WO2006081816A1

WO2006081816A1 - Method and device for route planning

Info

Publication number: WO2006081816A1
Application number: PCT/DE2006/000204
Authority: WO
Inventors: Christian KÖPPEL
Original assignee: Tomtom Work Gmbh
Priority date: 2005-02-05
Filing date: 2006-02-06
Publication date: 2006-08-10
Also published as: DE102005005413B4; DE102005005413A1

Abstract

Prior art route planners combine aspects of appointment planning and position determination. In particular, said type of systems still exist for travelling sales representatives, where their route planning is highly complex due to a large number of clients. The invention relates to the planning of a non-determined amount of appointments (15-20) in addition to agreed, determined appointments (11-14) which can be seldomly be solved in a satisfactory manner. The aim of the invention is to provide a route planner which enables, in particular non-determined appointments (15-20) to be planned in an efficient manner. Said aim is achieved with the aid of invention. Automatic route planning takes into account said desired number of visits and carries out said invention due to the individual treatment of all clients and to the use of frequency of visits as a parameter for determined and non-determined appointments (11-20).

Description

PROCESS AND DEVICE FOR ROUTE PLANNING

The invention relates to a method and a device for route planning on the basis of specific and indeterminate appointments, in which a mobile station via a position determination, preferably by means of a GPS system, feasible and the mobile station locally or centrally a memory element with a schedule with specific and indefinite dates and associated with an address register having addresses, the mobile station having a processor by which it assigns an appointment from the address register to each appointment from the schedule, assigns a geographical position to that address, and dynamically calculates a current day's route from the upcoming appointments the addresses are preferably held in a database system, are associated with specifiable criteria and additional information, namely information about a desired frequency of visits, on the basis of which the current day's route in addition to the specific dates, preferably mithi By means of a fuzzy logic method, further indefinite appointments can be added by an automatic, dynamic calculation of all possible daily routes in such a way that both the specific appointments are perceptible and the predefined criteria are at least largely fulfilled, and the current daily route thus calculated the user on the display of the mobile station, preferably graphically represented.

Such a method is previously known from EP 1 106 968 A1.

Likewise, further route planning methods are known, for example, from the publications EP 1 152 220 A1, US Pat. No. 6,119,095 A, EP 0 _ 9 -

795 835 A1, EP 0 684 592, DE 100 59 746 A1 and US Pat. No. 6,853,915 B2.

Basically, route planning methods as essential features on the one hand on the ability to position and on the other hand, the functionality of a scheduler. The prior art knows in this context the ability to find the best possible route using address information of successive appointments. In this case, the degree of suitability of such a route can be determined on the basis of various aspects. The ability to determine the position of the mobile stations used, it is advisable to check the route always up to date and to recalculate this route when certain events occur such as the entry of new appointments, the occurrence of traffic congestion, the premature departure or the like. From this document it is also known to plan the route from a central station and then to transmit it to the mobile station.

In addition to the achievement of fixed, agreed deadlines, it is of particular interest to the Traveling Salesmen to include indefinite dates in the route planning.These dates must be planned with a certain freedom and should always have a provisional character in the scheduling, since this Appointments are purely visit appointments and these visits are partly without prior notification.

Another aspect is the visualization of the route, which is known to be done in style or in conjunction with a navigation system. Depending on the needs, the route can be displayed graphically or acoustically and above Beyond acoustically on any events or problems, such as the collision of two appointments due to delays, draw attention.

Other aspects are added to the prior art by DE 100 28 660 A1. This document describes in addition to the options mentioned in particular the navigation and its influence on the appointment design. It is taught that a realistic forecast of the achievement of upcoming appointments via telematics services is possible. It is first calculated with speed rules for certain roads, such as. a maximum speed of 100 km / h for highways. A self-learning system compares these values with reality and, by approximating the actual values, improves the forecast over required times and travel times for individual sections.

DE 697 01 543 T2 proposes an appointment booking and planning system for a large number of field staff, in which the work area is subdivided into areas and in turn locations are imprinted on them. Each possible route between these locations is treated as an individual to which specific route information can be assigned. Here, too, the routes are calculated dynamically, whereby the calculation here concerns the possible routes as individuals, so it is always tried to find new routes between the locations. For this purpose, all possible routes are constantly recalculated periodically.

One of the most important aspects of the topic described above is, in addition to position determination and scheduling, the scheduling of indefinite appointments. Indefinite dates are characterized by the fact that an external service employee to visit a customer at a certain frequency, possibly even without external cause. Consequently, there is no external compulsion to plan these appointments, which often leads to neglecting such appointments.

