Public transit system and apparatus and method for dispatching public transit vehicles

• US 5,799,263 A
• Filed: 04/15/1996
• Issued: 08/25/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 04/15/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: BCT Systems
• Original Assignee: BCT Systems
• Inventors: Culbertson, Russell D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zanelli, Michael
• Assistant Examiner(s): PIPALA, EDWARD J
• Application Number:
  US08/631,147
• Time in Patent Office: 862 Days
• Field of Search: 364/423.098, 364/436, 364/446, 364/444.1, 340/988, 340/989, 340/994, 701/1, 701/117, 701/201, 701/204
• US Class Current: 701/117
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/123 indicating the position of vehicles, e.g. scheduled vehicles; Managing passenger vehicles circulating according to a fixed timetable, e.g. buses, trains, tramstransmission of navigation instructions to vehicles G08G1/0968

Abstract

A public transit system uses a plurality of intracell vehicles to service transit requests in individual transit cells, and the transit cells are connected by intracell vehicles which travel between cell terminals located within the respective transit cells. The intracell vehicles are automatically dispatched by a dispatching system (12) which assigns each transit request to an intracell vehicle servicing a matching transit route or soft route comprising a geographical area and a route travel direction. The dispatching system (12) uses a process for selecting the most appropriate vehicle to handle a transit request where no prior route matches the request. This initial transit request then defines a new soft route for the vehicle to which it is assigned. Transit requests are preferably communicated to the dispatching system via a local telephone system and locations within the transit cell are defined by telephone numbers or other suitable identifiers.

Claims

1. A method of dispatching public transit vehicles to service transit requests within a geographic transit cell, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) at a dispatching computer system, receiving a plurality of transit requests, each transit request being transmitted to the dispatching computer system through a transit request communication system and including a destination location identifier and a request location identifier;

(b) at the dispatching computer system, periodically receiving vehicle status signals from a plurality of intracell vehicles, each vehicle status signal containing vehicle status information;

(c) for each transit request, associating the request location identifier with a request location within the transit cell, and associating the destination location identifier with a destination location within the transit cell;

(d) for each transit request, determining a request direction from the request location and the destination location;

(e) assigning each transit request to a matching intracell vehicle route of an intracell vehicle having available passenger capacity, the matching intracell vehicle route having a route area including the request location and the destination location associated with the respective transit request, and also having a route direction matching the request direction of the respective transit request; and

(f) for each transit request, after assigning the respective transit request to the matching intracell vehicle route, transmitting from the dispatching computer system a dispatch signal to an intracell vehicle servicing the matching intracell vehicle route, the dispatch signal including transit request service information.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the vehicle status information includes a vehicle current location value, an occupancy value, and a current vehicle route identifier, all for the respective intracell vehicle transmitting the particular vehicle status signal.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein each request direction comprises a value representing the angular difference between a line defined from the request location to the destination location for the respective transit request and a line extending from the request location in a predetermined reference direction.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein each dispatch signal includes a vehicle route identifying value unique to the respective matching route.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the transit request service information for each dispatch signal includes a request location description and a destination location description.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the transit request service information for each dispatch signal includes a request location value and a destination location value.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

(a) defining an a new intracell vehicle route when the request location and destination location associated with one of the transit requests are not included in a previously existing intracell vehicle route.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

(a) defining an a new intracell vehicle route when the request direction defined by said transit request does not match a direction of a previously existing intracell vehicle route.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein each intracell vehicle is assigned an intracell vehicle route type chosen from a group comprising:

(a) an inbound route defined by an area including a route line from the request location to the destination location associated with one of said transit requests, and a predetermined distance on either side of said route line; and

(b) an outbound route defined by predetermined static boundary lines extending from a cell terminal location within the cell.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the group from which the intracell vehicle route type is chosen further comprises:

(a) a composite route consisting of an inbound route terminating at the cell terminal location and an outbound route.

