configuration computing device 107. As shown in FIG. 3B, the interface 311 may provide options for configuring one or more approving officers. The approving officers may be structured by different levels. For example, for a two-level structure, the application needs to be approved by a first level officer, before being forwarded to a second level officer for approval. At each level, the approving officer can be configured to be an “upper-level approving officer” or a “special approving officer. ” For the upper-level approving officer, the enterprise manager may set up a pool of approving officers, from which the applicant may choose an appropriate officer when preparing the application. For the special approving officer, the enterprise manager may configure an approving officer for the applicants. As shown, at the first level, John Doe is configured by the enterprise manager as the special approving officer. If the enterprise manager tries to delete John Doe, the interface 312 or 313 may trigger. If there is a pending application for John Doe to approve, the interface 312 may provide options to remand the application to applicant or remind John Doe. If there is no pending application for John Doe to approve, the interface 313 may indicate that John Doe is the only remaining approving officer, and provide an option to add a replacement officer to keep this configuration valid.

FIG. 3C illustrates an exemplary interface 320 for applying for transportation approval, in accordance with various embodiments. The interface 320 may be provided on an applicant-end software from the applicant computing device 110. Thus, an applicant with authorization to access the applicant account can submit applications for approval. As shown in FIG. 3C, the interface 320 may obtain information of a planned transportation submitted through an applicant account. The obtained information may include: a planned time period (e.g., in terms of date period and/or time period) , a planned origin, a planned destination, a round-trip setting, a budget (not shown) , a planned number of rides in the planned time period (e.g., two departing riding and two return rides) , a reason for application, etc. On the interface 320, cost center information may be auto-generated, for example, to indicate a department within the enterprise to reimburse the transportation. The approving officers may be auto-generated for special approving officers or chosen by the applicant for upper-level approving officers.

FIG. 3D illustrates an exemplary interface 330 for displaying application status, in accordance with various embodiments. The interface 330 may be provided on an applicant-end software from the applicant computing device 110. Thus, an applicant with authorization to access the applicant account can view application approval process. As shown in FIG. 3D, the interface 330 may indicate details of the submitted application and the completed and pending approval stages. As shown, after application submission, John Doe has approved XYZ’s application, and currently the application is pending James Smith’s approval.

FIG. 3E illustrates an exemplary interface 340 for approving application, in accordance with various embodiments. The interface 340 may be provided on an officer-end software from the applicant computing device 112. Thus, an approving officer with authorization to access the officer account can view applications pending approval. As shown in FIG. 3E, the interface 340 may indicate details of the submitted application and the officer (John Doe) who has approved the application. From this interface, James Smith may approve the application or remand back to applicant. Since James Smith is the last approving officer to approve this application, he does not need to approve and forward the application to the next approving officer.

FIG. 3F illustrates an exemplary interface 350 for displaying an approved application, in accordance with various embodiments. The interface 350 may be provided on an applicant-end software from the applicant computing device 110. As shown in FIG. 3F, the interface 350 may indicate details of the approved application, which may be the same as the details for the planned transportation as submitted. From this interface, XYZ may directly order an actual transportation with the approved authorization and reimbursement, or switch to a personal account and order a transportation with personal funds.

As described, the software system with server and client ends may implement transportation reimbursement programs. The enterprise can easily configure and manage transportation reimbursement application, approval, and tracking from the enterprise-end software, with assurance that the computing system verifies the transportation orders in accordance with the approved conditions. The employee applicant and the approving officers are provided with convenience to streamline the application-approval process. Thus, reimbursement misuses, abuses, and frauds can be prevented. Company resources previously spent on reimbursement program management can now be conserved and put in use elsewhere.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of an exemplary method 400 for approving and tracking ride hailing, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 400 may be implemented in various environments including, for example, the environment 100 of FIG. 1. The exemplary method 400 may be implemented by one or more components of the system 102 (e.g., the processor 104, the memory 106) . An exemplary system 102 may include a server. The exemplary method 400 may be implemented by multiple systems similar to the system 102. The operations of method 400 presented below are intended to be illustrative. Depending on the implementation, the exemplary method 400 may include additional, fewer, or alternative steps performed in various orders or in parallel.

