GB2352847A - Route planning for users of public transport - Google Patents

Abstract

A route planner and route planning system for selecting a route by public transport includes means for inputting one location for selecting a route from or to another fixed location or for inputting a departure point and destination, access to a processor for selecting at least one possible route from a database of routes between predetermined locations, the database being held either in the route planner or remotely, and an output for outputting the selected route or routes. In one embodiment the route planner is a hand-held device 151, 152 or 153 in which the database may be updated or changed by using a telecommunications network.

Description

2352847 A ROILTE PLANNING SYSTEM FOR USERS OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT This

invention relates to a route planning system for users of public transport.

In order to plan a journey by public transport, access may be made by users to, for example, published timetables, route maps or telephone helplines. However, unfamiliar timetables and route maps are often difficult to use and are not always readily available to a traveller in an unfamiliar city. Moreover, such sources usually contain only timetable and route information and not additional information, such as fares. For a tourist seeking to visit a tourist attraction, the nearest alighting point to the tourist attraction may not be determinable without additional access to local maps. Telephone helplines may not always be available. Since each of these sources may supply information from only one carrier, it may be necessary to consult a large number of sources to determine the most convenient or the most cost-effective route to undertake a journey. A tourist or business person visiting a large number of cities on a tour will need access to such a multiplicity of sources for each city visited.

According to the invention there is provided a route planning system for selecting a route by public transport between a first location served by public transport and a second location served by public transport, the system comprising: input means for inputting at least one of the first location and the second location, storage means for maintaining a database of information concerning routes between predetermined locations served by public transport, processing means for selecting at least one public transport route between the first location and the second location and output means for outputting stored information on the at least one selected route.

Conveniently, the system is at least partially housed in a hand-held device.

1 Advantageously, the storage means is an interchangeable medium.

Advantageously, the storage means is updatable.

Conveniently, the storage means is updatable using a telecommunications or broadcasting network.

Alternatively, the input means and output means are housed in a terminal and the storage means is located remote from the terminal such that the terminal may access the storage means over a telecommunications or broadcasting network.

Conveniently, the input means includes a keyboard.

Conveniently, the input means includes a speech recognition system.

Advantageously, the database contains information on at least one of carrier details, route numbers, boarding and alighting points, fares, journey times and timetable schedules.

Conveniently, the output means includes a display.

Advantageously, the output means includes an audio output.

Advantageously, the output means includes a printer.

The route planner system of the invention has the advantage that the system is readily available to a user and may provide a single source for determining a preferred route between any two locations within a given geographical area. In a preferred embodiment, the geographical area is envisaged as being a city but the invention also has applications for inter-city or inter-country journeys by public transport. In one mode of operation, the user may enter into the system a departure point and the destination of his journey 2 and the processing means identifies a suitable route according to pre-set or input criteria and outputs the nearest appropriate boarding points to the departure point and alighting points to the destination, or for example, the nearest railway stations. The system would preferably include processing facilities for enabling a change of transport carriers during a journey, for example, for travelling part of a journey by bus and part by train and would give details of interconnections.

In a particular embodiment, the database may include details only of routes to a particular location. For example, a tourist attraction may issue a database containing details of a multiplicity of routes for reaching that tourist attraction from anywhere within, for example, a city. In another embodiment a hotel, for example, may issue a database giving details on routes between the hotel and a multiplicity of tourist attractions. In these embodiments, in particular, the database may also include opening times and/or entrance fees for the tourist attractions so that the system also functions as a tourist guide. In these two embodiments it would be necessary to input only either the starting point or the destination respectively, the other location being pre-determined.

A number of possible arrangements of the features of the invention fall within the scope of the invention. For example, the database may be held on a central server and a remote terminal used to access the server for each enquiry. Alternatively, the database may be held on a central server and the remote terminal be used to access the database to update a memory within the remote terminal from time to time, or the database may be held solely within the remote terminals and distributed either in the form of a memory carrier such as a disk or "credit card" microchip.

The invention will now be described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE I is a block schematic showing elements used in the invention; 3 FIGURE 2 shows a handheld device in accordance with the invention, and FIGURE 3 is a block schematic of the system according to this invention.

