Systems and methods for driver and vehicle tracking

• US 10,101,163 B2
• Filed: 05/03/2017
• Issued: 10/16/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CalAmp Corporation
• Original Assignee: CalAmp Corporation
• Inventors: Abhishek
• Primary Examiner(s): Marc-Coleman, Marthe Y
• Application Number:
  US15/586,131
• Publication Number:
  US 20170234688A1
• Time in Patent Office: 531 Days
• Field of Search: 701519
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3407 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/13 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3822 specially adapted for use in vehicles H04B1/3827 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]

Abstract

Systems and method are provided for tracking locations of a driver and vehicle. In one example, a location tracking system pairs a vehicle location device and a driver location device by associating a driver identifier and a timestamp with the driver location device and the vehicle location device, obtains vehicle location data including a set of vehicle location data points, obtains driver location data including a set of driver location data points, correlates the vehicle location data and the driver location data, generates vehicle driver data based on the correlated vehicle location data and driver location data, and identifies a driver of the vehicle at a particular time by using the vehicle driver data and the timestamp.

Claims

1. A location tracking system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing a location tracking application;

wherein the location tracking application directs the processor to;

pair a vehicle location device and a driver location device, wherein the pair occurs by associating a driver identifier and a timestamp with the driver location device and the vehicle location device, wherein the pair is not based on comparing vehicle location data and driver location data;

obtain vehicle location data by using the vehicle location device, wherein the vehicle location data comprises a set of vehicle location data points;

obtain driver location data by using the driver location device, wherein the driver location data comprises a set of driver location data points;

correlate the vehicle location data and the driver location data to generate correlated data;

generate vehicle driver data based on the correlated data, wherein the vehicle driver data includes a set of drivers associated with a vehicle; and

identify a driver that drove the vehicle at a particular time by using the vehicle driver data and the timestamp.

2. The location tracking system of claim 1, wherein:

the location tracking system further comprises a network interface; and

the location tracking application directs the processor to obtain the vehicle location data by using the network interface.

3. The location tracking system of claim 1, wherein

the location tracking application directs the processor to correlate the vehicle location data and the driver location data based on overlapping location data points in the set of vehicle location data points and driver location data points.

4. The location tracking system of claim 3, wherein:

the vehicle location data further comprises a vehicle location sampling rate;

the driver location data further comprises a driver location sampling rate; and

the correlation of the overlapping location data points is based on the vehicle location sampling rate and the driver location sampling rate.

5. The location tracking system of claim 4, wherein

the driver location sampling rate is greater than the vehicle location sampling rate.

6. The location tracking system of claim 5, wherein

the driver location sampling rate is greater than or equal to double the vehicle location sampling rate.

7. The location tracking system of claim 1, wherein:

the driver location data further comprises driver identification data uniquely identifying the driver; and

the vehicle driver data further comprises the driver identification data.

8. The location tracking system of claim 1, wherein

the location tracking application directs the processor to correlate the vehicle location and the driver location data by:

calculating vehicle route data based on the vehicle location data, wherein the vehicle route data comprises a path describing the route taken by the vehicle;

calculating driver route data based on the driver location data, wherein the driver route data comprises a path describing the route taken by the driver;

computing a similarity score based on the vehicle route data and the driver route data; and

when the similarity score exceeds a threshold value, determine that the vehicle location data and the driver location data are correlated.

9. The location tracking system of claim 1, wherein the location tracking application further directs the processor to

synchronize the vehicle location device and the driver location device by setting a common starting location.

10. The location tracking system of claim 1, wherein the location tracking application further directs the processor to

synchronize the vehicle location device and the driver location device by setting a common sampling rate.

11. A method for associating drivers with vehicles, comprising:

pairing a vehicle location device and a driver location device, wherein the pairing includes associating a driver identifier and a timestamp with the driver location device and the vehicle location device, wherein the pairing is not based on comparing vehicle location data and driver location data;

obtaining vehicle location data by using a location tracking system, wherein the vehicle location data comprises a set of vehicle location data points;

obtaining driver location data by using the location tracking system, wherein the driver location data comprises a set of driver location data points;

correlating the vehicle location data and the driver location data by using the location tracking system; and

generating vehicle driver data based on the correlated vehicle location data and driver location data by using the location tracking system, wherein the generated vehicle driver data comprises a set of drivers associated with a vehicle.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the location tracking system comprises a network interface; and

the method includes obtaining the vehicle location data by using the network interface.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising

correlating the vehicle location data and the driver location data based on overlapping location data points in the set of vehicle location data points and driver location data points by using the location tracking system.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein:

the vehicle location data further comprises a vehicle location sampling rate;

the driver location data further comprises a driver location sampling rate; and

correlating the overlapping location data points is based on the vehicle location sampling rate and the driver location sampling rate.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein

the driver location sampling rate is greater than the vehicle location sampling rate.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein

the driver location sampling rate is greater than or equal to double the vehicle location sampling rate.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the driver location data further comprises driver identification data uniquely identifying the driver; and

the vehicle driver data further comprises the driver identification data.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising

correlating the vehicle location and the driver location data by:

calculating vehicle route data based on the vehicle location data by using the location tracking system, wherein the vehicle route data comprises a path describing the route taken by the vehicle;

calculating driver route data based on the driver location data by using the location tracking system, wherein the driver route data comprises a path describing the route taken by the driver;

computing a similarity score based on the vehicle route data and the driver route data by using the location tracking system; and

when the similarity score exceeds a threshold value, determining that the vehicle location data and the driver location data are correlated by using the location tracking system.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising

synchronizing the vehicle location device and the driver location device by setting a common starting location by using the location tracking system.

20. The method of claim 11, further comprising

synchronizing the vehicle location device and the driver location device by setting a common sampling rate by using the location tracking system.