Patent Application
20170024369
The present disclosure relates to systems and methods that allow a user to tag events and annotate the events at a future time.
In many areas, such as densely populated cities with heavy traffic, alternative modes of transportation are popular. For example, bikes and e-bikes (electric bicycles) are commonly used in densely populated areas. Experienced users of bikes, e-bikes, and other modes of transportation may select a route based on prior knowledge of the roads (e.g., road conditions or current road construction), expected car traffic, number of pedestrians, and road safety (e.g., dangerous intersections or locations of potential accidents).
Users of bikes, e-bikes, and other modes of transportation may observe multiple events when riding or driving on various roads. Although users may remember some of the events, they may have difficulty remembering the exact location of each event and the time that the event occurred. Further, most users apply knowledge of their own past events when planning routes in the future.
Non-limiting and non-exhaustive embodiments of the present disclosure are described with reference to the following figures, wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the various figures unless otherwise specified.
In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part thereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific exemplary embodiments in which the disclosure may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the concepts disclosed herein, and it is to be understood that modifications to the various disclosed embodiments may be made, and other embodiments may be utilized, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.
Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “one example,” or “an example” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment or example is included in at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in one embodiment,” “in an embodiment,” “one example,” or “an example” in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the particular features, structures, databases, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable combinations and/or sub-combinations in one or more embodiments or examples. In addition, it should be appreciated that the figures provided herewith are for explanation purposes to persons ordinarily skilled in the art and that the drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale.
Embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure may be embodied as an apparatus, method, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present disclosure may take the form of an entirely hardware-comprised embodiment, an entirely software-comprised embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.), or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module,” or “system.” Furthermore, embodiments of the present disclosure may take the form of a computer program product embodied in any tangible medium of expression having computer-usable program code embodied in the medium.
Any combination of one or more computer-usable or computer-readable media may be utilized. For example, a computer-readable medium may include one or more of a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM) device, a read-only memory (ROM) device, an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory) device, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CDROM), an optical storage device, and a magnetic storage device. Computer program code for carrying out operations of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. Such code may be compiled from source code to computer-readable assembly language or machine code suitable for the device or computer on which the code will be executed.
The flow diagrams and block diagrams in the attached figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods, and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. In this regard, each block in the flow diagrams or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flow diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flow diagrams, may be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions. These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable medium that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function/act specified in the flow diagram and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The event tagging systems and methods discussed herein allows users to tag certain events quickly while riding a bike or using another mode of transportation. The terms “bike” and “bicycle” are used interchangeably herein. The user can easily activate a button, which tags an event (that is observed by the user), without interrupting their ride or distracting their focus from the current driving situation. Particular embodiments provide a button that can be activated by a user in response to an event, such as bad road conditions, street lighting problems, potential accidents, and other potentially dangerous situations for bike riders, runners, pedestrians, and the like. An event tagging manager detects user-activation of the button and determines a geographic location of the button as well as the date and time the button was activated. The geographic location, date, and time information is stored as an event record. At a later time, a computing device accesses the event record and allows the user to annotate the event (e.g., by adding a textual description of the event and/or editing an image associated with the event).
As used herein, “events” refer to any activity, condition or situation identified by a user. Example events include, but are not limited to, road conditions (e.g., potholes, obstacles, road construction, poor street lighting, bad bike lane markings (or lack of bike lane markings), heavy vehicle traffic, heavy pedestrian traffic, dangerous intersections, accidents, potential accidents, and the like.
Button 104 is positioned such that the rider of bicycle 102 can easily activate the button without diverting their attention from the road and potential obstacles in their riding path. In some embodiments, a particular bicycle 102 may contain multiple buttons 104 (e.g., one mounted on the left side of the handlebar and a second button mounted on the right side of the handlebar). The multiple buttons 104 may be redundant (i.e., each button tags events in the same manner) or may tag different types of events. For example, a first button 104 mounted on the left side of the handlebar may tag road condition events (e.g., potholes, poor street lighting or bad bike lane markings) and a second button 104 mounted on the right side of the handlebar may tag traffic/safety events (e.g., dangerous intersections, heavy pedestrian traffic or potential accidents).
Button 104 communicates with an event tagging manager 106 via a wired or a wireless communication link. In some embodiments, event tagging manager 106 is mounted to bicycle 102 as a separate device or incorporated into a housing that also contains button 104. In other embodiments, event tagging manager 106 is located near button 104 such that event tagging manager 106 can communicate wirelessly with button 104. For example, event tagging manager 106 may be carried by the user in a pocket, backpack, purse, or the like. In specific implementations, event tagging manager 106 is invoked by a mobile device mounted to bicycle 102 or located near bicycle 102. In particular embodiments, button 104 communicates wirelessly with event tagging manager 106 using the Bluetooth® wireless communication system. In alternate embodiments, any communication system is used to communicate signals between button 104 and event tagging manager 106.
A GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver 108 is coupled to event tagging manager 106 via a wired or wireless communication link. Upon detection of a user-activation of button 104, event tagging manager 106 determines the current geographic location based on information received from GPS receiver 108. The geographic location data from GPS receiver 108 is used to tag the event's location for future reference when the user annotates the tagged event. Additionally, event tagging manager 106 tags the event with the date and time that button 104 was activated. In some implementations, event tagging manager 106 may also tag the event with a bike identifier that identifies the particular bike on which the activated button 104 is mounted. Although GPS receiver 108 is shown as a separate component, in some embodiments, GPS receiver 108 is incorporated into event tagging manager 106.
