Package delivery and carpooling systems and methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9488484-B2
Application number	US-201414476042-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 3, 2014
Priority date	May 6, 2014
Publication date	Nov 8, 2016
Grant date	Nov 8, 2016

Abstract

Computationally implemented methods and systems that are designed for receiving a request for transporting one or more end users; identifying one or more transportation vehicle units for transporting the one or more end users to one or more destination locations based, at least in part, on determining whether the one or more transportation vehicle units have one or more delivery package obligations; and transmitting one or more directives that direct the one or more transportation vehicle units to rendezvous with the one or more end users in order to transport the one or more end users to the one or more destination locations. In addition to the foregoing, other aspects are described in the claims, drawings, and text.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
circuitry for determining whether a transportation vehicle unit has at least one pending package delivery obligation;
circuitry for assigning the transportation vehicle unit for transporting one or more end users to one or more destination locations based, at least in part, on whether the transportation vehicle unit has at least one pending package delivery obligation; and
circuitry for transmitting one or more directives that direct the transportation vehicle unit to rendezvous with the one or more end users at at least one rendezvous location in order to transport the one or more end users to the one or more destination locations.

2. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
circuitry for determining presence of one or more available transportation vehicle units in proximate vicinity of a rendezvous location for rendezvousing with the one or more end users.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein said circuitry for determining presence of one or more available transportation vehicle units in proximate vicinity of a rendezvous location for rendezvousing with the one or more end users comprises:
circuitry for determining presence of one or more transportation vehicle units that are currently not carrying any passengers or that are about to be free of any passenger load in proximate vicinity of the rendezvous location for rendezvousing with the one or more end users.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein said circuitry for determining presence of one or more available transportation vehicle units in proximate vicinity of a rendezvous location for rendezvousing with the one or more end users comprises:
circuitry for determining presence of one or more transportation vehicle units that can reach the rendezvous location within a predefined amount of time.

5. The system of claim 2 , wherein said circuitry for determining presence of one or more available transportation vehicle units in proximate vicinity of a rendezvous location for rendezvousing with the one or more end users comprises:
circuitry for determining which of the one or more available transportation vehicle units are determined not to have any package delivery obligation that would be violated if the one or more end users are transported by the one or more available transportation vehicle units.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein said circuitry for determining which of the one or more available transportation vehicle units are determined not to have any package delivery obligation that would be violated if the one or more end users are transported by the one or more transportation vehicle units comprises:
circuitry for determining which of the one or more available transportation vehicle units are in full or substantial compliance with one or more end user preferences.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein said circuitry for assigning the transportation vehicle unit for transporting one or more end users to one or more destination locations based, at least in part, on whether the transportation vehicle unit has at least one pending package delivery obligation comprises:
circuitry for assigning the transportation vehicle unit for transporting the one or more end users to the one or more destination locations based, at least in part, on a determination that the transportation vehicle unit does de not have any pending package delivery obligations.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein said circuitry for assigning the transportation vehicle unit for transporting one or more end users to one or more destination locations based, at least in part, on whether the transportation vehicle unit has at least one pending package delivery obligation comprises:
circuitry for assigning the transportation vehicle unit for transporting the one or more end users to the one or more destination locations based, at least in part, on a determination that the transportation vehicle unit does not have any pending package delivery obligation that would be violated if the one or more end users are transported by the transportation vehicle unit.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein said circuitry for assigning the transportation vehicle unit for transporting the one or more end users to the one or more destination locations based, at least in part, on a determination that the transportation vehicle unit does not have any pending package delivery obligation that would be violated if the one or more end users are transported by the transportation vehicle unit comprises:
circuitry for assigning the transportation vehicle unit for transporting the one or more end users to the one or more destination locations based, at least in part, on a determination that the transportation vehicle unit does not have any package delivery obligation for delivering one or more packages by one or more time deadlines that would be violated if the one or more end users are transported by the transportation vehicle unit.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein said circuitry for assigning the transportation vehicle unit for transporting the one or more end users to the one or more destination locations based, at least in part, on a determination that the transportation vehicle unit does not have any pending package delivery obligation that would be violated if the one or more end users are transported by the transportation vehicle unit comprises:
circuitry for assigning the transportation vehicle unit for transporting the one or more end users to the one or more destination locations based, at least in part, on a determination that the transportation vehicle unit does not have any package delivery obligation for delivering one or more packages to one or more specific destinations that would be violated if the one or more end users are transported by the transportation vehicle unit.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein said circuitry for assigning the transportation vehicle unit for transporting the one or more end users to the one or more destination locations based, at least in part, on a determination that the transportation vehicle unit does not have any pending package delivery obligation that would be violated if the one or more end users are transported by the transportation vehicle unit comprises:
circuitry for assigning the transportation vehicle unit for transporting the one or more end users to the one or more destination locations based, at least in part, on a determination that the transportation vehicle unit does not have any package delivery obligation for delivering one or more packages while in one or more specified environmental conditions.

12. The system of claim 8 , wherein said circuitry for assigning the transportation vehicle unit for transporting the one or more end users to the one or more destination locations based, at least in part, on a determination that the transportation vehicle unit does not have any pending package delivery obligation that would be violated if the one or more end users are transported by the transportation vehicle unit comprises:
circuitry for assigning the transportation vehicle unit for transporting the one or more end users to the one or more destination locations based, at least in part, on a determination that the transportation vehicle unit at least partially satisfies one or more end user preferences of at least one of the one or more end users.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein said circuitry for assigning the transportation vehicle unit for transporting the one or more end users to the one or more destination locations based, at least in part, on a determination that the transportation vehicle unit at least partially satisfies one or more end user preferenc

Assignees

• Elwha Llc

Inventors

• Lord Richard T
• Lord Robert W
• Myhrvold Nathan P
• Tegreene Clarence T

Classifications

• G06Q10/083

  Shipping · CPC title

• G01C21/3438

  Rendezvous; Ride sharing · CPC title

• G06Q50/30

  Physics · mapped topic

• G01C21/34 Primary

  Route searching; Route guidance · CPC title

• G06Q10/06

  Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling · CPC title