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Public transit vehicle arrival information system

  • US 6,374,176 B1
  • Filed: 09/27/1999
  • Issued: 04/16/2002
  • Est. Priority Date: 08/13/1996
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. An interactive information and control system for transit vehicles in a transit system, comprising:

  • (1) a global positioning system device located in selected transit vehicles in the transit system for monitoring the position of said transit vehicles;

    (2) a system computer, (a) storing an historical transit data table containing transit vehicle schedules of the travel times necessary for said transit vehicles to move from one stop to another along their routes under different conditions, advertisements, and information for the operators and passengers of said transit vehicles, (b) selecting from said historical transit data table a schedule of travel times applicable for current conditions along a given route, and (c) using said schedule of travel times from said historical transit data table and said position of said transit vehicles at a given time to calculate predicted arrival times at which said transit vehicles will arrive at upcoming stops and incorporating, said predicted arrival times in a predicted transit data table;

    (3) means communicating between said global positioning system device and said system computer for transmitting said position of said transit vehicles to said system computer;

    (4) means broadcasting said predicted transit data table within the area served by the transit system; and

    (5) receivers selected from any member of the group consisting of portable receivers, receivers at selected vehicle stops, and receivers on board said transit vehicles within the transit system, said receivers adapted for receiving the broadcasted predicted transit data table and displaying at least subsets of said predicted transit data table associated with said selected receivers, including subsets containing said predicted arrival times, a hold time that said transit vehicles will pause at their current locations, said advertisements, and said information for said operators and passengers of said transit vehicles.

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