CROSS REFERENCE TO CO-PENDING APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims priority benefit to the Feb. 10, 2014 filing date of provisional patent application Ser. No.  61 / 937 , 880  for ROAMING TRANSPORT DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM and to the Sep. 19, 2013 filing date of provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/879,737 for ROAMING TRANSPORT DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, and is a continuation-in- part of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/563,618, filed on Jul. 31, 2012 for URBAN TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM AND METHOD, assigned to the assignee of the present application, which claims priority to U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No. 61/626,123 filed on Sep. 20, 2011, the contents of all which are incorporated herein in their entirety. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    The present apparatus and method relate to urban transportation systems. 
         [0003]    U.S. Patent Publication 2013/0073327 discloses an urban transportation system and method, which provides flexible, door-to-door transportation service between customers within a service area surrounding a node of a station of an urban transportation system, such as a train station, subway station, etc. 
         [0004]    In response to a customer request, a transport within a defined service area travels to the location of the customer and then transports the customer between the pick-up location and the node in the transportation system which is the central hub in the service zone. The transport service request instructions are dynamically determined in real time with respect to the customer pick-up location, the current location of the transport, and a predetermined maximum allowable travel time between the customer pick-up and drop-off at the node. 
         [0005]    The predetermined travel time may be calculated for a transport using the time that the customer reaches the transit node starting with the time of the pick-up request from the customer until the time the customer reaches the transit node or from the time the customer is picked up and dropped off at the node. Either time periods define the predetermined time period essential to efficient operation of the transit model. For example, if a 15 minute predetermined time period is selected for operation of the transit system, and the first time period calculation described above is utilized then the transit system must respond to a pick-up request from a customer by directing a transport at a second location within the service area surrounding node to the location of the customer, pick-up the customer and then travel by a flexible, real time determined route to the node so that the customer reaches the node within 15 minutes of initiating a pick-up request. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0006]    A roaming transport distribution apparatus and method for servicing customer requests for transportation of customers within a service zone. 
         [0007]    The method includes operating a plurality of transports in a first service zone for transporting customers within the first service zone to and from a first hub and receiving a service request from a first customer at a first location in the first service zone for transportation of the first customer to and/or from the first hub. 
         [0008]    Next, the method locates one transport of the plurality of transports in the first service zone to answer the service request based on one or more of the location of the first customer, the location of the transport, the distance between the two locations, a travel time of the transport from its location to the customer location, and a travel time of the transport with the picked-up customer from the first location to the first hub or from the first hub to another customer destination. 
         [0009]    A system manager sends a communication to a transport with a location to pick up the first customer. The system manager further sends a communication to the transport of a travel route from pick up location of the first customer to a customer drop-off location. 
         [0010]    The system manager directs the plurality of transports in the first service zone to unequally distributed locations with exclusive coverage areas of the transports which are disposed in a non-overlapping arrangement within the first service zone. 
         [0011]    The method can further unequally distribute all of the transports in the first service zone based on one of population density, historic request density and traffic conditions, creating an exclusive coverage service area about each transport in the first service zone, where the coverage service areas are disposed in a dynamic arrangement with adjacent exclusive transport service sub-areas, and directing the plurality of transports in the first service zone to unevenly distributed locations with non-overlapping coverage areas. 
         [0012]    According to the method, after one transport picks up the first customer at the first location, the one transport is removed from roaming in the first service zone. The method relocates the position of at least one other transport in the service zone so that the coverage areas of all of the transports are disposed in a dynamic arrangement to insure the predetermined transit time is met for all areas in the service zone. 
         [0013]    In the method, after the one transport picks up the first customer at the first location and the first transport is removed from roaming in the first service zone, the size and/or location of the coverage areas of at least one of the transports in the service zone is varied to meet the predetermined transit time at all locations within the first service zone. 
