Vehicle management system
First Claim
1. A method of managing vehicle requests at a server, the server having access to data indicative of a current location of each of a plurality of vehicles, the method comprising:
- receiving, from each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles, corresponding real time indications of current locations of that vehicle that were acquired using one or more location sensing systems associated with that vehicle;
receiving a plurality of vehicle requests at a server;
generating, by the server, one or more clusters and allocating each vehicle request to a given cluster, wherein said allocating a vehicle request to a given cluster comprises determining whether a vehicle request relates to an existing cluster, and, based on the determination, (i) allocating the vehicle request to an existing cluster or (ii) using the vehicle request to generate a new cluster and allocating the vehicle request to the new cluster;
associating, with each cluster of the one or more clusters, a respective set of available vehicles that are suitable for fulfilling the vehicle requests allocated to the cluster, the associating comprising matching a vehicle with a given cluster based at least in part on a current position of the vehicle being within a specified distance of one or more locations that are determined for the given cluster;
matching, by the server, a vehicle from among the respective set of available vehicles to each vehicle request within the one or more clusters, the matching comprising;
computing a match value for each pairing of the vehicle requests and the vehicles in the respective set of available vehicles; and
determining a selected set of pairings of vehicle requests and vehicles from among the respective set of available vehicles having a highest average match value, the selected set of pairings including the match of a vehicle from among the respective set of available vehicles to each vehicle request; and
offering each vehicle request to the vehicle to which the vehicle request is matched.
8 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A vehicle request management system having a server (10) arranged to communicate with a plurality of vehicle requesting devices (12) and a plurality of vehicles (14), each being equipped with a device (200) having route planning and navigation functionality. Upon receipt of a vehicle request, the server allocates the request to an existing cluster of vehicle requests if it is related to the requests. If it is not related to the requests, the request is used to generate a new cluster. The relationship between new vehicle requests and those of existing clusters is assessed based on a proximity of a pick-up location associated with the new request to a pick-up location of an existing request. The relationship is assessed using a parameter that is selected based on a geographical and temporal density of vehicle requests in a region associated with the cluster. When the cluster meets a threshold in relation to age of an oldest request associated with it, or alternatively a maximum size threshold, the requests in the cluster are subjected to a matching process to match a vehicle to each request for fulfilling the request.
19 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method of managing vehicle requests at a server, the server having access to data indicative of a current location of each of a plurality of vehicles, the method comprising:
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receiving, from each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles, corresponding real time indications of current locations of that vehicle that were acquired using one or more location sensing systems associated with that vehicle; receiving a plurality of vehicle requests at a server; generating, by the server, one or more clusters and allocating each vehicle request to a given cluster, wherein said allocating a vehicle request to a given cluster comprises determining whether a vehicle request relates to an existing cluster, and, based on the determination, (i) allocating the vehicle request to an existing cluster or (ii) using the vehicle request to generate a new cluster and allocating the vehicle request to the new cluster; associating, with each cluster of the one or more clusters, a respective set of available vehicles that are suitable for fulfilling the vehicle requests allocated to the cluster, the associating comprising matching a vehicle with a given cluster based at least in part on a current position of the vehicle being within a specified distance of one or more locations that are determined for the given cluster; matching, by the server, a vehicle from among the respective set of available vehicles to each vehicle request within the one or more clusters, the matching comprising; computing a match value for each pairing of the vehicle requests and the vehicles in the respective set of available vehicles; and determining a selected set of pairings of vehicle requests and vehicles from among the respective set of available vehicles having a highest average match value, the selected set of pairings including the match of a vehicle from among the respective set of available vehicles to each vehicle request; and offering each vehicle request to the vehicle to which the vehicle request is matched. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer readable instructions which, when executed on a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method of managing vehicle requests at a server, the server having access to data indicative of a current location of each of a plurality of vehicles, the method comprising:
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receive, from each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles, corresponding real time indications of current locations of that vehicle that were acquired using one or more location sensing systems associated with that vehicle; receiving a plurality of vehicle requests; generating one or more clusters and allocating each vehicle request to a given cluster, wherein said allocating a vehicle request to a given cluster comprises determining whether a vehicle request relates to an existing cluster, and, based on the determination, (i) allocating the vehicle request to an existing cluster or (ii) using the vehicle request to generate a new cluster and allocating the vehicle request to the new cluster; associating, with each cluster of the one or more clusters, a respective set of available vehicles that are suitable for fulfilling the vehicle requests allocated to the cluster, the associating comprising matching a vehicle with a given cluster based at least in part on a current position of the vehicle being within a specified distance of one or more locations that are determined for the given cluster; matching, by the server, a vehicle from among the respective set of available vehicles to each vehicle request within the one or more clusters, the matching comprising; computing a match value for each pairing of the vehicle requests and the vehicles in the respective set of available vehicles; and determining a selected set of pairings of vehicle requests and vehicles from among the respective set of available vehicles having a highest average match value, the selected set of pairings including the match of a vehicle from among the respective set of available vehicles to each vehicle request; and offering each vehicle request to the vehicle to which the vehicle request is matched.
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18. A vehicle request management system, the system comprising a server having access to data indicative of a current location of each of a plurality of vehicles, the server comprising a processor arranged to:
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receive, from each vehicle of the plurality of vehicles, corresponding real time indications of current locations of that vehicle that were acquired using one or more location sensing systems associated with that vehicle; receive a plurality of vehicle requests; generate one or more clusters and allocate each vehicle request to a given cluster among the one or more clusters, wherein said allocating a vehicle request to a given cluster comprises determining whether a vehicle request relates to an existing cluster, and, based on the determination, (i) allocating the vehicle request to an existing cluster or (ii) using the vehicle request to generate a new cluster and allocating the vehicle request to the new cluster; associate, with each cluster of the one or more clusters, a respective set of available vehicles that are suitable for fulfilling the vehicle requests allocated to the cluster, the associating comprising matching a vehicle with a given cluster based at least in part on a current position of the vehicle being within a specified distance of one or more locations that are determined for the given cluster; match a vehicle from among the respective set of available vehicles to each vehicle request within the one or more clusters, the matching comprising; computing a match value for each pairing of the vehicle requests and the vehicles in the respective set of available vehicles; and determining a selected set of pairings of vehicle requests and vehicles from among the respective set of available vehicles having a highest average match value, the selected set of pairings including the match of a vehicle from among the respective set of available vehicles to each vehicle request; and offer each vehicle request to the vehicle to which the vehicle request is matched. - View Dependent Claims (19)
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Specification