TITLE: METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TRANSPORT VEHICLE

ORDERING AND DESPATCH

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

THIS INVENTION relates to a method and system for transport vehicle ordering and despatch.

The invention is particularly suitable for, but not limited to, a method and system for ordering transport vehicles such as taxis, limousines, mini-buses, people movers, local area buses and like transport vehicles.

The invention may also be applied to the services ordered by consumers for the transport of articles or goods such as by couriers, light trucks or the like. 2. Prior Art There are typically large delays for taxis and other transport vehicles when sporting and entertainment events finish; and disputes between customers in early morning queues after nite-clubs and other entertainment venues close can be inflamed by earlier alcohol consumption.

Customers may order taxis or other transport vehicles by land lines at the venues; mobile- or cell-phones; or calling the taxi or transport companies from "call boxes" provided at taxi ranks at or near the venues.

These "call boxes" may require the payment of a coin (eg., $2.00 coin) to place an order for the taxi or other transport vehicle.

When a number of customers have ordered taxis from the same call box, or are to be picked up from the same address, disputes often arise as to which customer actually ordered the taxi or other transport vehicle when it arrives.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for transport vehicle ordering and despatch where the customer provides unique

identifying information to enable the taxi driver or transport vehicle operator to identify the correct customer.

It is a preferred object of the present invention to provide such a method where the customer is provided with the identification of the taxi or other transport vehicle which is responding to his/her order.

It is a further preferred object of the present invention to provide a method where the customer can provide the unique identifying information by a number of alternative means.

It is a still further preferred object of the present invention to provide a system to enable the method to be effected.

Other preferred objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description.

In one aspect, the present invention provides a method for transport vehicle ordering and despatch, including the steps of: an information reader reading unique identification indicia for a customer and transmitting information identifying the customer to a despatch centre; the despatch centre identifying a transport vehicle available to respond to the customer's order; the despatch centre transmitting details of the customer's order, preferably including the information identifying the customer, and the customer's location, to the transport vehicle; and optionally, transmitting identification details of the transport vehicle being despatched in response to the customer's order in readable form to the customer.

Preferably, the reader is contained in a call box which incorporates a visual display and/or printer to provide the identification information of the transport vehicle to the customer.

Preferably, two or more types of readers are provided to read

the customer's identification indicia, such as a magnetic stripe reader, a bar code reader or the like.

In addition, a key pad may be provided to operate in conjunction with one or both of the readers to enable the customer to insert a unique identifying code or PIN number.

While the call box may transmit to the despatch centre over a land line, it is preferable that the data is transmitted via a wireless or radio link where the call box also transmits a unique location identifying code.

Preferably, each transport vehicle is connected via a radio link to the despatch centre, and preferably has a GPS location device so that the despatch centre can locate the transport vehicle (which is available) and which is preferably closest to the location of the call box, or which is proceeding in the direction of the call box.

In a preferred embodiment, where the customer identification indicia is provided on a card or other information carrier, the reader transmits at least a portion of the identification indicia. For example, where the customer has a credit or debit card, issued by a financial institution with the

Account Number 98765432 1111 2345, it may only transmit "98762345" as there is little likelihood that another customer waiting at that location would have the same "abbreviated" identification indicia.

Alternatively, if Ms. Jane Smith is the customer, the reader may transmit "2345 SMITH" as it is unlikely that another Smith will be at that location with the same last 4 digits on some identification card.

The reader may read information indicia from a magnetic strip on the card, or a barcode or some other unique identification indicia.

To prevent the mis-use of a stolen or lost card, the reader may require the customer to enter a confirmatory PIN number recorded on the card.

Preferably, when an available transport vehicle has been

despatched, or at least matched to the customer's order, some identification indicia for the vehicle (eg., vehicle registration "T-12345" or fleet number "Yellow 207") is transmitted on a visual display screen, or printed on a receipt, at the call box, so that the customer can keep a watch for the identified transport vehicle. The display or print-out may also give an ETA for the transport vehicle.

In a second aspect, the present invention resides in a system for effecting the method.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS To enable the invention to be fully understood, preferred embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic drawing of a first embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a front view of a call box used in the system; FIG. 3 is a schematic drawing of a second embodiment;

FIG. 4 is a similar view of a third embodiment; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic flow diagram corresponding to FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE

PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a customer 10 wishes to order a taxi 20 (or like transport vehicle, as hereinbefore described) from a location provided with a call box 30 (to be hereinafter described in more detail).

The call box 30 may be connected by radio link 41 to a telecommunications provider 40 or via radio link 51 to the despatcher at a taxi company 50. Where the connection is via radio link 41 to the telecommunications provider 40, a communications link 42, eg., by land line, is provided between the telecommunications provider 40 and the taxi company 50.

The taxi company 50 is in radio communication with the taxi 20

via a radio link 52 and the location of the taxi is determined via the GPS positioning system 70 which communicates with a GPS unit 21 in the taxi 20.

