Communications: electrical – Vehicle position indication – At remote location
Reexamination Certificate
2001-02-20
2002-09-24
Swarthout, Brent A. (Department: 2632)
Communications: electrical
Vehicle position indication
At remote location
C235S384000, C340S434000, C340S988000, C340S995190, C705S013000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06456207
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an intelligent taxi total service system and more particularly, to an intelligent taxi total service system having an intelligent automatic management system, which provides automation functions such as inquiring, broadcasting, positioning, tracing, recording, searching, confirming, charging, receipt printing, navigating, real time traffic information, security, emergency help requesting and communication, so as to achieve a total service system with efficacy of high security, high reliability, and time saving.
BACKGROUND ART
Generally, taxi is one of most popular and most convenient public transportation means at present. Since the flexibility of working hour and easiness of obtaining professional operator's license, taxi driving is actually the easiest way of earning a living at present. Hence, one can readily imagine the number of people currently involved in this job. However, due to the diversified qualities of taxi drivers, it is still hard to effectively curb crime committed by the utilization of taxi, despite the reorganization efforts made by the government with great exertion. According to statistics from Ministry of the Interior (of R. O. C.), there are numerous taxi-related incidents such as taxi driver being robbed, female passenger being violently harassed and assaulted as well as careless passenger leaving objects on taxi, etc.
Conventionally, although taxi service system has covered many fields, it is inconvenient in that such system cannot provide to all parties with automatic total service. As for defense (robbery prevention) measures, the system provides only one-way protection such as preventing driver from being robbed or preventing passenger from being assaulted by the driver. When receiving a taxi service call, the taxi service center can only passively provides information to either taxi driver or passenger via paging or recording instead of actively provide to both parties with necessary information. Therefore, it is necessary to provide a safe and total taxi service system comprising:
(1) A passenger can call for a service from either a stationary residence or a non-stationary location.
(2) The service center can automatically check a location and operation status (occupied, vacant or off duty) of subordinate taxis at any time.
(3) The service center can permanently preserve a record of passenger and a route on subordinate taxis if necessary.
(4) In case of assault, the passenger can instantly transmit an emergency signal to the service center or the public security unit without going through the taxi.
(5) In case of robbery, vehicle failure, or other emergency, the taxi driver can instantly send a message to the service center or the public security unit and request for help.
(6) The taxi can use a satellite navigation device to calculate a distance and direct itself to its destination.
(7) The taxi can be informed of real time traffic information to avoid routes with heavy traffic.
(8) The invention can automatically print a receipt or an invoice.
(9) The invention can print a driving route for passenger if necessary.
(10) The passenger can rapidly trace and retrieve lost objects.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, an object of present invention is to provide an intelligent taxi total service system having an intelligent automation management system, which provides automation functions such as inquiring, broadcasting, positioning, tracing, recording, searching, confirming, charging, receipt printing, navigating, real time traffic information, security, emergency help requesting and communication.
To achieve above object, accordance to one aspect of present invention, it is provided an intelligent taxi total service system for a customer from either a stationary residence or a non-stationary location, comprises the following steps:
(1) the customer can use an exclusive paging device provided by a taxi service center to send a message through phone line by pushing a button on the paging device to display the a information (name or identification number, address and phone number) on a remote computer monitor of said taxi service center, through a satellite navigation system, a directing management system will then automatically show the status of nearby subordinate taxis, in which a red symbol indicates occupied, a blue symbol indicates off-duty, and a green indicates vacant;
(2) an automatic editing decode function of said directing management system will convert said message of service call into Chinese, and broadcast through a frequency modulation (FM) subcarrier transmitting station, and display said message on a LCD display screen in taxi to ask for a taxi willing to pickup the customer, upon receiving the response from a taxi, said directing management system will automatically send a taxi's basic information (registration number and model of the vehicle and driver's name) as well as a pickup time to the paging device on the customer-side through a cable or radio transmitting system;
(3) once a meter is turned on in the taxi after the pickup of the customer, an electronic map of said service center then instantly react and indicate that said taxi is occupied;
(4) after being notified with the destination, the taxi driver can use a satellite navigation function to calculate a preferred driving route and an estimated arrival time;
(5) said service center automatically records the locations and times of pickup and drop-off in a file;
(6) said service center permanently store the operation track of all its subordinate taxis;
(7) the taxi driver can print a receipt for the customer at drop-off, at the same time said service center will again indicate said taxi as vacant; and
(8) when the taxi driver wants to be off duty, all he need to do is to push a button in the taxi such that the computer monitor of said service center will indicate an off-duty status of his car.
Accordance to another aspect of present invention, there is provided an intelligent taxi total service system for a customer having a mobile phone, comprising the following steps:
(1) the customer can use an intelligent card to send a message to a taxi service center through a mobile phone to display a basic information (name or identification number, address and phone number) on a remote computer monitor of said taxi service center, which will then search for a currently available taxi nearby through a satellite navigation system;
(2) an automatic editing decode function of said directing management system will convert said message of service call into Chinese, and broadcast through a FM sub-carrier transmitting station, and display said message on a LCD display screen in taxis to ask for a taxi willing to pickup the customer, upon receiving the response from a taxi, said directing management system will automatically send a taxi's basic information (registration number and model of the vehicle and driver's name) as well as a pickup time to the customer's mobile phone through a voice mail or a message;
(3) once a meter is turned on in the taxi after the pickup of the customer, an electronic map of said service center then instantly react and indicate that said taxi is occupied;
(4) after being notified with a destination, the taxi driver can use a satellite navigation function to calculate a preferred driving route and an estimated arrival time;
(5) said service center automatically records the locations and times of pickup and drop-off in a file;
(6) said service center permanently stores the operation track of all its subordinate taxis;
(7) the taxi driver can print a receipt for the customer at drop-off, at the same time said service center will again indicate said taxi as vacant; and
(8) when the taxi driver wants to be off duty, all he need to do is to push a button in the taxi such that the computer monitor of said service center will indicate an off-duty status of his car.
Accordance to yet another aspect of present invention, there is provided an intelligent taxi total service system for a cus
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