Fully automated vehicle dispatching, monitoring and billing

• US 6,430,496 B1
• Filed: 12/01/1997
• Issued: 08/06/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/1995
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Total Technology Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Trak Software, Inc.
• Inventors: Edwards, Kenneth W., Smith, Chris C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Zanelli, Michael J.
• Application Number:
  US08/980,645
• Time in Patent Office: 1,709 Days
• Field of Search: 705/34, 705/417, 705/1, 705/4, 701/117, 701/1, 701/201, 701/209, 701/213, 340/992, 340/989, 340/990, 342/357.09, 342/357.07
• US Class Current: 701/117
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0284 Time or distance, e.g. usage of parking meters or taximeters
• 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 controlling ambulances so as to ensure reimbursement for transportation services provided by said ambulances, comprising:

a database including records each documenting needed transportation services;

processing circuitry generating an instruction to a vehicle to provide a transportation service, an instruction produced by said processing circuitry including an identification of a route to be followed by said vehicle, the processing circuitry generating said route in accordance with routing criteria of a third party payor in order to ensure reimbursement for transportation services provided by ambulances.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the payor establishing an approved route is any one of a governmental and an insurance entity.

3. A system for ensuring that appropriate mileage charges are being applied to transportation services submitted for reimbursement to a payor;

comprising;

a database including records each documenting transportation services provided and submitted for reimbursement, said records indicating a starting and ending point of said transportation services and a mileage purportedly travelled in providing said transportation services;

processing circuitry reviewing said records, determining from a record said starting and ending points and mileage purportedly travelled, determining an approved route from said starting point to said ending point, and comparing a mileage associated with said approved route to said mileage purportedly travelled to determine if said mileage purportedly travelled is appropriate for said services.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein said approved route is a shortest route from said starting point to said ending point.

5. The system of claim 3 wherein said approved route is established by the payor based upon said starting and ending points.

6. The system of claim 3 wherein the payor establishing routing criteria is any one of a govermental and an insurance entity.

7. A method for controlling ambulances so as to ensure reimbursement for transportation services provided by said ambulances, comprising:

documenting needed transportation services;

generating an instruction to a vehicle to provide a transportation service, the instruction including an identification of a route to be followed by said vehicle,

wherein the route is generated in accordance with routing criteria of a third party payor in order to ensure reimbursement for transportation services provided by ambulances.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the payor establishing routing criteria is any one of a govermental and an insurance entity.

9. A method for ensuring that appropriate mileage charges are being applied to transportation services submitted for reimbursement to a payor, comprising:

receiving documentation of transportation services provided and submitted for reimbursement, including a starting and ending point of said transportation services and a mileage purportedly travelled in providing said transportation services;

determining from the documented starting and ending points, an approved route from said starting point to said ending point, and comparing a mileage associated with said approved route to said documented mileage purportedly travelled, to determine whether said mileage purportedly travelled is appropriate for said services.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein said approved route is a shortest route from said starting point to said ending point.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein said approved route is established by the payor based upon said starting and ending points.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the payor establishing an approved route is any one of a governmental and an insurance entity.

13. A system for controlling a vehicle to provide transportation services, comprising:

storage documenting needed transportation services between any origin and destination and a time frame thereof, wherein said vehicle under control of said system does not travel on a predetermined routes between said origin and said destination;

processing circuitry performing a dispatching process without human intervention, said dispatching process including reviewing said storage, identifying a need for immediate transportation service based upon a time frame thereof, and instructing said vehicle to provide said transportation service by travelling from said origin to said destination.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein said processing circuitry further performs a monitoring process without human intervention, said monitoring process including reviewing said needed transportation services and vehicle activity information to identify transportation services which are not being adequately provided.

15. The system of claim 14 further comprising

communication circuitry forwarding instructions produced by said dispatching process from said processing circuitry to a vehicle; said communication circuitry further providing vehicle activity information relating to said vehicle to said processing circuitry for review by said monitoring process.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein said communications circuitry forwards instructions to a vehicle via radio communications.

17. The system of claim 15 wherein a vehicle reports information on its activities by radio communications to said communications cicuitry.

18. The system of claim 15 wherein said communications circuitry forwards instructions to a vehicle and receives vehicle activity information from a vehicle via both ground-based radio communication and satellite-based radio communication.

19. The system of claim 15 wherein

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

said processing circuitry instructing a vehicle to provide services by writing a communication request in said storage for later forwarding by said communication circuitry.

