Vehicle Priority Assignment via Collocated Device Counting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing carpooling applications lack verification of actual passenger transport, violating data protection regulations and failing to effectively incentivize vehicles carrying multiple passengers by not providing priority access to congested roads.
Innovation Solution
A method that assigns priority to vehicles based on the number of collocated device identifiers, using a server to determine and count these identifiers, granting privileges such as preferred routes, lanes, or itineraries, while ensuring compliance with data protection regulations by not disclosing passenger identities, and utilizing artificial intelligence to regulate road traffic and confirm passenger presence through sensors.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If carpooling applications use declarative methods to connect motorists and passengers, then the system is simple to operate, but there is no verification of actual passenger transport
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary verification system using communication network data to count device identifiers collocated with the vehicle. This mediator validates actual passenger presence without requiring direct interaction between passengers and the verification system, maintaining ease of operation while ensuring reliability through objective data collection from the communication network.
2Productivity
If priority is assigned to vehicles with multiple passengers, then travel times are reduced and carpooling is promoted, but data protection regulations may be violated through identity disclosure
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the necessary data element (count of collocated device identifiers) from the communication network without extracting or storing personal identity information. This extraction approach enables priority assignment based on passenger count while leaving sensitive identity data behind, thus achieving productivity improvement without data protection violations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses copies of device identifiers from the communication network rather than original identity data. These identifier copies are sufficient for counting and priority determination but do not contain personally identifiable information, enabling the system to function while protecting data privacy.
3Measurement precision
If the system counts and verifies passenger numbers through data collection, then accurate priority assignment is achieved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The communication network itself performs the data collection and identifier counting functions. The system leverages the network's existing capabilities to self-generate the verification data, eliminating the need for complex dedicated verification hardware or software and reducing overall system complexity while maintaining measurement precision.
Data Source
AI summary
A determination of a priority to be assigned to a vehicle, carried out by a server. The determination includes: collecting, from a communication network, data concerning at least the identifiers of communicating devices, one of the collected identifiers being associated with the vehicle, determining a number of collocated identifiers according to a selected collocation criterion, the identifier associated with the vehicle being one of the collocated identifiers, and if the number is greater than a threshold, assigning the vehicle a first priority, and if the number is below the threshold, assigning the vehicle a second priority that is lower than the first priority.