Mobile Phone Path Determination for Public Transport Revenue Sharing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current public transportation billing systems face challenges in accurately distributing revenue among different transport operators, particularly when passengers use multiple modes of transport, as existing methods require infrastructure like barrier systems or complex ticketing systems that are not universally applicable.
Innovation Solution
A method using mobile phones to determine the most likely path of a user within a public transport network by analyzing the probability of cell phone connections to base stations, allowing for the calculation of travel costs across different transport operators without the need for manual operation or infrastructure like barrier systems.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If barrier systems and check-in/check-out systems are used to control access and track journeys, then journey control and revenue distribution are improved, but device complexity and infrastructure requirements increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical barrier systems and physical ticket checking with a mobile phone-based electronic system. The mobile phone stores journey data and communicates with a server to automatically track movements through different transport networks, eliminating the need for physical barriers and manual check-in/check-out processes while maintaining accurate journey control and revenue distribution capability
Solution Approach 2:
The mobile phone acts as an intermediary carrier between the passenger and the transport network operators. It stores personal identification data, journey information, and communication data, serving as a portable ticket and journey tracker that eliminates the need for infrastructure-heavy barrier systems while enabling accurate tracking of movements across multiple transport modes
2Device complexity
If manual ticket purchasing and check-in processes are used, then ticket control is simplified, but loss of time and productivity decrease due to manual operations
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables automatic self-service ticketing where the mobile phone automatically purchases tickets, tracks journeys, and communicates with transport operators without manual intervention. The phone stores journey data and automatically reports movements to the server, eliminating time-consuming manual ticket purchasing, check-in, and check-out operations while maintaining simple ticket control
3Measurement precision
If comprehensive tracking of all journey movements is implemented, then revenue distribution accuracy is improved, but loss of information and data processing complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the tracking process into discrete events: journey start, journey end, and intermediate position reports. The mobile phone automatically generates and transmits these segmented data points to the server, which processes them to calculate revenue distribution. This segmentation enables accurate revenue tracking across multiple transport modes while managing data processing complexity through structured, event-driven information flow
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a method, which can be used to determine the local itinerary of a user of a variety of public means of transportation. Based on said determined itinerary then the travel cost can be equitably distributed among the individual operators of the means of transportation. The basis of the method is a comparison of the coordinates of stops of the public means of transportation with the coordinates of base stations for sending and receiving operations in mobile phone communication (GSM). Said coordinates must be determined only once and can be stored in a memory. If the coordinates of a base station into which a mobile phone is logged are close to the coordinates of a stop, it is assumed that the user of the mobile phone is located at said stop. During the travel of the user of the public means of transportation, it is detected at regular intervals - for example in intervals of 30 seconds - into what base station the mobile phone is logged. Then it is determined again which stop is the shortest distance from the base station just activated, and a conclusion is drawn about a line that the user is traveling on. Since the base method is still prone to inaccuracies, additional measures may be taken in order to make the route of the user of the mobile phone more precise. Such a measure is, for example, the comparison of the official schedule with the measured time and location information. By utilizing certain steps of the method it can also be checked whether the owner of the mobile phone is in possession of a properly purchased electronic ticket.