Geo-fence control of a notification system

• US 10,081,377 B2
• Filed: 11/30/2015
• Issued: 09/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Progress Rail Locomotive Inc. (Caterpillar Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Progress Rail Locomotive Inc. (Caterpillar Incorporated)
• Inventors: Shubs, Jr., Alexander, Roenspies, David M
• Primary Examiner(s): McCarry, Jr., Robert J
• Application Number:
  US14/954,122
• Publication Number:
  US 20170151967A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,030 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 15/0081 On-board diagnosis or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 2205/04 Satellite based navigation systems, e.g. global positioning system [GPS]
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 25/02 Indicating or recording positions or identities of vehicles or trains
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 25/025 Absolute localisation, e.g. providing geodetic coordinates
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 27/40 Handling position reports or trackside vehicle data
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 27/57 for vehicles or trains, e.g. trackside supervision of train conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences

Abstract

A notification system is presented for use within a mobile machine. The notification system may have a route upon which the mobile machine may travel. This may be a train traveling on a track. A geo-fence may also be part of the notification system. The geo-fence may enclose at least a portion of the route through with the mobile machine may travel. The notification system may also include a status notification. The status notification may relate to the operational health of the mobile machine or a subsystem of the mobile machine. The status notification may be generated by the notification system when the mobile machine enters the geo-fence and received by a user.

Claims

1. A notification system for use on a mobile machine, the notification system comprising:

a route upon which the mobile machine may travel;

a geo-fence enclosing at least a portion of the route through which the mobile machine may travel, wherein the geo-fence is a bounded geographical area determined by a series of geographical coordinates;

a status notification, the status notification relating to an operational health of the mobile machine, or a subsystem of the mobile machine, the status notification being generated by the notification system when the mobile machine enters the geo-fence; and

a user receiving the status notification from the notification system based on a job description of the user, wherein the notification system uses the geo-fence to intelligently limit the status notification sent to the user in response to determining that based on the job description of the user at least a portion of the status notification should be received by the user when the mobile machine is within the geo-fence.

2. The notification system of claim 1, wherein the mobile machine is a train, and the status notification is at least one train asset status notification of a plurality of train asset status notifications.

3. The notification system of claim 2, wherein the user receives the at least one train asset status notification on a user interface based on the user having a train asset status notification preference for receiving the status notification, the user able to access the notification system through the user interface to input a set of train asset status notification preferences regarding which of the at least one train asset status notifications will be received by the user.

4. The notification system of claim 2, wherein the geo-fence may be a plurality of geo-fences, a first geo-fence of the plurality of geo-fences providing a first set of train asset status notifications to the user and a second geo-fence of the plurality of geo-fences providing a second set of train asset status notification to the user.

5. The notification system of claim 4, wherein the first set of train asset status notification may be sent to a first user and an alternate first set of train asset status notification may be sent to a second user, and wherein the second set of train asset status notifications may be sent to the first user and an alternate second set of train asset status notifications may be sent to the second user.

6. The notification system of claim 2, wherein the route is a track and at least a portion of the route includes either the track, a railyard, a siding including a parallel track, or a crew change point.

7. The notification system of claim 6, wherein the geo-fence may include a plurality of geo-fences, the plurality of geo-fences to enclose at least portions of the track, the railyard, the siding including the parallel track, or the crew change point.

8. The notification system of claim 2, wherein when the train enters the geo-fence, the notification system may cancel or silence at least one train asset status notification to be received by the user in response to determining that the status notification should not be received by the user when the mobile machine is within the geo-fence.

9. A train comprising:

a plurality of rail cars positioned along a track and attached to one another;

a locomotive being one of the plurality of rail cars;

an engine located within the locomotive;

a locomotive subsystem located within the locomotive;

a signaling system located on the locomotive;

a controller attached to each the engine, the locomotive subsystem, the signaling system, and a train subsystem, the controller located within the locomotive; and

a notification system contained within the controller, the notification system having a route upon which the train may travel, a geo-fence enclosing at least a portion of the route through which the train may travel, wherein the geo-fence is a bounded geographical area determined by a series of geographical coordinates, a plurality of train asset status notifications relating to either the engine, the locomotive subsystem, or the train subsystem, the plurality of train asset status notifications being generated by the notification system when the train enters the geo-fence, and a user receiving the plurality of train asset status notifications from the notification system based on a job description of the user, wherein the notification system uses the geo-fence to intelligently limit the status notification sent to the user in response to determining that based on the job description of the user at least a portion of the status notification should be received by the user when the train is within the geo-fence.

10. The train of claim 9, wherein the user receives at least one train asset status notification of the plurality of train asset status notifications on a user interface based on the user having a train asset status notification preference for receiving the status notification, the user able to access the notification system through the user interface to input a set of train asset status notification preferences regarding which of the plurality of train asset status notifications will be received by the user.

11. The train of claim 9, wherein the geo-fence may be a plurality of geo-fences, a first geo-fence of the plurality of geo-fences providing a first set of train asset status notifications to the user and a second geo-fence of the plurality of geo-fences providing a second set of train asset status notification to the user.

12. The train of claim 11, wherein the first set of train asset status notification may be sent to a first user and an alternate first set of train asset status notification may be sent to a second user, and wherein the second set of train asset status notifications may be sent to the first user and an alternate second set of train asset status notifications may be sent to the second user.

13. The train of claim 9, wherein the route is a track upon which the train travels and at least a portion of the route includes either the track, a railyard, a siding including a parallel track, or a crew change point.

14. The train of claim 13, wherein the geo-fence may include a plurality of geo-fences, the plurality of geo-fences to enclose at least a portion of the track, the railyard, the siding including the parallel track, or the crew change point.

15. The train of claim 9, wherein when the train enters the geo-fence, the notification system may cancel or silence at least one train asset status notification received by the user in response to determining that the status notification should not be received by the user when the train is within the geo-fence.

16. A method of reporting a train asset status notification to a user, the method comprising:

providing a train having a notification system;

entering a geo-fence with the train having the notification system, wherein the geo-fence is a bounded geographical area determined by a series of geographical coordinates;

identifying and confirming within the notification system that the train has entered the geo-fence;

producing the train asset status notification based on a parameter of the geo-fence stored within the notification system; and

reporting to the user the train asset status notification based on a job description of the user, wherein the notification system uses the geo-fence to intelligently limit the train asset status notification reported to the user in response to determining that based on the job description of the user at least a portion of the train asset status notification should be received by the user when the train is within the geo-fence.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein before reporting to the user the train asset status notification, the notification system determines whether the train asset status notification is stored within a set of train asset status notification preferences inputted by the user.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein before reporting to the user the train asset status notification, the notification system determines whether the train asset status notification is authorized to be reported to the user based on a set of parameters of the geo-fence stored within the notification system.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein before reporting to the user the train asset status notification, the notification system determines whether the train asset status notification applies to a set of train security information.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein determining whether the train asset status notification applies to the set of train security information further comprises determining whether the user has an authorized access to the set of train security information.