Transportation scheduling system

Abstract

Methods for scheduling a transportation operation such as the operation of an airline. The method desirably selects a demand (100) for transportation specifying an origin, destination, and time of arrival or departure, and selects resources from a database of available resources such as aircraft (508), crew, and departure gates. The resource selection desirably is conducted so as to optimize a result function such as contribution to margin or other financial result from the particular operation specified in the demand. Upon developing a schedule fragment (108), the specified resources are committed, and the database of available resources is modified (110) to indicate that the resources are no longer available at the relevant times. The system then treats another demand and repeats the process so as to develop a full schedule. The system can develop a feasible schedule, even for a complex transportation operation in a brief time, typically in minutes or less. Schedules can be developed using alternative strategies and assumptions, and tested against one another.

Description

[0001] Cross References to Related Applications [0002] This application claims U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60 / 774,623, filed February 21, 2006, U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60 / 797,413, filed May 3, 2006, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60 / 797,413, filed January 11, 2007 Priority as of the filing date of Application No. 60 / 879,831, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference. technical field [0003] The present application relates to methods and systems for scheduling transportation operations. Background technique [0004] Transportation companies such as airlines face the daunting problem of setting up schedules. A schedule specifying which vehicles and crews to make a particular trip at a particular time must take into account the availability of the vehicles to be used in operation and the crews to operate the vehicles as well as the availability of fixed resources such as airport gates. Typically, each of these reso...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0007] Although considerable effort has been devoted to the scheduling problem of airlines and other transportation companies, no truly satisfactory system has been developed so far

Specifically, it is estimated that even with the best current technology, airlines waste about _ percent of their revenue due to inefficiencies due to poor scheduling

There was therefore a substantially unmet need for scheduling improvements prior to the present invention

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