In addition, almost every sales representative maintains his personal style of customer care, which usually incorporates many years of experience with his customer base. So there is an almost unwritten rule of customer care. This valuable wealth of experience is usually irretrievably lost with the departure of the employee.

Against this background, the invention is based on the object to create a route planning, by means of which the perception of specific and indefinite dates is agreed with each other and allows an efficient planning in particular the indefinite dates.

This object is achieved by the inventive method according to claim 1 and by the use of the device according to the invention according to claim 19. Further embodiments of the solution are set forth in claims 2 to 18 and 20 to 23.

According to the indefinite dates are not registered in the strict sense, but entered in the form of appointment intentions in the mobile station. Taking into account the visiting combs, which visualize the business hours of the customers in the form of diagrams, appointment proposals are proposed for both specific and indefinite dates. Consequently, in connection with an address to be visited, it is merely stated in which frequency to go to this address is to plan an indefinite appointment. For a specific appointment, the route planner makes immediate suggestions, under which the user can arrange a suitable time in consultation with the customer. In the prior art, this approach requires an arbitrary distribution of these appointments on the predetermined daily routes. The problem of this arbitrariness is solved by the present invention in that these indeterminate appointments roughly defined by the described visiting crests are automatically inserted by the route planning system in such a way that the visit crest of each individual visit address is taken into account in the appointment assignment. It is important both to avoid neglecting a visit address, as well as to prefer other visit addresses or to be there unnecessarily frequently. Of course, each individual visit comb is also included in proposals for specific dates.

The calculation of the appointments and the associated current daily route takes place dynamically so that it is always possible to react to changes. Delays due to longer term durations or traffic-related delays are taken into account. Optionally, for example, using the additional information for delays beyond the business hours of a customer, an alternative appointment is scheduled for a customer with longer business hours.

When traveling from appointment to appointment, it is advantageous if the mobile station carried by the user can show it the route along the current daily route using a display. Similar to a navigation system, this output is preferably graphical. The determination of the appointments within the framework of the daily route takes place under different criteria, for example the visiting crest, but also other parameters such as a predefinable number of visits, the working time of the field service employee or the like.

In a display output in the form of a map in this both each appointment, as well as the route between the individual appointments can be displayed. Certain appointments are, preferably in color, distinguishable from indefinite appointments, so that the user knows which appointments may be negligible under time pressure.

For large companies, entire departments are conceivable who manage their sales representatives from one central station, that is, accept their specific appointments and enter them into their daily routes. As a result, these time-consuming steps away from the sales representative to appropriate specialist personnel, which can be centrally employed in the company locations.

Due to the dynamics with which appointments can change due to a variety of external circumstances, it makes sense to be able to add or remove appointments from a current day's route. In addition, it is often necessary to postpone an appointment within a day's route or in daily routes of the following days.

Criteria according to which the visits, in particular the visits on the basis of indefinite appointments take place, are advantageously assignable to each appointment individually. Also the additional information such as the business hours of a customer or information about the contact such as its name, Working times or holiday data can be edited individually.

When calculating the route, various aspects of a route must be taken into account. In addition to the shortest or fastest route, the customer density along the route can advantageously also be used for the assessment of any further indeterminate appointments, the costs incurred for track charges such as tolls or the resulting fuel costs.

In this context, it may be advantageous to group the customers according to specific criteria into customer groups and, if necessary, to organize them.

In an advantageous embodiment, the inventive method also includes an automatic statistical recording of customer visits, which can be evaluated according to specifiable criteria.

In order to keep a large overview of the upcoming appointments, it is advisable to calculate the daily routes in advance, preferably already several weeks or months in advance and to update them constantly.

As a result, it is also possible for deadline collisions that the mobile station or the central station, for example using fuzzy logic, to propose alternative appointments which, in turn, are adapted as far as possible to the specifications of the visiting combs. These appointment suggestions can be accepted or rejected by the user using his mobile station. The dates proposed on this route are selected in such a way that they can best be integrated into the existing daily routes. duress in fact, the affected routes are discarded and recreated.

Advantageously, the system evaluates the behavior of the user in terms of the frequency of visits and the regularity of the visits, and thus creates a set of rules for the sales representative's behavior towards each individual customer. In the case of a possible departure of the field representative in question, it is then possible for a new employee, based on the information collected in this way, to be able to look after the customer as well as his predecessor with little training.

Also abstract information wins the inventive route planner from the visit behavior of the user. From the data, the effectiveness of the user can be determined at certain times or for certain customer groups. The use of the user in these groups can be adapted to it and, if necessary, extended to similar customer groups.

In the case of deadline collisions, but also in other events such as the general change of the current day's route, traffic warnings, when exceeding time limits or the like, an acoustic signal is triggered with an advantage, which attracts the attention of the user so that he receives the new information perceives. As an alternative to the acoustic signal, other signals, such as the vibration alarm, are conceivable.