In the figures like reference numerals denote like parts.

An embodiment of the route planning system 10 of the invention is shown schematically in FIGURE 1, in which input means 1 are provided for inputting into the system 10 typically the starting point and destination of a journey. Such an input means could be a keypad or keyboard or, for example, a voice recognition system. The location could be specified by directly inputting the location by, for example, keying or saying the identity of the proposed location or by selecting from a displayed list of possible locations stored in a database 3. Alternatively, the input may be a map reference.

On receipt of input from the input means, the processing unit 2, seeks to identify the input with one of the predetermined locations served by public transport stored in the database 3. If the processing unit 2 is unable to identify the input, the processing unit 2 may generate an error message requesting further information to enable identification.

Having identified the two locations, the processing unit 2 interrogates the database 3 to determine route information for a journey between the two locations and then outputs that journey information to an output device 4, which may be, for example, a display or printer. The output may be in the form of text or as a map or a combination of text and map, and in addition to specifying the route and including boarding and alighting points, may include additional information on, for example, costs of the journey. In particular embodiments of the invention, it may be possible to additionally input criteria by which the processing unit selects a route, for example, to find the least expensive route or the quickest route or the route with a minimum number of interchanges. In addition, in particular embodiments, it may be possible to input proposed 4 starting or arrival times so that the processing unit may determine timetable information which may also be output to the output device 4 together with a proposed route, or route identifier, e.g. a bus number.

In a particular embodiment, the database 3 may be specific to routes to a specific location, in which case, it would obviously only be necessary to input the starting location to reach that fixed location. In another embodiment the starting location may be known to the system, for "ample, a specific hotel and it may be necessary only to input a proposed destination.

As indicated above, the output device 4 may include a display, such as a visual display unit, a liquid crystal display, a printer, or an audio output, for which purpose the device may be provided with a socket for electrical connection of an ear-piece. Preferably, but not necessarily, the output device 4 will be capable of outputting graphics, so that maps, for "ample, may be output in addition to textual information.

Preferably the language used for input and output win be selectable or otherwise tailored to the user, so as to be readily useable by a visitor foreign to the geographical area.

As indicated above, the database 3 may be limited to routes to a specific destination or from a specific starting point. However, in general, the database 3 will contain information on all routes between all known boarding points and alighting points, railway stations, airports and the like within a city or other geographical area. Although such information may be limited to information from one transport carrier, preferably the database 3 will contain the information from all the carriers within the geographical area, including all modes of public transport available.

The database 3 may be updated from an update source 5 by either complete replacement of the database carrier with an updated version or by remotely updating the database 3 over a telecommunications or broadcast network from information held by the transport carriers, or other co- ordinating body, for example, a tourist organisation.

As indicated above, local information may be supplied from a local information source 6 by replacing the database 3 with a specific local database or by accessing a local database and adding local information to existing information stored in the database 3.

FIGURE 2 is a schematic diagram of a handheld device 100 for use with the invention. Such a device may house the complete route planning system 10 or may house part of a system 10 and be used for accessing a remote database, where the database is not wholly contained within the handheld device 100. The obvious advantage of the handheld device 100 is that it may be taken by the user on a journey to update his itinerary en-route. As shown in FIGURE 2, the handheld device 100 has a keypad, consisting of character keys 11, for input and additionally or alternatively a microphone 12 for audio input. The handheld device 100 also has a display 40 such as a liquid crystal display for output, possibly, in addition, with an earpiece socket 41 or a loudspeaker for audio output. As illustrated, the handheld device also incorporates a disk- drive 30 for holding a database 3. Alternatively, a disk in the disk-drive 30 may contain supplementary, e.g., local information. Alternatively, or in addition, the handheld device 100 may contain other memory storage devices, for example, a hard disk, a random access memory, or micro-chips. In such a case, the disk drive may be used merely to update information held on the in-built memory. In another embodiment, the database 3, or part of the database may be held on a "credit card" type microchip.

