Data processing: vehicles – navigation – and relative location – Navigation
Reexamination Certificate
2001-04-04
2004-02-24
Cuchlinski, Jr., William C. (Department: 3661)
Data processing: vehicles, navigation, and relative location
Navigation
C073S17800T, C340S907000, C340S908000, C342S352000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06697730
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an automated transit system, and more particularly to an urban transit system that minimizes the social costs of urban transportation, the transit system being based on digital cellular communication, GPS locating technology and digital computers to provide real-time command and control of passengers and vehicles.
2. Description of Related Art
For a number of reasons, the vast majority of communities in the United States and in many other geographic regions have grown to rely on individual transportation, (transportation through individually owned automobiles or cars), rather than public or mass transit. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Atlanta, Ga. area, where traffic congestion and air pollution are fast becoming critically major concerns.
The growing reliance on individual transportation raises a number of very serious concerns. One of the most serious problems is the environmental damage caused by traditional individual transportation vehicles that are powered by internal combustion engines. Internal combustion engines release pollutants into the atmosphere causing air pollution. Individual transportation vehicles also leak lubricants and other environmentally-detrimental chemicals along roadways and parking areas. Such pollutants periodically are washed away by rain water and pollute soils, ground waters, lakes, and rivers. Furthermore, routine maintenance of an individual transportation vehicle contributes huge quantities of pollutants, including used motor oil, which pollutants commonly are not properly handled or recycled.
Other costs related to traditional individual transportation exist beyond those of the environmental costs. With no viable public transportation in many areas, a family generally must own and maintain multiple vehicles. Additionally, the largest monthly expense for many families is the cost of acquiring and operating motor vehicles. Repair costs and insurance add to the financial burdens associated with individual transportation vehicles. Personal injury related costs related to the operation of individual transportation vehicles must also be considered a cost of the conventional individual transportation system. Further, in addition to a family's expenses of owning, operating and maintaining individual transportation vehicles, the costs of building and maintaining roads, highways and the infrastructure required for individual transportation vehicles represent a significant drain on public funds. Yet, an area's infrastructure rarely keeps pace with population increases, and, thus, there is large social cost associated with invariable congestion delays resulting from inadequate infrastructure.
The infrastructure that is required for a successful individual transportation system is unavailable, so this conventional system cannot efficiently operate. For example, retail establishments and business centers necessitate substantial spacing to accommodate parking for cars. This required spacing for the cars, combined with the low population density of urban and suburban areas that cars accommodate, make traditional mass transit systems simply too inefficient to be competitive.
Traditional mass transit systems include buses operating on fixed routes as well as light rail and regular rail systems. Where rail systems are in place in relatively high population density areas, the systems commonly enjoy very high ridership. However, the cost of installing rail systems effectively prohibits their use in many areas. Furthermore, low population density urban and suburban areas can not be efficiently serviced by rail systems alone. Even if a rail system provided a link between a suburban area and a downtown area, for example, users must still find some way to travel from their residence to a rail station and from a downtown terminal to their final downtown destination.
Further, transit systems that incorporate buses that operate on fixed routes have proven simply too inefficient to compete with automobile transportation. One reason for this inefficiency is that fixed bus routes are so tied to traffic that it is virtually impossible to maintain a satisfactory schedule. Furthermore, large buses operating on heavily traveled roads interfere with automobile traffic.
In the low population density urban and suburban areas, fixed bus routes and schedules must be so widely spaced that it is difficult and inconvenient for people to even reach the nearest bus stop. Transfers between routes are also difficult to coordinate. The fact of the matter is that traditional fixed route bus transportation systems are so inefficient that for the most part only those who must use the system for economic reasons actually use and benefit from the system. Aside from the general inconvenience of a traditional bus system, the travel time required by such systems is commonly so high that many potential users cannot even consider using the mass transit system without changing lifestyles significantly. Further, passenger use of conventional mass-transit or ride-sharing leaves that person without the use of a private car, often the only practical alternative for errands and emergencies.
Several transit systems are known, but all have disadvantages and deficiencies addressed and overcome by the present system. Such systems include U.S. Pat. No. 5,187,810 to Yoneyama et al. ('810); U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,295 to Lewiner et al. ('295); U.S. Pat. No. 5,739,774 to Olandesi ('774); U.S. Pat. No. 5,799,263 to Culbertson ('263); U.S. Pat. No. 5,818,356 to Schuessler ('356); U.S. Pat. No. 5,987,377 to Westerlage et al. ('377); and, U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,159 to Schmier et al. ('159).
Advances in communications heretofore neglected by mass transit systems can provide a suitable framework that can radically change the economy of mass transit. Primarily, wireless technology and computing make it feasible to provide massive substitutions of information technologies for hardware (road, cars, rails, and trains), and energy (gasoline and coal).
In an attempt to apply the communications revolution presently underway to the problems of an attractive mass transit system, the inventor has relied on some engineering fundamentals that apply to nearly every city transit system, and particularly to the Atlanta area. For example, it is evident that existing roads must provide the bulk of all transport. Further, the capacity of a lane of freeway or arterial street is nearly proportional to vehicle occupancy. High occupancy vehicle lanes and other high occupancy privileges result in time savings for high occupancy vehicles, and are an efficient use of resources when demand is sufficient.
As a result of the improvements in communications, presently it is inexpensive to communicate to and from people, vehicles, and traffic controls nearly in real-time; that is, with delays measured in seconds. It also is inexpensive today to track the geographic position of all vehicles used in high-occupancy transit in real-time. Additionally, it is inexpensive to process data at a central facility, in a plurality of vehicles and in hand-carried devices. Central facility herein does not imply location in a single geographic location, only a function of assigning and coordinating activities. Finally, the social cost of the driving function on a trip that would otherwise be made by the driver is negligible relative to the cost of a paid driver.
As used throughout, hand-carried devices principally refer to cellular phones, radio-capable personal digital assistants, and two-way pagers. “Hand-held devices” and “cell phones” are terms used interchangeably herein.
There are many trips for which there is no practical substitute for an individually driven automobile. In a metropolitan areas like Atlanta, there is rarely a shortage of convenient automobiles for individual trips, only a shortage of access to the use of those automobiles. Conventional ride-sharing and bus-rail transit have poor performance relat
Cuchlinski, Jr. William C.
Deveau Todd
Georgia Tech Research Corp.
Hernandez Olga
Thomas, Kayden, Horstmeyer & Risley LLP
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