Transportation Demand Matching System for Congestion Reduction

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current transportation demand-and-supply matching systems fail to effectively coordinate travel demand across multiple transportation modes and routes in urban areas, leading to traffic congestion due to mismatched supply capabilities, as they only consider operation records from specific companies and not others, making it difficult to determine the viability of new operation routes.

Innovation Solution

A transportation demand-and-supply matching system that integrates data from multiple transportation entities, using a computer system to estimate demand and supply capabilities by acquiring public transportation and road traffic situations, and soliciting temporary transportation services to balance demand, while notifying passengers and entities of provisional transportation options.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Device complexity

If only operation records from specific companies are used for demand estimation, then the complexity of data integration is reduced, but the accuracy of travel demand prediction deteriorates because other transportation modes' impact is ignored

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata integration complexityVSAvoidtravel demand prediction accuracy
Core Design Contradiction:
Device complexityVSMeasurement precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent merges operation records from multiple transportation entities (different companies, transportation modes, and routes) into a unified dataset for demand estimation. The demand estimation unit integrates data from various sources including public transportation, private transportation, and temporary transportation to comprehensively assess travel demand, thereby improving prediction accuracy while managing complexity through systematic data consolidation.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #5Merging (Combining)

2Measurement precision

If multiple transportation entities' data are integrated for comprehensive demand analysis, then the accuracy of travel demand prediction is improved, but the complexity of the system increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvetravel demand prediction accuracyVSAvoidsystem complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent introduces a transportation demand-and-supply matching system as an intermediary that standardizes and processes data from multiple transportation entities. This intermediary layer统一管理 data integration, demand estimation, and supply capability assessment, transforming complex multi-source data into standardized information that can be systematically analyzed without proportionally increasing overall system complexity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

Solution Approach 2:

The demand estimation unit and supply capability assessment unit are designed with universal functionality to handle diverse data types from different transportation entities (public transportation, private transportation, temporary transportation). These units can process various data formats and sources through standardized algorithms, enabling multi-functional operation that reduces the need for separate processing systems for each transportation type.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #6Universality (Multi-functionality)

3Adaptability or versatility

If provisional transportation operations are established based on estimated demand, then the responsiveness to travel demand is improved, but the difficulty of determining operation viability increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveresponsiveness to travel demandVSAvoidoperation viability determination
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSDifficulty of detecting and measuring

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the demand estimation unit continuously monitors actual travel demand and compares it with provisional transportation supply. The system uses this feedback to adjust demand estimates and reassess operation viability, creating a closed-loop system that reduces the difficulty of determining viability by providing continuous performance data and enabling iterative optimization of provisional transportation operations.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #23Feedback

Data Source

PatentEP3330157B1Transportation demand-and-supply matching system and transportation demand-and-supply matching method
Publication Date: 2021.12.29 HITACHI LTD
  • EP3330157B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3330157B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP3330157B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

To facilitate determination of start of an operation of a new transportation that can cope with the travel demand in an area where multiple transportations and travel routes are present. A transportation demand and supply matching system 10 includes a storage device 2011 that stores information on travel demand and transportation supply capability in a predetermined area, and an arithmetic device 2041 that estimates a congested transportation and a congested route in the area based on the information on the travel demand and the transportation supply capability, estimates an avoidance route for avoiding the congested route, and a provisional transportation which is not operated but has to be operated on the avoidance route in the area by a predetermined algorithm, and outputs information on each of the avoidance route and the provisional transportation to a predetermined device.