An annotation manager 110 is coupled to event tagging manager 106 and allows a user to add annotations to tagged events at a later time. Thus, while riding bicycle 102, the user activates button 104 to tag a particular event. Then, at a later time, the user is reminded of the tagged events and given an opportunity to add comments, annotate images, and provide other details regarding the event. As discussed herein, the annotated event information can be shared with one or more other users in, for example, a social community. One or more user input devices 112 are coupled to annotation manager 110 and allow the user to enter text, images, and other annotation information. Example user input devices 112 include keyboards, keypads, pointing devices, and the like. In particular embodiments, annotation manager 110 and user input devices 112 are associated with a separate computing device capable of communicating with event tagging manager 106. The computing device may be any type of device including, for example, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a tablet computer, a mobile computing device, and the like. The user annotation process is discussed in greater detail below.
Additionally, event tagging manager 106 includes a date/time module 208 that maintains (or determines) a current date and time used to tag events identified by a user. A GPS decoding module 210 decodes data received from GPS receiver 108 to identify a specific geographic location associated with a tagged event. As mentioned above, in alternate embodiments, GPS receiver 108 may be integrated into event tagging manager 106.
Event tagging manager 106 also includes a an event record manager 212, which creates and accesses event records associated with a user-identified event. An example event record includes information related to a specific event, such as date, time, geographic location, and the like. Event record manager 212 generates event records based on received information, and stores the event records in an event record storage 214. Additionally, event record manager 212 can access event records from storage 214 as part of the user annotation process. As discussed herein, the event records may be updated after receiving one or more user annotations.
An annotation manager 312 is coupled to event tagging manager 306 and allows a user to annotate one or more events. One or more user input devices 314 are used to provide annotations to the events. Although annotation manager 312 and user input devices 314 are shown as separate components, in alternate embodiments, annotation manager 312 and/or user input devices 314 may be incorporated into mobile device 304. For example, annotation manager 312 may be invoked by mobile device 304 and at least one of the user input devices 314 is a touchscreen associated with mobile device 304.
Event server 604 also communicates with a social community 612 (also referred to as a social platform) that includes any number of members 614. In a particular implementation, social community 612 is a community of bicycle enthusiasts. Members 614 can access tagged event data using a computing device 616 (e.g., a mobile computing device) coupled to communicate with event server 604 via data communication network 608. For example, when a member 614 is planning a bicycle route, the member may consider tagged event data provided by other members to select an appropriate route. In some embodiments, event server 604 automatically notifies members 614 of new tagged event data, especially data associated with routes previously followed by the member. Members 614 of social community 612 can also communicate with one another regarding topics unrelated to event data.
Computing device 900 includes one or more processor(s) 902, one or more memory device(s) 904, one or more interface(s) 906, one or more mass storage device(s) 908, and one or more Input/Output (I/O) device(s) 910, all of which are coupled to a bus 912. Processor(s) 902 include one or more processors or controllers that execute instructions stored in memory device(s) 904 and/or mass storage device(s) 908. Processor(s) 902 may also include various types of computer-readable media, such as cache memory.
Memory device(s) 904 include various computer-readable media, such as volatile memory (e.g., random access memory (RAM)) and/or nonvolatile memory (e.g., read-only memory (ROM)). Memory device(s) 904 may also include rewritable ROM, such as Flash memory.
Mass storage device(s) 908 include various computer readable media, such as magnetic tapes, magnetic disks, optical disks, solid state memory (e.g., Flash memory), and so forth. Various drives may also be included in mass storage device(s) 908 to enable reading from and/or writing to the various computer readable media. Mass storage device(s) 908 include removable media and/or non-removable media.
I/O device(s) 910 include various devices that allow data and/or other information to be input to or retrieved from computing device 900. Example I/O device(s) 910 include cursor control devices, keyboards, keypads, microphones, monitors or other display devices, speakers, printers, network interface cards, modems, lenses, CCDs or other image capture devices, and the like.
Interface(s) 906 include various interfaces that allow computing device 900 to interact with other systems, devices, or computing environments. Example interface(s) 906 include any number of different network interfaces, such as interfaces to local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), wireless networks, and the Internet.
Bus 912 allows processor(s) 902, memory device(s) 904, interface(s) 906, mass storage device(s) 908, and I/O device(s) 910 to communicate with one another, as well as other devices or components coupled to bus 912. Bus 912 represents one or more of several types of bus structures, such as a system bus, PCI bus, IEEE 1394 bus, USB bus, and so forth.
For purposes of illustration, programs and other executable program components are shown herein as discrete blocks, although it is understood that such programs and components may reside at various times in different storage components of computing device 900, and are executed by processor(s) 902. Alternatively, the systems and procedures described herein can be implemented in hardware, or a combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. For example, one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) can be programmed to carry out one or more of the systems and procedures described herein.
Although the present disclosure is described in terms of certain preferred embodiments, other embodiments will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, given the benefit of this disclosure, including embodiments that do not provide all of the benefits and features set forth herein, which are also within the scope of this disclosure. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.
