Systems and methods for generating flight plans used by a ride sharing network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12367539-B2
Application number	US-202318173863-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 24, 2023
Priority date	Mar 25, 2020
Publication date	Jul 22, 2025
Grant date	Jul 22, 2025

Abstract

The present disclosure provides systems and methods for systems and methods for generating potential flight plans to be used by a ride sharing network, including dynamic and/or automated changes to flight plans that have been engaged with passengers based on real-time information. In particular, the systems and methods of the present disclosure can operate to generate a fleet-level set of potential flight plans which comply with one or more constraints for a fleet of aircraft. The potential flight plans can be exposed into and used by a ride sharing network to provide transportation to users.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
accessing, by a flight planning system, a flight plan for an aircraft;
exposing, by the flight planning system over a communication network, the flight plan to a ride sharing network that facilitates ground transportation services;
accessing, by the flight planning system from the ride sharing network, passenger data indicating a passenger to be added to the flight plan;
accessing, by the flight planning system, location data from the ride sharing network, wherein the location data is determined by tracking the passenger added to the flight plan;
accessing, by the flight planning system from the ride sharing network, an estimated time of arrival for the passenger added to the flight plan, the estimated time of arrival being based on the location data;
determining, by the flight planning system, that the estimated time of arrival for the passenger is after a take-off time by a time period greater than a buffer time period;
computing, by the flight planning system, an estimated deviation from the flight plan based on the estimated time of arrival being after the take-off time by the time period greater than the buffer time period;
based on the estimated deviation from the flight plan, computing, by the flight planning system, an adjusted flight plan that comprises removing the passenger from data describing the flight plan; and
transmitting, by the flight planning system to a graphical user interface display of a computing device associated with the aircraft, a notification associated with the adjusted flight plan, wherein the notification is displayed on the graphical user interface display to indicate the passenger is removed from the flight plan.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the passenger is associated with a multi-leg travel itinerary comprising at least: a leg comprising ground-based transportation provided via the ride sharing network and another leg comprising a flight associated with the flight plan.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the estimated time of arrival is based on a progress of the passenger along the leg comprising the ground-based transportation.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the location data is indicative of a location of a user device associated with the passenger.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein accessing the flight plan for the aircraft comprises:
accessing, by the flight planning system from the ride sharing network, ground-based transportation information indicative of at least one of a supply of ground transportation service providers or a demand for ground transportation services; and
computing, by the flight planning system, the flight plan based on the ground-based transportation information.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein a plurality of passengers are associated with the flight plan, each respective passenger of the plurality of passengers being associated with a respective multi-leg travel itinerary, wherein a leg of each of the respective multi-leg itinerary for the plurality of passengers comprises a flight associated with the flight plan.

7. The method of claim 6 , comprising:
computing, by the flight planning system, the buffer time period for the flight associated with the flight plan based on the respective multi-leg travel itinerary for each of the plurality of passengers.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the buffer time period is determined based on a number of the plurality of passengers that will have a change to their multi-leg travel itinerary as a result of delaying the take-off time by one or more different periods of time.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmitting, by the flight planning system to the graphical user interface display of the computing device, the notification associated with the adjusted flight plan comprises transmitting the notification to at least one of: a computing device of the aircraft, a computing device of an operations personnel, or a computing device of an aircraft operator.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising adding the passenger to the flight plan.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein exposing the flight plan comprises providing access to the flight plan through one or more application programming interfaces.

12. A computing system comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:
accessing a flight plan for an aircraft;
exposing, over a communication network, the flight plan to a ride sharing network that facilitates ground transportation services;
accessing, from the ride sharing network, passenger data indicating a passenger to be added to the flight plan;
accessing, from the ride sharing network, location data, wherein the location data is determined by tracking the passenger added to the flight plan;
accessing, from the ride sharing network, an estimated time of arrival for the passenger added to the flight plan, the estimated time of arrival being based on the location data:
determining, by a flight planning system, that the estimated time of arrival for the passenger is after a take-off time by a time period greater than a buffer time period;
computing an estimated deviation from the flight plan based on the estimated time of arrival being after the take-off time by the time period greater than the buffer time period;
based on the estimated deviation from the flight plan, computing an adjusted flight plan that comprises removing the passenger from data describing the flight plan; and
transmitting, to a graphical user interface display of a computing device associated with the aircraft, a notification associated with the adjusted flight plan to indicate the passenger is removed from the flight plan.

13. The computing system of claim 12 , wherein a plurality of passengers are associated with the flight plan, each respective passenger of the plurality of passengers being associated with a respective multi-leg travel itinerary, wherein a leg of each of the respective multi-leg itinerary for the plurality of passengers comprises a flight associated with the flight plan.

14. The computing system of claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:
computing the buffer time period for the flight associated with the flight plan based on the respective multi-leg travel itinerary for each of the plurality of passengers.

15. The computing system of claim 14 , wherein the buffer time period is determined based on a number of the plurality of passengers that will have a change to their multi-leg travel itinerary as a result of delaying the take-off time by one or more different periods of time.

16. The computing system of claim 12 , wherein the estimated time of arrival is based on the location data indicative of a location of a user device associated with the passenger.

17. The computing system of claim 12 , wherein the transmitting, to the graphical user interface display of the computing device associated with the aircraft, the notification associated with the adjusted flight plan comprises:
transmitting the notification associated with the adjusted flight plan to at least one of: a computing device of the aircraft, a computing device of an operations personnel, or a computing device of an aircraft operator.

18. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that are executable by one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:
accessing a flight plan for an aircra

Assignees

• Joby Aero Inc

Inventors

• Mueller Eric Richard
• Wei Bogu
• Dolgov Igor
• Lurie Raphael Max
• Warmoth Adam
• Mollahan Kellen Christopher
• Schulz Karl Weston

Classifications

• G06Q50/47

  Passenger ride requests, e.g. ride-hailing · CPC title

• G06Q30/0202

  Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities · CPC title

• G06Q10/06312

  Adjustment or analysis of established resource schedule, e.g. resource or task levelling, or dynamic rescheduling · CPC title

• G06Q50/40 Primary

  Business processes related to the transportation industry (shipping G06Q10/083) · CPC title

• G06Q10/06313

  Resource planning in a project environment · CPC title