Vehicle dispatching system and management server for the same

• US 20040236501A1
• Filed: 03/18/2004
• Published: 11/25/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NTT Docomo Incorporated (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation), Tokyo MK Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: NTT Docomo Incorporated (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation), Tokyo MK Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Hirose, Masahito, Ogiso, Yoshihiro, Souma, Tsuyoshi, Aoki, Masaaki
• Granted Patent: US 7,263,437 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/200
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/202 Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching

Abstract

The invention provides a useful vehicle dispatching system. Server 60 estimates an approximate location of a passenger on the basis of the area code transmitted from server 40. Server 60 transmits a list of landmarks located in the area corresponding to the area code, and the list is thereby provided to the passenger carrying mobile station 10. The passenger selects a desired landmark to which a vehicle should be dispatched. Server 60 determines the location of the landmark by referring to the landmark database; and determines which vehicles 20 are located proximate to the landmark by referring to the vehicle database. Server 60 transmits the information on the determined vehicles 20 to mobile station 10, and the information is thereby provided to the passenger. The passenger selects a desired vehicle 20 to make a telephone call to the driver of vehicle 20 of the car 20. Thus, the passenger may directly talk to the driver.

Claims

1. A system for dispatching a vehicle to a passenger, comprising:

a mobile station carried by a passenger;

vehicle location storage means for storing locations of a plurality of vehicles, said plurality of vehicles being able to provide the passenger with a passenger transport service;

landmark storage means for storing a first number of landmark identifiers with respect to an area, each of the first number of landmark identifiers designating a landmark located in the area, and the area being defined in accordance with predetermined parameters;

area determining means for determining, on the basis of locations of communication facilities communicating with said mobile station in a mobile communication network, an area in which said mobile station is located;

landmark transmission means for extracting a second number of landmark identifiers from the first number of landmark identifiers stored in said landmark storage means, and for transmitting the extracted second number of landmark identifiers, each of the second landmark identifiers designating a landmark located in the area determined by said area determining means; and

vehicle detection means for detecting, on the basis of locations of vehicles stored in said vehicle location storage means, one or more vehicles located within a predetermined distance from the landmark designated by the landmark identifier, the landmark identifier being selected by the passenger from the received second number of landmark identifiers.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

vehicle information transmitting means for transmitting vehicle information on said one or more vehicles detected by said vehicle detection means, wherein said vehicle information is displayed on the display of said mobile station.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein said vehicle information comprises information indicating a distance between the location of each of said one or more vehicles determined by said vehicle detection means and the location of the landmark designated by the landmark identifier selected by the passenger.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein said vehicle information comprises contact information required for communication between the driver of each of said one or more vehicles detected by said vehicle detection means, and the passenger.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

log storing means for storing information on the one or more vehicles determined by said vehicle detection means, information on the area determined by said area determination means, information on the second number of landmarks designated by the second number of landmark identifiers extracted by said landmark transmission means, and information on the passenger.

6. A management server, comprising:

vehicle location storage means for storing locations of a plurality of vehicles, said plurality of vehicles being able to provide a passenger with a passenger transport service;

landmark storage means for storing a first number of landmark identifiers with respect to an area, each of the first number of landmark identifiers designating a landmark located in the area, and the area being defined in accordance with predetermined parameters;

landmark transmission means for extracting a second number of landmark identifiers from the first numbers of landmark identifiers stored in said landmark storage means, and for transmitting the extracted second number of landmark identifiers to said mobile station, each of the second number of landmark identifiers designating a landmark located in the area in which said mobile station is located; and

vehicle detection means for detecting, on the basis of the locations of vehicles stored in said vehicle location storage means, one or more vehicles located within a predetermined distance from the landmark designated by the landmark identifier transmitted from said mobile station.