Customizable vehicle fleet reporting system

• US 10,162,495 B2
• Filed: 09/21/2015
• Issued: 12/25/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: McCormick, Sean Ali'i, Koch, Jason Mathew, Mason, Ralph James, Elliot, William Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): Bycer, Eric J.
• Application Number:
  US14/859,838
• Publication Number:
  US 20160110066A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,191 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/106 Display of layout of documents; Previewing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/186 Templates
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/451 Execution arrangements for user interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/103 Workflow collaboration or project management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0816 Indicating performance data, e.g. occurrence of a malfunction
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0841 Registering performance data recording measured values G01D; information storage G11B
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles

Abstract

Customization features for providing users with the ability to customize various aspects of a vehicle management system are described. These customization features can include functionality for generating custom reports based on vehicle parameters, including diagnostic codes. The customization features can also include features for customizing alerts based on vehicle parameters and features for customizing nomenclature in the vehicle management system.

Claims

1. A method of enabling users to customize a vehicle management system, the method comprising:

in a computing environment comprising a vehicle management system, a plurality of management devices and a plurality of in-vehicle devices, wherein the vehicle management system, the plurality of management devices and the plurality of in-vehicle devices communicate via a wireless network, the vehicle management system obtains telematics data from a plurality of vehicles of a vehicle fleet, each of the plurality of management devices comprises a customization module, a display screen and mobile computer hardware configured to access and obtain a portion of the telematics data comprising vehicle information from the vehicle management system;

generating, by a first management device of the plurality of management devices, a custom alert user interface and outputting the custom alert user interface for presentation to a user, the custom alert user interface configured to enable the user to define a custom alert including conditional logic on a plurality of vehicle parameters obtained from the portion of telematics data so that satisfaction of the conditional logic results in at least one alert message being automatically generated and sent to (i) at least one management device of the plurality of management devices for presentation to a manager of the vehicle fleet or (ii) at least one in-vehicle device of the plurality of in-vehicle devices associated with at least one vehicle of the vehicle fleet for presentation to a vehicle driver;

receiving, by the first management device of the plurality of management devices, via the custom alert user interface from the user, a user selection of the plurality of vehicle parameters and a user input of the conditional logic, the selected plurality of vehicle parameters comprising a rain status and a threshold speed, the input conditional logic indicating to alert when both the rain status indicates rain at a vehicle location and a vehicle speed is greater than the threshold speed;

storing, in a memory device, the selected plurality of vehicle parameters and the input conditional logic;

monitoring the portion of telematics data for a first vehicle of the vehicle fleet in accordance with the input conditional logic to determine if both the rain status indicates the rain at the vehicle location of the first vehicle and the vehicle speed of the first vehicle is greater than the threshold speed; and

in response to determining that both the rain status indicates the rain at the vehicle location of the first vehicle and the vehicle speed of the first vehicle is greater than the threshold speed, automatically generating a first alert message and sending the first alert message to any one of the plurality of management devices associated with the vehicle fleet or a first in-vehicle device associated with the first vehicle, and sending an instruction to the first in-vehicle device to reduce the vehicle speed by a user defined specified amount.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein textual contents of the first alert message depend at least on the input conditional logic.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

by the first management device;

receiving, via the custom alert user interface from the user, a user input of an alert parameter,

wherein the textual contents depend at least on the input alert parameter.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

by the first management device;

subsequent to said sending the first alert message,

receiving, via the custom alert user interface from the user, another user input of the alert parameter to change the input alert parameter, and

in response to again determining that both the rain status indicates the rain at the vehicle location of the first vehicle and the vehicle speed of the first vehicle is greater than the threshold speed, automatically generating the first alert message so that the textual contents comprise the changed alert parameter rather than the input alert parameter.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

by the first management device;

subsequent to said sending the first alert message,

receiving, via the custom alert user interface from the user, another user input of the conditional logic to change the input conditional logic,

storing, in the memory device, the changed conditional logic, and

monitoring the portion of telematics data for the first vehicle in accordance with the changed conditional logic rather than the input conditional logic.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said sending the first alert message comprises sending the first alert message to the any one of the plurality of management devices.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said sending the first alert message comprises sending the first alert message to the first in-vehicle device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first alert message indicates to reduce the vehicle speed of the first vehicle.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

by the first management device;

receiving, via the custom alert user interface from the user, a user input of an alert parameter,

wherein the first alert message indicates to reduce the vehicle speed of the first vehicle by an amount depending on the input alert parameter.

