Claims:We claim:
1. A method for identifying crew change points in a transport system, the method comprising:
receiving, by a duty scheduling system, a time duration between each of a plurality of stations located between a source station and a destination station and a maximum permissible duty time duration associated with a plurality of crew members;
identifying, by the duty scheduling system, one or more changeover stations from the plurality of stations for a forward traversing based on the maximum permissible duty time duration of the plurality of crew members, wherein the forward traversing is considered from the source station to the destination station;
identifying, by the duty scheduling system, one or more changeover stations from the plurality of stations for a backward traversing based on the maximum permissible duty time duration of the plurality of crew members, wherein the backward traversing is considered from the destination station to the source station;
identifying, by the duty scheduling system, usage of the maximum permissible duty time duration for each of the plurality of crew members associated with the forward traversing and each of the plurality of crew members associated with the backward traversing;
comparing, by the duty scheduling system, the usage of the plurality of crew members associated with the forward traversing with the usage of the plurality of crew members associated with the backward traversing; and
identifying, by the duty scheduling system, crew change points to be one of the one or more changeover stations of the forward traversing and one or more changeover stations of the backward traversing based on the comparison.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein identifying the usage of the maximum permissible duty time duration for the plurality of crew members comprises determining a time duration between a station where the crew member begins duty and the changeover station for the crew member.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the crew change points are identified based on a maximum usage of the maximum permissible duty time duration of each of the crew members.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein identifying one or more changeover stations for the forward traversing and the backward traversing comprises determining one or more stations of the plurality of stations where a time duration to reach the station is less or equal to the maximum permissible duty time duration.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the time duration to reach the station is closest to the maximum permissible duty time duration.

6. A duty scheduling system for identifying crew change points in a transport system comprising:
a processor; and
a memory communicatively coupled to the processor, wherein the memory stores processor instructions, which, on execution, causes the processor to:
receive a time duration between each of a plurality of stations located between a source station and a destination station and a maximum permissible duty time duration associated with a plurality of crew members;
identify one or more changeover stations from the plurality of stations for a forward traversing based on the maximum permissible duty time duration of the plurality of crew members, wherein the forward traversing is considered from the source station to the destination station;
identify one or more changeover stations from the plurality of stations for a backward traversing based on the maximum permissible duty time duration of the plurality of crew members, wherein the backward traversing is considered from the destination station to the source station;
identify usage of the maximum permissible duty time duration for each of the plurality of crew members associated with the forward traversing and each of the plurality of crew members associated with the backward traversing;
compare the usage of the plurality of crew members associated with the forward traversing with the usage of the plurality of crew members associated with the backward traversing; and
identify crew change points to be one of the one or more changeover stations of the forward traversing and one or more changeover stations of the backward traversing based on the comparison.

7. The duty scheduling system as claimed in claim 6, wherein identifying the usage of the maximum permissible duty time duration for the plurality of crew members comprises determining a time duration between a station where the crew member begins duty and the changeover station for the crew member.

8. The duty scheduling system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the crew change points are identified based on a maximum usage of the maximum permissible duty time duration of each of the crew members.

9. The duty scheduling system as claimed in claim 6, wherein identifying one or more changeover stations for the forward traversing and the backward traversing comprises determining one or more stations of the plurality of stations where a time duration to reach the station is less or equal to the maximum permissible duty time duration.

10. The duty scheduling system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the time duration to reach the station is closest to the maximum permissible duty time duration.
, Description:TECHNICAL FIELD
The present subject matter is related in general to the field of crew management, more particularly, but not exclusively to a method and system for identifying crew change points in transport system.

BACKGROUND

In recent years, there has been a great expansion in transport and communication medium due to advancing technologies. For transport companies, such as, buses, railways, airlines and any transport companies, one of the important factor is to decide how to exactly use crew members. In the transport system, such as, railway system, the coaching services run as per a schedule called timetable. To work these schedules, crew links are made. For example, a timetable prescribing which driver should drive which train, or a certain driver should next drive which train, after he has driven some train and arrived at a station. When generating such a schedule, it should be considered that the crew members work fully but not excessively, keeping in mind a fixed working regulation. Also, the schedule should be generated such that the crew members work completely and an irregular crew change should not take place.