In addition, or alternatively, an in-built memory (not shown) may -be updated or supplemented by access to a remote database over a telecommunications or broadcast network and for this purpose the handheld device 100 is provided with ports 51, 52 as indicated, for access to, for 6 example, a fixed telephone network or an internet network respectively. In addition, an optional antenna 53 (preferably retractable) is illustrated for access to, for example, a mobile telephone network.

It will be immediately apparent to a person skilled in the art that the handheld device 100 could be given additional functionality, for example, as a calculator, a mobile telephone, an audio player, a radio or television receiver.

FIGURE 3 illustrates an embodiment of the invention in which the database 3 is held on a database server 300 remote from the user's terminal.

The database 3 is updatable from various transport companies' servers 540, 550 covering the geographical area and possibly from local information servers 560, 570 by local tourist attractions, conference centres, etc.

Such a database server 300 may be accessed in a number of ways, either in response to each user enquiry, or for updating a database in a user held device 100, similar to that shown in FIGURE 2.

For example, the database server 300 may be accessed over a mobile phone network 1530 using a handheld device 153 having mobile phone communication facilities. Alternatively, the database may be accessed via an internet server 1520, using a handheld device 152 having internet communication facilities, or by a handheld device 151 having communication facilities for communicating over a wired telephone network 1510. However, alternatively, the database can also be accessed by a known internet terminal such as a PC 154 over the internet. Alternatively, the database may be accessed by a TV broadcasting company server 1550, either for updating videotext type information for example, for broadcasting to a non-interactive TV 155 or for interrogation of the TV broadcasting server 1550 by an interactive TV 156.

Alternatively, the database server 300 may be interrogated directly using an interactive TV 156 over any suitable network.

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Claims (24)

1. A route planning system for selecting a route by public transport between a first location served by public transport and a second location served by public transport, the system comprising: input means for inputting at least one of the first location and the second location, storage means for maintaining a database of information concerning routes between predetermined locations served by public transport, processing means for selecting at least one public transport route between the first location and the second location and output means for outputting stored information on the at least one selected route.

2. A route planning system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the system is at least partially housed in a hand-held device.

3. A route planning system claimed in claims I or 2, wherein the storage means is an interchangeable medium.

4. A route planning system as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the storage means is updatable.

5. A route planning system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the storage means is updatable using a telecommunications or broadcasting network.

6. A route planning system as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the input means and output means are housed in a terminal and the storage means is located remote from the terminal such that the terminal may access the storage means over a telecommunications or broadcasting network.

7. A route planning system as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the input means includes a keyboard.

8 8. A route planning system as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the input means includes a speech recognition system.

9. A route planning system as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the database contains information on at least one of carrier details, route numbers, boarding and alighting points, fares, journey times and timetable schedules.

10. A route planning systems as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the output means includes a display.

11. A route planning system as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the output means includes an audio output.

12. A route planning system as claimed in the preceding claims, wherein the output means includes a printer.

13. A route planner for selecting a route by public transport between a first location served by public transport and a second location served by public transport, comprising input means for inputting at least one of the first location and the second location, access means for accessing processing means for selecting at least one public transport route between the first location and the second location from storage means containing a database of information concerning routes between predetermined routes served by public transport, and output means for outputting stored information on the at least one selected route.

14. A route planner as claimed in claim 13, wherein the processing means and the storage means are housed in the route planner. --

15. A route planner as claimed in claim 14, wherein the storage means is an interchangeable medium.

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16. A route planner as claimed in claims 14 to 15, wherein the database is updatable using a telecommunications or broadcasting network.

17. A route planner as claimed in any of claims 13 to 16, wherein the input 5 means includes a keyboard.

18. A route planner as claimed in any of claims 13 to 17, wherein the input means includes a voice recognition system.

19. A route planner as claimed in any of claims 13 to 18, wherein the output means includes a display.

20. A route planner as claimed in any of claims 13 to 19, wherein the output means includes an audio output.

21. A route planner as claimed in any of claims 13 to 20, wherein the output means includes a printer.

22. A route planner as claimed in any of claims 13 to 21, wherein the route planner is adapted to be hand-held.

23. A route planner substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

24. A route planning system substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.