Planning system for multimodal travel

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11953329-B2
Application number	US-202117643863-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 13, 2021
Priority date	Mar 12, 2021
Publication date	Apr 9, 2024
Grant date	Apr 9, 2024

Abstract

A method, apparatus, system, and computer program product for planning multimodal travel. A planning request for the multimodal travel from a first location to an second location is received. Candidate routes are determined for a passenger that is customized for a set of customization parameters a using the first location, the second location, and a set of passenger preferences. A candidate route in the candidate routes comprises a first leg from the first location to a first vertiport via a first modality, a second leg for a passenger air vehicle to travel from the first vertiport to a second vertiport using an air modality, and a third leg from the second vertiport to the second location using a second modality. The candidate route in the candidate routes is selected to form a route for the multimodal travel for the passenger when a user input is received selecting the candidate route.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for planning multimodal travel, the method comprising a computer system:
receiving a planning request for the multimodal travel from a first location to a second location;
determining a set of candidate routes for a passenger that is customized for a set of customization parameters using the first location, the second location, wherein a candidate route in the set of candidate routes comprises a first leg from the first location to a first vertiport via a first modality, a second leg for an air vehicle to travel from the first vertiport to a second vertiport using an air modality, and a third leg from the second vertiport to the second location using a second modality;
assigning and placing on hold a set of resources for legs comprising the set of candidate routes when the set of candidate routes is created;
selecting the candidate route in the set of candidate routes to form a route for the multimodal travel for the passenger when a user input is received selecting the candidate route; and
releasing from hold a set of resources for legs in unselected candidate routes when the candidate route is selected to form the route for the multimodal travel.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting, by the computer system, the candidate route in the set of candidate routes to form the route for the multimodal travel for the passenger when the user input is received selecting the candidate route comprises:
displaying, by the computer system, the set of candidate routes on a display system; and
receiving, by the computer system, the user input selecting the candidate route from the set of candidate routes to form the route for the multimodal travel.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of candidate routes is determined using a set of optimization algorithms selected from at least one of: a Dijkstra's algorithm, an A* algorithm a capacitated vehicle routing problem (CVRP) algorithm, a pickup and delivery vehicle routing problem (PDVRP) algorithm, an open vehicle routing problem (OVRP) algorithm, or a vehicle routing problem with time windows (VRPTW) algorithm.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining, by the computer system, the set of candidate routes for the passenger that is customized for the set of customization parameters using the first location, the second location, and a set of passenger preferences comprises:
determining, by the computer system, a set of potential first legs from the first location to potential first vertiports for the route using the set of customization parameters and the set of passenger preferences;
determining, by the computer system, a set of potential second legs from the potential first vertiports to a set of potential second vertiports using the set of customization parameters the set of passenger preferences;
determining, by the computer system, a set of potential third legs from the set of potential second vertiports to the second location using the set of customization parameters and the set of passenger preferences; and
creating, by the computer system, the set of candidate routes for the passenger from the set of potential first legs, the set of potential second legs, and the set of potential third legs using the set of customization parameters and the set of passenger preferences, wherein the set of candidate routes is customized for the set of customization parameters.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
determining, by the computer system, the set of potential third legs from the second vertiport to the second location based on a current travel time to form an updated set of potential third legs while a passenger air vehicle is enroute to the second vertiport on the second leg; and
displaying, by the computer system, the updated set of potential third legs on a display system.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
assigning, by the computer system, a set of resources to the first leg and the second leg when the user input selects the candidate route including the first leg and the second leg.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
assigning, by the computer system, a set of resources to the third leg when at least one of a passenger air vehicle arrives at the second vertiport or flight of the passenger air vehicle during the second leg of the route.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, by the computer system, dimensions of luggage for the passenger,
wherein determining the set of candidate routes for the passenger that is customized for the set of customization parameters using the first location, the second location, and a set of passenger preferences, wherein the candidate route in the set of candidate routes comprises the first leg from the first location to the first vertiport via the first modality, the second leg for a passenger air vehicle to travel from the first vertiport to the second vertiport using the air modality, and the third leg from the second vertiport to the second location using the second modality comprises:
determining, by the computer system, the set of candidate routes for the passenger that is customized for the set of customization parameters using the first location, the second location, the set of passenger preferences, and the dimensions of the luggage, wherein the candidate route in the set of candidate routes comprises the first leg from the first location to the first vertiport via the first modality, the second leg for the passenger air vehicle to travel from the first vertiport to the second vertiport using the air modality, and the third leg from the second vertiport to the second location using the second modality.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
creating, by the computer system, luggage handling instructions using the dimensions of the luggage, wherein the luggage handling instructions instruct the passenger on at least one of an order in which the luggage is to be loaded into the passenger air vehicle and an arrangement of the luggage in the passenger air vehicle.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, by the computer system, a weight of luggage;
wherein determining the set of candidate routes for the passenger that is customized for the set of customization parameters using the first location, the second location, and a set of passenger preferences, wherein the candidate route in the set of candidate routes comprises the first leg from the first location to the first vertiport via the first modality, the second leg for a passenger air vehicle to travel from the first vertiport to the second vertiport using the air modality, and the third leg from the second vertiport to the second location using the second modality comprises:
determining, by the computer system, the set of candidate routes for the passenger that is customized for the set of customization parameters using the first location, the second location, the set of passenger preferences, and the weight of the luggage, wherein the candidate route in the set of candidate routes comprises the first leg from the first location to the first vertiport via the first modality, the second leg for the passenger air vehicle to travel from the first vertiport to the second vertiport using the air modality, and the third leg from the second vertiport to the second location using the second modality.

11. A method for planning multimodal transport, the method comprising a computer system:
receiving a planning request in a user input from a human machine interface for the multimodal transport from a first location to a second location;
determining a set of candidate routes that is customized for a set of customization parameters

Assignees

• Aurora Flight Sciences Corp

Inventors

• Chua Zarrin
• Kearney-Fischer Martin
• Navarro Félix Francisco A

Classifications

• G01C21/3423 Primary

  Multimodal routing · CPC title

• G01C21/3446

  Details of route searching algorithms, e.g. Dijkstra, A*, arc-flags or using precalculated routes · CPC title

• G01C21/3484

  Personalized, e.g. from learned user behaviour or user-defined profiles · CPC title

• G01C21/3617

  using user history, behaviour, conditions or preferences, e.g. predicted or inferred from previous use or current movement · CPC title

• B64F1/366

  Check-in counters · CPC title