In the existing system, the crew schedule for the transport system is generally made manually by the authorities. The existing system makes use of territory division of a large transportation network for deciding the change of the crew members. The use of such territorial division sometimes leads to early change of crew and leads to more crew requirement.

The information disclosed in this background of the disclosure section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the invention and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.

SUMMARY
In an embodiment, the present disclosure relates to a method for identifying crew change points in transport system. The method comprises receiving a time duration between each of plurality of stations located between a source station and a destination station, and a maximum permissible duty time duration of a plurality of crew members, identifying one or more changeover stations from the plurality of stations for a forward traversing based on the maximum permissible duty time duration of the plurality of crew members. The forward traversing is considered from the source station to the destination station. The method comprises identifying one or more changeover stations from the plurality of stations for a backward traversing based on the maximum permissible duty time duration of the plurality of crew members. The backward traversing is considered from the destination station to the source station. The method comprises identifying usage of the maximum permissible duty time duration for each of the plurality of crew members associated with the forward traversing and each of the plurality of crew members associated with the backward traversing, comparing the usage of the plurality of crew members associated with the forward traversing with the usage of the plurality of crew members associated with the backward traversing and identifying crew change points to be one of the one or more changeover stations of the forward traversing and one or more changeover stations of the backward traversing based on the comparison.

In an embodiment, the present disclosure relates to a duty scheduling system for identifying crew change points in transport system. The duty scheduling system comprises a processor and a memory communicatively coupled to the processor, wherein the memory stores processor executable instructions, which, on execution, may cause the duty scheduling to receive a time duration between each of plurality of stations located between a source station and a destination station and a maximum permissible duty time duration of a plurality of crew members, identify one or more changeover stations from the plurality of stations for a forward traversing based on the maximum permissible duty time duration of the plurality of crew members, wherein the forward traversing is considered from the source station to the destination station. The duty scheduling system identifies one or more changeover stations from the plurality of stations for a backward traversing based on the maximum permissible duty time duration of the plurality of crew members, wherein the backward traversing is considered from the destination station to the source station. The duty scheduling system identifies usage of the maximum permissible duty time duration for each of the plurality of crew members associated with the forward traversing and each of the plurality of crew members associated with the backward traversing, compares the usage of the plurality of crew members associated with the forward traversing with the usage of the plurality of crew members associated with the backward traversing and identifies crew change points to be one of the one or more changeover stations of the forward traversing and one or more changeover stations of the backward traversing based on the comparison.
The foregoing summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects, embodiments, and features described above, further aspects, embodiments, and features will become apparent by reference to the drawings and the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this disclosure, illustrate exemplary embodiments and, together with the description, serve to explain the disclosed principles. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. The same numbers are used throughout the figures to reference like features and components. Some embodiments of system and/or methods in accordance with embodiments of the present subject matter are now described, by way of example only, and with reference to the accompanying figures, in which:

Fig.1 illustrates an exemplary environment for identifying crew change points in transport system in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig.2 shows a detailed block diagram of a duty scheduling system in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig.3a illustrates an exemplary representation of changeover stations for a forward traversing in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig.3b illustrates an exemplary representation of changeover stations for a backward traversing in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig.4 illustrates a flowchart showing a method for identifying crew change points in transport system in accordance with some embodiments of present disclosure; and

Fig.5 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary computer system for implementing embodiments consistent with the present disclosure.

It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any block diagrams herein represent conceptual views of illustrative systems embodying the principles of the present subject matter. Similarly, it will be appreciated that any flow charts, flow diagrams, state transition diagrams, pseudo code, and the like represent various processes which may be substantially represented in computer readable medium and executed by a computer or processor, whether or not such computer or processor is explicitly shown.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the present document, the word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any embodiment or implementation of the present subject matter described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments.

While the disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiment thereof has been shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail below. It should be understood, however that it is not intended to limit the disclosure to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the disclosure is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternative falling within the spirit and the scope of the disclosure.

The terms “comprises”, “comprising”, or any other variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a setup, device or method that comprises a list of components or steps does not include only those components or steps but may include other components or steps not expressly listed or inherent to such setup or device or method. In other words, one or more elements in a system or apparatus proceeded by “comprises… a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of other elements or additional elements in the system or method.

