Virtual towing
First Claim
1. A method of multi-point virtual towing comprising:
- receiving a request for a multi-point virtual tow of a trailer vehicle from a user, the request including a requested tow path having a requested departure location, a requested departure time, a requested destination location, and a requested destination arrival time;
receiving a first response to the request corresponding to a first prospective tractor vehicle, the first response including first proposed virtual tow parameters;
receiving a second response to the request corresponding to a second prospective tractor vehicle, the second response including second proposed virtual tow parameters; and
determining a multi-point virtual tow route schedule for the multi-point virtual tow from the first and second proposed virtual tow parameters associated with the first prospective tractor vehicle and the second prospective tractor vehicle,wherein the multi-point virtual tow route schedule includes a route origin, a route destination, a first tow segment, and second tow segment,wherein the first tow segment corresponds to a segment where the trailer vehicle follows the first prospective tractor vehicle after acceptance of the first response based on wirelessly exchanged information between the trailer vehicle and the prospective tractor vehicle, andwherein the second tow segment corresponds to a segment where the trailer vehicle follows the second prospective tractor vehicle after acceptance of the second response based on wirelessly exchanged information between the trailer vehicle and the second prospective tractor vehicle.wherein each of the first tow segment and the second tow segment are associated with a link up location a link up location distance range, a link up timeframe, a drop off location, a drop off location distance range, and a drop off timeframe, respectively,wherein the link up location distance range includes a predefined radius around the link up location in which the first or second prospective tractor vehicles will travel to link with the trailer vehicle and the drop off location distance range includes a predefined radius around the drop off location in which the first or second prospective tractor vehicles will travel to drop off the trailer vehicle.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method of multipoint virtual towing of a trailer vehicle by a plurality of different tractor vehicles is provided. A multi-point virtual tow route schedule is determined which segments a requested trailer tow path into tow segments and distributes the segments among different tractor vehicles optimally achieve the purpose of towing the trailer vehicle from an origin to a destination. A best multi-point virtual tow route schedule is selected from candidate multi-point virtual tow route schedules generated from proposed virtual tow parameters corresponding to prospective tractor vehicles offering tow services. The selected multi-point virtual tow route schedule includes a route origin, a route destination, and a plurality of tow segments each corresponding to an accepted tractor vehicle, a link up location, link up location distance range, a link up timeframe, a drop off location, a drop off location distance range, and a drop off timeframe.
16 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of multi-point virtual towing comprising:
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receiving a request for a multi-point virtual tow of a trailer vehicle from a user, the request including a requested tow path having a requested departure location, a requested departure time, a requested destination location, and a requested destination arrival time; receiving a first response to the request corresponding to a first prospective tractor vehicle, the first response including first proposed virtual tow parameters; receiving a second response to the request corresponding to a second prospective tractor vehicle, the second response including second proposed virtual tow parameters; and determining a multi-point virtual tow route schedule for the multi-point virtual tow from the first and second proposed virtual tow parameters associated with the first prospective tractor vehicle and the second prospective tractor vehicle, wherein the multi-point virtual tow route schedule includes a route origin, a route destination, a first tow segment, and second tow segment, wherein the first tow segment corresponds to a segment where the trailer vehicle follows the first prospective tractor vehicle after acceptance of the first response based on wirelessly exchanged information between the trailer vehicle and the prospective tractor vehicle, and wherein the second tow segment corresponds to a segment where the trailer vehicle follows the second prospective tractor vehicle after acceptance of the second response based on wirelessly exchanged information between the trailer vehicle and the second prospective tractor vehicle. wherein each of the first tow segment and the second tow segment are associated with a link up location a link up location distance range, a link up timeframe, a drop off location, a drop off location distance range, and a drop off timeframe, respectively, wherein the link up location distance range includes a predefined radius around the link up location in which the first or second prospective tractor vehicles will travel to link with the trailer vehicle and the drop off location distance range includes a predefined radius around the drop off location in which the first or second prospective tractor vehicles will travel to drop off the trailer vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of virtual towing of a trailer vehicle by a first tractor vehicle and a second tractor vehicle, comprising:
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submitting a user request for a multi-point virtual tow of the trailer vehicle, the request including a requested tow path having a requested departure location, a requested departure time, a requested destination location, and a requested destination arrival time; and receiving a multi-point virtual tow route schedule including a route origin, a route destination, a first tow segment, and a second tow segment wherein each of the first tow segment and the second two segment has a first accepted tractor vehicle and second accpeted tractor vehicle, respectively, a link up location, a link up location distance range, a link up timeframe, a drop off location, a drop off location distance range, and a drop off time frame, wherein the link up location distance range for the associated first or second accepted tractor vehicle includes a predefined radius around the link up location in which the corresponding first or second tractor vehicle will travel to link with the trailer vehicle and the drop off location distance range includes a predefined radius around the drop off location in which the corresponding first or second tractor vehicle will travel to drop off the trailer vehicle, wherein each of the first tow segment and the second two segment of the multi-point virtual tow is associated with the trailer vehicle following the corresponding first or second accepted tractor vehicle based on wirelessly exchanged information. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16)
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17. A system for multi-point virtual towing of a trailer vehicle associated with a user by a first tractor vehicle and a second tractor vehicle over respective first and second tow segments, the system comprising:
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at least one server having a route generation module, wherein the route generation module generates one or more candidate multi-point virtual tow route schedules using information received from the trailer vehicle, the first tractor vehicle, and the second tractor vehicle, a route selection module which uses a route selection algorithm to score and rank the one or more candidate multi-point virtual tow route schedules received from the route generation module to determine one or more best multi-point virtual tow route schedules, and an arbitration module which confirms selection with the user of a best multi-point virtual tow route schedule having a first tow segment and a second tow segment and communicates acceptance notices having respective first and second accepted tow routes segment schedules to recipients associated with accepted tractor vehicle selected for the best multipoint virtual tow route schedule, wherein each of the first tow segment and the second tow segment corresponds to a corresponding first and second accepted tractor vehicle, each associated with a link up location, a link up location distance range, a link up time frame, a drop off location, a drop off location distance range, and a drop off time frame, wherein the link up location distance range includes a predefined radius around the link up location in which at least on tractor vehicle will travel to link with the trailer vehicle and the drop off location distance range includes a predefined radius around the drop off location in which the at least one tractor vehicle will travel to drop off the trailer vehicle, wherein each of the first tow segment and the second tow segment of the multi-point virtual tow is associated with the trailer vehicle following the corresponding first or second accepted tractor vehicles based on wirelessly exchanged information, and wherein the route selection module scores and ranks the one or more candidate multi-point virtual tow route schedules based on a number of tractor vehicles to be used. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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Specification