CONCEPT FOR PASSIVE TRAFFIC RESPONSE APPLICATION

I. The Concept A passive application involving software and hardware to: (i) sense tagged members in the order of their approach to a defined center point, (ii) identify such members by association of individual tags to a defined catalog, and (iii) deliver such sequence and identity data to end users through a simple graphical interface to aid in control of traffic and security. II. The Underlying Problem The concept responds to any situation in which members of a group (e.g., customers of a business, or passengers of a carrier) arrive by vehicle at a location in a non-scheduled manner to retrieve people or things. In such cases, security issues result from an inability to control the physical movement of members as they arrive at a central location, and from the need to correlate the identity of individual members with the person or thing being retrieved. III. Hypothetical The underlying problems are illustrated through the example of a typical elementary school: School ends at 3 p.m. each day. In front of the school is a driveway connected by an access road to the main public highway. On a sidewalk in front of the driveway is a long bench, on which students sit waiting to be picked-up. As drivers approach, they enter the access road and collect along the driveway in front of the bench. Students move from the bench to a waiting vehicle. In reality, this seemingly simple scenario is filled with hazards. This application focuses on 2 particular hazards: First, because the 3 p.m. time factor concentrates the arrival of members in a small time space, many vehicles generally are moving through the driveway at any given time (along with school buses and vans). This creates confused traffic patterns. And second, as vehicles arrive to collect students, there is no systematized identification of any particular vehicle or its driver. This creates uncertainty in the pairing of members with students. The consequences of inadequately addressing these 2 hazards can be devastating. The confused traffic in the driveway near the bench creates a material physical hazard for students placed in its proximity. Other measures may be implemented to control the traffic patternsome schools may have separate driveways, others may have striped lanes on the driveway pavement. Such measures seek to control the traffic itself, and are an important component of students overall safety. But such measures do not address a separate crucial component of student safety: movement of the students themselves. In essence, no matter how well controlled traffic may be as it moves through the driveway, a student may be unreasonably put at risk by a failure to control his or her movement in proximity to it. Imagine a scenario where Student 1 unexpectedly crosses the driveway on his way to Car 1, and the driver of Car 2who is busily looking for Student 2fails to notice Student 1. As a result, Student 1 is injured. Questions inevitably arise both whether the traffic was adequately controlled, and whether Student 1 was adequately controlled. This application addresses the second question.

The problem of identification is similarly dire for parents and schools alike. The consequences of failing to identify members and, as a result, pairing them with incorrect students, are serious. Typically, this filtering function is performed by a teacher placed on the sidewalk by the bench. Reliance is placed upon that teachers memory and eyesight to identify (i) who is authorized to pick up a given student and (ii) whether the person driving the vehicle in question is that person. Bear in mind that the teacher on the sidewalk is monitoring many students simultaneously, and is also responsible for their general behavior and conduct. Is the risk of a mismatch (where a student is picked up by an unauthorized driver) adequately addressed in this case? Are students being unreasonably exposed to a foreseeable risk? These are questions that tragically get answered after the mistake has been made. This application provides a means to prevent the mistake from ever happening. IV. General Applicability The school hypothetical given above is only one instance of the applications usefulness. The creators believe the application is relevant in any situation where incoming members arrive in random array at a central location to retrieve related goods or persons. Other examples might include pick-up of: passengers and luggage at an arriving cruise ship; purchased goods at a cash and carry retail outlet. V. Application Overview The application functions as follows:

Central Location: A central location is defined for the application. In the hypothetical above, the bench would be the central location. Near-Location: A desired proximity to the central location is defined. In the hypothetical, the near-location might be a 3-mile radius of the school, estimated to put a member 15 minutes from the school under known driving conditions at 3 p.m. in that neighborhood. Registration: Members register with the application, providing relevant data (name, vehicle, photograph, authorized drivers). Member data is stored in a central location database. App: Each member will register GPS-enabled personal devices as interfaces to the application. An app will be downloaded onto the registered devices. This app will enable those devices to communicate with the application at the central location. Sequencing: As a member passes into near-location, the app will send a notification to the central location, where a report is generated. This will allow managers there to prepare the goods or persons for retrieval at a reasonably estimated time. Identification: As a member reaches the central location, vehicle information, photographic identification, and other stored data are retrieved from the data base and displayed, enabling mangers to securely deliver the goods or persons to the correct drivers.

GPS. The applications awareness of members as they move into near-location, and then from near-location to central location, would be achieved through an interface with members personal communications devices. These devices (which include Blackberry, iPhone, Droid, and a host of others) are GPS-enabled, which enables them to know where they are. Essentially, the application would exist in the form of an app. receive location alerts from registered devices, and would translate that data into a pre-defined set of reports to central location managers. In the hypothetical above, an example might be a screen image that appears on a monitor, in a secure

location where the students are waiting (such as a cafeteria or gymnasium), when the members vehicle is in near-location, showing a photograph of the student, an estimated time of arrival, and a photograph of the vehicle and/or driver authorized for pick up. The applications creators believe that the vast majority of members possess, or in the very near future will possess, such GPS-enabled devices. We also believe that the ability of those devices to operate apps, and the robustness of those apps, will increase dramatically over the same time. RFID. In rare cases of members who do not have a GPS-enabled device (and therefore cannot run the app), RFID technology could be used. An RFID tag could be registered and provided to the member to be kept with the registered vehicle. A remote sensor could be placed at an RFID near-location, which would sense and announce when the tag passed by it. A report could be generated by the central program at that point. In the hypothetical above, the RFID nearlocation could be at the entrance to the access road, where an RFID sensor could be placed. While this alternative may be of some use, the creators of the application believe the RFID technology is a less-desirable option due to:

