DE102021207506A1 - Method for assigning seats in a vehicle to people - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for assigning multiple seats (111-118) in a vehicle to people (P1-P8), wherein a personal disease transmission value is determined for one or each of multiple people based on personal data (DP1, DP2, DP3, DP4). a vehicle-related disease transmission value is determined for each seat based on vehicle-related data, and wherein a seat (111-118) is assigned to the one or at least one of the plurality of persons (P1-P8) based on the person-related disease transmission values and the vehicle-related disease transmission values .

Description

The present invention relates to a method for allocating a plurality of seats in a vehicle to persons, a computing unit and a computer program for executing it, and a vehicle having such a computing unit.

Background of the Invention

Larger vehicles such as shared taxis usually have more seats; Often several people - possibly also unknown to each other - use such a vehicle. Particularly in light of airborne diseases, this can be a problem when manning the vehicle.

Disclosure of Invention

According to the invention, a method for assigning multiple seats in a vehicle to persons, a computing unit and a computer program for executing it, and a vehicle with the features of the independent patent claims are proposed. Advantageous configurations are the subject of the dependent claims and the following description.

The invention deals with vehicles with several seats and the distribution of people, i.e. vehicle occupants or passengers, to these seats, i.e. the assignment of seats, i.e. seats or seat positions (each seat has a specific position in the vehicle) to people (or . the opposite).

In principle, such vehicles can be all types of land, water or air vehicles, e.g. taxis or shared taxis, buses, trains or their wagons, airplanes, etc. In the case of taxis or shared taxis, automated vehicles can also be considered in particular , especially driverless vehicles.

Specifically, a personal disease transmission score is determined for one or each of multiple individuals based on personal data, and a vehicle disease transmission score is determined for each seat based on vehicle-related data. A seat is assigned to the one or at least one of the plurality of persons based on the personal disease transmission scores and the vehicle-related disease transmission scores.

The assignment preferably takes place in such a way that the sum of the products of the vehicle-related disease transmission values and the person-related disease transmission values is minimized. In other words, this means that the association is made in such a way that a minimum sum results from the products of the vehicle-related disease transmission values and the person-related disease transmission values. This minimizes the overall risk of infection in the vehicle. It is also preferred to provide a threshold above which individual contagion risks (i.e. product of personal disease transmission score for a given person and vehicle related disease transmission score of that person's assigned seat) and/or the overall contagion risk must not exceed. In particular, this can lead to the exclusion of individual persons from carriage and/or the selection of a suitable vehicle for the person concerned or be used.

The personal data can in particular be data such as results of tests for diseases, times of such tests, information about immunity to diseases, as well as information (of a respective person) about interactions with other people and/or an environment in a relevant period of time , for example up to 14 days before using the vehicle. For example, information about whether a person is a risk patient would also be conceivable.

This data (which can also be referred to as health data) provides information on whether a person poses a potential risk to other people, i.e. whether this person has passed on other people with a disease such as Covid-19 or other diseases that are transmitted through the air can become contagious in particular, a probability of this can also be determined. For example, the probability is lower if this person has recently tested negative for diseases. Likewise, such data can also be used to determine for a person whether they themselves are susceptible to diseases (a probability can also be determined here). If a person is vaccinated against a disease (e.g. is immune to it), the chance for that person to contract it is very small. Based on the personal data, a personal disease transmission value is therefore determined for each of the multiple persons.

This personal data can be obtained, for example, by means of manual entries (by the persons concerned), for example on the vehicle via a user interface. However, it is particularly useful if these are personal NEN data can be obtained via mobile devices such as smartphones, in particular mobile devices individually assigned to the person. For example, when booking the shared taxi, this personal data can be queried, in particular through a connection to other applications (e.g. the so-called Corona-Warn-App).

The vehicle-related data can in particular be data such as the positions of ventilation systems in the vehicle, distances from ventilation systems to a respective seat, a number of adjacent seats of a seat within a predefined geometric area (e.g. a specific radius). A number of adjacent seats of a seat within a given airway area also come into consideration.

This data provides information about the likelihood of a person sitting in a particular seat contracting a disease there. The risk of infection (at least purely because of the position itself) is lower on a seat on the edge because there are fewer adjacent seats. In a back row, the risk of infection is also lower because nobody or fewer people are sitting behind them in whose (typical) respiratory area you would be. This vehicle-related data is typically fixed for a specific vehicle, but it is conceivable that, for example, the use of ventilation or the fan speed is varied. A vehicle-related disease transmission value is therefore determined for each seat based on vehicle-related data.

