Telematics road ready system

• US 10,093,232 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2017
• Issued: 10/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Truck-Lite Company LLC (Truck-Lite Holdings 2 Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Truck-Lite Company LLC (Truck-Lite Holdings 2 Corp.)
• Inventors: Troutman, Scott, Elmer, Roger, Jackson, Brett
• Primary Examiner(s): Lau, Hoi
• Application Number:
  US15/460,166
• Publication Number:
  US 20180009377A1
• Time in Patent Office: 573 Days
• Field of Search: 340431, 340641, 340642, 340458, 340449, 340501, 34087017, 34063618, 700153, 700205, 700299, 7320419, 315185 R, 315119, 315129, 315117, 315125, 315294, 315192, 315310, 315 77, 315121
• CPC Class Codes: B60Q 11/005 for lighting devices, e.g. indicating if lamps are burning or not
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 16/023 for transmission of signals between vehicle parts or subsystems
• CPC Class Codes: B60T 17/221 Procedure or apparatus for checking or keeping in a correct functioning condition of brake systems hydraulic pressure systems in general F15B19/00, F15B21/04; testing structures or apparatus G01M
• CPC Class Codes: B60Y 2200/147 Trailers, e.g. full trailers or caravans
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/08 by opening, e.g. of door, of window, of drawer, of shutter, of curtain, of blind
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 3/0664 unidirectional timestamps
• CPC Class Codes: H05B 47/25 Circuit arrangements for protecting against overcurrent

Abstract

A system for monitoring a trailer having a plurality of light emitting diode devices includes a master control unit attached to an outside surface of the trailer. The master control unit includes a solar panel, a GPS receiver module, a cellular data transceiver module for communicating with a central tracking computer via a cellular data network interfaced to the Internet, and a local wireless network master transceiver module in wireless communication with a plurality of wireless sensors and a light out detection system. A microcontroller is provided for controlling the local wireless network master transceiver module to periodically obtain sensor data from the wireless sensors and light out detection system, and for controlling the cellular data transceiver module to transmit the location and the sensor data to the central tracking computer for storage in the tracking database.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring a trailer having a plurality of light emitting diode lighting devices, said system comprising:

a master control unit attached to an outside surface of the trailer, said master control unit including;

a solar panel;

a GPS receiver module for generating trailer location data;

a cellular data transceiver module for communicating with a central tracking computer via a cellular data network interfaced to the Internet;

a local wireless network master transceiver module in wireless communication with a plurality of wireless sensors and a light failure detection system; and

a transceiver module microcontroller for controlling said local wireless network master transceiver module to periodically obtain sensor data from said plurality of wireless sensors and said light failure detection system, and for controlling said cellular data transceiver module to transmit said location data and said sensor data;

a remote user interface for receiving and displaying said location data and said sensor data; and

wherein said light failure detection system is coupled to the plurality of light emitting diode lighting devices and includes;

a plurality of lighting circuits, each lighting circuit being coupled to a circuit board by an input wire,

a plurality of voltage level monitoring circuits on said circuit board, each one of said plurality of voltage level monitoring circuits connected to one of said lighting circuits and adapted to measure the voltage of the one of said light circuits;

a plurality of current monitoring circuits on said circuit board, each one of said plurality of current monitoring circuits connected to one of said lighting circuits and adapted to measure a current draw of the one of said light circuits;

a voltage drop circuit for enabling the plurality of voltage level monitoring circuits and the plurality of current monitoring circuits to measure current and voltage at an adjusted input voltage;

a temperature sensor for sensing a temperature, a switch for placing the light failure detection system into a learn mode;

wherein said lighting circuits are monitored with the plurality of voltage level monitoring circuits and the plurality of current monitoring circuits to determine threshold voltage and current levels for the lighting circuits;

a light out detection microcontroller coupled to the circuit board for storing the threshold voltage and current levels and the temperature sensed by the temperature sensor, said light out detection microcontroller being adapted to calculate an adjusted threshold current based on a voltage sensitivity and the sensed temperature;

a fault indicator for indicating a status of the light failure detection system if a measured current is above or below the adjusted threshold current by a predetermined value; and

a transceiver coupled to the circuit board for sending information to said master control unit; and

a housing coupled to said trailer at one end thereof and a socket at a second end of said trailer for coupling to a truck tractor with a wiring harness.

