A transportation system and method for managing rewards in the transportation system includes using a merchant interface to a cognitive system for managing the offering or fulfillment of a reward to a rider of a vehicle, where a merchant may specify parameters of the reward that can be earned by the rider as a result of performing an action while in the vehicle.

An advertisement providing device includes: an acquisition unit acquiring a travel time between bus stops; a time setting unit setting, based on the travel time, an advertisement playable time during which at least one of advertisements is played back; a playback number calculation unit calculating a number of playbacks of the advertisements based on the advertisement playable time and an advertisement duration time that is set for each advertisement; and a playback unit playing back at least one of the advertisements according to the number of playbacks of the advertisements. When an interruption during travel operation has occurred, the playback number calculation unit recalculates the number of playbacks of the advertisements based on a remaining time of the advertisement playable time and a time of occurrence of the interruption.

A system for transportation includes a vehicle configured to have a rider located therein or thereon, and an expert system to produce a recommendation for a configuration of the vehicle, wherein the recommendation includes at least one recommended parameter of configuration for the expert system that controls a parameter selected from the group consisting of a vehicle parameter, a rider experience parameter, and combinations thereof.

A system for operating a vehicle based on a state of a rider includes an artificial intelligence system, a vehicle control system, and a feedback loop. The artificial intelligence system processes a sensory input from a wearable device in a vehicle to determine a state of a rider and optimizes an operating parameter of the vehicle to improve the state of the rider. The artificial intelligence system includes a neural net with a perceptron to mimic human senses to facilitate determining a state of a rider based on an extent to which at least one of the senses of the rider is stimulated. The vehicle control system adjusts vehicle operating parameters and the feedback loop indicates the change in the state of the rider, where the vehicle control system adjusts at least one of the plurality of vehicle operating parameters responsive to the indication of the change.

A system for analyzing the environment of a vehicle i) receives a plurality of data from at least one sensor associated with a vehicle, such that the plurality of data includes at least one environmental condition at a location; (ii) analyzes the plurality of data to determine the at least one environmental condition at the location; (iii) determines a condition of a building at the location based upon the at least one environmental condition; (iv) determines an insurance product for the building based upon the determined condition associated with the building; and (v) generates an insurance quote for the insurance product. As a result, the speed and accuracy of insurance providers learning about potential clients and the conditions of the potential client's property and needs is increased.

Systems and techniques to provide location-based services. In general, in one implementation, the technique includes receiving a request for directions from an initial location to a final location, determining a route from the initial location to the final location, determining one or more landmarks based on the route and providing directions for traveling the route from the initial location to the final location, the directions including a reference to the one or more landmarks.

A display panel assembly includes a display panel including an array of LED (Light Emitting Diode) pixels, and includes a support assembly configured to hold the display panel near the rear window of the vehicle. In one embodiment, the support assembly for holding the display panel in the vehicle includes a first strap and a first hinge. The first hinge includes: a first flap having a first hole; a pivot; and a second flap having a second hole and a third hole. The first strap includes a fourth hole and a fifth hole located at a hinge end of the strap, and a sixth hole located at a cross beam end of the strap.

When individual persons or vehicles move through a transportation network, they are likely to be both actively and passively creating information that reflects their location and current behavior. In this patent, we propose a system that makes complete use of this information. First, through a broad web of sensors, our system collects and stores the full range of information generated by travelers. Next, through the use of previously-stored data and active computational analysis, our system deduces the identity of individual travelers. Finally; using advanced data-mining technology, our system selects useful information and transmits it back to the individual, as well as to third-party users; in short, it forms the backbone for a variety of useful location-related end-user applications.

Apparatus useful for obtaining and displaying information. In one embodiment, the apparatus includes a wireless network interface, touch screen input and display device, and speech processing apparatus configured to receive user speech input and enable performance of various tasks via a remote entity, such as obtaining desired information relating to a desired entity or organization In one implementation, user touch input on the input and display device is converted to spatial or geographic coordinates, and imagery relating to those coordinates is provided to the user on the same device.

Transaction and communication systems and methods are disclosed for vendors and promoters. Some embodiments disclosed herein provide a deal manager system comprising transaction data associated with the promotional activities of one or more promoters, such as promoters registered with the deal manager system. The deal manager system can process the transaction data and provide compensation to promoters for their promotional activities based at least partly thereon. In certain embodiments, at least a portion of the transaction data can be provided to one or more vendors. A vendor may direct that benefits or promotional material be provided to a subset of promoters based at least in part on the received transaction data. The deal manager system may include promoter contact information, and materials provided by the vendor may be conveyed by the deal manager system to certain promoters based on the same.