US 7,840,427 B2
Shared transport system and service networkGeneral
US 7,840,427 B2
Shared transport system and service network
Tech Center:
3600 Transportation, Construction, Electronic Commerce, Agriculture, National Security and License and Review
Examiner:
John W Hayes
Art Unit:
3628 Business Methods — Incentive Programs, Coupons; Operations Research; Electronic Shopping; Health Care; Point of Sale, Inventory, Accounting; Cost/Price, Reservations, Shipping and Transportation; Business Processing
Inventors:
Sean O'Sullivan
Assignee:
Priority:
02/12/08
Filed:
02/12/08
Granted:
11/23/10
Expiration:
05/08/27
Abstract
The network system matches the supply and demand of transportation services by incorporating unused transportation capacity (i.e., empty seats) with a real-time allocation and matching service that enables individuals and goods to conveniently hire that capacity with attractive pricing, rapid responsiveness, better information availability and trusted security. The network system provides an electronic registry of capacity containing an indication of the spare transport capacity and location of a plurality of transport vehicles, an electronic registry of demand containing an indication of the demand for transportation needs of a plurality of individuals and a central processing capability to effect a match of the transport capacity of at least one transport vehicle with the transport demand of at least one individual.
Cooperative Patent Classification (CPC)
G06G06Q10/063112G06QG08G1/123G08GG01C21/3423G01C