Patent Document ID: 8498953
Application ID: 12750407
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A computer implemented method for allocating users as trip accompanies, the method comprising: creating a first trip prediction algorithm, the first trip prediction algorithm being operable to predict future trips of a first user and being created by evaluating information on past trips of the first user, the information on past trips of the first user being stored in a first trip history, the first trip history comprising trip data objects representing past trips of the first user, each trip data object comprising at least the starting time, starting date, starting place and the destination of the past trip; collecting, by a first processing device, input parameters, the input parameters comprising at least the current time and current date; predicting, by the first trip prediction algorithm using the collected input parameters as input, at least one first trip; for each predicted trip, calculating a prediction score, wherein the prediction score is calculated as a derivative value of an accuracy of the first trip prediction algorithm and a calculated probability value being indicative of a probability that the first user will indeed executed the predicted trip; executing, by a trip sharing service, a matching method, the matching method comparing attributes of the predicted at least one first trip with attributes of at least one second trip, the at least one second trip belonging to a second user of the trip sharing service, the at least one first trip being represented by a first potential trip data object, the second trip being represented by a second potential trip data object, the matching resulting in the determination of a matching score for each pair of compared potential trip data objects; allocating the first and the second user to each other as trip accompanies in dependence of the matching score of the first and second potential trip data object; and dynamically assigning driver and passenger roles to the users having been allocated to each other as the trip accompanies for a planned trip, wherein the assignment of the driver and passenger roles to the users depend on distribution of the driver and passenger roles in specific geographic regions.