Personal travel assistance system and method for traveling through a transport hub

• US 10,692,023 B2
• Filed: 05/12/2017
• Issued: 06/23/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Anderson, Evelyn R., Bender, Michael, Childress, Rhonda L., Jan, Ea-Ee
• Primary Examiner(s): Jarrett, Scott L
• Application Number:
  US15/593,911
• Publication Number:
  US 20180330294A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,138 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3415 Dynamic re-routing, e.g. recalculating the route when the user deviates from calculated route or after detecting real-time traffic data or accidents
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings

Abstract

The present invention is a method and system to assist a person traveling through a transport hub from a current location to a destination location with a smart portable computing device which provides personal data, travel data and transport hub data. The method maps a route according to personal preferences for the person to travel through the transport hub. Continuous monitoring of values provides an alert when the personal data, travel data, transport hub data, or predetermined parameters change.

Claims

1. A method for assisting a person traveling through a transport hub, the method comprising:

collecting, by a portable smart computing device of the person, data comprising the person'"'"'s personal data, the person'"'"'s travel data pertaining to travel from the transport hub in a departure vehicle, and transport hub data, wherein the person'"'"'s travel data includes a boarding time, a departure time, a departure location, and a desired arrival time at the departure location, wherein the person'"'"'s personal data includes one or more of;

the person'"'"'s health, the person'"'"'s lifting ability, the person'"'"'s ability to pull or carry luggage, the person'"'"'s endurance, and the person'"'"'s ability to walk through the transport hub, wherein the transport hub data includes of maps and layout data of the transport hub;

determining, by the portable smart computing device, that the collected data are complete;

in response to said determining that the collected data are complete, mapping, by the portable smart computing device, a plurality of routes for the person to travel through the transport hub from a current location to the departure location, said mapping the plurality of routes comprising;

(i) receiving a first input of a plurality of specified stops within the transport hub that the person prefers to stop at during the person'"'"'s movement to the departure location, (ii) receiving a second input of a specified minimum number of minutes prior to boarding that the person prefers to arrive at a departure gate at the departure location,(iii) constraining each route of the plurality of routes to pass through each specified stop of the plurality of specified stops, and (iv) constraining each route of the plurality of routes to enable the person to arrive at the departure gate before or at the specified minimum number of minutes prior to boarding;

receiving, by the portable smart computing device, a route of the plurality of routes selected by the person enabling the person to arrive at the departure gate before or at the specified number of minutes prior to boarding;

iteratively monitoring, by the portable smart computing device, values including the personal data, the travel data, the transport hub data, and the current location, said monitoring comprising detecting, by a global positioning system (GPS) capability of the portable smart computing device, the current location;

iteratively updating, by the portable smart computing device, the monitored values including the personal data, the travel data, the transport hub data, and the current location; and

iteratively alerting the person, by the portable smart computing device in response to the updated monitored values, when to begin moving from the current location towards the departure location along the selected route to arrive at the departure location at the desired arrival time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the monitored values include predetermined parameters, and wherein the predetermined parameters comprise:

a distance from the current location to the departure location;

an estimated travel speed of the person to travel from the current location to the departure location; and

an estimated travel time of the person to travel from the current location to the departure location to arrive at the departure location at the desired arrival time.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the personal data further includes:

health information regarding how far the person can walk before needing to rest;

a speed the person can walk;

how many pieces and how much weight of luggage the person can carry, or pull on wheels;

whether the person requires assistance with his luggage;

whether the person requires a wheelchair or motorized transportation; and

whether the person requires assistance to travel to the departure location.

4. The method of claim 1,

wherein the transport hub data includes:

the transport hub layout;

locations of departure vehicles; and

locations of transporting devices within the transport hub,

wherein said transporting devices comprise elevators, escalators, moving walkways and trams, and

wherein the transport hub comprises an airport transport hub, a railway transport hub and a bus terminal transport hub, and wherein the departure vehicle comprises an automobile, a train, an airplane, a bus and a motorized vehicle.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

notifying the person, by the portable smart computing device, of a change of the values.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the portable smart computing device includes wireless capabilities to access the person'"'"'s personal data, the person'"'"'s travel data and the transport hub data from a computer cloud or from a network.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the portable smart computing device communicates with Internet of Thing IoT wireless devices of the person including a smart watch, an activity tracker, a fitness tracker, a walking tracker and a personal movement sensing device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the portable smart computing device coordinates updates in memories in the person'"'"'s portable smart computing device, personal IoT devices, computer cloud and network in response to changes of the person'"'"'s personal data, the person'"'"'s travel data and the transport hub data.

9. A computer program product, comprising one or more computer readable hardware storage devices having computer readable program code stored therein, said program code containing instructions executable by a computing device to implement a method for assisting a person traveling through a transport hub, the method comprising:

collecting, by a portable smart computing device of the person, data comprising the person'"'"'s personal data, the person'"'"'s travel data pertaining to travel from the transport hub in a departure vehicle, and transport hub data, wherein the person'"'"'s travel data includes a boarding time, a departure time, a departure location, and a desired arrival time at the departure location, wherein the person'"'"'s personal data includes one or more of;

the person'"'"'s health, the person'"'"'s lifting ability, the person'"'"'s ability to pull or carry luggage, the person'"'"'s endurance, and the person'"'"'s ability to walk through the transport hub, wherein the transport hub data includes of maps and layout data of the transport hub;

determining, by the portable smart computing device, that the collected data are complete;

in response to said determining that the collected data are complete, mapping, by the portable smart computing device, a plurality of routes for the person to travel through the transport hub from a current location to the departure location, said mapping the plurality of routes comprising;