Block 402 comprises obtaining information of a planned transportation submitted through an applicant account, the information comprising at least one of: a planned time period, a planned origin, a planned destination, a budget, or a planned number of rides in the planned time period. Block 404 comprises in response to receiving an approval for the planned transportation from one or more approving computing devices, enabling the applicant account to order one or more rides for a real transportation, the approval comprising at least one condition of: an approved time period, an approved origin, an approved destination, an approved budget, or an approved number of rides in the approved time period. Block 406 comprises tracking information of an applicant computing device associated with the applicant account during the real transportation to determine at least one of: if a starting time of the ride is within the approved time period, an ending time of the ride is within the approved time period, an origin of the ride is within a first threshold distance from the approved origin, a destination of the ride is within a second threshold distance from the approved destination, a cost of the ride is within the approved budget, or a number of rides for the ride is within the approved number of rides. Block 408 comprises in response to any of the determinations not being satisfied, transmitting the tracked information to the one or more approving computing devices for auditing the approval.

In some embodiments, before obtaining the information of the planned transportation submitted through the applicant account, the method further comprises: obtaining, from a configuration computing device, a threshold as an upper limit for the budget, an area definition as a geographic boundary for the planned transportation, and information of one or more officers for determining one or more officer accounts, wherein the approving computing devices are respectively associated with the officer accounts. Further details of the method 400 can be referred to FIGs. 1-3F above.

The techniques described herein are implemented by one or more special-purpose computing devices. The special-purpose computing devices may be desktop computer systems, server computer systems, portable computer systems, handheld devices, networking devices or any other device or combination of devices that incorporate hard-wired and/or program logic to implement the techniques. Computing device (s) are generally controlled and coordinated by operating system software. Conventional operating systems control and schedule computer processes for execution, perform memory management, provide file system, networking, I/O services, and provide a user interface functionality, such as a graphical user interface ( “GUI” ) , among other things.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram that illustrates a computer system 500 upon which any of the embodiments described herein may be implemented. The system 500 may correspond to the system 102 described above. The computer system 500 includes a bus 502 or other communication mechanism for communicating information, one or more hardware processors 504 coupled with bus 502 for processing information. Hardware processor (s) 504 may be, for example, one or more general purpose microprocessors. The processor (s) 504 may correspond to the processor 104 described above.

The computer system 500 also includes a main memory 506, such as a random access memory (RAM) , cache and/or other dynamic storage devices, coupled to bus 502 for storing information and instructions to be executed by processor 504. Main memory 506 also may be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions to be executed by processor 504. Such instructions, when stored in storage media accessible to processor 504, render computer system 500 into a special-purpose machine that is customized to perform the operations specified in the instructions. The computer system 500 further includes a read only memory (ROM) 508 or other static storage device coupled to bus 502 for storing static information and instructions for processor 504. A storage device 510, such as a magnetic disk, optical disk, or USB thumb drive (Flash drive) , etc., is provided and coupled to bus 502 for storing information and instructions. The main memory 506, the ROM 508, and/or the storage 510 may correspond to the memory 106 described above.

The computer system 500 may implement the techniques described herein using customized hard-wired logic, one or more ASICs or FPGAs, firmware and/or program logic which in combination with the computer system causes or programs computer system 500 to be a special-purpose machine. According to one embodiment, the techniques herein are performed by computer system 500 in response to processor (s) 504 executing one or more sequences of one or more instructions contained in main memory 506. Such instructions may be read into main memory 506 from another storage medium, such as storage device 510. Execution of the sequences of instructions contained in main memory 506 causes processor (s) 504 to perform the process steps described herein. In alternative embodiments, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or in combination with software instructions.

