Public transit vehicle arrival information system
DCFirst Claim
1. A system for determining the location of vehicles operating over predetermined routes in a transit system, comprising:
- (1) a global positioning system device located in selected transit vehicles in the system for monitoring the position of said vehicles;
(2) central processor means (a) storing an historical transit data table containing vehicle schedules of the travel times necessary for said vehicles to move from one stop to another along their routes under different conditions, advertisements and information for the operators of the vehicles, and (b) selecting from the transit data table a schedule of travel times applicable for current conditions along a given route and using the schedule of times from said transit data table and the position of said vehicles at a given time to calculate the times at which said vehicles will arrive at upcoming stops;
(3) means communicating between the global positioning system device and the central processor means for transmitting the position of said vehicles to said central processor means;
(4) means broadcasting within the area served by the transit system a system table of the calculated vehicle arrival times for the transit system; and
(5) receivers selected from portable receivers, receivers at selected vehicle stops and receivers on board vehicles within the transit system, adapted for receiving the broadcast and displaying at least subsets of the transit data table associated with the selected receivers, including subsets containing predicted transit stop arrival times, advertisements and information for the operators of the vehicles.
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Abstract
A system for notifying passengers waiting for public transit vehicles of the status of the vehicles, including the arrival times of vehicles at stops. The system includes global position determining devices located in the vehicles for determining the location of the vehicles along their routes. A central processor or computer is coupled to the global position determining devices for receiving the locations of vehicles therefrom. The processor is programmed to compute and update from the present location of the transit system vehicles and electronically stored information a transit data table which includes status information for all the vehicles in the system, including the location of scheduled stops, connections to other transit vehicles at the stops, and the arrival times of vehicles at their stops. The vehicle status and other information, including news and advertisements are then made available for public access in a manner geared to the locations of the vehicles, the time of day, day of week, date, location, season, holiday, weather etc. Portable access means such as pagers, notebook and palm computers and telephones and stationary access means such as personal computers and telephones and display modules in communication with the central processor, receive the computed arrival time and other information for selected routes, stops, etc. from the central processor, and communicate the information to the passenger(s).
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Citations
28 Claims
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1. A system for determining the location of vehicles operating over predetermined routes in a transit system, comprising:
- (1) a global positioning system device located in selected transit vehicles in the system for monitoring the position of said vehicles;
(2) central processor means (a) storing an historical transit data table containing vehicle schedules of the travel times necessary for said vehicles to move from one stop to another along their routes under different conditions, advertisements and information for the operators of the vehicles, and (b) selecting from the transit data table a schedule of travel times applicable for current conditions along a given route and using the schedule of times from said transit data table and the position of said vehicles at a given time to calculate the times at which said vehicles will arrive at upcoming stops;
(3) means communicating between the global positioning system device and the central processor means for transmitting the position of said vehicles to said central processor means;
(4) means broadcasting within the area served by the transit system a system table of the calculated vehicle arrival times for the transit system; and
(5) receivers selected from portable receivers, receivers at selected vehicle stops and receivers on board vehicles within the transit system, adapted for receiving the broadcast and displaying at least subsets of the transit data table associated with the selected receivers, including subsets containing predicted transit stop arrival times, advertisements and information for the operators of the vehicles. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
- (1) a global positioning system device located in selected transit vehicles in the system for monitoring the position of said vehicles;
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6. A system for determining the location of vehicles operating over routes in a transit system, comprising:
- (1) a global positioning system device located in selected transit vehicles for monitoring the position of said vehicles;
(2) means in at least said selected vehicles for sensing the passenger load of said vehicles;
(3) central processor means (a) storing a transit data table containing vehicle schedules and a history of travel times for said vehicles to move from one stop to another along their routes and a history of passenger load changes as the vehicles move from one stop to another along their predetermined routes, and (b) based upon the transit data table and the position of said vehicles and the passenger load of said vehicles at a given time, calculating the predicted time at which said vehicles will arrive at upcoming stops and the passenger load of said vehicles at the upcoming stops;
(4) means communicating between the vehicles, including the global positioning system devices and the passenger load sensing means, and the central processor means for transmitting the position of said vehicles and the passenger load information to said central processor means;
(5) means broadcasting within the area served by the transit system a system table of said calculated predicted arrival times at upcoming stops and the associated passenger loads at the upcoming stops; and