20. The system of claim 19 further comprising data entry circuitry for manual operation to create a record.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein said data entry circuitry is located at a remote site in telephonic communication with said storage.

22. The system of claim 21 wherein said data entry circuitry includes a reader for reading information from an identification card used by a person requesting transportation services.

23. The system of claim 20 wherein said data entry circuitry is a touch-tone responsive telephone receiver for receiving touch-tone telephone signals and creating a record therefrom.

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

25. The system of claim 13 wherein said processing circuitry performs multiple said dispatching processes in parallel.

26. The system of claim 13 wherein said vehicles are ambulances and said storage includes an indication whether requested transportation services must include advanced life support facilities.

27. The system of claim 13 wherein a dispatching process instruction to a vehicle to provide said transportation service includes an identification of a route to be followed by said vehicle.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein said dispatching process includes selecting said route in accordance with routing criteria demanded by any one of a governmental and an insurance entity.

45. The system of claim 21, wherein said vehicles are ambulances and said storage includes an indication of whether requested transportation services must include advanced life support facilities.

46. The system of claim 27 wherein said monitoring process creates exception records in said storage identifying those records which are not being adequately serviced, and said system further comprises dispatcher circuitry for operation by a human dispatcher to use the exception records to locate records which are not being adequately serviced and take action with respect to such records.

47. The system of claim 19 wherein said storage includes records indicating billing information associated with requested transportation services, and

said monitoring process, upon determining completion of requested services, generates an invoice record in said storage for billing to a customer, said invoice record including said billing information.

48. The system of claim 47 wherein said billing information includes a log of vehicle activities performed in response to a customer request.

49. The system of claim 47 wherein said billing information includes insurance information associated with a customer receiving transportation services.

50. The system of claim 47 wherein said billing information includes information on special handling provided to a customer along with transportation services.

29. A system for monitoring a vehicle providing transportation services, comprising:

storage documenting needed transportation services;

processing circuitry performing a monitoring process without human intervention, said monitoring process including reviewing said needed transportation services and vehicle activity information to identify transportation services which are not being adequately provided.

30. The system of claim 29 further comprising

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

31. The system of claim 30 wherein said communications circuitry forwards instructions to a vehicle via radio communications.

32. The system of claim 30 wherein a vehicle reports information on its activities by radio communications to said communications circuitry.

33. The system of claim 30 wherein said communications circuitry forwards instructions to a vehicle and receives vehicle activity information from a vehicle via both ground-based radio communication and satellite-based radio communication.

34. The system of claim 30 further comprising satellite-based vehicle tracking circuitry for tracking locations of said vehicles,

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

35. The system of claim 34 wherein a request for transportation services requests a vehicle to travel to an appointed location, and

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

36. The system of claim 35 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 customer request is being adequately serviced.

37. The system of claim 35 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 customer request is being adequately serviced.

38. The system of claim 30 wherein

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

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

39. The system of claim 38 further comprising data entry circuitry for manual operation to create a record.

40. The system of claim 39 wherein said data entry circuitry is located at a remote site in telephonic communication with said storage.

41. The system of claim 40 wherein said data entry circuitry includes a reader for reading information from an identification card used by a person requesting transportation services.

42. The system of claim 39 wherein said data entry circuitry is a touch-tone responsive telephone receiver for receiving touch-tone telephone signals and creating a record therefrom.

43. The system of claim 30 wherein said storage, said processing circuitry and said communication circuitry are located at a plurality of locations and in telephonic communication with each other.

44. The system of claim 29 wherein said processing circuitry performs multiple said monitoring processes in parallel.

51. The system of claim 29 wherein said vehicle activity information indicates one or more of:

whether said vehicle is moving,

the velocity of said vehicle,

whether said vehicle is braking,

fuel usage of said vehicle,

whether emergency signals of said vehicle are operating, and

whether an engine of said vehicle is idling.

52. The system of claim 51 wherein said monitoring process determines from said vehicle activity information whether said vehicle is being used appropriately at times when said vehicle is not delivering transportation services, and if so creates an exception record in said storage identifying the vehicle which is not being used appropriately.

53. The system of claim 51 wherein said monitoring process determines from said vehicle activity information whether said vehicle is stalled in traffic, and if so creates an exception record in said storage identifying the vehicle which is stalled in traffic.

54. The system of claim 29 wherein said processing circuit further performs a system status management process including reviewing said storage and vehicle activity information to determine and predict future needs for transportation services 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.