11. The method of claim 10 including the step of creating a composite route in response to a transit request in which the destination location associated with the transit request is outside of an area defined by a line extending from the request location to the cell terminal location and lines extending at predetermined angles from the terminal location on either side of the line extending from the request location to the terminal location.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the transit request communication system comprises a local telephone system operating in the transit cell, the destination location identifier comprises a destination telephone number of a telephone at the destination location, and the request location identifier comprises a request telephone number of a telephone at the request location and further comprising the step of:

(a) capturing the request telephone number through an incoming call identification service.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the dispatching computer system includes a data storage device storing a database comprising telephone numbers assigned to telephones within the transit cell, each stored telephone number related to a location value, each location value including an X-value representing the distance between a physical location related to the stored telephone number and a terminal location within the transit cell in an X direction, and a Y-value representing the distance between the physical location related to the stored telephone number and the terminal location in a Y direction perpendicular to the X direction.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein:

(a) the step of associating the request telephone number with the request location includes searching the location database for the request telephone number and retrieving the location value related to the request telephone number; and

(b) the step of associating the destination telephone number with the destination location includes searching the location database for the destination telephone number and retrieving the location value related to the destination telephone number.

15. The method of claim 12 further comprising the steps of maintaining the telephone connection for each transit request and announcing a vehicle identifier for the particular intracell vehicle assigned to service the respective transit request.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising the steps of:

(a) for each transit request determining an estimated time of arrival of the particular assigned intracell vehicle to the request location associated with the respective transit request; and

(b) announcing said estimated time of arrival through the telephone connection through which the transit request is made.

17. A public transit system for transporting passengers within a geographic transit cell, the public transit system comprising:

(a) a plurality of intracell vehicles for transporting passengers within the transit cell;

(b) status signal transmission means mounted in each intracell vehicle for transmitting status signals, each status signal including vehicle status information;

(c) a terminal located within the transit cell, the terminal having an area for at least one of the intracell vehicles at a time to park and allow passengers to load and unload;

(d) transit request communication means for receiving transit requests transmitted across a transit request communication system, each transit request including a request location identifier and a destination location identifier;

(e) intracell vehicle communication means for receiving the vehicle status signals transmitted from the intracell vehicles, and for transmitting dispatch signals to the intracell vehicles, each dispatch signal corresponding to a transit request and including transit request service information;

(f) dispatch signal display means mounted in each intracell vehicle, each dispatch signal display means for receiving dispatch signals affecting the particular intracell vehicle in which it is mounted and for displaying vehicle operator information contained within the transit request information associated with the respective dispatch signal; and

(g) dispatching means associated with the transit request communication means and the intracell vehicle communication means, the dispatching means for receiving the transit requests from the transit request communication means and vehicle status signals from the intracell vehicle communication means, and for each transit request associating the respective request location identifier with a unique request location value within the transit cell, associating the respective destination location identifier with a unique destination location value within the transit cell, determining a request direction using the request and destination location, assigning the respective transit request to a matching intracell vehicle route, and causing the intracell vehicle communications means to transmit a dispatch signal corresponding to the transit request, the matching intracell vehicle route having a route area including the request location and the destination location associated with the respective transit request and also having a route direction matching the request direction of the respective transit request.

18. The public transit system of claim 17 wherein the vehicle display means includes a screen display for displaying a geographic area covered by a vehicle route and for displaying request locations and destination locations assigned to the displayed vehicle route.

19. The public transit system of claim 17 further comprising route database storage means associated with the dispatching means, the route database storage means storing route parameters for each vehicle route assigned to the plurality of intracell vehicles, the route parameters defining the geographic area covered by the particular assigned route and including a route direction.

20. The public transit system of claim 17 further comprising:

(a) a vehicle transit request input device mounted in each intracell vehicle, the vehicle transit request input device enabling passengers to enter a respective destination location identifier associated with their desired destination.

21. The public transit system of claim 17 wherein the transit request communication system comprises a local telephone system operating throughout the transit cell area, the request location identifier comprises a request telephone number, and the destination location identifier comprises a destination telephone number.

22. The public transit system of claim 21 further comprising incoming call identification means associated with the transit request communications means for capturing the request telephone number of each transit request.

23. The public transit system of claim 22 further comprising speech synthesizing means associated with the transit request communication means for generating a dispatched vehicle identifying announcement for each transit request and transmitting the vehicle identifying announcement over the connection created by the transit request.

24. The public transit system of claim 23 further comprising vehicle pick-up estimation means associated with the dispatching means for producing an estimated time of arrival of the assigned intracell vehicle at the request location associated with the respective transit request, and wherein the speech synthesizing means is also for creating an estimated time of arrival announcement for each transit request and transmitting the respective estimated time of arrival announcement over the connection created by the transit request.