The call box 30 has a magnetic stripe reader 31 and/or bar code reader 32 on the front panel 35. The front panel may be provided with a keypad 33 (with numeric keys 1 to 0, and # and * keys) and a display screen 34.

Not shown, a printer unit may be provided in addition to, or as an alternative to, the visual display screen 34 where the printer unit provides the customer 10 with a receipt with identifying indicia relating to the taxi 20 (and preferably, also its ETA).

In use, the customer "swipes" a card 11 (or other information carrier) which contains unique information indicia relating to that customer. For example, the card may be a credit or debit card issued by a financial institution, such as a bank or credit provider, and the magnetic stripe reader reads all or part of the information contained on the magnetic stripe, eg. , the first four and last four digits of an account number, and the customer's surname, to be transmitted to the taxi company despatch 50, either directly by radio link 51 or indirectly by radio link 41 to the telecommunications provider 40 and by the communications link 42. As an alternative to a magnetic stripe reader, the customer may pass the card adjacent the bar code reader to read a barcode marked on the card or carrier, where the barcode is, again, unique to the customer 10.

When the taxi company receives the data transmitted from the call box, where such data includes the unique information for the customer 10 and also an identity code for the particular call box (which indicates the location of the call box 30). The despatcher at the taxi company can search for the closest available taxi via the GPS positioning system 70.

NB: In some situations, the most available taxi to satisfy the customer's order may not be the one closest to the customer's location, eg.,

due to one-way streets or localised congestion or the fact that a taxi which is further away, but proceeding generally in the direction of the customer's location.

When the despatcher at the taxi company 50 has forwarded the order to the driver of the taxi 20, and the taxi driver has accepted the order, the taxi driver proceeds to the location to collect the customer.

Meanwhile, the taxi company 50 transmits a signal back to the call box 30 and some identification indicia, relating to the taxi 20, is displayed on the visual display screen 34 (or printed on the customer's receipt) to enable the customer 10 to identify which taxi 20 has been despatched to collect the customer.

In the example shown in FIG. 2, the taxi's registration number "T27154" is being displayed on the visual display screen. It will be readily apparent to the skilled addressee that some other suitable identification may be displayed, e.g., where there are two or more taxi companies which service the particular location, the displayed information may read "Yellow 207" or "Regent 133" to indicate both the taxi company's name and taxi cab (or fleet) number.

By displaying this information (and optionally displaying an estimated ETA for the taxi 20), the customer 10 can maintain a watch for the arrival of the taxi 20.

When the taxi 20 arrives, the driver can advise he has been ordered by "Miss Smith" with an I. D. number, eg., "2345", which is the last four digits from the customer's account number on his/her credit or debit card.

The identification indicia can include a wide range of unique information including: a) the customer's full name; b) date of birth;

c) identity card number; d) financial institution account number; e) school or tertiary education I. D. number; f) library borrowing number; g) any other unique identification indicia, whether alone or in combination of two or more of (a) to (g).

Where the unique identification indicia is part of a large identification source, eg., the 16 digits from a credit card number, the reader may only transmit, eg., the first 2-4 and/or the last 2-4 digits of the whole account number. Preferably, the data transmitted will include the customer's surname and may also include "Mr/Mrs/Ms/Miss/Dr" or other like identification indicia.

In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the call boxes 30 may be provided by a service company 60 which has communication links 61, 62, to the telecommunications provider 40 and to the taxi company 50.

Each time the customer 10 places an order for a taxi via the call box 30, the customer swipes his/her credit or debit card 11 and enters a PIN number via the key pad 33 to enable a service fee to be billed to the service company, and may also provide a "credit check" for the taxi company 50 so that the customer 10 may be automatically billed when he/she arrives at his/her intended location.

Via the communication links 61 , 62, any service fee collected by the service company may, in part, be shared with the telecommunications provider 40 and/or the taxi company 50. The flow of data between the entities between the placing of the order by the customer 10 and the dispatch and display of the taxi's identification indicia to the customer 10 at the call box 30 is shown by the arrows.

In the third embodiment in FIG. 4, the service company 60

may, via the communication links 61, 62, provide the communication link between the telecommunications provider 40 and the cab company 50 for control and monitoring of the system and to also receive/share payment, as hereinbefore described. In this embodiment, the service company 60 can, from the customer's identification data, establish the customer's preference for a particular taxi company and so direct the customer's order to that taxi company in preference over any other available taxi company. This not only ensures that the customer receives the preferred service, but the service company can also charge the preferred taxi company a "premium" when that taxi company is selected to receive the customer's order.

As the customer's information transmitted to the taxi 20 is unique to that customer 10, the taxi driver can ensure that the particular customer's order is being satisfied and no other person has "jumped the queue". In addition, by providing identification information relating to the taxi (and optionally, the taxi's ETA), the customer 10 is not only better informed, but can maintain a watch for the taxi to enable quicker collection at the location.

Various changes and modifications may be made to the embodiments described and illustrated without departing from the present invention.