         [0014]    The method further includes choosing the one transport of the plurality of transports to answer a service request where the location of the transport relative to a customer issuing a service request satisfies one of a minimum wait time of customer pick-up and a less than maximum transit time of the customer to the customer destination. 
         [0015]    The method further includes reinserting a new transport into the first service zone and redistributing all of the coverage areas of the plurality of transports in the first service zone to insure distribution of the coverage areas in the first service zone without overlap. 
         [0016]    The roaming transportation distribution apparatus includes a system manager choosing the one transport of the plurality of transports to answer a service request where the location of the transport relative to a customer issuing a service request satisfies one of a minimum wait time for customer pick-up and less than a maximum transit time of the customer to the customer destination. 
         [0017]    The system manager wirelessly communicates travel information to each of the transports to optimize travel of a transport from a current location of the transport to a customer and/or from a customer pick-up location to a customer drop-off destination. 
         [0018]    The system manager in response to removal of a transport from the plurality of transports in a first service zone when the transport is answering a service request, issues new coordinate information by wireless communication to at least one other transport in the first service zone to redistribute the remaining plurality of transports in the first service zone. 
         [0019]    The system manager, executing program instructions, based on current coordinate locations of the plurality of transports remaining in roaming in the first service zone, to vary a size of the coverage area of at least one of the remaining transports to meet transport transit times associated with responses to customer requests 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
         [0020]    The various features, advantages, and other uses of the present apparatus and method will become more apparent by referring to the following detailed description and drawing in which: 
           [0021]      FIG. 1  is a conceptual diagram illustrating a transportation system providing transportation service to a service zone around a transit mode; 
           [0022]      FIG. 2  is a diagram showing the delivery of a passenger from a pick-up location in one service area to a destination location in another service area according to the method and apparatus; 
           [0023]      FIG. 3  is a diagram illustrating the use of the present method and apparatus over multiple service areas; 
           [0024]      FIG. 4  is a schematic diagram illustrating the components of the apparatus for implementing the method; 
           [0025]      FIG. 5  is a blocked diagram showing the construction of the system manager; 
           [0026]      FIGS. 6 ,  7 ,  8 , and  9 A- 9 D are pictorial representations illustrating the operation of the present apparatus and method to implement distribution of the transport transports within a service area; 
           [0027]      FIG. 10  is a pictorial representation of the present method and apparatus implemented in multiple overlapping service areas; 
           [0028]      FIG. 11  is a flowchart depicting the operation of the apparatus and method for an inbound request; and 
           [0029]      FIGS. 12A and 12B  are flow diagrams depicting the operation of the apparatus and method for an outbound request. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0030]      FIG. 1  depicts a service zone  100  which surrounds a centrally located node  102 , which may be a train or subway station or a bus stop in an urban transit or transportation system, or any other transportation system having defined locations for transport vehicles to pick-up and drop off passengers. The node  102  also acts as the central hub  102  of the service zone  100 . 
         [0031]    The service zone  100  is illustrated with multiple sub zones has service transports distributed through each of the sub zones to minimize travel time between the location of the transport, a pick-up location of a customer requesting a pick-up and the delivery of the customer to the end drop off destination. It is desirable to provide improvement to such a urban transportation system so as to minimize pick up time as well as meeting the maximum travel time to the drop off location. 
         [0032]    The service zone  100  may be a single large defined area, with a circular service zone shown by way of example only. It will be understood that the service zone  100  may take other shapes, such as polygonal, triangular, oval, etc., depending upon geographic features surrounding the node  102 , population density, service request density and other factors. 
         [0033]    Further, the service zone  100  is illustrated with concentric sub-zones  101 ,  103 ,  105  and  107 , with four sub-zones shown in  FIG. 1  spaced at one mile, two mile, three mile, and four mile radii, respectively, from the central hub  102 . 