55. The system of claim 54 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.

56. The system of claim 54 wherein said system status 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.

57. A method for controlling a vehicle to provide transportation services, comprising:

documenting needed transportation services between any origin and destination and a time frame thereof, wherein said vehicle when controlled in accordance with said method does not travel on predetermined routes between said origin and said destination;

performing a dispatching process without human intervention, said dispatching process including reviewing said documented transportation services, identifying a need for immediate transportation service based upon a time frame thereof, and instructing said vehicle to provide said transportation service by travelling from said origin to said destination.

58. The method of claim 57 further comprising performing a monitoring process without human intervention, said monitoring process including reviewing said needed transportation services and vehicle activity information to identify transportation services which are not being adequately provided.

59. A method for monitoring a vehicle providing transportation services, comprising:

documenting needed transportation services;

performing a monitoring process without human intervention, said monitoring process including reviewing said needed transportation services and vehicle activity information to identify transportation services which are not being adequately provided.

60. A system for identifying an appropriate value for a transportation service, comprising:

interface circuitry receiving an origin and a destination for said transportation service,

processing circuitry responding to said origin and destination by applying routing criteria thereto to derive a value for said transportation service based upon said origin and destination.

61. The system of claim 60 wherein application of said routing criteria identifies a shortest route from said starting point to said ending point.

62. The system of claim 60 wherein said interface circuitry and processing circuitry operate without human intervention.

63. The system of claim 60 wherein said monetary value is derived from a distance from said origin to said destination.

64. The system of claim 60 wherein said monetary value represents an amount to be paid by a third party in reimbursement for said transportation service.

65. The system of claim 64 wherein said routing criteria are promulgated by said third party.

66. The system of claim 64 wherein said third party is a business.

67. The system of claim 64 wherein said third party is any one of a governmental and an insurance entity.

68. The system of claim 64 utilized in conjunction with a billing system, wherein said system is connected to said billing system to derive monetary values for transportation services provided by the billing system.

69. The system of claim 68 wherein said system rejects charges provided by the billing system which exceed the derived monetary value therefor.

70. The system of claim 64 utilized in conjunction with a payment system, wherein said system is connected to said payment system to derive monetary values for transportation services invoiced to the payment system.

71. The system of claim 70 wherein said payment system rejects invoiced transportation services which exceed the derived monetary value therefor.

72. The system of claim 60 wherein said transportation service is an ambulance service and said routing criteria are derived from costs of ambulance service.

73. The system of claim 60 wherein said origin and destination are street addresses.

74. A method for verifying that an appropriate charge has been made for a transportation service, comprising:

receiving an origin and a destination for said transportation service,

applying routing criteria to said origin and destination to derive a monetary value for said transportation service based upon said origin and destination.

75. The method of claim 74 wherein application of said routing criteria identifies a shortest route from said origin to said destination.

76. The method of claim 74 wherein said receiving and applying steps are performed without human intervention.

77. The method of claim 74 wherein said monetary value is derived from a distance from said origin to said destination.

78. The method of claim 74 wherein said monetary value represents an amount to be paid by a third party in reimbursement for said transportation service.

79. The method of claim 78 wherein said routing criteria are promulgated by said third party.

80. The method of claim 78 wherein said third party is a business.

81. The method of claim 78 wherein said third party is any one of a governmental and an insurance entity.

82. The method of claim 78 utilized in conjunction with a billing for services, further comprising receiving bills for services and deriving monetary values for transportation services that are being billed.

83. The method of claim 82 further comprising rejecting billed charges which exceed the derived monetary value therefor.

84. The method of claim 78 utilized in conjunction with payment for services, further comprising receiving invoices for services and deriving monetary values for transportation services that are being invoiced.

85. The method of claim 84 further comprising rejecting invoiced transportation services which exceed the derived monetary value therefor.

86. The method of claim 74 wherein said transportation service is an ambulance service and said routing criteria are derived from costs of ambulance service.

87. The method of claim 74 wherein said origin and destination are street addresses.

88. A system for controlling a vehicle to provide transportation services, comprising:

storage documenting needed transportation services between any origin and destination, wherein said services are to be performed by said vehicle under unilateral control of said system, and said vehicle under control of said system does not travel on predetermined routes between said origin and said destination;

processing circuitry performing a dispatching process without human intervention, said dispatching process including reviewing said needed transportation services, and issuing a unilateral instruction to said vehicle to provide said transportation service by travelling from said origin to said destination.