This then makes it possible to assign a seat position to each person based on the person-related disease transmission values and the vehicle-related disease transmission values. This is done in particular in such a way that the probabilities of people contracting an illness are minimized. It is also conceivable that, for example, not all seats are assigned to one person, but remain free. This can also depend, for example, on how high the disease transmission values are for the individual people involved.

The assignment of the seats to the people obtained in this way is then made available or output to the people in particular. This can be done, for example, by means of one or more display devices such as displays in the vehicle. For example, there can be a display when entering the vehicle, showing the seat assigned to each person (e.g. as a number or position in the vehicle). It is also particularly expedient if this is done using an application (e.g. so-called app) on one or more mobile devices such as smartphones, in particular mobile devices individually assigned to the person. For example, a person who books a shared taxi can be informed directly before boarding which seat they have been assigned. For example, on buses, trains or planes, the seat may appear on the ticket or boarding pass.

A computing unit according to the invention is set up, in particular in terms of programming, to carry out a method according to the invention. The subject matter of the invention is also a vehicle with several seats, which has such a computing unit. The computing unit can then be a control unit of the vehicle, for example. If necessary, the vehicle can also have corresponding display means. In addition, it is expedient if the vehicle or also the computing unit is set up for wireless communication in order to be able to receive and/or output the necessary data.

However, it is also conceivable that the assignment of the seat positions does not take place in the vehicle or not in a computing unit in the vehicle, but externally, e.g. on a central server or computing system for e.g. a cloud (which is then the computing unit). In this case, the seat positions can then be transmitted to the vehicle in order to be shown there, for example on a display, but this is not necessary; It is also conceivable that only the people are informed about this via their mobile devices, or devices for issuing tickets, boarding passes, etc.

The implementation of a method according to the invention in the form of a computer program or computer program product with program code for carrying out all method steps is advantageous because this causes particularly low costs, especially if an executing control unit is also used for other tasks and is therefore available anyway. Finally, a machine-readable storage medium is provided with a computer program stored thereon as described above. Suitable storage media or data carriers for providing the computer program are, in particular, magnetic, optical and electrical storage devices such as hard drives, flash memories, EEPROMs, DVDs, etc. It is also possible to download a program via computer networks (Internet, intranet, etc.). Such a download can be wired or wired or wireless (e.g. via a WLAN network, a 3G, 4G, 5G or 6G connection, etc.).

Further advantages and refinements of the invention result from the description and the attached drawing.

The invention is shown schematically in the drawing using an exemplary embodiment and is described below with reference to the drawing.

character list

• 1 shows schematically a vehicle with several seats to explain the invention in a preferred embodiment.
• 2 shows schematically a sequence of a method according to the invention in a preferred embodiment.
• 3 shows a table with personal data to explain the invention in a preferred embodiment.
• 4 schematically shows a vehicle with allocation of seat positions to explain the invention in a preferred embodiment.

embodiment(s) of the invention

In 1 a vehicle 100, for example a driverless shared taxi, is shown schematically with a plurality of seats 111 to 118 to explain the invention in a preferred embodiment. The vehicle 100 has, for example, four vents 121 to 124 at the positions shown, the seats are divided into three rows. A direction of travel is shown with an arrow R, which also corresponds to the seating and viewing direction of people in the seats.

In addition, a computing unit 130 designed as a control unit is provided in the vehicle, which can, for example, transmit data to a display means 135 in the vehicle and which can also exchange data via wireless communication, e.g. via a server 170, with a mobile device 180, e.g. a smartphone, of a person P1 .

In 2 a sequence of a method according to the invention is shown schematically in a preferred embodiment. In order to be able to allocate seats to people, ie to be able to allocate seats 111 to 118 to eight people, for example, so that the probability of people contracting an illness is reduced, vehicle-related data are first required, specifically for each seat in particular.

The vehicle-related data can be, for example, a distance DP1 from one seat to the next ventilation system, a number DP2 of seats adjacent to a seat and a number DP3 of adjacent seats in a specific airway area. Each of the parameters DP1, DP2 and DP3 can, for example, be normalized to a value between 0 and 1, for example a ratio of the distance from the nearest ventilation system to the maximum possible value in this vehicle or to a critical value, with distances above this value being considered as too large to be considered a positive effect. These values can then be weighted, for example, and then added, so that a vehicle-related disease transmission value S _F is obtained for each seat. In 1 a corresponding disease transmission value S _F is indicated for each seat 111 to 118 in each case.