         [0034]    Service transports (hereafter “transports”)  104 ,  106  may be distributed throughout the sub-zones of the larger service zone  100  to minimize travel time between the location of the transport  104  and a pick up location  111  of a customer  110  initiating a pick-up service request. The transports  104 ,  106  may be any type of transport, such as a car, minivan, bus, SUV, etc. 
         [0035]    Each transport  104 ,  106 , etc., has global positioning system (GPS) capability. A GPS transceiver can be mounted in each transport  104 ,  106  for communication with the global positioning satellite network to provide a central system manager with the current GPS coordinates of each transport  104 ,  106 . 
         [0036]    Each transport  104  and  106  also has wireless communication capability with the system manager. The wireless communication capability can include a cellular network transmitter and receiver mounted in the vehicle for communication between the transport  104 ,  106  and the system manager via a cellular telephone network. Such cellular wireless communication can also be implemented by using the driver&#39;s cellular telephone for direct communication via the cellular network with the system manager or through the cellular telephone system of the transport  104 ,  106 . 
         [0037]    Other forms of wireless communication, including satellite communication, etc., can also be employed to transfer data between each transport  104 ,  106  and the central manager. 
         [0038]    The overall size of the service zone  100  is selected so that predetermined transit time, such as 15 minutes for example, can be met for all customer pick-up requests at any location within the service zone  100  to the drop off destination. 
         [0039]    Thus, it is possible that, depending upon population density and service request density, as well as geographic features, one service zone  100  of a plurality of service zones shown in  FIG. 3 , can have larger or smaller overall dimensions than that of surrounding service zones. 
         [0040]      FIG. 1  shows a travel route  108  taken by a transport  104  picking up a first customer  110  at a first location  111  and delivering the first customer  110  to the hub  102 . It is possible that the transport  104  can pick up a second customer  112  at a second location  114  when transporting the first customer  110  to the node  102  as long as the predetermined transit time period can still be met. 
         [0041]    The same predetermined transit time requirement can also apply to transporting a customer  120  from the hub  102  to a second location  122  within the service zone  100 . 
         [0042]      FIG. 2  depicts two service zones  100 , 130 , one surrounding the hub  102 , which will be described, for example, as utilizing transports  104  to pick-up a customer  109  and transport the customer  109  to the hub  102 . From the hub  102 , the customer  109  travels along the urban transit system  134  to a hub  132  in a second service zone  130 . At the second in hub  132  of the second service zone  130 , a separate set of transports  136  transport the customer to drop off location  138  within the second service zone  130 . 
         [0043]      FIG. 3  depicts multiple service zones, each with a small amount of overlap with adjacent service areas arranged in a city or city area along urban transit lines. 
         [0044]    For operation of the roaming transport distribution management system, each customer or potential customer  400 , as shown in  FIG. 4 , would utilize a communication device  402 . The communication device  402  may be any communication device, such as a cellular telephone, smartphone, laptop computer, tablet computer, desk-top computer etc., as long as the communication device  402  is capable of generating a pick-up request via wireless communication network  404 , such as cellular network, to a system manager  406 , also referred to as a server  406 , as well as sending GPS location signals generated by use of a device capable of communication with GPS satellite  408  to identify the pick-up location of the customer  400 . 
         [0045]    Each transport  410  within the service zone  100  will also carry a communication device  412 , such as a computer, a portable computer, a cellular telephone, tablet computer, etc., with wireless network communication and GPS communication capabilities. 
         [0046]    The server  406 , as described hereafter, may be a physical computing device with at least one processor, memory, database and wireless and GPS communication capabilities, which communicates with the customers  400  and the transports  410  via the wireless communication network  404  using GPS location data generated by the communication devices  402  and  412  carried by each customer  400  and transport  410 . 
         [0047]    In general, one customer  400  will generate a pick-up request by using an application on his communication device  402  to transmit his GPS location and the pick-up request through the wireless network  404  to the server  406 . The pick-up request may identify the customer&#39;s name and include other customer information as well as special instructions, including time deadlines, number of passengers, luggage, etc. 
