# US 2018/0025294 A1 · Route Reservation Method > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2018/0025294 A1 - Document ID: US20180025294A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 15/548,858 - Filed: 2016-01-28 - Published: 2018-01-25 - Earliest claimed: 2015-02-09 - Assignees: Bluecarsharing - Applicants: Bluecarsharing - Inventors: Guillaume Hugla - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20180025294A1 ## CPC - G06Q 10/02: Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events - G01C 21/3407: {specially adapted for specific applications} - G06Q 10/047: Optimisation of routes or paths, e.g. travelling salesman problem - G06Q 30/0645: Rental transactions; Leasing transactions - G06Q 50/40: Business processes related to the transportation industry (shipping G06Q10/083) - G08G 1/20: {Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles} - G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR - G01C: MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY (measuring liquid level G01F; radio navigation, determining distance or velocity by use of propagation effects, e.g. Doppler effects, propagation time, of radio waves, analogous arrangements using other waves G01S) - G08G: TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS (guiding railway traffic, ensuring the safety of railway traffic B61L; arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00; radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91, G01S15/88, G01S17/88; {radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for anti-collision purposes G01S13/93, G01S15/93, G01S17/93}) ## Abstract The invention relates to a method (200) for reserving a journey, within the framework of an installation (100) for the automated rental of vehicles, in particular electric vehicles, comprising a plurality of sites (104), said method (100) comprising a step (202) of selecting an arrival position (322) automatically initiating the following steps: automated determination (206) of a departure position; automated identification (208) of a departure site that is the closest to the departure position; and automated identification (210) of an arrival site that is the closest to the arrival position; and said method (200) also comprising a step (212) of storing at least one reservation data for said departure site (310) and at least one reservation data for said arrival site (324). ## Claims ### Claim 1 1) A method (200) for reserving a journey, within the context of an installation (100) for the automated rental of vehicles, comprising a plurality of sites (104), each capable of being in an available or unavailable state, said method (100) comprising a step (202) of selecting an arrival position (322) among at least one arrival position stored beforehand, said selection step (202) automatically initiating the following steps: automated determination (206) of data relating to at least one position (308), called departure position; automated identification (208) as departure site (310), of an available site that is the closest to said departure position among said plurality of sites in order to rent a vehicle there; and automated identification (210) as arrival site (324), of an available site that is the closest to said arrival position (322) among said plurality of sites in order to return a rented vehicle thereto; and said method (200) also comprising a step (212) of storing at least one reservation data for said departure site (310) and at least one reservation data for said arrival site (324). ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) 2) The method (200) according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a step (202) of storing location data relating to at least one arrival position, carried out prior to the selection step (204). ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) 3) The method (200) according to claim 1, characterized in that the arrival position is selected manually by the user. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) 4) The method (200) according to claim 3, characterized in that it comprises a display of at least one arrival position (332) on a display screen (300), in particular on a touch screen, of: a fixed user device, such as a desktop computer, a portable user device, such as a laptop computer, a smartphone, a tablet, a phablet, etc., a terminal or any device, personal or public; the selection of the arrival position (322) being carried out by pointing, in particular by touch, on said screen (300). ### Claim 5 (depends on 3) 5) The method (300) according to claim 3, characterized in that at least one arrival position (322) is displayed in the form of a selection button (336) representing, or associated with, said position or in a list or in a menu, in particular a dropdown or scrolling list. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) 6) The method (300) according to claim 1, characterized in that the arrival position (322) is selected in an automated fashion depending on at least one predetermined parameter, and on a value of said parameter at the time of the reservation, in particular the current time, said method (200) also comprising a step of determining said value. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) 7) The method (200) according to claim 1, characterized in that the departure position (308) corresponds to the current position, the step (206) of determining the departure position in an automated fashion (308) comprising reading current location data supplied by a geolocation means. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) 8) The method according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a display of at least one departure position, stored beforehand, on a display screen, in particular a touch screen, of: a fixed user device, such as a desktop computer, a portable user device, such as a laptop computer, a smartphone, a tablet, a phablet, etc., a terminal or any device, personal or public; in the form of a selection button representing, or associated with, said position or in a list or in a menu, in particular a dropdown or scrolling list, such that the departure position determined in an automated fashion can be modified by the user by pointing on said screen. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) 9) The method (200) according to claim 1, characterized in that step (208) of identifying the departure site (310), respectively step (210) of identifying the arrival site (324), can be carried out progressively in (a) phase(s) of increasing distance segments from the departure position (308), or the arrival position (322) respectively. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) 10) The method (200) according to claim 1, characterized in that the storage step (212) comprises: for the departure site (310), storing a user identification data in association with an identification data of a vehicle that is available at said departure site (310); and/or for the arrival site, storing a user identification data in association with an identification data of a parking space that is available at said arrival site (324). ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) 11) The method (200) according to claim 1, characterized in that it also comprises a step (218) of calculating a vehicle journey duration/distance between said departure site (310) and said arrival site (324). ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) 12) The method (200) according to claim 1, characterized in that it also comprises: a step (218) of calculating a journey duration/distance between the departure position (308) and the departure site (310), and/or a step (218) of calculating a journey distance/duration between the arrival site (324) and the arrival position (322). ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) 13) The method (200) according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises a display (216, 218), in a display window (302, 304) on a display screen (300) of a user device, of display data of at least one journey and/or at least one duration and/or at least one distance relating to a journey between: the departure site (310) and the arrival site (324); the departure position (308) and the departure site (310); and/or the arrival site (324) and the arrival position (322). ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) 14) The method (200) according to claim 1, characterized in that it also comprises a display (216) in a display window (302, 304) on a geographical map, of: the departure position (308) and the position of the departure site (310); and/or the arrival position (322) and the position of the arrival site (324). ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) 15) The method (200) according to claim 14, characterized in that it comprises a simultaneous display (216) in two display windows (302, 304) on a geographical map, in particular on two display windows (302, 304) arranged one below the other, of: the departure position (308) and the position of the departure site (310) in the first (302) of said two display windows (302, 304); and the arrival position (322) and the position of the arrival site (324), in the second (304) of said two display windows (302, 304). ### Claim 16 (depends on 1) 16) The method (200) according to claim 1, further comprising: a computer application for: a portable device (150), in particular of the smartphone, tablet or phablet type, or a fixed device, of the desktop computer or terminal type, private or public, comprising the instructions that can be executed by said device (150) in order to implement all the steps of the method (200). ### Claim 17 (depends on 1) 17) The method (200) according to claim 1, wherein the step (202) of selecting an arrival position (322) further comprises a step selected from the group consisting of: inputting data relative to said arrival position (322) with an alphanumeric keyboard; indicating a geographical position by moving a pointer; and validating the location data supplied by a geolocation module when the arrival position that the user wishes to store corresponds to the current position of the user. ### Claim 18 18) A method (200) for reserving a journey, within the context of an installation (100) for the automated rental of vehicles, comprising a plurality of sites (104), each capable of being in an available or unavailable state, said method (100) comprising a step (202) of selecting an arrival position (322) among at least one arrival position stored beforehand, said selection step (202) automatically initiating the following steps: automated determination (206) of data relating to at least one position (308), called departure position; communicating with a plurality of vehicles (140) through a communication unit (142); assessing the status of each of said plurality of vehicles (140) based on a vehicle state data communicated through said communication unit (142) determining an availability of each of said plurality of vehicles (140) at each of said plurality of sites (104); automated identification (210) as arrival site (324), of an available site that is the closest to said arrival position (322) among said plurality of sites in order to return a rented vehicle thereto; said method (200) also comprising a step (212) of storing at least one reservation data for said departure site (310) and at least one reservation data for said arrival site (324). ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) 19) The method (200) according to claim 18, wherein the step of identifying (210) said arrival site (324) further comprises the steps of: determining a distance (D1) between a first group of said plurality of sites (104) and said arrival position (322); determining a distance (D2) between a second group of said plurality of sites (104) and said arrival position (322); comparing each of D1 and D2 with said arrival position (322); obtaining a parking space data from said first group of said plurality of sites (104) if D1 is less than D2; assessing an availability of a parking space within said first group of said plurality of sites (104); and selecting said arrival position (322) if said first group of said plurality of sites (104) includes said available parking space. ### Claim 20 20) A method (200) for reserving a journey, within the context of an installation (100) for the automated rental of vehicles, comprising a plurality of sites (104), each capable of being in an available or unavailable state, said method (100) comprising a step (202) of selecting an arrival position (322) among at least one arrival position stored beforehand, said selection step (202) automatically initiating the following steps: automated determination (206) of data relating to at least one position (308), called departure position; obtaining geographic data of any number of a plurality of departure sites (310); obtaining vehicle data associated with each of said plurality of departure sites (310); assessing an availability of a vehicle at each of said plurality of departure sites (310); calculating a distance between each of said plurality of departure sites (310) having at least one available vehicle with a departure location; identifying (208) the departure site (310) having the shortest distance between said departure site (310) and said departure location; automated identification (210) as arrival site (324), of an available site that is the closest to said arrival position (322) among said plurality of sites in order to return a rented vehicle thereto; said method (200) also comprising a step (212) of storing at least one reservation data for said departure site (310) and at least one reservation data for said arrival site (324).