(6) means in selected locations and vehicles within the transit system, adapted for receiving the broadcast and displaying subsets of the transit data table, including subsets containing information selected from said calculated predicted transit stop arrival times and said calculated predicted passenger loads. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9)
- (1) a global positioning system device located in selected transit vehicles for monitoring the position of said vehicles;
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10. A system for notifying individuals of the status of one or more public transportation vehicles travelling predetermined routes, the system comprising:
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a first transceiver located in selected ones of the vehicles; global position determining device located in the vehicles, the global position determining devices in the vehicles including a computer and connected to the transceiver and communicating thereby with a plurality of global positioning system satellites for determining the location of vehicles along their routes; a second transceiver separate from the vehicles; at least one central processor separate from the vehicles and in communication via the second transceiver and the first transceivers in the vehicles with the global position determining devices for receiving the location of the vehicles therefrom, said central processor having access to electronically stored information concerning the routes, said information including the location of each of a plurality of stops and historical information including schedule information and transit times between stops associated with different conditions along the route, and said central processor including means for computing from the location of the vehicles and the electronically stored information a transit data table including the calculated predicted arrival time of vehicles at least at selected stops; means broadcasting the transit data table electronically; access means adapted for communicating with said electronic broadcasting means for receiving the transit data table and transmitting the transit data table in at least one of audio and visual formats; and further comprising means in selected vehicles for determining the number of unoccupied seats and wherein said central processor is in communication with said means for determining the number of unoccupied seats for receiving the number of unoccupied seats therefrom and wherein said central processor has the capability to determine the predicted passenger load from data stored in said processing means and add said predicted passenger load to the transit data table. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12)
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13. A method of notifying persons of the status of public transportation vehicles along their routes, comprising:
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operating global position determining devices located in the vehicles, the devices being in communication with a plurality of global positioning system satellites to determine the location of the vehicles along the routes; communicating the location of the vehicles to a processing means; in the processing means, computing from the location of the vehicles and from electronically stored information therein concerning the routes and a plurality of stops along the routes, a transit data table including the predicted arrival times of the vehicles at different stops associated with different conditions along the route; electronically broadcasting the transit data table information; at selected locations, accessing the broadcast information and transmitting said broadcast information in at least one of audio and visual formats; and further comprising in selected vehicles determining the passenger load and transmitting the passenger load to the processing means as a base for calculations of predicted passenger load at upcoming stops for inclusion in the transit data table information, thereby making available the predicted passenger load in the electronically broadcast transit data table information. - View Dependent Claims (14)
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15. A system for notifying a passenger waiting for a public transportation vehicle of the arrival time of the vehicle at a public transportation stop and of the predicted passenger load on the vehicle at the stop, and of availability of seats on the vehicle, the vehicle travelling a predetermined route, the vehicle being situated at a particular location along the route and having a number of unoccupied seats, and the stop being one of a plurality of stops along the route, the system comprising:
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a global position determining device located in the vehicle, said global position determining device receiving broadcasts from a plurality of global positioning system satellites for determining the location of the vehicle along the route; passenger load determining means located in the vehicle, said passenger load determining means for determining the passenger load including the number of unoccupied seats and the availability of standing room space in the vehicle; a central processor, said central processor in wireless communication with the global position determining device for receiving the location of the vehicle therefrom and in communication with said passenger load determining means for receiving the passenger load therefrom; said central processor including electronically stored information concerning the route, said information including the location of each of the plurality of stops, and said processor including means for computing from the location of the vehicle and the electronically stored information the predicted arrival time of the vehicle at the stop and the predicted passenger load of the vehicle when it arrives at that stop; and access means, said access means in communication with said processor for receiving the computed arrival time and the predicted passenger load therefrom, and including means for transmitting the computed arrival time of the vehicle and the predicted passenger load in the vehicle to the waiting passenger in audio, visual or audiovisual format. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A system for notifying a passenger waiting for a public transportation vehicle of the arrival time of the vehicle at a transportation stop, the vehicle travelling a predetermined route and being situated at a particular location along the route and the stop being one of a plurality of stops along the route, the system comprising:
