Patent ID: 9576309
Date: 2017-02-21
CPC Classifications: B60L,G06Q,H01M,Y02E,Y02T,Y04S

Claim:
1. A method comprising: receiving, on a server, from a computing device, a request to receive a battery charge for a battery-powered device of a user, the request comprising one or more criteria and a reward that is chosen by the user to be provided in exchange for at least the user receiving the battery charge, the one or more criteria including an amount of requested battery charge and an amount of time to receive the amount of requested battery charge, the amount of time representing a maximum amount of time that the user is willing to wait for the requested battery charge; storing, on the server, a plurality of sets of one or more donor preferences that are each previously provided by a corresponding potential donor, each set of one or more donor preferences including a charging method and a reward that the corresponding potential donor deems acceptable in exchange for providing a battery charge, wherein the charging method includes one or more of device-to-device charging, alternating current charging, direct current charging, and USB charging; identifying, by the server, one or more of the potential donors as target donors, comprising: comparing the criteria included in the request with each of at least some of the sets of one or more donor preferences; for each of the at least some of the sets of one or more donor preferences, determining whether the one or more donor preferences match the criteria included in the request; comparing the reward included in the request with each of the at least some of the sets of one or more donor preferences; for each of the at least some of the sets of one or more donor preferences, determining whether the reward that the corresponding potential donor deems acceptable in exchange for providing a battery charge matches the reward included in the request; for each of the at least some of the sets of one or more donor preferences, determining whether the charging method is capable of providing the amount of requested battery charge within the amount of time provided in the request, including: receiving, from a database, a voltage value and a current value to be employed by the charging method; calculating, according to a charging algorithm that considers the voltage value and the current value to be employed by the charging method, an estimated amount of time required for the battery-powered device to receive the amount of requested battery charge via the charging method; and comparing the amount of time provided in the request with the estimated amount of time required for the battery-powered device to receive the amount of requested battery charge; and identifying a potential donor as a target donor if the reward that the potential donor deems acceptable matches the reward included in the request and the charging method is determined to be capable of providing the amount of requested battery charge within the amount of time provided in the request; maintaining, by the server, a continuous connection with a GPS device of the computing device for continuously transmitting information related to the computing device, wherein the information includes a geographic location of the computing device and an amount of charge of the battery-powered device; continuously updating potential donors that can be identified as target donors based on the amount of charge of the battery-powered device, the geographic location of the computing device, and the locations of the potential donors; and sending, from the server, information related to a location of the target donor to the computing device, wherein the location of the target donor is represented as an icon on a map view displayed on a graphical user interface of the computing device, and includes a distance indicator that indicates the geographic proximity of the target donor in relation to the computing device, wherein the icon is selectable to view additional information related to the target donor, wherein the reward included in the request is provided to the target donor after the battery-powered device receives the requested battery charge via the charging method.