Method and apparatus for automatically deducing a trailer is physically coupled with a vehicle

• US 10,173,486 B1
• Filed: 11/15/2017
• Issued: 01/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsara, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Samsara Networks, Inc. (Samsara, Inc.)
• Inventors: Lee, Kenneth Kai Tai, Rowson, James Michael, Bicket, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Mott, Genna M
• Application Number:
  US15/813,873
• Time in Patent Office: 419 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60D 1/64 Couplings or joints therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/202 Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2203/5441 Wireless systems or telephone
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 2203/5458 Monitor sensor; Alarm systems

Abstract

A method and a management server for automatically deducing a trailer is physically coupled with a vehicle are described. First location data including locations for the vehicle is received, from a first gateway device located on the vehicle. Second location data are received from second gateway devices, where each one of the second gateway devices is on a respective trailer from a set of trailers and each second location data includes locations for the respective trailer. For each trailer that meet a set of criteria, a score is calculated based at least in part on the first location data and the second location data of the trailer, where the score estimates a measure of association of the trailer with the vehicle. A first trailer is selected, based on the scores of the trailers, to be associated with the vehicle indicating that the first trailer is physically coupled with the vehicle.

Claims

1. A method, in a management server device located in the cloud, of automatically deducing a trailer is physically coupled with a vehicle having a trailer hitch, the method comprising:

receiving, from a first gateway device located on the vehicle, first location data including one or more locations for the vehicle;

receiving, from two or more second gateway devices, two or more second location data, wherein each one of the second gateway devices is located on a respective trailer from a set of two or more trailers and each second location data includes one or more locations for the respective trailer from the set of trailers;

receiving from the first gateway device an indication that the vehicle is coupled with a trailer, wherein the indication does not indicate an identity of the trailer that is connected;

calculating, for each trailer from the set of trailers, a score based at least in part on the first location data and the second location data of the trailer and further based on the indication that the vehicle is coupled with a trailer, wherein the score estimates a measure of how likely the trailer is to be physically coupled with the vehicle; and

selecting, based on the scores of the trailers, a first trailer from the set of trailers to be associated with the vehicle indicating that the first trailer is physically coupled with the vehicle.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more locations for the vehicle are a plurality of locations recorded for the vehicle by the first gateway device at different times of a first time interval, and for each trailer from the set of trailers, the one or more locations for the trailer are a plurality of locations recorded for the trailer at different times of a second interval of time.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the calculating, for each trailer, the score is based on a plurality of distances, wherein each distance is determined between one of the plurality of locations for the vehicle and one of the plurality of locations for the trailer, and wherein the one of the plurality of locations for the vehicle was recorded within a threshold amount of time of when the one of the plurality of locations for the trailer was recorded.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the score of the first trailer indicates that each one of the distances calculated for the first trailer are within a predetermined threshold.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first location data also includes one or more speed measures for the vehicle, and each second location data also includes one or more speed measures for the trailer, and wherein calculating the score, for each trailer, is further based on the speed measures for the vehicle and the speed measures for the trailer.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving, from the first gateway device, a first set of one or more identifiers of trailers detected to be in proximity of the vehicle based on a short range wireless network protocol;

receiving, from each one of the second gateway devices, a second set of one or more identifiers of vehicles detected to be in proximity of a trailer based on the short range wireless network protocol; and

wherein the calculating the score includes;

determining whether an identifier of the trailer is included in the first set of identifiers; and

determining whether an identifier of the vehicle is included in the second set of identifiers.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the calculating, for each trailer, the score is further based on an indication of whether the trailer is coupled with an external power source.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to determining that the association of the first trailer with the vehicle is illegitimate, transmitting an alert to at least one of a fleet manager and a driver of the vehicle.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of trailers is a first set of trailers, and the method further comprises:

receiving third location data from one or more third gateway devices, wherein each of the third location data includes one or more locations for a respective trailer from a second set of trailers that is different from the first set of trailers; and