25. The public transit system of claim 21 further comprising:

(a) database storage means associated with the dispatching means and storing telephone numbers associated with valid request locations and destination locations throughout the transit cell, each telephone number having related thereto a unique location value representing a location within the transit cell associated with the telephone number.

26. The public transit system of claim 25 wherein each telephone number stored in the database storage means has related thereto a physical description of the location within the transit cell associated with the telephone number.

27. The public transit system of claim 26 wherein the vehicle display means includes a screen display for displaying the physical description related to each request location and each destination location assigned to the displayed vehicle route.

28. A method for dispatching public transit vehicles to service transit requests within a geographic transit cell, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) at a dispatching computer system, receiving a plurality of transit requests, each transit request being transmitted to the dispatching computer system through a transit request communication system and including a destination location identifier and a request location identifier;

(b) at the dispatching computer system, periodically receiving vehicle status signals from a plurality of intracell vehicles, each vehicle status signal containing vehicle status information;

(c) for each transit request, associating the request location identifier with a request location within the transit cell, and associating the destination location identifier with a destination location within the transit cell;

(d) defining a new intracell vehicle route when the request location and destination location associated with one of the transit requests are not included in a previously existing intracell vehicle route;

(e) assigning each transit request to a particular intracell vehicle and vehicle route for servicing the request; and

(f) for each transit request, after assigning the respective transit request to the particular intracell vehicle and vehicle route, transmitting from the dispatching computer system a dispatch signal to said particular intracell vehicle, the dispatch signal including transit request service information.

29. The method claim 28 further comprising the step of:

(a) receiving a passenger'"'"'s destination location identifier through a vehicle transit request input device mounted in one of the intracell vehicles.

30. A method for dispatching public transit vehicles to service transit requests within a geographic transit cell, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) at a dispatching computer system, receiving a plurality of transit requests, each transit request being transmitted to the dispatching computer system through a transit request communication system and including a destination location identifier and a request location identifier;

(b) at the dispatching computer system, periodically receiving vehicle status signals from a plurality of intracell vehicles, each vehicle status signal containing vehicle status information;

(c) for each transit request, associating the request location identifier with a request location within the transit cell, and associating the destination location identifier with a destination location within the transit cell, and determining a request direction from the request location and destination location;

(d) defining a new intracell vehicle route when the request direction defined by said transit request does not match a direction of a previously existing intracell vehicle route

(e) assigning each transit request to a particular vehicle route defined by a route direction and a geographical area, the route direction matching the request direction of the respective transit request and the geographical area including the request location and the destination location, the particular vehicle route being assigned to a particular intracell vehicle; and

(f) for each transit request, after assigning the respective transit request to the particular vehicle route assigned to the particular intracell vehicle, transmitting from the dispatching computer system a dispatch signal to said particular intracell vehicle, the dispatch signal including transit request service information.

31. A method of dispatching public transit vehicles to service transit requests within a geographic transit cell, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) at a dispatching computer system, receiving a plurality of transit requests, each transit request being transmitted to the dispatching computer system through a transit request communication system and including a destination location identifier and a request location identifier;

(b) at the dispatching computer system, periodically receiving vehicle status signals from a plurality of intracell vehicles, each vehicle status signal containing vehicle status information;

(c) for each transit request, associating the request location identifier with a request location within the transit cell, and associating the destination location identifier with a destination location within the transit cell;

(d) assigning each transit request to a particular vehicle route defined by a geographical area which includes the request location and the destination location, each particular vehicle route being assigned to a particular intracell vehicle;

(e) for each transit request, after assigning the respective transit request to the particular vehicle route and intracell vehicle, transmitting from the dispatching computer system a dispatch signal to said particular intracell vehicle, the dispatch signal including transit request service information; and

(f) wherein each intracell vehicle route comprises an intracell vehicle route type chosen from a group comprising;

(i) an inbound route defined by an area including a route line from the request location to the destination location associated with one of said transit requests, and a predetermined distance on either side of said route line; and

(ii) an outbound route defined by predetermined static boundary lines extending from a cell terminal location within the cell.