         [0048]    In response to a pick-up request from a customer  400 , the server  406 , as described hereafter, will dynamically select one service transport  410  within the service zone  100  which is capable of traveling from the current location of the transport  410  to the location of the customer  400 , pick up the customer, and then transport the customer along the fastest route to the hub within the predetermined maximum transit time period. This direction of customer  400  travel from a pick-up destination to the node is referred to as an inbound transport. 
         [0049]    For inbound requests, shown in  FIG. 11 , the server  406  sorts the transports in the service zone to determine which transport is closest to the customer making the request in step  900 . If the the closest transport to the customer making the request is already at full occupant capacity, in step  902 , then the server  406  advances to check the next closest transport in the service zone to the customer making the request. 
         [0050]    Alternately, if the selected transport in step  900  is determined in step  902  to not be at full occupant capacity, the server  406  queries if the transport is roaming in step  904 . Roaming is the availability of a transport, either stationarily parked or moving within its defined coverage area, described hereafter, and available for customer transport. A transport is removed from roaming when a transport is directed to pick up a customer or is inbound or outbound with customer(s) to and from the hub in the service zone. 
         [0051]    If the transport is not roaming, the server  406  advances to step  906  to query if the selected transport  410  is inbound to the hub. If the selected transport is not inbound to the hub as determined in step  906 , the server  406  advances to the next closest transport. 
         [0052]    Referring back to step  904 , if the server  406  determines that the selected transport is roaming, the server  406  determines if the wait time between the time that the customer made the request and the time that the selected transport  410  will arrive at the location of the customer is above a maximum wait time. If yes, the server  406  advances to select another transport. However, if the determined wait time is below the maximum wait time in step  908 , the server  406  assigns the selected transport to the customer request in step  910 . 
         [0053]    Referring again to step  906 , if the server  406  determines that the transport is inbound to the hub, the server in step  912  queries where the selected transport will have to move in a direction away from the hub in order to pick up another customer making the current request. If the answer is yes from step  906 , the server  406  advances to select another transport. 
         [0054]    However, if the determination in step  912  is negative, the server  406  in step  914  queries if the selected transport is heading in a direction toward the same hub as the hub in the current customer request. If not, the server  406  selects another transport to honor the customer request. However, if the determination in step  914  is yes, the server determines in step  916  if the trip time for the selected transport of the first customer picked up by the transport will exceed the predetermined transit time, such as 15 minutes, for example, in step  916  if the transport picks up the second customer making the current request. If the transit time for the first customer is less than the predetermined transit time, such as 15 minutes, from step  916 , the server assigns the selected transport to honor the customer request in step  918 . However, if the outcome of the query in step  916  is yes, that is, the maximum transit time would be exceeded, the server  406  advances to select another transport to honor the current customer request. 
         [0055]    Outbound transportation via transport from the hub is also possible after the customer arrives at the hub. For example, the customer communicates via the wireless network through his communication device  402  or other means of communication to the server  406  informing the server  406  of his expected arrival time at one particular hub, along with other customer identification, preferences, etc. The server  406  then communicates with the driver of a transport  410  to insure that a transport  410  is at the hub at the time the customer  400  arrives at the hub. The transport  410  then picks up the customer  400  and transports the customer  400  to his or her drop off designation within the service zone  100 . This will be referred to hereafter as an outbound transport. 
         [0056]    As shown in  FIGS. 12A and 12B , upon receiving an outbound request from a customer, the server  406  sorts the transports in the service zone to determine which transport is closest to the hub in step  940 . If the first selected transport is determined to be roaming in step  942 , the server  406  assigns the selected transport to honor the customer outbound request in step  944 . 
         [0057]    However, if the selected transport  942  is not roaming, the server  406  queries if the transport is inbound to the hub with customers in step  946 . If answer is yes from step  946 , the server  406  in step  948  queries if the outbound capacity of the selected transport has been reached. If the answer to the query in step  948  is yes, the server  406  advances to select another transport to honor the outbound customer request. 