In order not to lose the data in the event of a loss of the mobile station or its damage, it has proven to be advantageous to regularly store the data with one central PC, for example with the central station. Thus, if necessary, a new mobile station can be put into operation, whereby one only falls back to the state immediately after the last data backup.

Hereinafter, the method described above will be explained in more detail with reference to three drawings, whereby the use of the device described is connected.

Show it :

Fig. 1: a plan with an area in which there are different customer addresses, and in which a route is entered between all specific dates,

Fig. 2: a plan with the same area in which the route between the specific dates has now been planned with the addition of individual indefinite appointments by means of the method according to the invention, and 3 shows a possible configuration of three mobile stations and one central station in a schematic diagram.

1 shows a schematic map in which a company location 10, as well as a number of specific appointments 11 to 14 and some indefinite appointments 15 to 20 are recorded. The company location 10, ie the starting point of each daily route, is represented by a triangle. Certain appointments are represented by squares, indefinite appointments by circles. All appointments are arbitrarily placed in the plan.

According to the invention, a daily route is created by recording all accumulated specific appointments 11 to 14. there the traffic connections between the individual appointments are taken into account so that a fixed sequence, in this example 10, 11, 14, 13, 12, 10 results. In this first step, however, the daily route does not yet contain any specific dates. These are added dynamically in the further course, as dargstellt in Fig. 2 and can, if necessary, be removed again.

FIG. 2 shows the same schedule with certain appointments 11-14 and indefinite appointments 15-20 and a company location 10. However, individual of the possible indefinite appointments are now included in the route. The figure shows a current day's route 4 at the end of the day to which it is assigned. The emergence of this route according to the method of the invention will be described below.

In the morning of the day, a user takes over his current day route 4, which includes the following stations:

1. Departure from the company location 10

2. Specific date 11

3. Undetermined date 19

4. Specific date 14 5. Specific date 13

6. Unspecified date 15

7. Specific date 12

8. Unspecified date 16

9. Arrival at the company location 10

After leaving the company site 10, the user drives to the first specific appointment 11. Between these and the following appointment 14, the route planner has the indefinite Appointment 19, with which a visit was appropriate in the near future.

After the user has taken appointments 19 and 14, he follows the route on to appointment 13. The customer has very little time for this appointment, so the user can break up very early. The mobile station 1 reports this to the central station 6, which additionally assigns the user the indefinite appointment 18 on the basis of the time gained. Of course, the mobile station 1 in stand-alone operation could insert such an appointment automatically. After this date, the procedure will continue as originally planned, so that the indeterminate date 15 is initially perceived. On the way to the next following date 12, the user becomes an accident witness, which is why he appears late at the specific date 12. The mobile station 1 has informed the customer via the central station 6 and moved the appointment backwards by the required time. However, after this appointment has been completed, the mobile station announces that the last scheduled appointment, the indefinite appointment 16, can not be taken because according to the additional information available, the business hours are already over. As an alternative, the mobile station 1 checks whether the possible indefinite appointment 17 can still be addressed. However, as the customer associated with this appointment was recently visited, the route planner looks away from a proposal for this indefinite appointment.

The indefinite appointment was not scheduled that day because it was too far away. He is considered in another day's route. Fig. 3 illustrates a possible configuration of three mobile stations 1 with a central station 6. On the displays 5 of the mobile stations 1, the appointment information is graphically prepared in such a way that the user can easily recognize upcoming appointments. New appointments can either be added directly to the mobile station 1 or also to the central station 6, or existing appointments can be changed or removed.

In addition, the display 5 serves the user to display a map, the mobile station 1, taking into account their own geographic position determined by means of a GPS system, can guide the user to the next appointment.

The data links, which are shown in dashed lines in the figure, are established using wireless links such as radio, GSM, UMTS or the like.

The additional information that can be displayed on the display 5 represent important data for the user, which are finally available to him individually for each customer even when handling the visit appointments.