The main memory 506, the ROM 508, and/or the storage 510 may include non-transitory storage media. The term “non-transitory media, ” and similar terms, as used herein refers to a media that store data and/or instructions that cause a machine to operate in a specific fashion. The media excludes transitory signals. Such non-transitory media may comprise non-volatile media and/or volatile media. Non-volatile media includes, for example, optical or magnetic disks, such as storage device 510. Volatile media includes dynamic memory, such as main memory 506. Common forms of non-transitory media include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk, solid state drive, magnetic tape, or any other magnetic data storage medium, a CD-ROM, any other optical data storage medium, any physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM, a FLASH-EPROM, NVRAM, any other memory chip or cartridge, and networked versions of the same.

The computer system 500 also includes a network interface 518 coupled to bus 502. Network interface 518 provides a two-way data communication coupling to one or more network links that are connected to one or more local networks. For example, network interface 518 may be an integrated services digital network (ISDN) card, cable modem, satellite modem, or a modem to provide a data communication connection to a corresponding type of telephone line. As another example, network interface 518 may be a local area network (LAN) card to provide a data communication connection to a compatible LAN (or WAN component to communicated with a WAN) . Wireless links may also be implemented. In any such implementation, network interface 518 sends and receives electrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams representing various types of information.

The computer system 500 can send messages and receive data, including program code, through the network (s) , network link and network interface 518. In the Internet example, a server might transmit a requested code for an application program through the Internet, the ISP, the local network and the network interface 518.

The received code may be executed by processor 504 as it is received, and/or stored in storage device 510, or other non-volatile storage for later execution.

Each of the processes, methods, and algorithms described in the preceding sections may be embodied in, and fully or partially automated by, code modules executed by one or more computer systems or computer processors comprising computer hardware. The processes and algorithms may be implemented partially or wholly in application-specific circuitry.

The various features and processes described above may be used independently of one another, or may be combined in various ways. All possible combinations and sub-combinations are intended to fall within the scope of this disclosure. In addition, certain method or process blocks may be omitted in some implementations. The methods and processes described herein are also not limited to any particular sequence, and the blocks or states relating thereto can be performed in other sequences that are appropriate. For example, described blocks or states may be performed in an order other than that specifically disclosed, or multiple blocks or states may be combined in a single block or state. The exemplary blocks or states may be performed in serial, in parallel, or in some other manner. Blocks or states may be added to or removed from the disclosed exemplary embodiments. The exemplary systems and components described herein may be configured differently than described. For example, elements may be added to, removed from, or rearranged compared to the disclosed exemplary embodiments.

The various operations of exemplary methods described herein may be performed, at least partially, by an algorithm. The algorithm may be comprised in program codes or instructions stored in a memory (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium described above) . Such algorithm may comprise a machine learning algorithm. In some embodiments, a machine learning algorithm may not explicitly program computers to perform a function, but can learn from training data to make a predictions model that performs the function.

The various operations of exemplary methods described herein may be performed, at least partially, by one or more processors that are temporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured to perform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanently configured, such processors may constitute processor-implemented engines that operate to perform one or more operations or functions described herein.

Similarly, the methods described herein may be at least partially processor-implemented, with a particular processor or processors being an example of hardware. For example, at least some of the operations of a method may be performed by one or more processors or processor-implemented engines. Moreover, the one or more processors may also operate to support performance of the relevant operations in a “cloud computing” environment or as a “software as a service” (SaaS) .

Any process descriptions, elements, or blocks in the flow diagrams described herein and/or depicted in the attached figures should be understood as potentially representing modules, segments, or portions of code which include one or more executable instructions for implementing specific logical functions or steps in the process. Alternate implementations are included within the scope of the embodiments described herein in which elements or functions may be deleted, executed out of order from that shown or discussed, including substantially concurrently or in reverse order, depending on the functionality involved, as would be understood by those skilled in the art.

As used herein, the term “or” may be construed in either an inclusive or exclusive sense. Moreover, plural instances may be provided for resources, operations, or structures described herein as a single instance. Additionally, boundaries between various resources, operations, engines, and data stores are somewhat arbitrary, and particular operations are illustrated in a context of specific illustrative configurations. Other allocations of functionality are envisioned and may fall within a scope of various embodiments of the present disclosure. In general, structures and functionality presented as separate resources in the exemplary configurations may be implemented as a combined structure or resource. Similarly, structures and functionality presented as a single resource may be implemented as separate resources. These and other variations, modifications, additions, and improvements fall within a scope of embodiments of the present disclosure as represented by the appended claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

Although an overview of the subject matter has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments, various modifications and changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the broader scope of embodiments of the present disclosure. Such embodiments of the subject matter may be referred to herein, individually or collectively, by the term “invention” merely for convenience and without intending to voluntarily limit the scope of this application to any single disclosure or concept if more than one is, in fact, disclosed.

