Location-Aware Selection of Public Transportation

Abstract

A mobile device such as a mobile phone, smart phone, personal music player, handheld game device and the like that is configured to be location-aware through GPS (Global Positioning System), cell tower positioning, or other means of determining location, is provided with a public transportation selector functionality that interfaces with one or more on-line public transportation schedule services. The public transportation selector passes the location of a user of the mobile device, the user's destination, and the targeted arrival time to the schedule services which responsively return information including, for example, station/stop location information, route identifier, departure and arrival times, and fare costs. The public transportation selector aggregates schedule information provided by the services for presentation to the user through a user interface on the mobile device. The user can then select the desired public transportation option and be provided with directions to the appropriate station or stop.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-readable medium not comprising a propagated data signal containing instructions which, when executed by one or more processors on a mobile device associated with a user, implement a transportation application for providing public transportation options to the user, the transportation application comprising:
 a service adapter, the service adapter configured to:
 interface with one or more of a plurality of schedule services; 
 receive public transportation information from the one or more respective schedule services of the plurality of schedule services in regard to a destination; and 
 store the received public transportation information from the one or more respective schedule services in a route database; 
   a public transportation selector, the public transportation selector configured to provide a set of transportation options to the user in response to a query regarding transportation from a start location to a destination location with a target time of arrival at the destination location, wherein the public transportation selector determines the set of transportation options according to the received public transportation information; and   a user interface, the user interface configured to present the set of transportation options provided by the public transportation selector to the user.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the transportation application further comprises a location module that interfaces with location-aware functionality disposed in the mobile device, the location module identifying the present location of the mobile phone to the public transportation selector. 
     
     
         3 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 2 , wherein the transportation application further comprises a scheduling module, the scheduling module configured to interface with scheduling data having applicability to the user, the scheduling data including at least one of an appointment, a calendar, a contact, or a task. 
     
     
         4 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 3 , wherein the scheduling module is further configured to generate the query according to the scheduling data having applicability to the user. 
     
     
         5 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 3 , wherein the transportation application further comprises a user profile configured for storing profile data that is collected about the user. 
     
     
         6 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 5 , wherein at least one of the route database, scheduling module, or user profile is used by the public transportation selector for filtering transportation information from a schedule service of the plurality of schedule services. 
     
     
         7 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the location functionality is one of a global positioning system (GPS) or a cell tower positioning functionality. 
     
     
         8 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 1 , wherein the transportation application further comprises a payment module, the payment module being configured to facilitate an electronic payment of a fare associated with a public transportation route. 
     
     
         9 . The computer-readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein the public transportation selector applies one or more heuristics to the information from the plurality of schedule services to optimize the public transportation options presented to the user through the user interface. 
     
     
         10 . A method, configured for execution on a mobile device, for identifying and presenting public transportation information to a user associated with the mobile device, the method comprising the steps of:
 obtaining public transportation information of one or more types of public transportation that are available for use within a given geographic region   storing the public transportation information in a route database;   receiving a query, the query requesting route information for navigating to a target destination to arrive at a target arrival time at the target destination;   identifying one or more transportation options of the public transportation information from the route database, the one or more transportation options for navigation to the target destination to arrive at the target arrival time at the target destination; and   presenting the one or more transportation options to the user via the mobile device.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  further comprising:
 receiving a selection of a first transportation option of the one or more transportation options for navigation to the target destination to arrive at the target arrival time at the target destination; 
 transacting a purchase between a public transportation provider associated with the first transportation option and the user associated with the mobile device. 
 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein each of the one or more transportation options for navigation to the target destination to arrive at the target arrival time at the target destination include at least one public transportation service. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the least one public transportation service comprise one of a bus, a rail, a light rail, a subway, a trolley, a streetcar, a tram, a ferry, or a water taxi. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the public transportation information is obtained by the mobile device from a plurality of schedule services via a wireless data network. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein identifying one or more transportation options of the public transportation information from the route database comprises identifying one or more transportation options of the public transportation information from the route database and a source information, the one or more transportation options for navigation to the target destination from the source location to arrive at the target arrival time at the target destination. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15  further comprising obtaining a present location information of the mobile device from a location-aware functionality disposed in the mobile device, wherein the present location is the source location. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising receiving the source location from the user associated with the mobile device. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 10  further comprising obtaining scheduling data having applicability to the user of the mobile device, the scheduling data including at least one of an appointment, a calendar, a contact, or a task. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the query is automatically generated according to the scheduling data having applicability to the user. 
     
     
         20 . A mobile device associated with a user and configured to provide transportation information to the user, the mobile device comprising:
 a location module disposed in the mobile device for determining location information of the mobile device;   a route database, the route database configured to store public transportation information from one or more schedule services; and   a transportation application, the transportation application comprising:
 one or more of service adapters, wherein each of the one or more service adapters interfaces over a network with at least one schedule service of a plurality of schedule services to receive public transportation information from the at least one schedule service of the plurality of schedule services, and stores the public transportation information in the route database; and 
 a public transportation selector, wherein the public transportation selector provides transportation options for navigating to a target destination to arrive at a target time according to the public transportation information in the route database in response to a query identifying the target destination and the target time.