10. A system for enabling users to customize a vehicle management system, the system comprising:

a vehicle management system, a plurality of management devices and a plurality of in-vehicle devices, wherein the vehicle management system, the plurality of management devices and the plurality of in-vehicle devices communicate via a wireless network, the vehicle management system obtains telematics data from a plurality of vehicles of a vehicle fleet, each of the plurality of management devices comprises a customization module, a display screen and mobile computer hardware configured to access and obtain a portion of the telematics data comprising vehicle information from the vehicle management system;

a first management device of the plurality of management devices configured to generate a custom alert user interface and output the custom alert user interface for presentation to a user, the custom alert user interface configured to enable the user to define a custom alert including conditional logic on a plurality of vehicle parameters obtained from the portion of telematics data so that satisfaction of the conditional logic results in at least one alert message being automatically generated and sent to (i) at least one management device of the plurality of management devices for presentation to a manager of the vehicle fleet or (ii) at least one in-vehicle device of the plurality of in-vehicle devices associated with at least one vehicle of the vehicle fleet for presentation to a vehicle driver;

the first management device configured to receive, via the custom alert user interface from the user, a user selection of the plurality of vehicle parameters and a user input of the conditional logic, the selected plurality of vehicle parameters comprising a rain status and a threshold speed, the input conditional logic indicating to alert when both the rain status indicates rain at a vehicle location and a vehicle speed is greater than the threshold speed;

the vehicle management system configured to store, in a memory device, the selected plurality of vehicle parameters and the input conditional logic;

the vehicle management system configured to monitor the portion of telematics data for a first vehicle of the vehicle fleet in accordance with the input conditional logic to determine if both the rain status indicates the rain at the vehicle location of the first vehicle and the vehicle speed of the first vehicle is greater than the threshold speed; and

in response to determining that both the rain status indicates the rain at the vehicle location of the first vehicle and the vehicle speed of the first vehicle is greater than the threshold speed, automatically generate a first alert message and send the first alert message to the any one of the plurality of management devices associated with the vehicle fleet or a first in-vehicle device associated with the first vehicle, and send an instruction to the first in-vehicle device to reduce the vehicle speed by a user defined specified amount.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein textual contents of the first alert message depend at least on the input conditional logic.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein said sending the first alert message comprises sending the first alert message to the at least one of the plurality of management devices.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein said sending the first alert message comprises sending the first alert message to the first in-vehicle device.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the first alert message indicates to return the first vehicle to the site location.

15. A system for enabling users to customize a vehicle management system, the system comprising:

a vehicle management system, a plurality of management devices and a plurality of in-vehicle devices, wherein the vehicle management system, the plurality of management devices and the plurality of in-vehicle devices communicate via a wireless network, the vehicle management system obtains telematics data from a plurality of vehicles of a vehicle fleet, each of the plurality of management devices comprises a customization module, a display screen and mobile computer hardware configured to access and obtain a portion of the telematics data comprising vehicle information from the vehicle management system;

means for generating a custom alert user interface and outputting the custom alert user interface for presentation to a user, the custom alert user interface configured to enable the user to define a custom alert including conditional logic on a plurality of vehicle parameters obtained from the portion of telematics data so that satisfaction of the conditional logic results in at least one alert message being automatically generated and sent to (i) at least one management device of the plurality of management devices for presentation to a manager of the vehicle fleet or (ii) at least one in-vehicle device of the plurality of in-vehicle devices associated with at least one vehicle of the vehicle fleet for presentation to a vehicle driver;

means for receiving, via the custom alert user interface from the user, a user selection of the plurality of vehicle parameters and a user input of the conditional logic, the selected plurality of vehicle parameters comprising a rain status and a threshold speed, the input conditional logic indicating to alert when both the rain status indicates rain at a vehicle location and a vehicle speed is greater than the threshold speed;

means for storing, in a memory device, the selected plurality of vehicle parameters and the input conditional logic;

means for monitoring the portion of telematics data for a first vehicle of the vehicle fleet in accordance with the input conditional logic to determine if both the rain status indicates the rain at the vehicle location of the first vehicle and the vehicle speed of the first vehicle is greater than the threshold speed; and

means for automatically generating a first alert message and sending the first alert message to any one of the plurality of management devices associated with the vehicle fleet or a first in-vehicle device associated with the first vehicle, and sending an instruction to the first in-vehicle device to reduce the vehicle speed by a user defined specified amount in response to determining that both the rain status indicates the rain at the vehicle location of the first vehicle and the vehicle speed of the first vehicle is greater than the threshold speed.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein textual contents of the first alert message depend at least on the input conditional logic, and the system further comprises:

means for receiving, via the custom alert user interface from the user, a user input of an alert parameter,

wherein the textual contents comprise the input alert parameter.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein said sending the first alert message comprises sending the first alert message to the any one of the plurality of management devices.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein said sending the first alert message comprises sending the first alert message to the first in-vehicle device.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the first alert message indicates to bring the first vehicle to a site location.