The embodiments illustrated herein are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the teachings disclosed. Other embodiments may be used and derived therefrom, such that structural and logical substitutions and changes may be made without departing from the scope of this disclosure. The Detailed Description, therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of various embodiments is defined only by the appended claims, along with the full range of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

Claims

A computer-implemented method for approving and tracking ride hailing, comprising:

obtaining information of a planned transportation submitted through an applicant account, the information comprising at least one of: a planned time period, a planned origin, a planned destination, a budget, or a planned number of rides in the planned time period;

in response to receiving an approval for the planned transportation from one or more approving computing devices, enabling the applicant account to order one or more rides for a real transportation, the approval comprising at least one condition of: an approved time period, an approved origin, an approved destination, an approved budget, or an approved number of rides in the approved time period;

tracking information of an applicant computing device associated with the applicant account during the real transportation to determine at least one of: if a starting time of the ride is within the approved time period, an ending time of the ride is within the approved time period, an origin of the ride is within a first threshold distance from the approved origin, a destination of the ride is within a second threshold distance from the approved destination, a cost of the ride is within the approved budget, or a number of rides for the ride is within the approved number of rides; and

in response to any of the determinations not being satisfied, transmitting the tracked information to the one or more approving computing devices for auditing the approval.
The method of claim 1, wherein tracking the information of the applicant computing device associated with the applicant account during the real transportation comprises:

obtaining a Global Positioning System (GPS) position of the applicant computing device associated with the applicant account corresponding to a pick-up location as the origin of the ride.
The method of claim 1, wherein tracking the information of the applicant computing device associated with the applicant account during the real transportation comprises:

obtaining a GPS position of the applicant computing device associated with the applicant account corresponding to a drop-off location as the destination of the ride.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to determining that the applicant computing device is ordering a current ride for the real transportation and determining at least one of: a current time is not within the approved time period, a current location of the applicant computing device is not within the first threshold distance from the approved origin, or a number of past rides in the approved time period for the real transportation is not within the approved number of rides, disabling the applicant computing device to order the current ride through the applicant account.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to any of the determinations not being satisfied, obtaining through the applicant account an explanation for mismatch and transmitting the explanation with the tracked information to the one or more approving computing devices for auditing the approval.
The method of claim 1, wherein:

the one or more approving computing devices comprise a first approving computing device and a second approving computing device; and

receiving the approval for the planned transportation from one or more approving computing devices comprises:

receiving a first approval from the first approving computing device;

forwarding the planned transportation to the second approving computing device; and

receiving a second approval from the second approving computing device.
The method of claim 1, wherein:

the applicant account is used by an applicant associated with an entity;

the approving computing device is used by an officer of the entity; and

the method further comprises disbursing the real transportation’s cost from the entity’s fund.
The method of claim 1, before obtaining the information of the planned transportation submitted through the applicant account, further comprising:

obtaining, from a configuration computing device, a threshold as an upper limit for the budget, an area definition as a geographic boundary for the planned transportation, and information of one or more officers for determining one or more officer accounts, wherein the approving computing devices are respectively associated with the officer accounts.
A system for approving and tracking ride hailing, comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform a method, the method comprising:

obtaining information of a planned transportation submitted through an applicant account, the information comprising at least one of: a planned time period, a planned origin, a planned destination, a budget, or a planned number of rides in the planned time period;

in response to receiving an approval for the planned transportation from one or more approving computing devices, enabling the applicant account to order one or more rides for a real transportation, the approval comprising at least one condition of: an approved time period, an approved origin, an approved destination, an approved budget, or an approved number of rides in the approved time period;