         [0058]    However, if the outcome of the query in step  948  is negative, the server  406  determines if the outbound trip time of the selected transport is above the maximum wait time for the outbound customer request in step  950 . If the determination is yes, the server  406  advances to select another transport. However, if the inbound trip time is below the maximum wait time to honor the outbound customer request, the server  406  in step  952  determines if the outbound trip time to the customer&#39;s destination is greater than the maximum transit time in step  952 . If the determination is yes, the server  406  advances to select a different transport. However, if the outcome of the query in step  952  is negative, the server  406  queries in step  954  if the time between drop offs at the hub and the destination of the outbound customer request is too large. If the determination is yes, the server  406  advances to select a different transport. However, if the time between drop offs is not too large or is below a preset maximum time, the server  406  will assign a selected transport to honor the outbound customer request in step  956 . 
         [0059]    Referring back to step  946  in  FIG. 12A , if the server  406  determines that the transport is not inbound with customers, the server  406  next checks if the inbound transport is without customers or is waiting at the hub in step  958 . If this determination is negative, the server  406  checks for another transport. 
         [0060]    However, if the outcome in step  958  is yes, the server  406  determines if the outbound capacity of the selected transport has been reached in step  960 . If yes, the server  406  searches for another transport. If not, the server  406  determines in step  962  if the outbound trip time for all passengers in the transport is greater than the maximum predetermined transit time in step  962 . If the outcome is yes, the server  406  searches for another transport. 
         [0061]    However, if the determination in step  962  is negative, the server  406  in step  964  determines if the time between drop off locations of the multiple customers going to different destinations in the same transport is greater than a maximum allowed time. If yes, the server  406  searches for a different transport. However, if not, the server  406  assigns the transport in step  966  to the new request. 
         [0062]    The server  406  communicates via the wireless communication network  404  with the communication device  412  in the transport  410  and provides the driver of the transport  410  with the customer location, customer information, and other pertinent data. The server  406  also transmits information pertaining to the most expeditious route from location of the transport  410  to the first location of the customer  400  and then from the first location to the hub. 
         [0063]    Further, the server  406  dynamically repositions the transport  410  within the service zone to optimum positions, even when the transport  410  is not transporting a customer or traveling toward a customer pick-up location. This enables the transports  410  within a service zone  100  to be optimally distributed in a manner responsive to population density and service request density in order to enable the predetermined maximum transit period to be met for all customers within a service zone. 
         [0064]    The server  406  can dynamically change the location of one or more of the transports  410  within the service zone  100  at different times of the day to meet varying service request densities, such as morning rush hour, evening rush hour, afternoon or evening sporting events, etc. 
         [0065]    The roaming transport distribution management system, as shown in  FIG. 5 , includes a system manager which may be incorporated into the server  406  shown in  FIG. 4 . The system manager  406  includes a controller, such as a processor based computing device coupled to a database  504 . 
         [0066]    It will be understood that the following description of the main functional blocks of the system manager or server  406  may be virtual elements, rather than physical computing devices. 
         [0067]    The controller  502  is responsible for creating, deleting, and managing all of the different components of the system manager. The controller  502  creates hub monitors  506 , which monitor one or more hubs  510  within a particular area. For example, a single hub monitor  506  can monitor five hubs  510 . 
         [0068]    The hub monitors  506  gather information necessary for the operation of the controller  502 . The hub monitors  506  carry out their own thread gathering asynchronously. The hub monitors  506  primarily keep track of the location of each hub  510  and the area of coverage of the assigned hub  510 . 
         [0069]    A hub locator  508  accesses each of the hub monitors  506  to obtain information about the hubs  510 . When a customer request  512  is received by the system manager  406 , the controller  502  passes the request to the hub locator  508  which creates a thread and processes the hub information to determine which hub  510  should receive the request. 
