Autorickshaw economics

Today, while I was returning from a Shopping mall in bangalore in an Autorickshaw {Autorickshaws are 2 stroke, 3 wheelers which are a common mode of transportation in India. [Equivalant of taxi's in the US]} the autorickshaw driver said something to me in Kannada [local language]. I couldnt understand it, but, out of curiosity, I said "Nannage Kannada swapla swalpa gotthu; Hindi, English, Telugu". {this is what I usually say when someone talks to me in Kannada - I know very little Kannada. These are the languages I know}
The driver (about 25-30 years in age) then told me that he had been waiting for a passenger from 1 o'clock, and he did not get a single passenger till the time I asked him to take me home [It was 3:15. He had been idle for 2.25 hours!]. He also tole me that, he would have gone home if I hadn't boarded his auto.
The driver seemed friendly, hence I asked him some more questions. The information that I got is as follows:
mileage of an auto - 20 km per litre of petrol (gas). This costs him 2.5 Rs per km.
The standard charge is 6 Rs per km, thus he makes a profit of 3.5 Rs per km.
He travels close to 80 km every day [excluding the "idle" rides]. Thus, he earns around 280 Rs [7 USD] per day i.e. 2,600 USD per annum . That is pretty low as compared to and average engineer's salary [12000 USD per annum].
I can help these guys by getting them passengers. Using mobile phones to connect the prospective passengers to the idle auto rickshaws. I'll post the details of my idea soon.
Now, back to android!

TRIZ - Become an Edison!

"Make significant contributions to IP" was one of my long term goals that I put in my ems [ an internal resume where we list out our contributions to the business, strengths, development needs and our future plans]..

No the question is.. How do I make a "significant" contribution to IP [Intellectual property].. I am a bit creative.. and creativity coupled with science and technology leads to new ideas, new inventions and new technology breakthroughs. One way to generate a new idea to improve something (say coming up with a disruptive technology) is to learn more about the technology, and keep on brainstorming (with yourself) until u get an idea. And what do I do about a technology that I am not expert at.. I would have to become an expert in that field first.. and then think about the "creative" idea..

I dont have the luxury of that time.. Though I have the luxury of resources to become an expert in the technology I want to genetate intellectual property [Steam Turbines.. I dont want to be more specific]

I searched for something on innovation in our library .. and came across TRIZ.. it sounded cool :)
just googled for TRIZ (note that google is a word in the english dictionary. GOOGLE has become analogous to search)
TRIZ I learnt... was a method for inventors to come up with new ideas to solve their problems.

Genrich S. Altshuller, the father if TRIZ, used to work in the patent team of the Russian Navy.

He
Today I had a chance to look into the details of TRIZ.
Basic philosophy is to convert your problem into an abstract one.
find the abstract solution for the abstract problem [from a similar problem which has already been solved ]
convert the abstract solution to the solution of your problem..

This document gives a good idea of triz [Along with a good example of a beverage can desin optimisation]
http://www.mazur.net/triz/

An algorithm to solve your problem [i.e. move your system towards ideality] would be.
1. Identify the technical conflicts in your problem [Abstract]
2. Look at the TRIZ matrix and find the possible solutions [Abstract]

Convert the abstract solutions of step 2 into the solutions specific to your problem..

More when I file my first patent disclosure :)