tracking information of an applicant computing device associated with the applicant account during the real transportation to determine at least one of: if a starting time of the ride is within the approved time period, an ending time of the ride is within the approved time period, an origin of the ride is within a first threshold distance from the approved origin, a destination of the ride is within a second threshold distance from the approved destination, a cost of the ride is within the approved budget, or a number of rides for the ride is within the approved number of rides; and

in response to any of the determinations not being satisfied, transmitting the tracked information to the one or more approving computing devices for auditing the approval.
The system of claim 9, wherein tracking the information of the applicant computing device associated with the applicant account during the real transportation comprises:

obtaining a Global Positioning System (GPS) position of the applicant computing device associated with the applicant account corresponding to a pick-up location as the origin of the ride.
The system of claim 9, wherein tracking the information of the applicant computing device associated with the applicant account during the real transportation comprises:

obtaining a GPS position of the applicant computing device associated with the applicant account corresponding to a drop-off location as the destination of the ride.
The system of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises:

in response to determining that the applicant computing device is ordering a current ride for the real transportation and determining at least one of: a current time is not within the approved time period, a current location of the applicant computing device is not within the first threshold distance from the approved origin, or a number of past rides in the approved time period for the real transportation is not within the approved number of rides, disabling the applicant computing device to order the current ride through the applicant account.
The system of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises:

in response to any of the determinations not being satisfied, obtaining through the applicant account an explanation for mismatch and transmitting the explanation with the tracked information to the one or more approving computing devices for auditing the approval.
The system of claim 9, wherein:

the one or more approving computing devices comprise a first approving computing device and a second approving computing device; and

receiving the approval for the planned transportation from one or more approving computing devices comprises:

receiving a first approval from the first approving computing device;

forwarding the planned transportation to the second approving computing device; and

receiving a second approval from the second approving computing device.
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method for approving and tracking ride hailing, the method comprising:

obtaining information of a planned transportation submitted through an applicant account, the information comprising at least one of: a planned time period, a planned origin, a planned destination, a budget, or a planned number of rides in the planned time period;

in response to receiving an approval for the planned transportation from one or more approving computing devices, enabling the applicant account to order one or more rides for a real transportation, the approval comprising at least one condition of: an approved time period, an approved origin, an approved destination, an approved budget, or an approved number of rides in the approved time period;

tracking information of an applicant computing device associated with the applicant account during the real transportation to determine at least one of: if a starting time of the ride is within the approved time period, an ending time of the ride is within the approved time period, an origin of the ride is within a first threshold distance from the approved origin, a destination of the ride is within a second threshold distance from the approved destination, a cost of the ride is within the approved budget, or a number of rides for the ride is within the approved number of rides; and

in response to any of the determinations not being satisfied, transmitting the tracked information to the one or more approving computing devices for auditing the approval.
The storage medium of claim 15, wherein tracking the information of the applicant computing device associated with the applicant account during the real transportation comprises:

obtaining a Global Positioning System (GPS) position of the applicant computing device associated with the applicant account corresponding to a pick-up location as the origin of the ride.
The storage medium of claim 15, wherein tracking the information of the applicant computing device associated with the applicant account during the real transportation comprises:

obtaining a GPS position of the applicant computing device associated with the applicant account corresponding to a drop-off location as the destination of the ride.
The storage medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

in response to determining that the applicant computing device is ordering a current ride for the real transportation and determining at least one of: a current time is not within the approved time period, a current location of the applicant computing device is not within the first threshold distance from the approved origin, or a number of past rides in the approved time period for the real transportation is not within the approved number of rides, disabling the applicant computing device to order the current ride through the applicant account.
The storage medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

in response to any of the determinations not being satisfied, obtaining through the applicant account an explanation for mismatch and transmitting the explanation with the tracked information to the one or more approving computing devices for auditing the approval.
The storage medium of claim 15, wherein:

the one or more approving computing devices comprise a first approving computing device and a second approving computing device; and

receiving the approval for the planned transportation from one or more approving computing devices comprises:

receiving a first approval from the first approving computing device;

forwarding the planned transportation to the second approving computing device; and

receiving a second approval from the second approving computing device.