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means for determining the location of the vehicle along the route; a first processor located on the vehicle and in communication with the position determining means for receiving the location of the vehicle therefrom, said first processor connected to first electronic storage means including information concerning the vehicle'"'"'s route, said information including location of each of the plurality of stops, and said first processor including means for computing from the location of the vehicle and the electronically stored information the arrival time of the vehicle at the stop; a second processor, said second processor located remote from the vehicle, and in wireless communication with said first processor for receiving the arrival time of the vehicle therefrom and the stop location therefrom; display means, said display means in wireless or wireless communication or a combination thereof with said second processor for receiving the computed arrival time therefrom and for displaying the computed arrival time of the vehicle to the waiting passenger; means located on the vehicle for determining the passenger load in the vehicle; and said second processor predicting the passenger load at upcoming stops based on the determined passenger load. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22)
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23. A system for monitoring the location of vehicles operating over routes in a transit system, comprising:
- (1) means in selected vehicles for monitoring the position of said vehicles;
(2) means in selected vehicles for sensing the passenger load of said vehicles;
(3) system processor means (a) storing a transit data table containing vehicle schedules, transit times for said vehicles to move under different conditions from one stop to another along their routes and passenger load changes under different conditions as the vehicles move from one stop to another along their routes, and (b) based upon the transit data table and the position of said vehicles and the passenger load of said vehicles at a given time, calculating predicted times at which said vehicles will arrive at upcoming stops and the predicted passenger loads of said vehicles at the upcoming stops;
(4) means communicating between the vehicles, including the monitoring means and the passenger load sensing means and the system processor means, for transmitting the position of said vehicles and the passenger load information from said vehicles to said system processor means;
(5) means broadcasting within the area served by the transit system a system table of the predicted arrival times at upcoming stops and the associated predicted passenger loads at the upcoming stops; and
(6) means in selected locations and vehicles within the transit system, adapted for receiving the broadcast and selectively displaying subsets of the transit data table, including subsets containing information selected from the predicted transit stop arrival times and the predicted passenger loads.
- (1) means in selected vehicles for monitoring the position of said vehicles;
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24. A method of monitoring the location of a group of vehicles operating over routes in a transit system, comprising:
- (1) monitoring the passenger load of the vehicles;
(2) monitoring the position of the vehicles from the vehicles;
(3) broadcasting the position information and the passenger load information from the vehicles;
(4) at a system computer, storing a transit data table containing a compilation of vehicle schedules and transit times for the vehicles to move under different conditions from one stop to another along their routes and passenger load changes under different conditions as the vehicles move from one stop to another along their routes;
(5) based upon the transit data table and the positions of the vehicles and the passenger loads of the vehicles at a given time, calculating the predicted time at which selected vehicles will arrive at upcoming stops and the passenger load of the selected vehicles at the upcoming stops;
(6) broadcasting within the area served by the transit system, system data including the predicted arrival times of the selected vehicles at upcoming stops and the predicted passenger loads at the upcoming stops; and
(7) at selected locations and vehicles, selectively displaying subsets of the transit data table, including subsets containing information selected from the predicted transit stop arrival times and the predicted passenger loads.
- (1) monitoring the passenger load of the vehicles;
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25. A system for notifying a passenger waiting for a public transportation vehicle of the arrival time of the vehicle at a transportation stop, the vehicle travelling a predetermined route and being situated at a particular location along the route and the stop being one of a plurality of stops along the route, the system comprising:
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a global position determining device located in the vehicle, said global position determining device communicative with a plurality of global positioning system satellites for determining the location of the vehicle along the route; processing means in communication with the global position determining device for receiving the location of the vehicle therefrom, said processing means having access to electronically stored information concerning the route, said information including the location of each of the plurality of stops and schedule information and a history of transit times between stops associated with different conditions along the route, and said processing means including means for computing from the location of the vehicle and the electronically stored information a transit data table including the arrival time of the vehicle at stops along the vehicle'"'"'s route; display means, said display means in wireless communication with said processing means for receiving the computed arrival time therefrom and for displaying the transit data table or a subset thereof; and further comprising means for determining the number of unoccupied seats and wherein said processing means is in communication with said means for determining the number of unoccupied seats for receiving the number of unoccupied seats therefrom and wherein said processing means has the capability to determine the predicted passenger load from data stored in said processing means and add said predicted passenger load to the transit data table. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28)
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Specification