Dynamic Reallocation of Seats in Rail Travel Using RFID Technology
First Claim
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1. A method of allocating seats on a railway train, the method comprising:
- providing a plurality of RFID readers on passenger cars of the railway train, at least one of the plurality of RFID readers being located in each of said passenger cars;
selling RFID tickets for passage on the railway train, wherein said RFID tickets are configured to be read by the plurality of REID readers;
finalizing a seating arrangement for the railway train before the railway train reaches a train station;
allowing passengers to get on or off the railway train at the train station;
detecting available seats on the railway train by sensing the RFID tickets in each of the passenger cars of the railway train; and
communicating information about the available seats to wait-listed ticket holders.
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Abstract
Tickets with RFID devices are issued to train passengers. Once the passengers board the train, the number and location of vacant seats is determined based on signals from the RFID devices detected by RFID readers configured within the passenger compartments of the train. Seating information is displayed on screens fitted in each compartment. This is done at or after the train reaches every major station, facilitating wait-listed passengers to occupy any vacant seats that become available.
41 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method of allocating seats on a railway train, the method comprising:
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providing a plurality of RFID readers on passenger cars of the railway train, at least one of the plurality of RFID readers being located in each of said passenger cars; selling RFID tickets for passage on the railway train, wherein said RFID tickets are configured to be read by the plurality of REID readers; finalizing a seating arrangement for the railway train before the railway train reaches a train station; allowing passengers to get on or off the railway train at the train station; detecting available seats on the railway train by sensing the RFID tickets in each of the passenger cars of the railway train; and communicating information about the available seats to wait-listed ticket holders. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A software product comprising a program of instructions stored on a machine readable device for allocating seats on a railway train, wherein the program of instructions upon being executed on a computer causes the computer to perform activities comprising:
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providing a plurality of RFID readers on passenger cars of the railway train, at least one of the plurality of RFID readers being located in each of said passenger cars; selling RFID tickets for passage on the railway train, wherein said RFID tickets are configured to be read by the plurality of RFID readers; finalizing a seating arrangement for the railway train before the railway train reaches a train station; allowing passengers to get on or off the railway train at the train station; detecting available seats on the railway train by sensing the RFID tickets in each of the passenger cars of the railway train; and communicating information about the available seats to wait-listed ticket holders. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A system configured to allocate seats on a railway train, the system comprising:
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a plurality of RFID readers positioned on passenger cars of the railway train, at least one of the plurality of REID readers being located in each of said passenger cars; RFID tickets for passage on the railway train, wherein said RFID tickets are configured to be read by the plurality of RFID readers; a processor configured to execute software instructions for finalizing a seating arrangement for the railway train before the railway train reaches a train station, wherein after the finalizing of said seating arrangement passengers get on or off the railway train at the train station; and communication means for communicating information about available seats to wait-listed ticket holders; wherein said plurality of RFID readers are configured to detect available seats on the railway train by sensing the RFID tickets in each of the passenger cars of the railway train. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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Specification