(i) receiving a first input of a plurality of specified stops within the transport hub that the person prefers to stop at during the person'"'"'s movement to the departure location, (ii) receiving a second input of a specified minimum number of minutes prior to boarding that the person prefers to arrive at a departure gate at the departure location,(iii) constraining each route of the plurality of routes to pass through each specified stop of the plurality of specified stops, and (iv) constraining each route of the plurality of routes to enable the person to arrive at the departure gate before or at the specified minimum number of minutes prior to boarding;

receiving, by the portable smart computing device, a route of the plurality of routes selected by the person enabling the person to arrive at the departure gate before or at the specified number of minutes prior to boarding;

iteratively monitoring, by the portable smart computing device, values including the personal data, the travel data, the transport hub data, and the current location, said monitoring comprising detecting, by a global positioning system (GPS) capability of the portable smart computing device, the current location;

iteratively updating, by the portable smart computing device, the monitored values including the personal data, the travel data, the transport hub data, and the current location; and

iteratively alerting the person, by the portable smart computing device in response to the updated monitored values, when to begin moving from the current location towards the departure location along the selected route to arrive at the departure location at the desired arrival time.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the monitored values include predetermined parameters, and wherein the predetermined parameters comprise:

a distance from the current location to the departure location;

an estimated travel speed of the person to travel from the current location to the departure location; and

an estimated travel time of the person to travel from the current location to the departure location to arrive at the departure location at the desired arrival time.

11. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the personal data further includes:

health information regarding how far the person can walk before needing to rest;

a speed the person can walk;

how many pieces and how much weight of luggage the person can carry, or pull on wheels;

whether the person requires assistance with his luggage;

whether the person requires a wheelchair or motorized transportation; and

whether the person requires assistance to travel to the departure location.

12. The computer program product of claim 9,

wherein the transport hub data includes the transport hub layout, locations of departure vehicles, and locations of transporting devices within the transport hub,

wherein said transporting devices comprise elevators, escalators, moving walkways and trams, and

wherein the transport hub comprises an airport transport hub, a railway transport hub and a bus terminal transport hub, and wherein the departure vehicle comprises an automobile, a train, an airplane, a bus and a motorized vehicle.

13. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the method further comprises:

notifying the person, by the portable smart computing device, of a change of the values.

14. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the portable smart computing device includes wireless capabilities to access the person'"'"'s personal data, the person'"'"'s travel data and the transport hub data from a computer cloud or from a network.

15. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the portable smart computing device coordinates updates in memories in the person'"'"'s portable smart computing device, personal IoT devices, computer cloud and network in response to changes of the person'"'"'s personal data, the person'"'"'s travel data and the transport hub data.

16. A system, comprising a computing device, said computing device comprising one or more processors, one or more memories, and one or more computer readable hardware storage devices, said one or more hardware storage devices containing program code executable by the one or more processors via the one or more memories to implement a method for assisting a person traveling through a transport hub, the method comprising:

collecting, by a portable smart computing device of the person, data comprising the person'"'"'s personal data, the person'"'"'s travel data pertaining to travel from the transport hub in a departure vehicle, and transport hub data, wherein the person'"'"'s travel data includes a boarding time, a departure time, a departure location, and a desired arrival time at the departure location, wherein the person'"'"'s personal data includes one or more of;

the person'"'"'s health, the person'"'"'s lifting ability, the person'"'"'s ability to pull or carry luggage, the person'"'"'s endurance, and the person'"'"'s ability to walk through the transport hub, wherein the transport hub data includes of maps and layout data of the transport hub;

determining, by the portable smart computing device, that the collected data are complete;

in response to said determining that the collected data are complete, mapping, by the portable smart computing device, a plurality of routes for the person to travel through the transport hub from a current location to the departure location, said mapping the plurality of routes comprising;

(i) receiving a first input of a plurality of specified stops within the transport hub that the person prefers to stop at during the person'"'"'s movement to the departure location, (ii) receiving a second input of a specified minimum number of minutes prior to boarding that the person prefers to arrive at a departure gate at the departure location,(iii) constraining each route of the plurality of routes to pass through each specified stop of the plurality of specified stops, and (iv) constraining each route of the plurality of routes to enable the person to arrive at the departure gate before or at the specified minimum number of minutes prior to boarding;

receiving, by the portable smart computing device, a route of the plurality of routes selected by the person enabling the person to arrive at the departure gate before or at the specified number of minutes prior to boarding;

iteratively monitoring, by the portable smart computing device, values including the personal data, the travel data, the transport hub data, and the current location, said monitoring comprising detecting, by a global positioning system (GPS) capability of the portable smart computing device, the current location;

iteratively updating, by the portable smart computing device, the monitored values including the personal data, the travel data, the transport hub data, and the current location; and

iteratively alerting the person, by the portable smart computing device in response to the updated monitored values, when to begin moving from the current location towards the departure location along the selected route to arrive at the departure location at the desired arrival time.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the monitored values include predetermined parameters, and wherein the predetermined parameters comprise:

a distance from the current location to the departure location;

an estimated travel speed of the person to travel from the current location to the departure location; and

an estimated travel time of the person to travel from the current location to the departure location to arrive at the departure location at the desired arrival time.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the method further comprises:

notifying the person, by the portable smart computing device, of a change of the values.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the personal data further includes:

health information regarding how far the person can walk before needing to rest;

a speed the person can walk;

how many pieces and how much weight of luggage the person can carry, or pull on wheels;

whether the person requires assistance with his luggage;

whether the person requires a wheelchair or motorized transportation; and

whether the person requires assistance to travel to the departure location.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the portable smart computing device coordinates updates in memories in the person'"'"'s portable smart computing device, personal IoT devices, computer cloud and network in response to changes of the person'"'"'s personal data, the person'"'"'s travel data and the transport hub data.