         [0070]    The hub locator  508  is coupled to a hub dispatcher  514 , which is responsible for sending the request to a hub, or the hub locator  508  has located hub manager  510  after it. A notification manager  516  is provided as part of the system manager  407  to enable communication between the various components of the system manager  407 . The notification manager  516  also enables threads associated with each customer request and customer transport to the hub to notify other threads when they have completed their tasks. Each thread registers itself with the notification manager  516 . 
         [0071]    Each of the components of the system manager  407  registers itself with the notification manager  516 . The hubs  510  also register themselves with the controller  502 , which in turn passes on the hub information to the hub monitors  506 . If a hub monitor  506  is at full capacity with the predetermined number of hubs, the controller  502  will create a new hub monitor  506 . When the system manager  407  receives a request  512 , a hub locator  508  thread is created. The hub locator  508  looks at all of the hubs  510  controlled by hub monitors  506  to locate the closest hub  510  within a certain predetermined distance range from the customer location issuing the request  512 . 
         [0072]    The hub managers  516  controlling each hub  510  include a roaming distribution transport algorithm for distributing transports within a service zone surrounding a hub  510  to enable each customer request  512  to be accepted and the customer delivered to the hub  510  within the predetermined maximum time period or window, such as 15 minutes for example. Even though the illustrated service zone covers concentric circles up to a four-mile radius, it will be understood that the service zone, depending upon geographic factors, population density and request density, may have a larger or smaller service area, such as from one mile up to greater than four miles. 
         [0073]    Since maintaining all of the transports at the hub  510  would require the transports to travel a first distance out to the location of a customer making a request for transport and then retrace the same distance back to the hub, the transports would easily exceed the predetermined transit time period. As such, the transports need to be distributed throughout the service zone. 
         [0074]    Prior transit applications provide an even distribution of the transports across the entire service zone. However, this does not take into account variations in population density, request density, geographic factor, etc. 
         [0075]    The roaming distribution transport algorithm executed by each hub manager  510  automatically insures that the transports are distributed in a certain manner across the entire service zone so that a customer request originating from any location within the service zone can be honored within the predetermined transit time period met. 
         [0076]      FIGS. 6-9  depict the service zone  100 . Although the service zone  100  is illustrated as having a circular shape, it may have other shapes, such as rectangular, square, polygonal or an irregular peripheral boundary depending upon population density, transit request density, geographic factors, etc. The service zone  100  can have any maximum radius. The four-mile radius shown in  FIGS. 1-3  may be applied to the service zone  100 . Alternately, the service zone  100  can represent the one-mile sub-zone of the service zone  100  shown in  FIGS. 1-3 . The service zone could also apply to the entire area covered by the two-mile radius, the three-mile radius, or the four-mile radius. 
         [0077]    As shown in  FIG. 6 , each transport is represented by a geometric exclusive coverage area  600 , with the circular shaped coverage area shown by way of example only. Each transport is located at approximately the center of its coverage area  600  and can be stationary, or moving within a small area generally centered within the coverage area  600 . 
         [0078]    The distribution algorithm eliminates overlaps between the coverage areas  600  of all of the transports within the service zone  100 . 
         [0079]    In one configuration, all of the transports have the same size exclusive coverage areas  600  as shown in  FIG. 6 . The distribution algorithm, while preventing overlap between any of the edges of coverage areas  600  of the transports, is capable of moving each coverage areas  600  including coverage areas  600 A- 600 F both radially inward and outward, or circumferentially, or in any direction (straight, arcuate, zigzag, etc.), as shown by the arrows in  FIG. 6 , to achieve a transport distribution which places one transport within range of any customer issuing a request within the service zone  100  to meet the predetermined maximum transit time for moving a particular transport from the present location of the transport to the location of the customer issuing the request, picking up the customer, and then transporting the customer to the hub  602 . 