prior to the calculating, determining that each one from the first set of trailers meet a set of one or more criteria and none of the second set of trailers meets the set of criteria, wherein the set of criteria includes a distance between at least one of the locations of the vehicle and at least one of the locations of the trailer is within a threshold proximity, an identifier of the vehicle is included in a set of identifiers detected by the second gateway device of the trailer via a short range wireless network protocol, an identifier of the trailer is included in a set of identifiers detected by the first gateway device of the vehicle via the short range wireless network protocol, and a speed measure of the trailer and a speed measure of the vehicle are non-zero, wherein the speed measure of the trailer was recorded within a threshold amount of time of when the speed measure of the vehicle was recorded.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle is scheduled to pick up another trailer that is different from the first trailer and selecting the first trailer results in identification of the first trailer as an illegitimate trailer.

11. A management server device located in the cloud for automatically deducing a trailer is physically coupled with a vehicle having a trailer hitch, the management server device comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium to store instructions; and

a processor coupled with the non-transitory computer readable storage medium to process the stored instructions to;

receive, from a first gateway device located on the vehicle, first location data including one or more locations for the vehicle;

receive, from two or more second gateway devices, two or more second location data, wherein each one of the second gateway devices is located on a respective trailer from a set of two or more trailers and each second location data includes one or more locations for the respective trailer from the set of trailers;

receive from the first gateway device an indication that the vehicle is coupled with a trailer, wherein the indication does not indicate an identity of the trailer that is connected;

calculate, for each trailer from the set of trailers, a score based at least in part on the first location data and the second location data of the trailer and further based on the indication that the vehicle is coupled with a trailer, wherein the score estimates a measure of how likely the trailer is to be physically coupled with the vehicle; and

select, based on the scores of the trailers, a first trailer from the set of trailers to be associated with the vehicle indicating that the first trailer is physically coupled with the vehicle.

12. The management server device of claim 11, wherein the one or more locations for the vehicle are a plurality of locations recorded for the vehicle by the first gateway device at different times of a first time interval, and for each trailer from the set of trailers, the one or more locations for the trailer are a plurality of locations recorded for the trailer at different times of a second interval of time.

13. The management server device of claim 12, wherein to calculate, for each trailer, the score is based on a plurality of distances, wherein each distance is determined between one of the plurality of locations for the vehicle and one of the plurality of locations for the trailer, and wherein the one of the plurality of locations for the vehicle was recorded within a threshold amount of time of when the one of the plurality of locations for the trailer was recorded.

14. The management server device of claim 13, wherein the score of the first trailer indicates that each one of the distances calculated for the first trailer are within a predetermined threshold.

15. The management server device of claim 11, wherein the first location data also includes one or more speed measures for the vehicle, and each second location data also includes one or more speed measures for the trailer, and wherein to calculate the score, for each trailer, is further based on the speed measures for the vehicle and the speed measures for the trailer.

16. The management server device of claim 11, wherein the processor is further to:

receive, from the first gateway device, a first set of one or more identifiers of trailers detected to be in proximity of the vehicle based on a short range wireless network protocol;

receive, from each one of the second gateway devices, a second set of one or more identifiers of vehicles detected to be in proximity of a trailer based on the short range wireless network protocol; and

wherein to calculate the score includes to;

determine whether an identifier of the trailer is included in the first set of identifiers; and

determine whether an identifier of the vehicle is included in the second set of identifiers.

17. The management server device of claim 11, wherein to calculate, for each trailer, the score is further based on an indication of whether the trailer is coupled with an external power source.

18. The management server device of claim 11, wherein the processor is further to:

in response to determining that the association of the first trailer with the vehicle is illegitimate, transmit an alert to at least one of a fleet manager and a driver of the vehicle.