In the following detailed description of the embodiments of the disclosure, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the disclosure may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the disclosure, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. The following description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense.

The present disclosure relates to a method and a duty scheduling system for identifying crew change points in transport system. In order to identify the crew change points, a time duration between each of a plurality of stations located between a source station and a destination station is received. The time duration between each of the plurality of stations is pre-calculated and stored in a database. Also, a maximum permissible duty time duration of a plurality of crew members is received. In some embodiments, every crew member of the plurality of crew members is required to work for the maximum permissible duty time duration at a stretch, which may be set based on standard protocols Whenever a transport schedule is required, one or more stations are identified from the plurality of stations where a crew member is required to be changed based on the maximum permissible duty time duration. The stations where a crew member is required to be changed are called as changeover stations. The one or more stations are identified for a forward traversing and for a backward traversing. In some embodiments, the forward traversing is considered from source station to the destination station. In some embodiments, the backward traversing is considered from destination station to the source station. The crew change points are identified to be either the changeover stations identified for the forward traversing or the changeover stations identified for the backward traversing based on a maximum usage of the maximum permissible duty time duration. The usage of the maximum permissible duty time duration is identified for each crew members of the forward traversing and of backward traversing. In some embodiments, the maximum usage of the permissible duty time duration is identified by comparing the usage of the of the maximum permissible duty time duration of crew members of the forward traversing and backward traversing. Thus, the crew members are assigned based on the identification of one or more stations where a crew change is required, such that the maximum permissible duty time duration is utilized efficiently for each of the assigned crew members.

Fig.1 illustrates an exemplary environment for identifying crew change points in transport system in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

As shown in Fig.1, the environment 100 comprises a duty scheduling system 101 connected through a communication network 105 to a database 103. In some embodiments, the duty scheduling system 101 may include, but is not limited to, a laptop, a desktop computer, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a notebook, a smartphone, a tablet and any other computing devices. The duty scheduling system 101 identifies the crew change points in the transport system. In some embodiments, the transport system may comprise railway system, bus system or any other means of transport. In some embodiments, the crew members are specialized in a field such as, electric locomotives, diesel locomotives etc. The crew members of different types of transport systems are specialized for different types of duties. The database 103 stores the time duration between each of the plurality of stations located between the source station and the destination station and the maximum permissible duty time duration of the plurality of the crew members. In some embodiments, data stored in the database 103 may also be stored in the data scheduling system 101. Whenever a transportation routine is required to be scheduled, the duty scheduling system 101 receives the time duration between each of plurality of stations from the database 103. Using the time duration between each of the plurality of station, the duty scheduling system 101 identifies one or more changeover stations from the plurality of stations for the forward traversing and one or more changeover stations for the backward traversing based on the maximum permissible duty time duration of the crew members. The forward traversing is considered from the source station to the destination station. the backward traversing is considered from the destination station to the source station. In some embodiments, the one or more changeover stations are identified by determining one or more stations of the plurality of stations where a time duration to reach the one or more stations from the station where the crew member begins duty is less or equal to the maximum permissible duty time duration. In an embodiment, the time duration to reach the one or more stations from the station where the crew member begins duty is closest to the maximum permissible duty time duration. Further, the duty scheduling system 101 identifies the usage of the maximum permissible duty time duration associated with each of the plurality of the crew members of the forward traversing and of the backward traversing. The usage of each of the plurality of crew members is identified by determining a time duration between the station where the crew member begins the duty and the changeover station associated with the crew member. The usage of the maximum permissible duty time duration for the plurality of crew members of forward traversing is compared with the usage of plurality of crew members of backward traversing. The crew change points are identified as one of the one or more changeover stations of the forward traversing and one or more changeover stations of the backward traversing based on the comparison. In some embodiments, the crew change points are identified based on a maximum usage of the maximum permissible duty time duration of each of the crew members. Thus, changing of crew member is optimized such that, the crew member works for maximum amount of permissible duty time duration during the duty hours.

