Multi-passenger door detection for a passenger transport
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsLarry Dean Elie, Evangelos P. Skoures
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vehicle door system for a for-hire vehicle (FHV) and a method of calculating a transport fare includes providing a FHV having an actuator configured to adjust a position of a door relative to a door opening. An apparatus is configured to receive vehicle occupancy data. A controller is configured to process the vehicle occupancy data to determine the vehicle occupancy over the course of a passenger transport. The controller is further configured to calculate a transport fare as a function of the vehicle occupancy over the course of the passenger transport.
Claims20
A vehicle door system, comprising:
- a for-hire vehicle (FHV) having a door;
- an actuator positioned on a hinge assembly of the door, wherein the actuator adjusts a position of the door;
- an apparatus configured to receive vehicle occupancy data;
- and
- a controller configured to:
- process the vehicle occupancy data to determine a real-time vehicle occupancy over a course of a passenger transport;
- and
- calculate a transport fare as a function of the real-time vehicle occupancy.
A method of calculating a transport fare in a for-hire vehicle (FHV), comprising:
- providing a FHV having an actuator positioned on a hinge assembly to adjust a position of a door;
- using the actuator to open the door;
- detecting passenger activity in a detection region adjacent the door;
- determining a FHV occupancy from data related to the passenger activity;
- and
- calculating said transport fare as a function of the FHV occupancy.
A method of calculating a transport fare in a for-hire vehicle (FHV), comprising:
- providing a FHV at a pickup location, the FHV having an actuator positioned on a hinge assembly to adjust a position of a door relative to a door opening;
- providing access to the FHV using the actuator to open the door based on an authenticated access request signal provided to a controller;
- monitoring passenger ingress and egress through the door opening;
- closing the door using the actuator;
- determining an initial FHV occupancy;
- and
- calculating said transport fare, further including;
- determining a destination location;
- calculating a number of intermediate stops made between the pickup location and the destination location;
- determining a number of passenger-initiated door open requests sent to the controller;
- monitoring passenger ingress and egress through the door opening at one or more of the number of the intermediate stops to determine a final FHV occupancy;
- and
- providing the transport fare calculated in-part based on the final FHV occupancy relative to the initial FHV occupancy.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.