Patent Application
20090030715
The field of the present disclosure relates to schedule keeping, and more specifically, to systems and methods that provide information to a traveler during a trip, such as whether they are ahead of schedule, on schedule, or behind schedule.
Travelers typically prefer to stay on schedule. Travel delays may result in undesirable consequences, such as missed connections, delayed meetings, increased costs, and missed business opportunities. Thus, travelers may frequently examine their current travel status and project ahead to attempt to estimate whether they are on schedule, and if not, whether anything can be done to correct the situation.
There are many different sources of information available to a traveler to help the traveler examine their current travel status, including aircraft flight schedules, bus and subway schedules, ship and ferry schedules, traffic flow maps, weather information, accident reports, wait times published by the Transportation Security Administration, and a variety of other suitable information sources. Although desirable results have been achieved using such prior art sources of information, there is room for improvement. For example, some of the prior art sources of information may not be capable of providing real-time information to the traveler. Others may require an undesirable amount of labor and time to access the desired information, and still others may not be readily accessible to the traveler. There is no system that aggregates all of the data into one system for the traveler. Therefore, improved schedule-keeping systems and methods that mitigate these undesirable characteristics would have utility.
The present disclosure is directed to systems and methods for schedule keeping that provide information to a traveler. Embodiments of systems and methods in accordance with the present disclosure may advantageously assist a traveler in keeping with an established or desired travel schedule, and may make the travel process, and all of the sub-processes involved in the travel process, easier for the traveler to navigate.
In one embodiment, a method of providing a travel schedule for a traveler includes providing one or more travel milestones; providing travel plan information; formulating a travel plan based on the one or more travel milestones and the travel plan information; receiving one or more travel-related inputs; analyzing the one or more travel-related inputs to determine a travel status based on the one or more travel-related inputs and the travel plan; and outputting the travel status to the traveler.
In another embodiment, a method of providing a travel schedule for a traveler includes providing a plurality of travel milestones and travel plan information; formulating a travel plan based on the plurality of travel milestones and travel plan information; receiving a plurality of travel-related inputs; analyzing the plurality of travel-related inputs to determine a travel status based on the plurality of travel-related inputs and the travel plan; if the travel status comprises a behind-schedule status, formulating a revised travel plan based on the plurality of travel-related inputs and the plurality of travel milestones and travel plan information; and outputting to the traveler a proposed remedial action in accordance with the revised travel plan.
In yet another embodiment, a schedule-keeping device includes a processor; at least one input/output component coupled to the processor and configured to communicate with one or more sources of information via a network, and to provide output to the traveler; a memory operatively coupled to the processor and to the at least one input/output component, the memory being configured to store instructions that, when executed by the processor, perform a method including: receiving a plurality of travel milestones and travel plan information; providing travel plan information; formulating a travel plan based on the one or more travel milestones and the travel plan information; receiving one or more travel-related inputs; analyzing the one or more travel-related inputs to determine a travel status based on the one or more travel-related inputs and the travel plan; and outputting the travel status to the traveler.
The features, functions, and advantages that have been discussed can be achieved independently in various embodiments of the present invention or may be combined in yet other embodiments further details of which can be seen with reference to the following description and drawings.
Embodiments of systems and methods in accordance with the teachings of the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the following drawings.
The present disclosure teaches systems and methods for schedule keeping that provide information to a traveler. Many specific details of certain embodiments of the invention are set forth in the following description and in
Generally, embodiments of systems and methods in accordance with the present disclosure integrate a vast array of travel resources from the internet and other sources, and are configured to pull all of the necessary information together, store the information, and combine the information into a logical format that develops and provides an accurate and constantly up-to-date schedule to the traveler. In some embodiments, a system includes a portable electronic device that may be carried by a traveler, or integrated into another device that the traveler may be carrying that informs the traveler at a glance of their schedule status, including if they are ahead of, behind, or on schedule when traveling, and may also provide more detailed information when requested. In further embodiments, if delays or interruptions are expected, the system may access the information sources automatically and begin finding a solution to the problem to suggest to the traveler before the traveler has to start thinking about the next steps.
A schedule-keeping component 220 is stored in the system memory 210 and executable on the processor 202. The schedule-keeping component 220 may receive information from the various information sources 252, and is configured to perform one or more of the techniques for schedule keeping in accordance with the teachings of the present disclosure, as described more fully below.
With continued reference to
The computer-readable media included in the system memory 210 can be any available media that can be accessed by the device 200, including computer storage media and communication media. Computer storage media include both volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other data. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, and random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, compact disk ROM (CD-ROM), digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium, including paper, punch cards and the like, which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by computer 200.
Similarly, communication media typically embodies computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means a signal that has one or more if its characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection and wireless media such as acoustic, RF, infrared and other wireless media. Combinations of any of the above should also be included within the scope of computer readable media.
Generally, program modules executed on the device 200 (
The schedule-keeping device 200 is depicted in
In this embodiment, the method 300 includes setting milestones for the traveler's journey at 302. As used herein, the term “fixed milestone” is a time that, although a schedule of the traveler may change, remains fixed and which may be critical to the traveler's journey. In the example shown in
The method 300 receives system standards at 304, and one or more maps or other travel-related information at 306. Using this information, the method 308 begins developing a travel plan by making reservations on one or more suitable transportation systems at 308. As reservations are confirmed (at 308), a critical path (or travel plan) is established at 310.