Cost: Members must be provided an RFID tag, with the attendant per unit cost thereof. (Note: It is possible that this cost could be controlled or eliminated through a cooperative arrangement with EZPass, whereby the EZPass tag could be configured to function with the central program.) Convenience: Members may hesitate to participate if they must attach a new device to their vehicle. Geographical Limitation: Because RFID near-location can be no further than where the RFID sensor may practically be placed, the application is prevented from receiving useful data about member location (such as QuickNotes) from any further out. VI. Application Detail

The application would include a central program, an app, and an internet presence. The Central Program: The central program would house the database, as well as the reporting function. [MORE DETAIL?] The App: The app would perform the function of bringing remote member notifications the central program. Most people are familiar with apps. They are popular, small software programs that run on smart cell phones (or smart phones) and perform a multitude of functions. This app would be very simple. The creators believe that it would require no more than the following capabilities:

Enable: A way of turning the app on and off. When enabled, the app would transmit location data about itself to the central location. When disabled, such data would not be transmitted. QuickNotes: No more than 3 touch sensitive message buttons. It would be possible for members to define these buttons from a pre-set list, such as 10 minutes late, 20 minutes late, etc. It is intended that QuickNotes would only be used in isolated instances; otherwise, the enabled app would send automatic near-location notifications. Ad Display: A banner for the display of advertiser messages.

The creators believe it is important to keep the app extremely simple, so as not to provide any hazardous distraction to members who, in most cases, will be driving while the app is running. Web Presence. In addition to the central program and the app, the application would include an internet presence, through which members could define their QuickNotes buttons, edit data pertaining to their membership, register and de-register devices, etc. VII. Equipment Detail The application would require certain hardware. The Central Location: Equipment required at the central location would include: A dedicated PC with internet access to run the central program. One or more large plasma TV screens or monitors on which near-location reports are displayed. One or more iPads or similar tablets on which near-location and identification reports are displayed, to be used by central location managers at the point of pick-up for goods or persons. RFID sensor and tags. IIX. Business Model While the application would be of inestimable value to members and end users, its creators believe that the business model lies ultimately with advertisers. This belief is premised on our interpretation of the current interface between advertising, on the one hand, and communications technology, on the other hand. We believe this interface creates an economic niche in which the application may find its funding. In a greatly simplified sense, advertising is transforming from what the creators see as a broadcast model (in which advertising was sent via mass media to very large audiences with loosely controlled geographic profiles), to a narrowcast model (in which advertisers, armed with specific information about potential customers demographics and likes, also have real time geographical information about those same persons, and can communicate with them on that basis). Take an example of a person walking down a Philadelphia street with a GPS-enabled Blackberry, running Twitter. Suddenly, at the intersection of South and 16th, the device vibrates it is a Tweet from LivingLocal, an advertising website, telling them that for the next 30 minutes Jet Wine Bar (located just a block away) will give them 2 lunches for the price of 1 if they present a code given in the Tweet. The creators believe that, in this scenario, all parties benefitted: The walker got a cheaper lunch; Jet sold more products and got a new customer who actually frequents the neighborhood (hopefully); and LivingLocal got revenue from Jet, who placed the ad. The overall cost to Jet was probably less because it was more focused than a radio, TV or newspaper ad would have been. The point is that the foregoing example would not have been possible with the GPSenabled Blackberry, which could tell LivingLocal where the walker was at that point and what businesses were nearby that were offering special deals. The creators believe that this same technology, which makes much smaller viable advertising audiences, could form the basis of a business model for the application. Again, an example will help. Imagine that Tommy is a student at Middle School, which uses the application. Tommys parents have registered themselves, as well as the make and year

of their cars. Based only on this data, we already know: (i) Tommys age, (ii) where he lives, and (iii) something about his socio-economic status. Now, imagine that Tommy participates in afterschool baseball, and Tommys central location profile is edited with pick-up information to reflect this. We now know that Tommy is interested in sportsbaseball in particular. Very focused traditional advertising could be based on this information. But in addition, since (with certain authorizations enabled) the application could be set to know the location of Tommys registered vehicles at any given moment, more targeted messages could be provided to Tommys parents, just as with the walker in the prior example. This could be of great value to Tommys parents, as well as to advertisers. The creators believe that the advertiser revenue could, in the end, bear the cost of running the application at a given central location. Essentially, through a consensual arrangement with members, certain information about them could be provided to advertisers that have messages appropriate for their particular demographics. IX. Development and Deployment The creators believe that the initial deployment of the application should occur in 1 or 2 test sites running a beta version with RFID-only technology. This would test the viability of the central programs design. Following the test site deployment, development of the GPS-enabled app could be explored.