Rendezvous Coordination System for Visual Meeting Point Identification

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative Solutions
Generate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Providers face difficulties in finding users in crowded areas, especially when traveling in vehicles along limited pathways and users are restricted to sidewalks and crosswalks, making it challenging to coordinate a mutual meeting location.

Innovation Solution

A rendezvous coordination system that uses client devices to communicate meeting points by identifying capture points near the destination, displaying images of the environment, and allowing users to designate a meeting point on these images, which are then sent to the provider's device to assist in locating the user.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If the provider travels along limited pathways (roads) and the user travels along limited pathways (sidewalks and crosswalks), then both parties can reach the destination safely, but it becomes difficult for the provider to find the user in crowded areas

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesafe arrival at destinationVSAvoiddifficulty of finding user
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDifficulty of detecting and measuring

Solution Approach 1:

The system creates a visual copy of the destination environment by capturing images at the meeting point and displaying them on the provider's navigation interface. This allows the provider to visually identify the user's location and surrounding landmarks, effectively copying the visual information available at the destination to the provider's vehicle dashboard, thereby resolving the difficulty of finding the user along limited pathways

Inventive Principle:
Principle #26Copying

Solution Approach 2:

The system introduces an intermediary visual interface that mediates between the provider's vehicle navigation system and the user's physical location. The captured images and overlaid markers serve as an intermediary representation of the meeting point, allowing the provider to locate the user without direct visual contact, thus bridging the gap created by limited pathways and crowded environments

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Reliability

If the provider and user are in crowded areas with limited pathways, then safety is improved, but the complexity of coordinating a mutual meeting location increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesafe meeting coordinationVSAvoidcomplexity of coordinating meeting location
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system enables the user to automatically capture images of the meeting point environment using their mobile device and automatically transmit these images to the provider's navigation system. This self-service approach eliminates the need for manual coordination of meeting location details, reducing the complexity of coordinating mutual meeting locations while maintaining safety in crowded areas with limited pathways

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

Data Source

PatentEP3669143B1Meeting point indication in an image
Publication Date: 2024.04.03 UBER TECHNOLOGIES INC
  • EP3669143B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP3669143B1 patent drawingFigure 3
  • EP3669143B1 patent drawingFigure 4A

AI summary

The disclosure provides a method for communicating a meeting point to a provider traveling along a route to meet a user at a destination. Near the destination specified for the route, the user may specify a meeting point, a point at which the user will be waiting for the provider. The meeting point may be different or the same as the destination. The meeting point is then communicated to the provider to help the provider find the user, upon approach to the destination.