The duty scheduling system 101 comprises an I/O Interface 107, a memory 109 and a processing unit 111. The I/O interface 107 may be configured to receive the time duration between each of the plurality of stations located between the source station and the destination station. The I/O interface 107 may also receive the maximum permissible duty time duration associated with the plurality of crew members.
The received information from the I/O interface 107 is stored in the memory 109. The memory 109 is communicatively coupled to the processor 111 of the duty scheduling system 101. The memory 109 also stores processor instructions which cause the processor 111 to execute the instructions for identifying crew change points in transport system.

Fig.2 shows a detailed block diagram of a duty scheduling system in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Data 200 and one or more modules 209 of the duty scheduling system 101 are described herein in detail. In an embodiment, the data 200 comprises time duration data 201, crew member data 203, changeover station data 205, usage data 206 and other data 207.

The time duration data 201 comprises details about the time duration between each of plurality of stations located between the source station and the destination station. The time duration between each of the plurality of station is determined previously and stored in the database 103. For example, consider the source station to be Chennai station and the destination station to be Delhi station and the plurality of stations as Vijayawada station, Warangal station, Balharshah station etc. The time duration data 201 comprises the time duration from Chennai station to Vijayawada station, to Warangal station etc. Also, the time duration data 201 comprises the time duration from Vijayawada station to the Warangal station etc.

The crew member data 203 comprises details about the plurality of crew members associated with the transport system. The crew member data 203 comprises the maximum permissible duty time duration for the crew member associated with a transport system. In some embodiments, crew members usually start the duty at the station where they may reside or at the changeover station.

The changeover station data 205 comprises details about one or more stations where the crew members may be required to be changed. The changeover station data 205 comprises details about one or more changeover stations identified for the forward traversing and one or more changeover stations identified for the backward traversing. In some embodiments, the details may comprise the maximum permissible duty time duration spent by each of the crew members at both the forward traversing and the backward traversing at the stretch.
The usage data 206 comprises details about the usage of the maximum permissible duty time duration of each of the plurality of crew members of the forward traversing and for the backward traversing. In some embodiments, the usage of the maximum permissible duty time duration for the plurality of crew members is identified by determining the time duration between a station where the crew member begins duty and the changeover station for the crew member.

The other data 207 may store data, including temporary data and temporary files, generated by modules for performing the various functions of the duty scheduling system 101.
In an embodiment, the data 200 in the memory 115 are processed by the one or more modules 209 of the duty scheduling system 101. As used herein, the term module refers to an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), Programmable System-on-Chip (PSoC), a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable components that provide the described functionality. The said modules when configured with the functionality defined in the present disclosure will result in a novel hardware.

In one implementation, the one or more modules 209 may include, but are not limited to, a receiving module 211, a forward traversing module 213, a backward traversing module 215, a usage identification module 217, a comparison module 219, a crew change points identification module 221. The one or more modules 209 may also comprise other modules 223 to perform various miscellaneous functionalities of the duty scheduling system 101. It will be appreciated that such modules may be represented as a single module or a combination of different modules.

The receiving module 211 may receive the time duration between each of the plurality of stations located between the source station and the destination station from the database 103. The time duration is pre-determined and stored in the database 103. The receiving module 211 may also receive the maximum permissible duty time duration of the plurality of the crew members. Table 1 below shows an example of a railway time table which comprises a schedule to reach from a source station to a destination station.

Sl. No. Station Code Arrival time Departure time
1 Chennai (MAS) 22:00
2 Vijayawada (BZA) 04:15 04:25
3 Warangal (WL) 07:00 07:05
4 Balharshah (BPQ) 11:00 11:10
5 Nagpur (NGP) 14:10 14:20
6 Itarsi (ET) 18:50 18:53
7 Bhopal (BPL) 20:25 20:35
8 Jhansi (JHS) 00:15 00:27
9 Gwalior (GWL) 01:42 01:45
10 Agra Cantonment (AGC) 03:45 03:48
11 Nizamuddin (NZM) 06:34 06:36
12 New Delhi (NDLS) 07:00

Table 1

As shown in the Table 1, the source station is Chennai (MAS) and the destination station is New Delhi (NDLS). The train departs at 22:00 from Chennai (MAS) and reaches the New Delhi (NDLS) at 07:00 on third day. The plurality of stations between the source station and the destination station are Vijayawada (BZA), Warangal (WL), Balharshah (BPQ), Nagpur (NGP), Itarsi (ET), Bhopal (BPL), Jhansi (JHS), Gwalior (GWL), Agra Cantonment (AGC) and Nizamuddin (NZM).

