Determining departure times for timetable-based trips

摘要

A method and apparatus for enabling the advantageous selection of a departure time for a trip based on one or more timetables are disclosed. The illustrative embodiment employs a penalty function that considers: (i) whether or not the user arrives late, and if so, how late, and (ii) whether or not the user arrives early, and if so, how early, and (iii) the total travel time. The penalty function is evaluated for each entry of each trip segment timetable, and the departure time is selected in order to minimize the penalty.