89. The system of claim 88 wherein said processing circuitry further performs a monitoring process without human intervention, said monitoring process including reviewing said needed transportation services and vehicle activity information to identify transportation services which are not being adequately provided.

90. The system of claim 89 further comprising

communication circuitry forwarding instructions produced by said dispatching process from said processing circuitry to a vehicle; said communication circuitry further providing vehicle activity information relating to said vehicle to said processing circuitry for review by said monitoring process.

91. The system of claim 90 wherein said communication circuitry forwards instructions to a vehicle via radio communications.

92. The system of claim 90 wherein a vehicle reports information on its activities by radio communications to said communications circuitry.

93. The system of claim 90 wherein said communications circuitry forwards instructions to a vehicle and receives vehicle activity information from a vehicle via both ground-based radio communication and satellite-based radio communication.

94. The system of claim 90 wherein

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

said processing circuitry instructing a vehicle to provide services by writing a communication request in said storage for later forwarding by said communication circuitry.

95. The system of claim 94 further comprising data entry circuitry for manual operation to create a record.

96. The system of claim 95 wherein said data entry circuitry is located at a remote site in telephonic communication with said storage.

97. The system of claim 96 wherein said data entry circuitry includes a reader for reading information from an identification card used by a person requesting transportation services.

98. The system of claim 97 wherein said data entry circuitry is a touch-tone responsive telephone receiver for receiving touch-tone telephone signals and creating a record therefrom.

99. The system of claim 90 wherein said storage, said processing circuitry and said communication circuitry are located at a plurality of locations and in telephonic communication with each other.

100. The system of claim 88 wherein said processing circuitry performs multiple said dispatching processes in parallel.

101. The system of claim 88 wherein said vehicles are ambulances and said storage including an indication of whether requested transportation services must include advanced life support facilities.

102. The system of claim 88 wherein a dispatching process instruction to a vehicle to provide said transportation service includes an identification of a route to be followed by said vehicle.

103. The system of claim 102 wherein said dispatching process includes selecting said route in accordance with routing criteria demanded by any one of a governmental and an insurance entity.

104. A method for controlling a vehicle to provide transportation services, comprising:

documenting needed transportation services between any origin and destination, wherein said services are to be performed by said vehicle under unilateral control, and said vehicle when controlled in accordance with said method does not travel on predetermined routes between said origin and said destination;

performing a dispatching process without human intervention, said dispatching process including reviewing said documented transportation services, and unilaterally instructing said vehicle to provide said transportation service by travelling from said origin to said destination.

105. The method of claim 104 further comprising performing a monitoring process without human intervention, said monitoring process including reviewing said needed transportation services and vehicle activity information to identify transportation services which are not being adequately provided.

106. A system for monitoring use of a vehicle, comprising:

communication circuitry receiving activity information from said vehicle without human intervention, and

processing circuitry performing a monitoring process without human intervention, said monitoring process including reviewing said activity information to identify whether said vehicle is stalled in traffic.

107. The system of claim 106 wherein said communication circuitry receives said activity information by radio communications.

108. The system of claim 106 wherein said activity information indicates one or more of:

whether said vehicle is moving,

the velocity of said vehicle,

whether said vehicle is braking,

fuel usage of said vehicle,

whether emergency signals of said vehicle are operating, and

whether an engine of said vehicle is idling.

109. The system of claim 108 wherein said processing circuitry determines from said activity information whether said vehicle is being used appropriately.

110. A method for monitoring use of a vehicle, comprising:

receiving activity information from said vehicle without human intervention, and

performing a monitoring process without human intervention, said monitoring process including reviewing said activity information to identify whether said vehicle is stalled in traffic.

111. The method of claim 110 further comprising receiving said activity information by radio communications.

112. The method of claim 110 wherein said activity information indicates one or more of:

whether said vehicle is moving,

the velocity of said vehicle,

whether said vehicle is braking,

fuel usage of said vehicle,

whether emergency signals of said vehicle are operating, and

whether an engine of said vehicle is idling.

113. The method of claim 112 further comprising determining from said activity information whether said vehicle is being used appropriately.

114. A system for interacting with a mobile asset to encourage positioning of said mobile asset at a desired single location, comprising:

circuitry identifying position or motion information for said mobile asset,

storage for data referencing activity of a mobile asset,

processing circuitry reviewing said position or motion information and said data without human intervention, to correlate said position or motion information with activity of a mobile asset referenced in said data, identifying a desired single location for said mobile asset, and advising a person responsible for control of said mobile asset of the desired single location for said mobile asset based upon the correlation of said position or motion information with activity of a mobile asset referenced in said data.

