Correlating transportation data

• US 8,880,490 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2010
• Issued: 11/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Gontmakher, Alex, Ben-Haim, Noam
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Hosain
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tang, Jieying
• Application Number:
  US12/980,618
• Publication Number:
  US 20120066251A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,406 Days
• Field of Search: 707/705, 707/758, 707/769, 701/408, 701/409
• US Class Current: 707/705
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including executable instructions encoded on one or more machine-readable storage media, for correlating transportation data are described. A transportation schedule that includes planned records for first trips and associations between the first trips and corresponding first trip IDs may be accessed. A transportation status update that includes actual records for second trips and associations between the second trips and corresponding second trip IDs may be received. Information relating one or more of the first trip IDs to one or more of the second trip IDs may be obtained. The information may be used to identify a trip that is common to both the transportation schedule and the transportation status update. An update for the trip using the transportation status update may be provided.

Claims

1. A method performed by one or more processing devices, comprising:

accessing a transportation schedule comprising planned records for first trips, the first trips being associated with corresponding first trip identifiers;

receiving a transportation status update comprising actual records for second trips, the second trips being associated with corresponding second trip identifiers;

obtaining information relating one or more of the first trip identifiers to one or more of the second trip identifiers from one or more translation tables, the one or more translation tables defining a mapping from one or more of the first trip identifiers to one or more of the second trip identifiers, the one or more translation tables including a first translation table defining a mapping of one or more sets of trip identifiers, including the first trip identifiers, to one another, the one or more sets of trip identifiers corresponding to planned records for first trips, and a second translation table defining a mapping from at least one of the one or more sets of trip identifiers to the second trip identifiers;

using the information to identify a trip that is common to both the transportation schedule and the transportation status update, wherein a trip is common where the trip is identified by a first identifier of the first trip identifiers and a second trip identifier of the second trip identifiers, wherein the first trip identifier is mapped to the second trip identifier according to the one or more translation tables; and

providing an update for the trip at least in part based on using the actual records of transportation status update relating to the second identifier and the planned records of the transportation schedule relating to the first identifier.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more translation tables is part of the transportation status update.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

generating at least one of the one or more translation tables by correlating information included in the planned records to information included in the actual records.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the information included in the planned records and the information included in the actual records comprises one or more of trip timetables, transportation line names, station names, and geographic coordinates.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

generating at least one of the one or more translation tables based on information included in different versions of the transportation schedule.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the information relating one or more of the first trip identifiers to one or more of the second trip identifiers further includes a second transportation schedule comprising planned records for the second trips, the second trips being associated with the corresponding second trip identifiers.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

comparing the actual records for second trips with the planned records for first trips; and

based on comparing the actual records for second trips with the planned records for first trips, identifying a trip that is included in the second trips and not included in the first trips.

8. A system comprising:

one or more processing devices; and

one or more non-transitory machine-readable media comprising instructions which, when executed by the one or more processing devices, cause the one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising;

accessing a transportation schedule comprising planned records for first trips, the first trips being associated with corresponding first trip identifiers;

receiving a transportation status update comprising actual records for second trips, the second trips being associated with corresponding second trip identifiers;

obtaining information relating one or more of the first trip identifiers to one or more of the second trip identifiers from at least one or more translation tables, the one or more translation tables defining a mapping from one or more of the first trip identifiers to one or more of the second trip identifiers, the one or more translation tables including a first translation table defining a mapping of one or more sets of trip identifiers, including the first trip identifiers, to one another, the one or more sets of trip identifiers corresponding to planned records for first trips, and a second translation table defining a mapping from at least one of the one or more sets of trip identifiers to the second trip identifiers;

using the information to identify a trip that is common to both the transportation schedule and the transportation status update; and

providing an update for the trip at least in part based on using the actual records of transportation status update relating to the second identifier and the planned records of the transportation schedule relating to the first identifier.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein at least one of the one or more translation tables is part of the transportation status update.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises:

generating at least one of the one or more translation tables by correlating information included in the planned records to information included in the actual records.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the information included in the planned records and the information included in the actual records comprises one or more of trip timetables, transportation line names, station names, and geographic coordinates.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the method further comprises:

generating at least one of the one or more translation tables based on information included in different versions of the transportation schedule.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise:

comparing the actual records for second trips with the planned records for first trips; and

based on comparing the actual records for second trips with the planned records for first trips, identifying a trip that is included in the second trips and not included in the first trips.

14. One or more non-transitory machine-readable storage media for storing instructions that are executable by one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising:

accessing a transportation schedule comprising planned records for first trips, the first trips being associated with corresponding first trip identifiers;

receiving a transportation status update comprising actual records for second trips, the second trips being associated with corresponding second trip identifiers;

obtaining information relating one or more of the first trip identifiers to one or more of the second trip identifiers, the information comprising one or more of one or more translation tables showing a mapping from one or more of the first identifiers to one or more of the second identifiers or a second transportation schedule comprising planned records for the second trips, the one or more translation tables including a first translation table defining a mapping of one or more sets of trip identifiers, including the first trip identifiers, to one another, the one or more sets of trip identifiers corresponding to planned records for first trips, and a second translation table defining a mapping from at least one of the one or more sets of trip identifiers to the second trip identifiers;

using the information to identify a trip that is common to both the transportation schedule and the transportation status update, the trip being associated with a first identifier of the first identifiers and a second identifier of the second identifiers; and

providing an update for the trip using the transportation status update and the transportation schedule.

15. The one or more machine-readable storage media of claim 14, wherein the information relating one or more of the first trip identifiers to one or more of the second trip identifiers is part of a translation table, the translation table being part of the transportation status update.

16. The one or more machine-readable storage media of claim 14, wherein the information relating one or more of the first trip identifiers to one or more of the second trip identifiers is part of a translation table;

and

wherein the operations further comprise;

generating the translation table by correlating information included in the planned records to information included in the actual records.

17. A system comprising:

one or more processing devices including a processor; and

means for performing operations comprising;

accessing a transportation schedule comprising planned records for first trips, the first trips being associated with corresponding first trip identifiers;

receiving a transportation status update comprising actual records for second trips, the second trips being associated with corresponding second trip identifiers;

obtaining information relating one or more of the first trip identifiers to one or more of the second trip identifiers, the information comprising one or more translation tables showing a mapping from one or more of the first identifiers to one or more of the second identifiers, the one or more translation tables including a first translation table defining a mapping of one or more sets of trip identifiers, including the first trip identifiers, to one another, the one or more sets of trip identifiers corresponding to planned records for first trips, and a second translation table defining a mapping from at least one of the one or more sets of trip identifiers to the second trip identifiers;

using the information to identify a trip that is common to both the transportation schedule and the transportation status update, the trip being associated with a first identifier of the first identifiers and a second identifier of the second identifiers; and

providing an update for the trip using the transportation status update and the transportation schedule.