         [0080]    In  FIG. 7 , the transport in coverage area  600 A has moved to pick up a customer and can be transiting toward the hub  602 . As soon as the transport is assigned a customer request and begins moving toward the location of a customer, the hub manager  510  removes the transport  600 A from roaming, as shown by the gap in  FIG. 7  where coverage area  600 A of the assigned transport has been removed. However, its coverage area  600 A continues to impact the coverage areas of the remaining roaming transports. 
         [0081]    The roaming distribution transport algorithm then rebalances the location of at least one or more of the remaining transports and their associated coverage areas  600  by slightly moving one or more of the coverage area  600  in circumferential, straight, curved, or radial directions to the distribution shown by example in  FIG. 8 . The hub manager  510  for the service zone  100  moves, for example, coverage area  600  E radially inward to fill the gap left by the removal of the transport in coverage area  600 A. The arrows in the adjacent coverage areas shows some of the directions that the hub manager  510  can move each of the coverage areas. 
         [0082]    Any of the adjacent coverage areas  600 B,  600 C,  600 E and  600 F and their associated transports, can also be moved to a new rebalanced distribution. 
         [0083]    As shown by example in  FIG. 9A , three gaps  600 H,  600 I, and  600 J exist in the service zone coverage areas due to three transports being assigned to customer pick up. It should be noted that these gaps are a momentary occurrence and would normally be filled with coverage areas of adjacent located transports, such as coverage areas  600 L,  600 M, and  600 N in the manner described above. 
         [0084]      FIG. 9B  depicts the operation of the hub manager  510  or server  406  in reinserting a transport back into service zone  100  after the transport has dropped off a customer at the hub  602 . In this example, the hub manager  510  reinserts a transport shown by its coverage area  600 K in the innermost ring of coverage areas surrounding the hub  602 . The hub manager  510  rebalances the location of selected ones or all of the coverage areas  600 A- 600 M in the service area  100 , as shown in  FIG. 9B , to accommodate the reinserted transport and its coverage area  600 K. 
         [0085]    The hub manager  510  operates in a similar manner when a transport has dropped off a customer at the customer destination at any location within the service zone  100 , after transit from the hub  602  or from another location within the service zone  100 . The hub manager  510  can reinsert the transport, once the customer has been dropped off, at its then current location or direct a transport to a different location to fill a gap in the coverage areas within service zone  100 . 
         [0086]    This minimizes to a certain extent some of the larger gaps at the perimeter of the service zone  100 , but large gap areas or open spaces at the perimeter of the service zone  100  still exist; but should be able to be covered by the closet transport to meet the maximum predetermined transit time. 
         [0087]    Referring back to  FIG. 9A , three gaps denoted by the removal of transport coverage areas  600 H,  600 I, and  600 J are shown in service area  100 . The hub manager  510  and the server  406  can fill these gaps by also enlarging coverage areas associated with selected transports in addition to redistributing the coverage areas within the service zone  100 . The enlarged coverage areas  600 J,  600 L, and  600 N still enable customer request within the service zone  100  to be met within the predetermined pickup and/or transit time. 
         [0088]    The distribution algorithm also is capable of taking into account population density variations within the service zone  100 , historic request density variations within the service zone  100 , as well as the current distribution of transports within the service zone  100 . The distribution algorithm, as shown in  FIG. 9D , is capable of initially providing or varying the size, in the case of the coverage areas  600  and/or the radius or diameter of each coverage area  600 , based on the population or historic request density variations within the service zone  100 . 
         [0089]      FIG. 9D  shows multiple different diameter sizes of the coverage areas  600 , with the size corresponding to the area of coverage for a particular transport located within each coverage area  600 . Larger diameter circles, for example, indicate a larger coverage area for a particular transport. The smallest diameter circles indicate a small exclusive coverage area for a particular transport. 