115. The system of claim 114 wherein said mobile asset is a vehicle.

116. The system of claim 115 wherein said data in said storage references a transport service to be performed by said vehicle.

117. The system of claim 116 wherein said correlation of said position or motion information with a transport service referenced in said data, comprises determining whether said vehicle is positioned to meet predicted needs for said transport service.

118. The system of claim 115 wherein said person responsible for control of said mobile asset is a driver of said vehicle.

119. A method of interacting with a mobile asset to encourage positioning of said mobile asset at a desired single location, comprising:

identifying position or motion information for said mobile asset,

storing data referencing activity of a mobile asset,

reviewing said position or motion information and said data without human intervention, to correlate said position or motion information with activity of a mobile asset referenced in said data,

identifying a desired single location for said mobile asset, and

advising a person responsible for control of said mobile asset of the desired single location for said mobile asset based upon the correlation of said position or motion information with activity of a mobile asset referenced in said data.

120. The system of claim 119 wherein said mobile asset is a vehicle.

121. The system of claim 120 wherein said data references a transport service to be performed by said vehicle.

122. The system of claim 121 wherein said correlation of said position or motion information with a transport service referenced in said data, comprises determining whethe said vehicle is positioned to meet predicted needs for said transport service.

123. The system of claim 120 wherein said person responsible for control of said mobile asset is driver of said vehicle.

124. A system for monitoring use of a vehicle, comprising:

communication circuitry receiving vehicle activity information without human intervention, and

processing circuitry performing a monitoring process without human intervention, said monitoring process including reviewing said vehicle activity information to identify one or more of;

whether said vehicle is braking;

whether emergency signals of said vehicle are operating, and

whether an engine of said vehicle is idling.

125. The system of claim 124 wherein a vehicle reports information on its activities by radio communication to said communication circuitry.

126. The system of claim 125 wherein said monitoring process determines from said vehicle activity information whether said vehicle is being used appropriatly.

127. The system of claim 125 wherein said monitoring process determines from said vehicle activity information whether said vehicle is stalled in traffic.

128. A method for monitoring use of a vehicle, comprising:

receiving vehicle activity information without human intervention, and

performing a monitoring process without human intervention, said monitoring process including reviewing said vehicle activity information to identify one or more of;

whether said vehicle is braking;

whether emergency signals of said vehicle are operating, and

whether an engine of said vehicle is idling.

129. The method of claim 128 further comprising receiving information on activities of a vehicle by radio communications.

130. The method of claim 128 further comprising determining from said vehicle activity information whether said vehicle is being used appropriately.

131. The method of claim 128 further comprising determining from said vehicle activity information whether said vehicle is stalled in traffic.

132. A system for monitoring use of a vehicle, comprising:

communication circuitry receiving vehicle activity information without human intervention, and

processing circuitry of performing a monitoring process without human intervention, said monitoring process including reviewing said vehicle activity information to detect a transportation-affecting situation, and predicting therefrom whether transportation services will meet future needs.

133. The system of claim 132 wherein a vehicle reports information on its activities by radio communications to said communications circuitry.

134. The system of claim 132 wherein said monitoring process determines from said vehicle activity information whether said vehicle is being used appropriately.

135. The system of claim 132 wherein said monitoring process determines from said vehicle activity information whether said vehicle is stalled in traffic.

136. The system of claim 132 wherein said system directs said vehicle to a new location to better meet future needs.

137. The system of claim 132 wherein said predicting step comprises computing a lead time to performing a transportation service.

138. A method for monitoring use of a vehicle, comprising:

receiving vehicle activity information without human intervention, and

performing a monitoring process without human intervention, said monitoring process including reviewing said vehicle activity information to detect a transportation-affecting situation, and predicting therefrom whether transportation services will meet future needs.

139. The method of claim 138 further comprising receiving information on activities of a vehicle by radio communications.

140. The method of claim 138 further comprising determining from said vehicle activity information whether said vehicle is being used appropriately.

141. The method of claim 138 further comprising determining from said vehicle activity information whether said vehicle is stalled in traffic.

142. The method of claim 138 further comprising directing said vehicle to a new location to a better meet future needs.

143. The method of claim 138 further comprising computing a lead time to performing a transportation service.