Transit Reward Tracking System for Sustainable Mobility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems lack effective incentives to promote the utilization of environmentally friendly transit entities, such as public transportation and clean modes of parcel delivery, as users do not have a straightforward way to receive rewards for choosing these options.
Innovation Solution
A network-based system that tracks and incentivizes the use of select transit entities by awarding units for their utilization, which can be redeemed at select providers, automatically deducting units from a user's account when a procurement is made at these providers, thereby encouraging the use of environmentally friendly transit options.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If a reward system is implemented to incentivize use of environmentally friendly transit entities, then transit utilization is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a network-based system as an intermediary that automatically tracks transit entity usage, manages reward units, and coordinates with providers. This intermediary handles the complex tracking and reward distribution operations, allowing the incentive program to function without requiring complex changes to the underlying transit infrastructure or user behavior tracking methods.
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically tracks transit usage through signals from transit entities, computes earned units based on predefined criteria, and applies rewards at provider transactions without requiring manual intervention. This self-service approach reduces operational complexity by automating the reward management process while maintaining high transit utilization through continuous tracking and incentivization.
2Reliability
If automatic tracking and reward distribution is implemented, then incentive effectiveness is improved, but data processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential data elements needed for reward calculation from transit usage information, such as transit entity identifiers and usage signals. By focusing on extracting only the critical data points rather than processing complete usage records, the system maintains reliable incentive effectiveness while minimizing data processing volume and storage requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The system pre-establishes reward criteria, unit values, and provider associations before transit usage occurs. This preliminary configuration allows the system to process transit signals efficiently by comparing against predefined rules rather than performing complex real-time calculations, thereby maintaining incentive reliability while reducing data processing requirements during actual transit operations.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems, methods and mediums to facilitate utilization of select transit entities by tracking and inducing such utilization are disclosed. In embodiments, a first signal indicating that an item utilized a select transit entity is received, wherein a quantity of units to incrementally associate with utilization by the item of the select transit entity is determined. A second signal associated with the item indicating a procurement request is then made to a select provider and reducing at least some units associated with the item and signaling the select provider that the procurement request is to transpire at a reduced rate.