US 5973619

Patent Overview — US 5,973,619 A

Title: Automated vehicle dispatch and payment honoring system

Source: https://patents.google.com/patent/US5973619/en

Bibliographic data (from supplied text): Application US08/872,084; filed 1997-06-10; priority date 1997-06-10; granted/publication date 1999-10-26. Inventor: Alexis Paredes. Original assignee listed as "Individual"; current assignee listed as "Paredes Alexis." Legal status listed as "Expired – Lifetime," with anticipated expiration 2017-06-10. Classifications include G07F7/00, G07F7/08, G06Q10/02, G06Q30/02, G07B13/00, G07F17/00, and G08G1/123.

Purpose: The invention is an automated vehicle dispatch and payment honoring system intended to be distributed to serve numerous locations and users. It provides a computerized vehicle stand unit and/or software program that reprocesses a service request, letting a user enter and change selections—transportation company, destination, form of payment, and number of passengers—before a dispatch or service is registered to an authorized company. It is described as extensible to taxis, limousines, private cars, and buses, and to multiple languages, addressing prior systems that were strictly limited to one language.

Plain-language scope: A free-standing or wall-mounted computerized unit guides a customer through menus. Per the described flowchart (FIGS. 1, 1A; steps 100–910): START; select language (200); select a company from authorized taxi companies, with advertisements (300); enter number of passengers (400); select a destination from map categories, with additional information or changed picks (500–600). The system then displays an approximate fare and payment forms honored, prints a receipt, and relays the request to a dispatcher by telecommunication or satellite link. A "Taxilink card" (FIG. 1b) supports direct-bill or debit accounts. The text notes safety benefits and replacement of taxi hard stands. Each unit is stated to operate independently, unaffected by geographical relationship to other units.

What the excerpt does not establish: The excerpt is partial (marked as such), so the full specification, all claims, and the complete flowchart are not available here. It provides no claim language, no prosecution history, no finding on validity or enforceability, and no evidence for the litigation or assignment entries listed in the source header.