The forward traversing module 213 identifies one or more changeover stations from the plurality of stations located between the source station and the destination station for the forward traversing. In some embodiments, the forward traversing is considered from source station to the destination station. The forward traversing module 213 identifies the one or more changeover stations by determining one or more stations from the plurality of stations where the time duration from station where crew member begins the duty to reach the one or more following station is less or equal to the maximum permissible duty time duration. In some embodiments, the time duration to reach the station is closest to the maximum permissible duty time duration. Fig.3a illustrates an exemplary representation of identifying changeover stations for a forward traversing in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Fig.3a shows an example of forward traversing, where the source station is Chennai station (MAS) and the destination station is New Delhi station (NDLS). The plurality of stations located between the MAS and NDLS are Vijayawada (BZA), Warangal (WL), Balharshah (BPQ), Nagpur (NGP), Itarsi (ET), Bhopal (BPL), Jhansi (JHS), Gwalior (GWL), Agra Cantonment (AGC) and Nizamuddin (NZM). In some embodiments, fig.3a shows stations with slant lines which are identified to be the changeover stations for the forward traversing. Referring to the Table 1, which shows the time table from Chennai (MAS) station to New Delhi (NDLS) station, it is noted that the train takes 6 hours and 15 minutes to reach BZA and 9 hours to reach WL from MAS respectively without changing the crew. Consider the maximum permissible duty time duration for example to be 9 hours. In case the train runs up to BPQ from MAS without changing the crew member, then the crew member is working for more than 9 hours which violates the maximum permissible duty time duration of the crew member. Therefore, the crew member is required to be changed at (WL) station. Further, the train takes 7 hours and 5 minutes to reach NGP from WL and 4 hours 30 minutes to reach ET station. in case the train runs up to ET without the change of crew member, then the crew member is working for 11 hours and 45 minutes which is more than the maximum permissible duty time duration. Hence, the crew member is required to be changed at NGP. Similarly, the crew members are changed at BPL and AGC stations. Thus, WL, NGP, BPL and AGC are identified as the changeover stations from the forward traversing.

The backward traversing module 215 identifies one or more changeover stations from the plurality of stations located between the source station and the destination station for the backward traversing. In some embodiments, the backward traversing is considered from destination station to the source station. The backward traversing module 215 identifies the one or more changeover stations by determining one or more stations from the plurality of stations where the time duration to reach the station is less or equal to the maximum permissible duty time duration. In some embodiments, the time duration to reach the station is closest to the maximum permissible duty time duration. Fig.3b illustrates an exemplary representation of identifying changeover stations for a backward traversing in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. Fig.3b shows an example of backward traversing, where the destination station is New Delhi station (NDLS) and the source station is Chennai station (MAS). The plurality of stations located between NDLS station and the MAS station are Nizamuddin (NZM), Agra Cantonment (AGC), Gwalior (GWL), Jhansi (JHS), Bhopal (BPL), Itarsi (ET), Nagpur (NGP), Balharshah (BPQ), Warangal (WL) and Vijayawada (BZA). In some embodiments, fig.3b shows stations with slant lines which are identified to be the changeover stations for the backward traversing. Referring to the Table 1, which shows the time table between the stations, it is noted that the train takes 6 hours and 33 minutes to reach NDLS from JHS and 5 hours and 15 minutes to reach NDLS from GWL without changing the crew. Consider the maximum permissible duty time duration for example to be 9 hours. Further, the train takes 10 hours and 25 minutes to reach NDLS from BPL and 6 hours 33 minutes to reach NDLS from JHS, therefore if the crew member is changed at BPL, then the crew member works for more than 9 hours which exceeds the maximum permissible duty time duration. Hence, the crew is changed at JHS. Also, if the crew member is changed at NGP, then the crew member works for more than maximum permissible duty time duration. Therefore, the crew member is changed at ET. Similarly, the crew members are changed at BPQ and BZA further. In some embodiment, backward traversing may comprise traversing from source station to destination station in a reverse direction. Thus, JHS, ET, BPQ and BZA are identified as the changeover stations from the backward traversing.

