Warning for Frequently Traveled Trips Based on Traffic

Abstract

Some embodiments of the invention provide a novel prediction engine that (1) can formulate predictions about current or future destinations and/or routes to such destinations for a user, and (2) can relay information to the user about these predictions. In some embodiments, this engine includes a machine-learning engine that facilitates the formulation of predicted future destinations and/or future routes to destinations based on stored, user-specific data. The user-specific data is different in different embodiments. In some embodiments, the stored, user-specific data includes data about any combination of the following: (1) previous destinations traveled to by the user, (2) previous routes taken by the user, (3) locations of calendared events in the user’s calendar, (4) locations of events for which the user has electronic tickets, and (5) addresses parsed from recent e-mails and/or messages sent to the user. In some embodiments, the prediction engine only relies on user-specific data stored on the device on which this engine executes. Alternatively, in other embodiments, it relies only on user-specific data stored outside of the device by external devices/servers. In still other embodiments, the prediction engine relies on user-specific data stored both by the device and by other devices/servers.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computing device, comprising:
 one or more hardware processors; and   a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by the one or more hardware processors, causes performance of operations comprising:
 calculating a confidence level that the computing device will arrive at a particular predicted destination of a plurality of predicted destinations by a desired arrival time based on a current location of the computing device; 
 based on the confidence level: selecting a notification type, of a plurality of notification types, for presenting a notification corresponding to the particular predicted destination,
 wherein a first notification type of the plurality of notification types comprises a time to depart in order to arrive at the particular predicted destination before the desired arrival time, 
 wherein a second notification type of the plurality of notification types comprises an estimated travel time to traverse a route to the particular predicted destination without indicating the time to depart; and 
 
 presenting, for display on a display screen of the computing device, a notification of the selected notification type,
 wherein the selected notification type comprises the first notification type responsive to the confidence level exceeding a threshold value, and 
 wherein the selected notification type comprises the second notification type responsive to the confidence level for the desired arrival time not exceeding the threshold value. 
 
   
     
     
         2 . The computing device as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise: 
 identifying a plurality of routes to the plurality of predicted destinations and non-temporal data
 regarding the plurality of identified routes, 
   wherein the non-temporal data comprises traffic data that describes traffic along each of the plurality of identified routes to the plurality of predicted destinations.   
     
     
         3 . The computing device as recited in  claim 2 , wherein the operations further comprise including the non-temporal data in at least one of the first notification and the second notification. 
     
     
         4 . The computing device as recited in  claim 2 , wherein the traffic data comprises traffic incidents that occur along each of the plurality of identified routes to the plurality of predicted destinations. 
     
     
         5 . The computing device as recited in  claim 1 , wherein each of the first notification and the second notification further comprises a selectable option to view a set of alternate routes to the predicted destination. 
     
     
         6 . The computing device as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise: 
 storing a set of routes in association with each of the plurality of predicted destinations,   wherein each route in the set of routes is stored in association with a route identifier and non-temporal data regarding the set of routes,   wherein the non-temporal data comprises traffic data that describes traffic along each of the set of routes.   
     
     
         7 . The computing device as recited in  claim 6 , wherein the operations further comprise: generating the set of routes to each of the plurality of predicted destinations; and identifying the traffic data regarding the set of routes. 
     
     
         8 . The computing device as recited in  claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise: 
 identifying the plurality of predicted destinations based on addresses harvested from a set of applications of the computing device,   wherein the particular predicted destination is an address that is harvested from a particular application, and   wherein the confidence level for the desired arrival time to the particular destination is based on an identity of the particular application.   
     
     
         9 . A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by one or more hardware processors, causes performance of operations comprising: 
 calculating a confidence level that the computing device will arrive at a particular predicted destination of a plurality of predicted destinations by a desired arrival time based on a current location of the computing device;   based on the confidence level: selecting a notification type, of a plurality of notification types, for presenting a notification corresponding to the particular predicted destination, 
 wherein a first notification type of the plurality of notification types comprises a time to depart in order to arrive at the particular predicted destination before the desired arrival time, 
 wherein a second notification type of the plurality of notification types comprises an estimated travel time to traverse a route to the particular predicted destination without indicating the time to depart; and 
   presenting, for display on a display screen of the computing device, a notification of the selected notification type,
 wherein the selected notification type comprises the first notification type responsive to the confidence level exceeding a threshold value, and 
 wherein the selected notification type comprises the second notification type responsive to the confidence level for the desired arrival time not exceeding the threshold value. 
   
     
     
         10 . The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in  claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 identifying a plurality of routes to the plurality of predicted destinations and non-temporal data regarding the plurality of identified routes,   wherein the non-temporal data comprises traffic data that describes traffic along each of the plurality of identified routes to the plurality of predicted destinations.   
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in  claim 10 , wherein the operations further comprise including the non-temporal data in at least one of the first notification and the second notification. 
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in  claim 10 , wherein the traffic data comprises traffic incidents that occur along each of the plurality of identified routes to the plurality of predicted destinations. 
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in  claim 9 , wherein each of the first notification and the second notification further comprises a selectable option to view a set of alternate routes to the predicted destination. 
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in  claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 storing a set of routes in association with each of the plurality of predicted destinations,   wherein each route in the set of routes is stored in association with a route identifier and non-temporal data regarding the set of routes,   wherein the non-temporal data comprises traffic data that describes traffic along each of the set of routes.   
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in  claim 14 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 generating the set of routes to each of the plurality of predicted destinations; and   identifying the traffic data regarding the set of routes.   
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory computer readable medium as recited in  claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 identifying the plurality of predicted destinations based on addresses harvested from a set of applications of the computing device,   wherein the particular predicted destination is an address that is harvested from a particular application, and   wherein the confidence level for the desired arrival time to the particular destination is based on an identity of the particular application.   
     
     
         17 . A method comprising:
 calculating a confidence level that a computing device will arrive at a particular predicted destination of a plurality of predicted destinations by a desired arrival time based on a current location of the computing device;   based on the confidence level: selecting a notification type, of a plurality of notification types, for presenting a notification corresponding to the particular predicted destination, 
 wherein a first notification type of the plurality of notification types comprises a time to depart in order to arrive at the particular predicted destination before the desired arrival time, 
 wherein a second notification type of the plurality of notification types comprises an estimated travel time to traverse a route to the particular predicted destination without indicating the time to depart; and 
   presenting, for display on a display screen of the computing device, a notification of the selected notification type,
 wherein the selected notification type comprises the first notification type responsive to the confidence level exceeding a threshold value, and 
 wherein the selected notification type comprises the second notification type responsive to the confidence level for the desired arrival time not exceeding the threshold value. 
   
     
     
         18 . The method as recited in  claim 17 , further comprising:
 identifying a plurality of routes to the plurality of predicted destinations and non-temporal data regarding the plurality of identified routes,   wherein the non-temporal data comprises traffic data that describes traffic along each of the plurality of identified routes to the plurality of predicted destinations.   
     
     
         19 . The method as recited in  claim 17 , further comprising:
 storing a set of routes in association with each of the plurality of predicted destinations, wherein each route in the set of routes is stored in association with a route identifier and non-temporal data regarding the set of routes,   wherein the non-temporal data comprises traffic data that describes traffic along each of the set of routes.   
     
     
         20 . The method as recited in  claim 17 , further comprising identifying the plurality of predicted destinations based on addresses harvested from a set of applications of the computing device, wherein the particular predicted destination is an address that is harvested from a particular application, and wherein the confidence level for the desired arrival time to the particular destination is based on an identity of the particular application.