Task assignment method, computer program product and task assignment system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10977589-B2
Application number	US-201415030410-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 24, 2014
Priority date	Oct 25, 2013
Publication date	Apr 13, 2021
Grant date	Apr 13, 2021

Abstract

Disclosed is a computer-implemented method (1) of assigning a task to a mobile communication device (212, 222) belonging to a pool (210, 220) of mobile communication devices, wherein each mobile communications device is associated with a trusted owner and is locatable by means of location information, the method comprising generating (10) a task to be performed; generating a set of task locations at which the task can be performed; receiving (20) location information for said mobile communications devices; deriving (30) a location for each mobile communications device from said location information; using the derived location to calculate (40) a cost score for each mobile communication device, said cost score indicating the cost of the trusted owner of said mobile communication device to reach a target location; and assigning (60) the task to a selected location in said set and to one of said mobile communications devices, wherein the task is assigned to the one of said mobile communications devices based on the calculated cost scores. A computer program product including program code for executing this method on a computer processor and a system adapted to execute this method are also disclosed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method for assigning a task to a mobile communication device belonging to a pool of mobile communication devices, wherein each mobile communications device is associated with a trusted owner and is locatable by means of mobile telephony signals, the method comprising:
generating a task to be performed for a user;
generating a set of task locations at which the task can be performed;
receiving, at a mobile receiver incorporated into the mobile communications device, the mobile telephony signals for the mobile communications devices;
deriving a location for individual mobile communication devices from the mobile telephony signals;
determining a cost score for individual mobile communication devices using the derived location of the individual mobile communication devices and individual task locations in the set of task locations, wherein the cost score is expressed in time;
assigning a preference score to one or more trusted owners, the preference score indicating the user's one or more preferred trusted owners;
modifying the determined cost score using the preference score;
assigning the task to a communication device and a task location responsive to the communication device having a modified cost score below a pre-defined cost score threshold; and
transmitting, by a mobile transmitter incorporated into the mobile communications device, the assigned task to the one of the mobile communication devices.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the task includes the delivery of an item to a destination, and wherein the cost score further comprises travel information based upon the task location and the destination.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the cost score comprises travel conditions between the location of the individual mobile communication device and the task location.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the task to be performed at a task location is to be performed at a later point in time, the method further comprising:
tracking the location of the mobile communication devices using the received mobile telephony signals; and
for individual mobile communication devices, determining a set of routes commonly used by its trusted owner from the tracked locations;
wherein the step of deriving the location comprises:
selecting a likely route from the set of routes; and
extrapolating a future location of the trusted owner at the later point in time from the selected route; and
wherein the cost score comprises travel information based upon the task location and the extrapolated future location.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , further comprising adapting the set of routes associated with a trusted owner based on additional location tracking information of the mobile communication device of the owner.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 ,
wherein the step of generating the task comprises selecting the task from a pool of tasks, the method further comprising:
accessing a list of mobile communication devices each associated with a trusted owner, wherein each trusted owner is associated with a subset of the tasks; and
dynamically creating the pool of mobile communication devices by selecting trusted owners associated with the generated task in the subset.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising dynamically creating the pool of mobile communication devices from a list of mobile communication devices each associated with a trusted owner based on availability information for the trusted owners.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the task includes the purchase of an article, and wherein the set of task locations is compiled from a plurality of task locations based on at least one of availability information and price information of the article at the task locations.

9. A mobile communication device belonging to a pool of mobile communication devices, wherein each mobile communications device is associated with a trusted owner and is locatable by means of mobile telephony signals, the mobile communication device comprising one or more processors configured by machine-readable instructions to:
generate a task to be performed for a user;
generate a set of task locations at which the task can be performed;
receive, at a mobile receiver incorporated into the mobile communications device, the mobile telephony signals for the mobile communications devices;
derive a location for individual mobile communication devices from the mobile telephony signals;
determine a cost score for individual mobile communication devices using the derived location of the individual mobile communication devices and individual task locations in the set of task locations, wherein the cost score is expressed in time;
assigning a preference score to each trusted owner, the preference score indicating the user's preferred trusted owners;
modifying the determined cost score using the preference score;
assign the task to a communication device and a task location responsive to the communication device having a modified cost score below a pre-defined cost score threshold; and
transmitting, by a mobile transmitter incorporated into the mobile communications device, the assigned task to the one of the mobile communication devices.

10. A mobile communication device belonging to a pool of mobile communication devices, wherein each mobile communications device is associated with a trusted owner and is locatable by means of mobile telephony signals, the mobile communication device comprising:
means for generating a task to be performed for a user;
means for generating a set of task locations at which the task can be performed;
means for receiving, at a mobile receiver incorporated into the mobile communications device, the mobile telephony signals for the mobile communications devices;
means for deriving a location for individual mobile communication devices from the mobile telephony signals;
means for determining a cost score for individual mobile communication devices using the derived location of the individual mobile communication devices and individual task locations in the set of task locations, wherein the cost score is expressed in time;
means for assigning a preference score to each trusted owner, the preference score indicating the user's preferred trusted owners;
means for modifying the determined cost score using the preference score; and
means for assigning the task to a communication device and a task location responsive to the communication device having a modified cost score below a pre-defined cost score threshold; and
means for transmitting, by a mobile transmitter incorporated into the mobile communications device, the assigned task to the one of the mobile communication devices.

11. The system of claim 9 , further comprising a database architecture including a list of trusted owners of mobile communication devices, a list of events and a list of event response logs.

Assignees

• Koninklijke Philips Nv

Inventors

• Vaze Vikrant Suhas
• Cao Hanqing
• Bagheri Saeed Reza
• Chiau Choo Chiap
• Yu Renjun
• Jia Yugang
• Deng Mina
• Scheja Michael Martin

Classifications

• H04W4/023

  using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds · CPC title

• H04W4/029

  Location-based management or tracking services · CPC title

• G06Q10/06311 Primary

  Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group · CPC title

• H04M15/8033

  location-dependent, e.g. business or home · CPC title