E N G L I S H E S T E

Mobile station Current daily route Display Central station Company location -14 Specific dates -20 Unspecified dates

Claims

PATENT APPLICATIONS

1. A method for route planning on the basis of specific and indefinite appointments, in which via a mobile station (1) a position determination, preferably by means of a GPS system, feasible and the mobile station (1) locally or centrally a storage element with a schedule with certain and indefinite appointments and an address register with addresses, wherein the mobile station (1) has a processor by means of which it assigns an appointment from the address register to each appointment from the schedule, assigns a geographical position to this address and dynamically updates a current daily route ( 4) calculated from the upcoming appointments, wherein the addresses are preferably held in a database system, with specifiable criteria and additional information, namely information on a desired visit frequency, linked, on the basis of which the current day route (4) in addition to the specific dates, preferably using a author Ahrens the fuzzy logic, more indefinite dates by an automatic, dynamic calculation of all possible daily routes are added so that both the specific dates are perceptible, as well as the predetermined criteria are at least largely met, and calculated the current daily route (4) the User on the display (5) of the mobile station (1), preferably graphically, is shown, characterized in that the system automatically detects the visitation behavior of the user at the customer, evaluates and creates a set of rules based on these evaluations, with the help of which future visit appointments are planned.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the current daily route (4) is displayed in the form of a map on the display (5) of the mobile station (1), in which the addresses belonging to the specific and indefinite appointments, preferably distinguishable from each other, are marked and / or the path between these addresses is displayed.

3. The method according to any one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the route planning by means of a central station (6) is carried out automatically by evaluating the additional information and at least the current day route (4) from there to the mobile station (1), preferably wireless, can be transmitted.

4. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that appointments of the current daily route (4) are manually added and / or manually removable therefrom and / or manually displaced within the route of one or more days.

5. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the criteria and additional information for each address are individually entry and / or changeable.

6. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that in the calculation of a route by the mobile station (1) or the central station (6) as a criterion for the suitability of this route, the toll to be paid and / or the expected fuel costs be considered automatically as additional information.

7. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, character- ized in that the addresses with respect to different criteria, preferably mithälfe a graphical user interface, by forming superordinate customer groups on the display (5) graphically displayed and / or organized.

8. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the current daily route (4) by the mobile station (1) or the central station (6) is created in particular according to one or more of the following criteria: Short distances, short travel times, low toll costs, large number of customers, only certain dates, only a predeterminable proportion of indefinite dates, only given customer groups, only certain time windows, fixed number of customers.

9. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the calculation of the daily routes by the mobile station (1) or by the central station (6) takes place on the basis of, preferably predeterminable, parameters.

10. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the customer visits automatically recorded statistically and evaluated with regard to specifiable criteria and this evaluation will be displayed if necessary.

11. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the additional information in particular comprise the following information: communication data, business hours, customer profile, contact person.

12. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the daily routes are calculated in advance, preferably several weeks or months in advance, by the mobile station (1) or the central station (6) and / or constantly updated.

13. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that alternative alternative appointments are proposed for appointment collisions, these appointment proposals taking into account the respective daily routes are made so that they fit usefully in this.

14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that when several appointment proposals all these appointment proposals are forwarded to the user and that at least one of these proposals can be converted into a specific date.

15. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that special events, in particular the change of the current day route (4), schedule collisions due to delays, traffic warnings and / or reaching a time limit for the term duration, preferably an acoustic signal and / or trigger a vibration alarm on the mobile station (1).

16. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that by means of a communication interface, preferably using a docking station, a comparison of the data stored in the mobile station (1) with a terminal, preferably a PC, feasible, and / or the data from the terminal to the mobile station (1) are replicable.

17. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, character- ized in that the mobile station (1) guides the user graphically and / or acoustically along the routes and in particular reports to be used branches or motorway exits.

18. The method according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that fuzzy logic is also used to avoid deadline collisions in the scheduling of indefinite appointments and occurring delays.

19. Device for route planning on the basis of specific and indefinite appointments, comprising a mobile station (1) for displaying the current daily route (4) and for position determination, wherein the mobile station (1) locally or centrally at least one memory for holding addresses and their geographical position in Form of an address register and for holding certain and indeterminate appointments in the form of a schedule is available from the specific dates a current daily route (4) is dynamically calculable and the current geographical position is determinable, the addresses additional information, namely information about a desired frequency of visits, are added, on the basis of which Tual daily route (4) in addition to the specific dates further indefinite appointments are dynamically added so that their desired attendance is achieved, characterized in that the system automatically detects the visit behavior of the user at the customer, evaluates and using these evaluations creates a set of rules using whose future visit dates are planned.

20. The apparatus according to claim 19, characterized in that the mobile station (1) has a display (5), preferably a color display, by means of which in particular the current daily route (4) can be displayed.

21. Device according to one of claims 19 or 20, characterized in that the position determination is satellite-based, preferably via GPS.

22. Device according to one of claims 19 to 21, characterized in that a synchronization of the mobile station (1) with a terminal, preferably a PC, is feasible, and / or the data from the terminal to the mobile station (1) are replicable.

23. Device according to one of claims 19 to 22, characterized in that the mobile station (1) leads the user graphically and / or acoustically along the routes and in particular reports to be used branches or motorway exits.