         [0090]    As shown in the upper right quadrant of the service zone  100  in  FIG. 9 , there is a larger density  603  of small diameter coverage areas  600 . This indicates the high population density or a high historic request density within this area of the service zone  100 . Conversely, in the left quadrant area  605  of the service zone  100 , predominately larger sized coverage areas  600  are shown. This indicates a larger exclusive coverage area for each transport and a corresponding smaller number of transports in this area of service zone  100 . 
         [0091]    Since higher request density sub-zones of the service zone will have more customers and therefore more transports removed from the number of available transports, additional transports are provided in such areas with smaller coverage areas to accommodate all customers and still meet the predetermined transit time period. 
         [0092]    With the variable size indicator capability within the distribution algorithm, when a particular transport is removed from roaming distribution since it is transporting a customer to the hub  602 , can redistribute and rebalance the remaining available transports by either resizing the diameter of the coverage area of one or more transports or by adjusting the position of one or more of the transport coverage areas, or both changing the size of certain coverage areas and rebalancing the position of some or all of the transports and their coverage areas. 
         [0093]    In any of the rebalancing or resizing computations performed by the distribution algorithm, the hub manager  510  will issue position commands to the effected transports via the communication network which direct the transports to change the center of their location, either the position at which they are parked or the center of the position about which they are roaming to a new position. The algorithm can incorporate a distance tolerance so that the transports are not commanded to move only short distances, but commands will be issued only when a more significant difference, such as 400 meters for example, is necessary. 
         [0094]    The hub manager  510  receives GPS signals from the transports indicating the current position of the transports and is therefore capable of both monitoring the location of all of the transports within the respective service zone as well as issuing commands for one or more of the transports to move to different geographic locations. 
         [0095]      FIG. 10  depicts a modification to the coverage area  100  described above. In  FIG. 10 , the same central service area  100  around central node  102  still exists. However, additional coverage areas, with three coverage areas  800 ,  802  and  804  being shown by example, are each formed about separate nodes or hubs such as stations on mass transport lines. It will be understood that separate coverage areas, similar to coverage areas  800 ,  802  and  804 , may be provided around each node or station in the transport area or only about certain hubs or stations. Coverage areas  800 ,  802  and  804  may be the same size as the coverage area  100  or maybe smaller or larger in coverage areas. Further, the coverage areas  800 ,  802  and  804  can be separate from or, overlap each other and, in conjunction with the central coverage area  100  can form a single enlarged coverage area. Transports, as distributed and described above, in the central coverage area  100  may also serve the additional coverage areas  800 ,  802  and  804 . The distribution of the transports may be treated as a single large transport coverage area, including coverage areas  100 ,  800 ,  802  and  804 , with transport roaming within the enlarged coverage area formed by the coverage areas  100 ,  800 ,  802  and  804  and changing which hub each transport goes to depending upon what is most efficient in terms of customer requests, transport location, customer destinations, customer pick up locations, time of day, etc. 
         [0096]    The transports may be assigned and roam in the coverage area  100 , including any of the overlapped areas of the coverage area  100  and the coverage areas  800 ,  802 , and  804 , where the transports may be dedicated to a specific coverage area  800 ,  802  and  804  for a primary pick-up and delivery of customers from a pick-up point to an end destination, such as any of the coverage areas  800 ,  802  and  804 , or from the hubs in the coverage areas  800 ,  802  and  804  to an end destination within or without of coverage areas  800 ,  802  and  804  to an end destination within or without the coverage areas  800 ,  802  and  804 .
A roaming transport distribution management apparatus and method are provided. A controller selects transports within a defined service zone in response to customer transit requests from customer locations or a central hub which are capable of meeting maximum transit time to the end destination in either an inbound or outbound direction from the hub. A hub manager varies the position and/or the size of an exclusive coverage area of each transport within the overall service zone to insure a dense accumulation of transports over the entire service zone and alters the position of other transports in response to the movement of a transport inbound or outbound from the hub with a passenger. The hub manager can vary the size of the exclusive coverage area of each transport to account for population and request call densities and the number of available transports.