19. The management server device of claim 11, wherein the set of trailers is a first set of trailers, and the processor is further to:

receive third location data from one or more third gateway devices, wherein each of the third location data includes one or more locations for a respective trailer from a second set of trailers that is different from the first set of trailers; and

prior to calculating, determine that each one from the first set of trailers meet a set of one or more criteria and none of the second set of trailers meets the set of criteria, wherein the set of criteria includes a distance between at least one of the locations of the vehicle and at least one of the locations of the trailer is within a threshold proximity, an identifier of the vehicle is included in a set of identifiers detected by the second gateway device of the trailer via a short range wireless network protocol, an identifier of the trailer is included in a set of identifiers detected by the first gateway device of the vehicle via the short range wireless network protocol, and a speed measure of the trailer and a speed measure of the vehicle are non-zero, wherein the speed measure of the trailer was recorded within a threshold amount of time of when the speed measure of the vehicle was recorded.

20. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium that provide instructions, which when executed by a processor of a management server device located in the cloud, cause said processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from a first gateway device located on a vehicle, first location data including one or more locations for the vehicle;

receiving, from two or more second gateway devices, two or more second location data, wherein each one of the second gateway devices is located on a respective trailer from a set of two or more trailers and each second location data includes one or more locations for the respective trailer from the set of trailers;

receiving from the first gateway device an indication that the vehicle is coupled with a trailer, wherein the indication does not indicate an identity of the trailer that is connected;

calculating, for each trailer from the set of trailers, a score based at least in part on the first location data and the second location data of the trailer and further based on the indication that the vehicle is coupled with a trailer, wherein the score estimates a measure of how likely the trailer is to be physically coupled with the vehicle; and

selecting, based on the scores of the trailers, a first trailer from the set of trailers to be associated with the vehicle indicating that the first trailer is physically coupled with the vehicle.

21. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the one or more locations for the vehicle are a plurality of locations recorded for the vehicle by the first gateway device at different times of a first time interval, and for each trailer from the set of trailers, the one or more locations for the trailer are a plurality of locations recorded for the trailer at different times of a second interval of time.

22. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the calculating, for each trailer, the score is based on a plurality of distances, wherein each distance is determined between one of the plurality of locations for the vehicle and one of the plurality of locations for the trailer, and wherein the one of the plurality of locations for the vehicle was recorded within a threshold amount of time of when the one of the plurality of locations for the trailer was recorded.

23. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the score of the first trailer indicates that each one of the distances calculated for the first trailer are within a predetermined threshold.

24. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the first location data also includes one or more speed measures for the vehicle, and each second location data also includes one or more speed measures for the trailer, and wherein calculating the score, for each trailer, is further based on the speed measures for the vehicle and the speed measures for the trailer.

25. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, from the first gateway device, a first set of one or more identifiers of trailers detected to be in proximity of the vehicle based on a short range wireless network protocol;

receiving, from each one of the second gateway devices, a second set of one or more identifiers of vehicles detected to be in proximity of a trailer based on the short range wireless network protocol; and

wherein the calculating the score includes;

determining whether an identifier of the trailer is included in the first set of identifiers; and

determining whether an identifier of the vehicle is included in the second set of identifiers.

26. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the calculating, for each trailer, the score is further based on an indication of whether the trailer is coupled with an external power source.

27. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the operations further comprise:

in response to determining that the association of the first trailer with the vehicle is illegitimate, transmitting an alert to at least one of a fleet manager and a driver of the vehicle.

28. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the set of trailers is a first set of trailers, and the operations further comprise:

receiving third location data from one or more third gateway devices, wherein each of the third location data includes one or more locations for a respective trailer from a second set of trailers that is different from the first set of trailers; and

prior to said calculating, determining that each one from the first set of trailers meet a set of one or more criteria and none of the second set of trailers meets the set of criteria, wherein the set of criteria includes a distance between at least one of the locations of the vehicle and at least one of the locations of the trailer is within a threshold proximity, an identifier of the vehicle is included in a set of identifiers detected by the second gateway device of the trailer via a short range wireless network protocol, an identifier of the trailer is included in a set of identifiers detected by the first gateway device of the vehicle via the short range wireless network protocol, and a speed measure of the trailer and a speed measure of the vehicle are non-zero, wherein the speed measure of the trailer was recorded within a threshold amount of time of when the speed measure of the vehicle was recorded.