Fully automated vehicle dispatching, monitoring and billing

• US 7,113,864 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2003
• Issued: 09/26/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Total Technology Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Total Technology Incorporated
• Inventors: Smith, Chris C., Edwards, Kenneth W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zanelli, Michael J.
• Application Number:
  US10/747,476
• Publication Number:
  US 20040143466A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,002 Days
• Field of Search: 701/117, 701/1, 701/201, 701/209, 701/118, 340/992, 340/989, 340/990, 342/357.09, 342/357.07
• US Class Current: 701/117
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/025 Coordination of plural reservations, e.g. plural trip segments, transportation combined with accommodation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/202 Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching

Abstract

A system for controlling vehicles to provide transportation services without need for human intervention. A database stores records each documenting needed transportation services. Processing circuitry (which may be one or several networked computers) reviews these records, locates records indicating a need for immediate transportation service, and instructs vehicles to provide the service. The processing circuitry also monitors vehicle activities by reviewing the records, and automatically obtained vehicle activity information, to identify transportation services which are not being adequately provided, and refer these to human dispatchers for special attention. A variety of methods for obtaining and updating vehicle activity information are disclosed, as are various applications for the system.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring transport of a mobile asset, comprising:

storage documenting needed transport of said mobile asset;

processing circuitry performing a monitoring process without human intervention, said monitoring process including reviewing said needed transport and transport activity to identify when needed transport is not being adequately provided.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising

communication circuitry providing mobile asset activity information relating to said mobile asset to said processing circuitry for review by said monitoring process.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein said communications circuitry forwards instructions to a mobile asset via radio communications.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein information on the activities of a mobile asset is reported by radio communications to said communications circuitry.

5. The system of claim 2 wherein said mobile asset is transported by a vehicle and said communications circuitry forwards instructions to said vehicle and receives vehicle activity information from said vehicle via both ground-based radio communication and satellite-based radio communication.

6. The system of claim 2 further comprising satellite-based tracking circuitry for tracking locations of said mobile asset,

said communication circuitry being connected to said tracking circuitry for determining mobile asset activities for forwarding to said monitoring circuitry.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein said mobile asset is transported by a vehicle and said storage documenting needed transport is a record of a request that a vehicle travel to an appointed location, and

said monitoring process reviews vehicle activities to determine whether a vehicle has arrived at or is en route to said appointed location in deciding whether a request is being adequately serviced.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein a vehicle operator manually communicates the arrival of said vehicle at said appointed location to said communication circuitry, and said monitoring process determines whether said communication has been received from the vehicle operator to determine whether a request is being adequately service.

9. The system of claim 7 wherein said vehicle includes circuitry for automatically transmitting a position of said vehicle to said communication circuitry, and said monitoring to said appointed location to determine whether a request is being adequately serviced.

10. The system of claim 7 further comprising data entry circuitry for manual operation to create a request record.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein said data entry circuitry is located at a remote site in telephonic communication with said storage.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein said data entry circuitry includes a reader for reading information from an identification card used by a person requesting transportation services.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein said data entry circuitry is a touch-tone responsive telephone receiver for receiving touch-tone telephone signals and creating a record therefrom.

14. The system of claim 2 wherein

said communication circuitry respectively reads and writes communication request and response records in said storage,

said processing circuitry instructs a vehicle to provide transport by writing a communication request in said storage for later forwarding by said communication circuitry, and said processing circuitry obtains vehicle activity information by reading response records in storage.

15. The system of claim 2 wherein said storage, said processing circuitry and said communication circuitry are located at a plurality of locations in communication with each other.

16. The system of claim 1 wherein said needed transport is shipping transport to be monitored.

17. The system of claim 1 wherein said needed transport is transport of a human passenger to be monitored.

18. The system of claim 1 wherein said processing circuitry performs multiple said monitoring processes in parallel.

19. The system of claim 1 wherein said activity information indicates one or more of:

whether a vehicle is moving,

the velocity of a vehicle,

whether a vehicle is braking,

fuel usage of a vehicle,

whether emergency signals of a vehicle are operating, and

whether an engine of a vehicle is idling.

20. The system of claim 1 wherein said monitoring process determines from said activity information whether a vehicle is being used appropriately at times when said vehicle is not delivering transportation services, and if not creates an exception record in said storage identifying the vehicle which is not being used appropriately.

21. The system of claim 1 wherein said monitoring process determines from said activity information whether a vehicle is stalled in traffic, and if so creates an exception record in said storage identifying the vehicle which is stalled in traffic.

22. The system of claim 1 wherein said processing circuitry further performs a system status management process including reviewing said storage and activity information to determine and predict future needs for transport and comparing said future needs to expected availability of transportation services to identify future times at which available transportation services will not meet predicted needs.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein said system status management process creates an exception record in said storage identifying future times at which available transportation services will not meet predicted needs.

24. The system of claim 22 wherein said system stats management process includes instructing a vehicle to pre-position to a location where said vehicle will be better able to meet predicted future needs for transportation services.

25. A method for monitoring transport of a mobile asset, comprising:

documenting needed transport;

performing a monitoring process without human intervention, said monitoring process including reviewing said needed transport and vehicle activity information to identify when needed transport is not being adequately provided.