Returning to fig.2, the usage identification module 217 identifies the usage of the maximum permissible duty time duration associated with each of the plurality of crew members of the forward traversing and of the backward traversing. The usage identification module 217 identifies the usage by determining the time duration between the station where the crew member begins the duty and the station where the crew member changes the station.

The comparison module 219 compares the usage of the maximum permissible duty time duration of the plurality of crew members associated with the forward traversing with the usage of the maximum permissible duty time duration of the plurality of crew members of the backward traversing.

The crew change points identification module 221 identifies the crew change points to be either the one or more changeover stations of the forward traversing or the one or more changeover stations of the backward traversing. In some embodiments, both the forward traversing as well as the backword traversing results into same number of crew change points. In some embodiments, preferences for selecting the one or more crew change points from forward traversing and from backward traversing depends on selecting the crew change points where the plurality of crew members gets maximum uniformity in the duration of duty. A person skilled in the art would understand that the selection of the crew change points may also depend on any other criteria not mentioned explicitly in the present disclosure.

Fig.4 illustrates a flowchart showing a method for identifying crew change points in transport system in accordance with some embodiments of present disclosure.

As illustrated in Fig.4, the method 400 comprises one or more blocks for identifying crew change points. The method 400 may be described in the general context of computer executable instructions. Generally, computer executable instructions can include routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, procedures, modules, and functions, which perform particular functions or implement particular abstract data types.

The order in which the method 400 is described is not intended to be construed as a limitation, and any number of the described method blocks can be combined in any order to implement the method. Additionally, individual blocks may be deleted from the methods without departing from the spirit and scope of the subject matter described herein. Furthermore, the method can be implemented in any suitable hardware, software, firmware, or combination thereof.

At block 401, the duty scheduling system 101 receives a time duration between each of plurality of stations situated between the source station and the destination station and the maximum permissible duty time duration of a plurality of crew members.

At block 403, the duty scheduling system 101 identifies one or more changeover stations from the plurality of stations for the forward traversing based on the maximum permissible duty time duration of the plurality of crew members. The forward traversing is considered from the source station to the destination station.
At block 405, the duty scheduling system 101 identifies one or more changeover stations from the plurality of stations for a backward traversing based on the maximum permissible duty time duration of the plurality of crew members, where the backward traversing is considered from the destination station to the source station.
At block 407, the duty scheduling system 101 identifies usage of the maximum permissible duty time duration for each of the plurality of crew members associated with the forward traversing and each of the plurality of crew members associated with the backward traversing.

At block 409, by the duty scheduling system 101 compares the usage of the plurality of crew members associated with the forward traversing with the usage of the plurality of crew members associated with the backward traversing.

At block 411, the duty scheduling system 101 identifies crew change points to be one of the one or more changeover stations of the forward traversing and the one or more changeover stations of the backward traversing based on the comparison.

Computing System

Figure 5 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary computer system 500 for implementing embodiments consistent with the present disclosure. In an embodiment, the computer system 500 is used to implement the duty scheduling system 101. The computer system 500 may comprise a central processing unit (“CPU” or “processor”) 502. The processor 502 may comprise at least one data processor for identifying crew change points in transport system. The processor 502 may include specialized processing units such as integrated system (bus) controllers, memory management control units, floating point units, graphics processing units, digital signal processing units, etc.

The processor 502 may be disposed in communication with one or more input/output (I/O) devices (not shown) via I/O interface 501. The I/O interface 501 may employ communication protocols/methods such as, without limitation, audio, analog, digital, monoaural, RCA, stereo, IEEE-1394, serial bus, universal serial bus (USB), infrared, PS/2, BNC, coaxial, component, composite, digital visual interface (DVI), high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI), RF antennas, S-Video, VGA, IEEE 802.n /b/g/n/x, Bluetooth, cellular (e.g., code-division multiple access (CDMA), high-speed packet access (HSPA+), global system for mobile communications (GSM), long-term evolution (LTE), WiMax, or the like), etc.

Using the I/O interface 501, the computer system 500 may communicate with one or more I/O devices. For example, the input device may be an antenna, keyboard, mouse, joystick, (infrared) remote control, camera, card reader, fax machine, dongle, biometric reader, microphone, touch screen, touchpad, trackball, stylus, scanner, storage device, transceiver, video device/source, etc. The output device may be a printer, fax machine, video display (e.g., cathode ray tube (CRT), liquid crystal display (LCD), light-emitting diode (LED), plasma, Plasma display panel (PDP), Organic light-emitting diode display (OLED) or the like), audio speaker, etc.

