Meeting-Based Item Transfer Routing for Energy-Saving Transport

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative Solutions
Generate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Existing transport methods, including crowdshipping and commercial parcel services, require significant energy-intensive travel and are technically complex due to the need for arranging additional meetings and collecting route information, leading to inefficient energy consumption.

Innovation Solution

A system comprising communication, storage, transport request, and calculation modules that utilize pre-scheduled personal encounters to determine a sequence for item transfer among individuals, eliminating the need for additional meetings and optimizing transport routes.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Ease of manufacture

If crowdshipping is used to transport objects, then commercial parcel services can be reduced, but additional routes must be covered consuming energy and route coordination becomes technically complex

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvereduction of commercial parcel servicesVSAvoidenergy consumption for additional routes
Core Design Contradiction:
Ease of manufactureVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The system collects encounter information in advance from multiple persons about their future routes and encounters. This preliminary data collection enables the calculation module to pre-determine optimal transport sequences without requiring real-time coordination or additional routes, thus reducing energy consumption while maintaining the crowdshipping model

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

2Use of energy by moving object

If encounter information is collected from multiple persons to determine transport sequences, then energy consumption is reduced by using existing routes, but system complexity increases due to data collection and evaluation

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveenergy consumption for transportVSAvoidcomplexity of data collection and evaluation system
Core Design Contradiction:
Use of energy by moving objectVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system is divided into distinct functional modules: communication modules for data entry, a memory module for storing encounter information, and a calculation module for determining transport sequences. This segmentation distributes complexity across separate components rather than concentrating it in one system, making the overall system more manageable and scalable

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The calculation module acts as an intermediary that processes encounter information from multiple persons and translates it into optimized transport sequences. This intermediary layer simplifies the interaction between data collection and transport execution, reducing the perceived complexity for users while achieving energy-efficient routing

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Reliability

If artificial encounters are arranged for object handover, then transport can be ensured, but energy is consumed exclusively for transport purposes and coordination becomes complex

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvetransport delivery assuranceVSAvoidenergy consumption for exclusive transport routes
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The system leverages the existing self-organized encounters and routes of multiple persons for transport purposes. Instead of arranging artificial encounters, the system allows persons to input their own encounter information about natural meetings along their routes, and the calculation module automatically identifies suitable handover opportunities within these existing patterns, making the transport system self-organizing and energy-efficient

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

Data Source

PatentEP3542323B1System and method for the energy-saving transportation of items
Publication Date: 2026.05.13 SENDBYFRIEND GMBH
  • EP3542323B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP3542323B1 patent drawingFigure 2

AI summary

The invention relates to a system and a method for transporting objects in an energy-saving manner. The system has a plurality of communication modules, wherein each communication module is uniquely assigned to at least one person of a plurality of persons, and wherein each communication module is designed and set up for the input of at least one item of meeting information relating to a future meeting of at least two of the plurality of persons. The system also has a storage module which is spatially remote from the communication modules and which stores the meeting information input by means of the communication modules. The system also has at least one transport request module into which a transport request containing at least information relating to a sender and a transport recipient can be input by a sender and which sends the transport request which has been input. Finally, the system has a calculation module which is remote from the transport request module, receives the transport request from the communication module and determines a sequence of different persons from the stored meeting information taking into account the information relating to the sender and the transport recipient, wherein an item of meeting information is immediately available for successive persons in the sequence, and wherein the sender is the first person in the sequence, and wherein the transport recipient is the last person in the sequence.