Shared vehicle deployment and reallocation using predicted and current demand location and transit data
First Claim
1. A method of operating a vehicle allocation system for allocating a first number of vehicles amongst a second number of vehicle ports where passengers demand the services of one or more vehicles, said method comprising the steps of:
- acquiring past vehicle demand data based upon past passenger transportation activity;
forming predictive vehicle demand data, based upon the past vehicle demand data;
storing the predictive vehicle demand data;
detecting a number of available vehicles at each of the ports;
sensing current vehicle demand data representing passengers actually seeking transportation at each of the ports;
reading vehicle destination and arrival data of vehicles starting or in transit to one of the ports;
predicting the number of arriving vehicles at each of the ports based upon the vehicle destination and arrival data;
determining whether a given port has a deficiency or an excess of vehicles by analyzing the current vehicle demand data, the predictive vehicle demand data, the number of available vehicles, and the number of arriving vehicles, for a predetermined period of time; and
reallocating vehicles from a port determined to have an excess of vehicles to a port determined to have a deficiency of vehicles.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A vehicle allocation system oversees the operation of a plurality of auto-piloted vehicles, used to transport passengers between major ports such as airports, train stations, shopping malls, etc. The vehicle allocation system establishes a search time interval and predicts passenger demands and the status of the monitored vehicles within the search time interval. A predetermined number of vehicles are assigned to each of the ports in an area. Each port includes a parking lot or queue to accommodate waiting vehicles and a terminal which notifies a host computer of the number of currently available vehicles, passenger demands for vehicles, vehicle destination information, arrival information and so forth. The host computer has a memory storing predicted demand data based upon past demand history. The host computer calculates any excess or deficiency of vehicles in the ports on the basis of the predicted demand data and the information obtained from the terminals within the search time interval. On the basis of the result of such calculation, vehicles are reallocated from ports having an excess of vehicles to ports lacking sufficient vehicles.
55 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A method of operating a vehicle allocation system for allocating a first number of vehicles amongst a second number of vehicle ports where passengers demand the services of one or more vehicles, said method comprising the steps of:
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acquiring past vehicle demand data based upon past passenger transportation activity;
forming predictive vehicle demand data, based upon the past vehicle demand data;
storing the predictive vehicle demand data;
detecting a number of available vehicles at each of the ports;
sensing current vehicle demand data representing passengers actually seeking transportation at each of the ports;
reading vehicle destination and arrival data of vehicles starting or in transit to one of the ports;
predicting the number of arriving vehicles at each of the ports based upon the vehicle destination and arrival data;
determining whether a given port has a deficiency or an excess of vehicles by analyzing the current vehicle demand data, the predictive vehicle demand data, the number of available vehicles, and the number of arriving vehicles, for a predetermined period of time; and
reallocating vehicles from a port determined to have an excess of vehicles to a port determined to have a deficiency of vehicles. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
setting the predetermined period of time to be more than a minimum travel time required for moving a vehicle between ports during said reallocating step.
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3. The method according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of predetermined times are available and one of the predetermined times is selected based upon a number of all vehicles deployed and a number of vehicles to be distributed, so that a predetermined number of vehicles to be reallocated will not be exceeded.
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4. The method according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of predetermined times are available and one of the predetermined times is selected based upon a number of all vehicles deployed and an average waiting time of passengers, so that a predetermined maximum waiting time for passengers will not be exceeded.
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5. The method according to claim 1, wherein said predetermined time varies over a course of a day.
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6. The method according to claim 1, wherein said predetermined time varies dependent upon a day of the week.
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7. The method according to claim 1, wherein said predetermined time varies in response to weather conditions.
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8. The method according to claim 5, wherein said predetermined time is shortened if the predictive vehicle demand data exceeds a predetermined level during the course of the day.
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9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the product of the number of vehicles reallocated in said reallocating step and an average waiting time for passengers is obtained by simulation with the predetermined time used as a parameter, and selecting a predetermined time such that the product is minimized.
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10. The method according to claim 1, wherein if a total number of vehicles deployed is less than a predetermined count, the predetermined time is set approximately equal to a maximum time required to reallocate vehicles between ports.
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11. The method according to claim 1, wherein if a number of parking spaces at a given port is approximately equal to or less than a sum of the available vehicles at the given port and a predicted number of arriving vehicles at the given port, a vehicle or vehicles at the given port are reallocated from the given port during said reallocating step regardless of whether an excess of vehicles at the given port is determined.
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12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the vehicle or vehicles are reallocated to a port having the least available vehicles.
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13. A vehicle distribution system for distributing vehicles among a plurality of ports within an area in response to ride demands generated at each of said ports, said vehicle distribution system comprising:
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predicted ride demand data storing means for storing predicted ride demand data established on the basis of statistical ride demand data regarding all ports;
vehicle count detecting means for detecting an existing vehicle count at each of said ports;
demand detecting means for detecting ride demand information including a current ride demand count and destination information regarding each of said ports;
arriving vehicle predicting means for predicting arrivals of vehicles at each port from other ports as a predicted arriving vehicle count based on said destination information;
surplus and shortage computing means for computing either a surplus or a shortage of vehicles at each of said ports by comparing, within a range of search represented by a predetermined period of time at each port, said current ride demand count and said predicted ride demand data, with said existing vehicle count and said predicted arriving vehicle count; and
vehicle redistributing means for redistributing vehicles from a port having surplus vehicles to a port lacking vehicles on the basis of results of the computation indicating either said surplus or said shortage of vehicles. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
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Specification