GEOGRAPHICAL POSITIONING IN TIME

摘要

Examples are described relating to control of a geographical position of a mobile unit in time. In one example, a dispatch control system is provided. The dispatch control system has a data store with records of previously-attended geographical positions. These records indicate at least a duration of attendance. The dispatch control system is arranged to calculate one or more stochastic characteristics for the durations of attendance based on the records stored in the data store, the one or more measured stochastic characteristics being representative of a variability of the durations of attendance at said past geographical positions. It is also arranged to generate data indicative of an order of attendance for a mobile unit based on travel and estimated durations of attendance. This data is re-ordered and volatility metrics for each set of modified data are determined. The set of volatility metrics is used to modify the data indicative of an order of attendance for a mobile unit. In one case, volatile events are re-ordered after critical events to reduce uncertainty. The dispatch control system is configured to transmit, to the mobile unit, data indicative of geographical positions corresponding to said modified generated data. The transmitted data is for use in generating routing instructions, which, when executed by a processor associated with the mobile unit, cause navigation of the mobile unit between physical locations associated with the geographical positions corresponding to said modified generated data.

主权项

1. A dispatch control system arranged to control a geographical position in time of one or more mobile units, the dispatch control system comprising:
a data store comprising records of first geographical positions, said first geographical positions being geographical positions previously attended by the one or more mobile units, said records indicating at least a duration of attendance at each previously attended geographical position; a processing system, the processing system being arranged to cause at least one computing device to perform a scheduling process for at least one said mobile unit, the scheduling process comprising:
calculating one or more stochastic characteristics for the durations of attendance based on the records stored in the data store, the one or more measured stochastic characteristics being representative of a variability of the durations of attendance at said previously attended geographical positions;generating data indicative of an order of attendance for said mobile unit at a plurality of second geographical positions in a predefined time period based on travel times between said second geographical positions and estimated durations of attendance at said second geographical positions, in which the estimated durations of attendance are based on the calculated one or more stochastic characteristics for the durations of attendance;accessing said generated data indicative of the order of attendance for said mobile unit and calculating a plurality of values for a volatility metric corresponding to the order of attendance data, each value of the volatility metric being associated with a valid re-ordering of attendance of said mobile unit at one or more geographical positions in the plurality of second geographical positions; andmodifying said generated data based on a comparison of the plurality of values for the volatility metric, wherein the dispatch control system is configured to transmit, to said mobile unit, data indicative of geographical positions corresponding to said modified generated data, the transmitted data being for use in generating routing instructions, which, when executed by a processor associated with the mobile unit, cause navigation of the mobile unit between physical locations associated with the geographical positions corresponding to said modified generated data.