Patent ID: 7353181

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of allocating freight haulage jobs, comprising: receiving from a first entity a respective set of capacity attributes for each of one or more freight-hauling mobile carrier entities on route to respective destinations for respective current freight haulage jobs, wherein each of the transmitted sets of capacity attributes comprises position information, route information and excess capacity information specifying current available freight-hauling capacity of the respective mobile carrier entity, wherein the received excess capacity information includes amount of available capacity and mode of transport; computing a projection of future available carrier capacity based upon the received mobile carrier capacity attributes; receiving from a second entity a respective specification for each of one or more freight haulage jobs; determining ones of the mobile carrier entities that match respective ones of the freight haulage jobs based upon the computed projection of future available carrier capacity and the specifications of the freight haulage jobs, wherein the determining comprises identifying the matching ones of the mobile carrier entities based at least in part upon a comparison of the received excess capacity information and an amount of needed capacity and mode of transport specified for each of the freight haulage jobs; and transmitting to the second entity a notification of one or more of the matching mobile carrier entities.