2. The system for monitoring a trailer of claim 1 further comprising, an ABS sensor and ABS fault lamp, wherein said fault lamp illuminates when said ABS sensor detects an ABS brake is malfunctioning.

3. The system for monitoring a trailer of claim 2, further comprising an ABS monitoring sensor for monitoring the ABS fault lamp, said ABS monitoring sensor detecting whether said ABS fault lamp illuminates.

4. The system for monitoring a trailer of claim 3, further including a Bluetooth tire pressure sensor coupled to a tire mounted on the trailer, wherein the Bluetooth tire pressure sensor collects tire pressure data and transmits the tire pressure data in psi via Bluetooth to a smart bridge unit.

5. The system for monitoring a trailer of claim 4, wherein tire pressure data from the tire pressure sensor is displayed at said user interface.

6. The system for monitoring a trailer of claim 5, wherein the smart bridge unit converts tire pressure data transmitted from the tire pressure sensor to a protocol compatible with the master control unit.

7. The system for monitoring a trailer of claim 1, wherein said user interface displays location data of an individual trailer or fleet of trailers via said GPS receiver module located on said trailer.

8. The system for monitoring a trailer of claim 7, wherein said user interface is adapted to zoom into a particular geo area on a map in order to obtain data related to individual trailer.

9. The system for monitoring a trailer of claim 7, wherein said user interface displays sensory data information for the individual trailer or for each trailer in the fleet of trailers including battery level, power source, light failure detection, door, ABS brake, cargo sensors, trailer air inflation, and tire pressure.

10. The system for monitoring a trailer of claim 9, wherein said user interface comprises a hover-over function allowing a user to click on a particular location on said map and receive information for a specific trailer ID.

11. The system for monitoring a trailer of claim 10, wherein the over-over functionality provides statistical data of a trailer in order for a user to monitor and compare specific data of said trailer over time.

12. The system for monitoring a trailer of claim 7, wherein said user interface provides a status report of each trailer, as listed in the map, including event alert data, event time, GPS location, idle time for a particular time period, nearby landmarks if any, nearby roads, and the ready status of said trailer.

13. The system for monitoring a trailer of claim 12, wherein said ready status of the trailer refers to the ability of a user to “

ping”

the trailer from a remote location in order to obtain a report reflecting subsequent testing of all the sensors on said trailer.

14. A system for monitoring a trailer having a plurality of light emitting diode devices including a light failure detection system having a plurality of lighting circuits, each lighting circuit being coupled to a circuit board by an input wire, a plurality of voltage level monitoring circuits on said circuit board for measuring measure a voltage of the one of said light circuits, a plurality of current monitoring circuits on said circuit board for to measure a current draw of the one of said light circuits, a voltage drop circuit for enabling the plurality of voltage level monitoring circuits and the plurality of current monitoring circuits to measure current and voltage at an adjusted input voltage, a temperature sensor for sensing a temperature, and a switch for placing the light failure detection system into a learn mode, wherein said lighting circuits are monitored with the plurality of voltage level monitoring circuits and the plurality of current monitoring circuits to determine threshold voltage and current levels for the lighting circuits, a light out detection microcontroller coupled to the circuit board for storing the threshold voltage and current levels and the temperature sensed by the temperature sensor, said light out detection microcontroller being adapted to calculate an adjusted threshold current based on a voltage sensitivity and the sensed temperature, and a fault indicator for indicating a status of the light failure detection system if a measured current is above or below the adjusted threshold current by a predetermined value, and a transceiver, said system for monitoring a trailer comprising:

a master control unit attached to an outside surface of the trailer, said master control unit including;

a solar panel;

a GPS receiver module for generating trailer location data;

a cellular data transceiver module for communicating with a central tracking computer via a cellular data network interfaced to the Internet;

a local wireless network master transceiver module in wireless communication with a plurality of wireless sensors and a light failure detection system; and

a transceiver module microcontroller for controlling said local wireless network master transceiver module to periodically obtain sensor data from said plurality of wireless sensors and said light failure detection system, and for controlling said cellular data transceiver module to transmit said trailer location data and said sensor data;

a remote user interface for receiving and displaying said location data, sensor data and light failure detection data.