In some embodiments, the computer system 400 consists of a duty scheduling system 101. The processor 502 may be disposed in communication with the communication network 509 via a network interface 503. The network interface 503 may communicate with the communication network 509. The network interface 503 may employ connection protocols including, without limitation, direct connect, Ethernet (e.g., twisted pair 10/100/1000 Base T), transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP), token ring, IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/x, etc. The communication network 509 may include, without limitation, a direct interconnection, local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), wireless network (e.g., using Wireless Application Protocol), the Internet, etc. Using the network interface 503 and the communication network 509, the computer system 500 may communicate with a database 514. The network interface 503 may employ connection protocols include, but not limited to, direct connect, Ethernet (e.g., twisted pair 10/100/1000 Base T), transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP), token ring, IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/x, etc.

The communication network 509 includes, but is not limited to, a direct interconnection, an e-commerce network, a peer to peer (P2P) network, local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), wireless network (e.g., using Wireless Application Protocol), the Internet, Wi-Fi and such. The first network and the second network may either be a dedicated network or a shared network, which represents an association of the different types of networks that use a variety of protocols, for example, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), etc., to communicate with each other. Further, the first network and the second network may include a variety of network devices, including routers, bridges, servers, computing devices, storage devices, etc.

In some embodiments, the processor 502 may be disposed in communication with a memory 505 (e.g., RAM, ROM, etc. not shown in figure 4) via a storage interface 504. The storage interface 504 may connect to memory 505 including, without limitation, memory drives, removable disc drives, etc., employing connection protocols such as serial advanced technology attachment (SATA), Integrated Drive Electronics (IDE), IEEE-1394, Universal Serial Bus (USB), fiber channel, Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI), etc. The memory drives may further include a drum, magnetic disc drive, magneto-optical drive, optical drive, Redundant Array of Independent Discs (RAID), solid-state memory devices, solid-state drives, etc.

The memory 505 may store a collection of program or database components, including, without limitation, user interface 506, an operating system 507, web browser 508 etc. In some embodiments, computer system 500 may store user/application data 506, such as the data, variables, records, etc. as described in this disclosure. Such databases may be implemented as fault-tolerant, relational, scalable, secure databases such as Oracle or Sybase.

The operating system 507 may facilitate resource management and operation of the computer system 500. Examples of operating systems include, without limitation, Apple Macintosh OS X, Unix, Unix-like system distributions (e.g., Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, etc.), Linux distributions (e.g., Red Hat, Ubuntu, Kubuntu, etc.), IBM OS/2, Microsoft Windows (XP, Vista/7/8, etc.), Apple iOS, Google Android, Blackberry OS, or the like.

In some embodiments, the computer system 500 may implement a web browser 508 stored program component. The web browser 508 may be a hypertext viewing application, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, etc. Secure web browsing may be provided using Secure Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTPS), Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), Transport Layer Security (TLS), etc. Web browsers 408 may utilize facilities such as AJAX, DHTML, Adobe Flash, JavaScript, Java, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), etc. In some embodiments, the computer system 400 may implement a mail server stored program component. The mail server may be an Internet mail server such as Microsoft Exchange, or the like. The mail server may utilize facilities such as ASP, ActiveX, ANSI C++/C#, Microsoft .NET, CGI scripts, Java, JavaScript, PERL, PHP, Python, WebObjects, etc. The mail server may utilize communication protocols such as Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI), Microsoft Exchange, Post Office Protocol (POP), Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), or the like. In some embodiments, the computer system 400 may implement a mail client stored program component. The mail client may be a mail viewing application, such as Apple Mail, Microsoft Entourage, Microsoft Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, etc.

Furthermore, one or more computer-readable storage media may be utilized in implementing embodiments consistent with the present disclosure. A computer-readable storage medium refers to any type of physical memory on which information or data readable by a processor may be stored. Thus, a computer-readable storage medium may store instructions for execution by one or more processors, including instructions for causing the processor(s) to perform steps or stages consistent with the embodiments described herein. The term “computer-readable medium” should be understood to include tangible items and exclude carrier waves and transient signals, i.e., be non-transitory. Examples include Random Access Memory (RAM), Read-Only Memory (ROM), volatile memory, non-volatile memory, hard drives, CD ROMs, DVDs, flash drives, disks, and any other known physical storage media.

