METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR HANDLING TRANSPORTATION RESERVATION REQUESTS IN A DECENTRALIZED ENVIRONMENT

• US 20130290043A1
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Published: 10/31/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/25/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Board of Trustees of The University of Alabama (University of Alabama System)
• Original Assignee: Board of Trustees of The University of Alabama (University of Alabama System)
• Inventors: Hoque, Mohammad Asadul, Hong, Xiaoyan, Dixon, Brandon
• Application Number:
  US13/832,091
• Publication Number:
  US 20130290043A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events

Abstract

Methods and systems for handling transportation reservation requests in a decentralized environment are discussed herein. An example decentralized system for handling transportation reservation requests may include a road-side device, a hailing device and/or a vehicle device. In the example decentralized system, the road-side device and/or the hailing device can be configured to communicate with the vehicle device using a vehicular communication channel. In some implementations, the vehicular communication channel can be reserved exclusively for vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications.

Claims

1. A method for reserving transportation, comprising:

sending a service request over a vehicular communication channel to at least one vehicle, the service request comprising a pickup location; and

receiving an acknowledgment to the service request over the vehicular communication channel from at least one vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a range of the service request and the acknowledgment to the service request is less than approximately 1 km.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicular communication channel operates at approximately 5.9 GHz.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicular communication channel is a dedicated short range communication (DSRC) channel.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the service request is sent directly from a mobile computing device to the at least one vehicle, the acknowledgment to the service request is received at the mobile computing device directly from the at least one vehicle, and the pickup location is a location of the mobile computing device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the service request is sent through a road-side device to the at least one vehicle, the acknowledgment to the service request is received through the road-side device from the at least one vehicle, and the pickup location is a location of the road-side device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving acknowledgments to the service request over the vehicular communication channel from a plurality of vehicles;

selecting a vehicle among the plurality of vehicles that acknowledged the service request;

sending a service offer to the selected vehicle over the vehicular communication channel; and

receiving an acknowledgment to the service offer over the vehicular communication channel from the selected vehicle, wherein the acknowledgment to the service offer identifies the selected vehicle and estimates a time of arrival at the pickup location.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising sending a dispatch message over the vehicular communication channel to the plurality of vehicles, the dispatch message indicating that the service request has been fulfilled.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the service request further comprises at least one of a service request unique identifier and a timestamp.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending the service request over the vehicular communication channel to the at least one vehicle using a first device; and

after expiration of a predetermined period of time without receiving an acknowledgement to the service request, resending the service request over the vehicular communication channel to the at least one vehicle using the first device, wherein the re-sent service request further comprises a relay request that is configured to cause at least a second device geographically separated from the first device to broadcast the re-sent service request.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the second device is at least one of a road-side device or a vehicle device.

12. A method for receiving and acknowledging a transportation reservation request from a vehicle, comprising:

receiving a service request over a vehicular communication channel, the service request comprising a pickup location; and

sending an acknowledgment to the service request over the vehicular communication channel.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein a range of the service request and the acknowledgment to the service request is less than approximately 1 km.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the vehicular communication channel operates at approximately 5.9 GHz.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the vehicular communication channel is a dedicated short range communication (DSRC) channel.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving a service offer over the vehicular communication channel; and

sending an acknowledgment to the service offer over the vehicular communication channel, wherein the acknowledgment to the service offer identifies the vehicle and estimates a time of arrival at the pickup location.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising periodically sending a beacon message comprising at least one of a location of the vehicle, a passenger occupancy status and a timestamp.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

filtering the service request using the passenger occupancy status;

passing the service request under the condition that the passenger occupancy status is unoccupied; and

dropping the service request under the condition that the passenger occupancy status is occupied.

19-28. -28. (canceled)

29. A device for reserving transportation, comprising:

a processing unit;

a memory communicatively connected to the processing unit for storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processing unit, cause the device to;

receive a service request;

send the service request over a vehicular communication channel to at least one vehicle, the service request comprising a pickup location; and

receive an acknowledgment to the service request over the vehicular communication channel from at least one vehicle; and

a display unit for displaying a status of the service request.

30. The device of claim 29, wherein the vehicular communication channel is a dedicated short range communication (DSRC) channel.

31. The device of claim 30, the device further comprising a DSRC transceiver for sending the service request and receiving the acknowledgement to the service request.

32. The device of claim 29, wherein the memory includes further computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processing unit, cause the device to:

receive acknowledgments to the service request over the vehicular communication channel from a plurality of vehicles;

select a vehicle among the plurality of vehicles that acknowledged the service request;

send a service offer to the selected vehicle over the vehicular communication channel;

receive an acknowledgment to the service offer over the vehicular communication channel from the selected vehicle, wherein the acknowledgment to the service offer identifies the selected vehicle and estimates a time of arrival at the pickup location; and

display the selected vehicle and the estimated time of arrival at the pickup location on the display unit.

33. The device of claim 32, wherein the memory includes further computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processing unit, cause the device to send a dispatch message over the vehicular communication channel to the plurality of vehicles, the dispatch message indicating that the service request has been fulfilled.

34. The device of claim 29, wherein the memory includes further computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processing unit, cause the device to:

send the service request over the vehicular communication channel to the at least one vehicle using a first device; and

after expiration of a predetermined period of time without receiving an acknowledgement to the service request, resend the service request over the vehicular communication channel to the at least one vehicle using the first device, wherein the re-sent service request further comprises a relay request that is configured to cause at least a second device geographically separated from the first device to broadcast the re-sent service request.

35. A vehicle device for receiving and acknowledging a transportation reservation request, comprising:

a processing unit;

a memory communicatively connected to the processing unit for storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processing unit, cause the vehicle device to;

receive a service request over a vehicular communication channel, the service request comprising a pickup location; and

send an acknowledgment to the service request over the vehicular communication channel; and

a display unit for displaying a status of the service request.

36. The vehicle device of claim 35, wherein the vehicular communication channel is a dedicated short range communication (DSRC) channel.

37. The vehicle device of claim 35, wherein the memory includes further computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processing unit, cause the vehicle device to:

receive a service offer over the vehicular communication channel;

display the service offer on the display unit; and

send an acknowledgment to the service offer over the vehicular communication channel, wherein the acknowledgment to the service offer identifies the vehicle and estimates a time of arrival at the pickup location.

38. The vehicle device of claim 35, wherein the memory includes further computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processing unit, cause the vehicle device to periodically send a beacon message comprising at least one of a location of the vehicle, a passenger occupancy status and a timestamp.

39. The vehicle device of claim 38, wherein the memory includes further computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processing unit, cause the vehicle device to:

filter the service request using the passenger occupancy status;

display the service request on the display unit under the condition that the passenger occupancy status is unoccupied; and

drop the service request under the condition that the passenger occupancy status is occupied.