In the example shown, the following should apply: for seats 111 and 112 the value S _F =1.3, for seats 113 and 115 the value S _F =1.6, for seat 114 the value S _F =2.2, for seats 116 and 118 the value S _F =0.8, and for seat 117 the value S _F =1.4.

Personal data is also required, in particular for each person to whom a seat is to be assigned. The personal data (health data) can be, for example, the presence DP1 of a negative result of a test, a point in time DP2 of a last test, a number DP3 of contacts with other people within the last e.g. ten days, and the presence DP4 of an immunity act against a disease.

In 3 a table is shown in which exemplary values for the four personal data mentioned are given for eight persons P1 to P8.

The presence DP1 of a positive result of a test is indicated as Y (yes) or N (no) (it could also be indicated as 0 or 1, for example). The time DP2 of the last test is given in number of days that have passed since the last test. The number DP3 of contacts with other people within the last e.g. ten days is given as a number. The presence of DP4 immunity to a disease is indicated as Y (yes) or N (no) (e.g. it could also be indicated as 0 or 1).

This now allows a person-related disease transmission value S _P to be determined for each person. In the table in 3 such a value is shown as an example for each person. This person-related disease transmission value S _P then indicates, for example, the probability or the risk with which the person in question can transmit a disease to another person. This can be specified as a value between 0 and 1, for example. In this case, the data DP2 and DP3 can be suitably weighted, for example. If DP4 has the value Y, the personal disease transmission value S _P can generally be assumed to be 0, for example.

Based on this data, the seats 111 to 118 are then assigned Z to the persons P1 to P8, which are made available or displayed to the persons, for example, on the display means and/or the mobile devices.

In 4 the vehicle 100 is off 1 shown again, with one person assigned to each seat. For example, it can be seen that people P3 and P7, with their low personal disease transmission scores, are assigned seats 114 and 115, which have a relatively high vehicle-related disease transmission score. This reduces the overall likelihood of a person in the vehicle becoming infected. For example, the mapping can be done so that the sum over the products is minimized, according to $${\displaystyle \sum _{j=1}^{\text{B}}{S}_{f,j}\cdot S_{P,j}=min}$$

Claims (11)

Method for assigning multiple seats (111-118) of a vehicle (100) to people (P1-P8), based on personal data (DP1, DP2, DP3, DP4) for one or each of multiple people (P1-P8) a personal disease transmission value (S _P ) is determined, wherein a vehicle-related disease transmission value (S _F ) is determined for each seat based on vehicle-related data (DF1, DF2, DF3), and wherein based on the personal disease transmission values (S _P ) and the vehicle-related disease transmission values (S _F ) a seat (111-118) is assigned to one or at least one of the plurality of persons (P1-P8). procedure after claim 1 , wherein the sum of the products of the vehicle-related disease transmission values (S _F ) and the person-related disease transmission values (S _P ) is minimized for the assignment. procedure after claim 1 or 2 , wherein the personal data (DP1, DP2, DP3, DP4) are obtained by means of at least one of the following: manual input, and one or more mobile devices (180), in particular mobile devices assigned individually to the persons. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the personal data (DP1, DP2, DP3, DP4) comprises data on at least one of the following: results of tests for diseases, times of tests for diseases, information about immunities to diseases, and information about interactions with other people and/or an environment in a relevant period of time. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the vehicle-related data (DF1, DF2, DF3) comprises data on at least one of the following: positions of ventilation in the vehicle, distance of ventilation from a respective seat, number of adjacent seats of a seat within a predetermined geometric area, and number of adjacent seats of a seat within a given airway area. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein based on the person-related disease transmission values (S _P ) and the vehicle-related disease transmission values (S _F ) a number of seats which are assigned to the persons is limited. Method according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the assignment of the seats is provided by means of at least one of the following: one or more display means (130) in the vehicle, and an application on one or more mobile devices (180), in particular mobile devices individually assigned to the persons . Arithmetic unit (130) which is set up to carry out all method steps of a method according to one of the preceding claims. Vehicle (100), in particular a shared taxi or a train, with a plurality of seats (111-118) and with a computing unit (130). claim 8 . Computer program that causes a computing unit (130) to carry out all method steps of a method according to one of Claims 1 until 7 to be performed when it is executed on the computing unit (130). Machine-readable storage medium with a computer program stored on it claim 10 .

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