An embodiment of the present disclosure identifies crew change points in the transport system such that the duty of the crew members is efficiently scheduled.

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a cost-effective system by eliminating early change of the crew members in the transport system.

An embodiment of the present disclosure provides feasible duty section such that maximum duty time duration of crew members is utilized.

The described operations may be implemented as a method, system or article of manufacture using standard programming and/or engineering techniques to produce software, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof. The described operations may be implemented as code maintained in a “non-transitory computer readable medium”, where a processor may read and execute the code from the computer readable medium. The processor is at least one of a microprocessor and a processor capable of processing and executing the queries. A non-transitory computer readable medium may comprise media such as magnetic storage medium (e.g., hard disk drives, floppy disks, tape, etc.), optical storage (CD-ROMs, DVDs, optical disks, etc.), volatile and non-volatile memory devices (e.g., EEPROMs, ROMs, PROMs, RAMs, DRAMs, SRAMs, Flash Memory, firmware, programmable logic, etc.), etc. Further, non-transitory computer-readable media comprise all computer-readable media except for a transitory. The code implementing the described operations may further be implemented in hardware logic (e.g., an integrated circuit chip, Programmable Gate Array (PGA), Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), etc.).

An “article of manufacture” comprises non-transitory computer readable medium, hardware logic, and/or transmission signals in which code may be implemented. A device in which the code implementing the described embodiments of operations is encoded may comprise a computer readable medium or hardware logic. Of course, those skilled in the art will recognize that many modifications may be made to this configuration without departing from the scope of the invention, and that the article of manufacture may comprise suitable information bearing medium known in the art.

The terms “an embodiment”, “embodiment”, “embodiments”, “the embodiment”, “the embodiments”, “one or more embodiments”, “some embodiments”, and “one embodiment” mean “one or more (but not all) embodiments of the invention(s)” unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “including”, “comprising”, “having” and variations thereof mean “including but not limited to”, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The enumerated listing of items does not imply that any or all of the items are mutually exclusive, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “a”, “an” and “the” mean “one or more”, unless expressly specified otherwise.

A description of an embodiment with several components in communication with each other does not imply that all such components are required. On the contrary a variety of optional components are described to illustrate the wide variety of possible embodiments of the invention.

When a single device or article is described herein, it will be readily apparent that more than one device/article (whether or not they cooperate) may be used in place of a single device/article. Similarly, where more than one device or article is described herein (whether or not they cooperate), it will be readily apparent that a single device/article may be used in place of the more than one device or article or a different number of devices/articles may be used instead of the shown number of devices or programs. The functionality and/or the features of a device may be alternatively embodied by one or more other devices which are not explicitly described as having such functionality/features. Thus, other embodiments of the invention need not include the device itself.

The illustrated operations of Figure 4 show certain events occurring in a certain order. In alternative embodiments, certain operations may be performed in a different order, modified or removed. Moreover, steps may be added to the above described logic and still conform to the described embodiments. Further, operations described herein may occur sequentially or certain operations may be processed in parallel. Yet further, operations may be performed by a single processing unit or by distributed processing units.

Finally, the language used in the specification has been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and it may not have been selected to delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter. It is therefore intended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detailed description, but rather by any claims that issue on an application based here on. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodiments of the invention is intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of the invention, which is set forth in the following claims.

While various aspects and embodiments have been disclosed herein, other aspects and embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. The various aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are for purposes of illustration and are not intended to be limiting, with the true scope and spirit being indicated by the following claims.

Referral numerals:
Reference Number Description
100 Environment
101 Duty scheduling system
103 Database
105 Communication network
107 I/O interface
109 Memory
111 Processor
200 Data
201 Time duration data
203 Crew member data
205 Changeover station data
206 Usage data
207 Other data
209 Modules
211 Receiving module
213 Forward traversing module
215 Backward traversing module
217 Usage identification module
219 Comparison module
221 Crew change points identification module
223 Other modules