It will be appreciated that alternate embodiments of the present disclosure may combine various pieces of information at 304, 306 to create the travel plan. Examples of pieces of information that could be relevant in this situation include, but are not limited to: stored personal information (home/work address, type of car driven, access to public transportation, preferences); city road maps; traffic conditions; public transportation schedules; weather conditions; parking availability; ticket queue length; security queue length; walking distance requirements; airline delay information; airport congestion information; and amenity availability and location.
Some or all of the information described above may be used to determine approximately how long it will take for an individual or group get from one location to another. Additional information such as personal preferences (e.g. likes to walk, wants to avoid lines, likes to be early, average driving speeds) and current states of being (hungry, nervous, in an unfamiliar location) can also be taken into account to provide enhancement to the journey that is being modeled. If multiple events are happening concurrently, the method 300 may determine which of these lie on the critical path and may use this to judge the total length of time necessary for the entire series of events to take place. Set milestones will be noted within the system (e.g. bus departure, plane departure, meeting start time) and the notifications will be gauged to notify the traveler when these milestones will not be able to be met under the current conditions. The method 300 may then pull from all available resources to attempt to find alternate solutions that will still allow the milestones to be met and may inform the traveler of these possibilities.
As further shown in
As further shown in
If a digression (or revision) of the traveler's travel plan is determined to be necessary at 318, the method 300 may then return to 308 and may repeat one or more of the activities described in 308-316 based on the inputs 312. More specifically, in some embodiments, if an input at 312 (e.g. a weather or traffic incident) extends the critical path of the journey, the method 300 may automatically conduct analyses of one or more alternatives (at 310) in an attempt to find a remedial course of action (e.g. find an alternate path or suggest an earlier start time). If the method 300 is unable to determine possible remedial courses of action, the method 300 may perform analyses to determine when the traveler would be able to arrive at the airport 108, and may determine (at 308) and recommend a new flight that would not interfere with the final goal of attending the meeting in Denver on time.
For example, in the embodiment shown in
Similarly, if the traveler preferred to use public transportation from the office 102 to the airport 108, the method 300 could receive the bus and rail schedules as inputs (at 306), and may receive or determine average or estimated walk times in between the various destinations and forms of transportation used based on an average or estimated walking speed of the traveler. The weather or traffic information received as inputs (at 312) may be analyzed at 314, and digressions or revisions determined at 318 as described above.
At or near the airport 108, or at any other suitable point in the journey, the method 300 may use one or more inputs at 312 (e.g. queue length information) to determine how long it will take the traveler to reach the necessary gate for the departing commercial airplane 122. If sufficient time is available, the traveler would know that there is time to stop somewhere along this journey for a desired break or action (e.g. to eat a meal, make telephone calls, check email, etc.). Alternately, if the method 300 determined based on the inputs 312 that there was little or no time to space, the traveler would know to move at a heightened pace, or take other action needed to remain on schedule (e.g. pay more for a more convenient parking space, skip a meal, etc.).
Embodiments of systems and methods in accordance with the present disclosure may provide considerable advantages over the prior art. For example, embodiments of the present disclosure may assist a traveler in keeping with an established or desired travel schedule. Such embodiments may seamlessly improve the travel process, and may be used for all types of travel, such as walking, bus or subway travel, flight, and taxi. By taking into consideration a number of factors that could influence the time required to get from one place to another and arrive on time (e.g. provided by information sources 252), embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure may make the travel process, and all of the sub-processes involved in the travel process, easier for the traveler to navigate.
In conventional travel, there are typically many complex systems in place that are individually easy to use but which are not integrated into a single, useful system for the traveler to access when necessary. Thus, the traveler participating in conventional travel is required to manually access many different data systems in order to obtain reliable information. These conventional processes may be undesirably tedious, and may fail to provide any overarching benefit to streamlining the travel process. Embodiments of methods and systems in accordance with the present disclosure seek to mitigate the inconvenience of the conventional systems by bringing together all of the information necessary to provide accurate and up-to-date flow time and speed through the entire travel journey. Such embodiments may also seek to clearly convey to the traveler if they are ahead of schedule, behind schedule, or on schedule without overwhelming the traveler with information. The detailed information is available if it is of interest to the individual traveler.
As described above, embodiments of systems and methods in accordance with the present disclosure may therefore provide the following aspects: accounting for personal preferences of the traveler; ability to pull real-time information from various sources; integrating these pieces of information into a timeline; determination of the critical path through this timeline; keeping the traveler up to date of current status in their journey; rescheduling necessary milestones without input of traveler; and logic to take appropriate action to allow traveler to keep necessary milestones.
While specific embodiments of the invention have been illustrated and described herein, as noted above, many changes can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should not be limited by the disclosure of the specific embodiments set forth above. Instead, the invention should be determined entirely by reference to the claims that follow.
This patent application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) from U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/951,434 filed Jul. 23, 2007, which provisional application is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60951434 | Jul 2007 | US |
