Method and system for optimum bus resource allocation

• US 6,681,174 B1
• Filed: 11/28/2000
• Issued: 01/20/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/17/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: New Flyer Industries Canada ULC (NFI Group, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Eugene Pachet, Lee Harvey
• Inventors: Harvey, Lee, Pachet, Eugene
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, THU V
• Application Number:
  US09/722,824
• Time in Patent Office: 1,148 Days
• Field of Search: 701/9, 701/43, 701/23-29, 701/31-32, 701/36, 701/39, 701/44, 701/117-123, 701/200-202, 701/207-211, 701/213-215, 701/224-225, 701/300-302, 340/425.5, 340/430-438, 340/459-463, 340/988-996, 342/352, 342/450, 342/357-1-3, 342/357-2-3, 342/357.17, 342/454-458, 455/403-404, 455/426, 455/39, 455/507, 455/95-100
• US Class Current: 701/117
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/127 to a central station ; Indicators in a central station

Abstract

A system and method allow for optimum allocation of buses or similar vehicles. The buses may form a fleet in a metropolitan transportation system. Each bus may be assigned to complete one or more routes during a given time period. Using geo-satellite position system technology, a bus may determine its current location and provide the current location to a local bus operating center or hub. The hub may monitor locations of known obstacles, and may monitor progress of the bus in completing its route. If an obstacle could interfere with route completion, the hub may send an alert and an alternate route to the bus. If a bus cannot complete its assigned route due to the presence of obstacles, the hub may determine that one or more additional buses must be put in service to satisfy required bus routing.

Claims

1. A system for optimum allocation of bus resources, comprising:

one or more buses, each of the one or more buses comprising;

a geo-satellite positioning system (GPS) receiver capable of receiving GPS ranging signals, and

a processor that computes bus position and bus attitude based on the received GPS ranging signals; and

a local bus operating center in communication with the one or more buses, comprising;

a transceiver that receives a bus position and a bus attitude for a bus,

a database that includes expected bus position information for the bus, and

a processor that compares the expected bus position information and the received bus position, and that generates an alert based on a mismatch between the expected bus position information and the received bus position, and determines a corrective action if the bus attitude is unusual, wherein the processor provides reroute information to the bus and computes a required speed for the bus to remain on schedule based on the reroute information.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the database further includes dynamic obstacle information including a location and time reference for an obstacle, and wherein the processor determines if the obstacle location may interfere with the expected bus information.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein when the obstacle location interferes with the expected bus position, the processor issues an alert.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the processor computes a revised bus route avoiding the obstacle and the transceiver provides the revised bus route to the bus.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the GPS receiver uses differential GPS (DGPS) to remove errors caused by uncertainties in propagation times in GPS ranging calculations.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor at the local bus operating center provides an indication of an expected delay in reaching all stops based on the reroute information.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor at the local bus operating center continually updates expected route completion time for the one or more buses.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more buses further comprises a driver interface capable of presenting information to a bus driver.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the driver interface includes a heads-up display feature the projects digital images of bus parameters for the bus driver.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the driver interface includes a speech recognition device capable of receiving spoken commands from the bus driver.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the GPS receiver ranging signals are modulated with pseudo-random ranging codes.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the local bus operating center communicates with the one or more buses using a communications network.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the communications network permits bi-directional communication between the local bus operating center and the one or more buses.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the communications network is a radio control link.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more buses further comprises a television camera with wide angle lens capable of scanning roads ahead of the one or more buses.

16. A method for optimizing allocation of buses in a mass transit system, comprising:

receiving a GPS ranging signal at a bus;

determining a current bus location and attitude based on the GPS ranging signal;

determining an expected bus location based on a designated bus route;

comparing the current bus location and the expected bus location;

if the location comparison indicates a mismatch, issuing an alert;

if the attitude determination indicates an unusual attitude, determining corrective action;

providing reroute information to the bus; and

computing a required speed for the bus to remain on schedule based on the reroute information.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising using differential GPS (DGPS) to remove errors caused by uncertainties in propagation times in GPS ranging calculations.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising an indication of an expected delay in reaching all bus stops based on the reroute information.

19. The method of claim 16, further comprising continually updating expected route completion time for the bus.

20. A method for optimizing allocation of buses in a mass transit system, comprising:

receiving a GPS ranging signal at a bus;

determining a current bus location and attitude based on the GPS ranging signal;

determining an expected bus location based on a designated bus route;

comparing the current bus location and the expected bus location;

if the location comparison indicates a mismatch, issuing an alert;

if the attitude determination indicates an unusual attitude, determining corrective action;

providing reroute information to the bus;

computing a required speed for the bus to remain on schedule based on the reroute information;

providing an indication of an expected delay in reaching all stops based on the reroute information; and

continually updating expected route completion time for the bus.