System and method for managing waste services

• US 10,296,855 B2
• Filed: 07/11/2016
• Issued: 05/21/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/11/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Wastech Corporation
• Original Assignee: Rubicon Global Holdings, LLC (Founder SPAC)
• Inventors: Rodoni, Philip
• Primary Examiner(s): Feacher, Renae
• Application Number:
  US15/206,492
• Publication Number:
  US 20180012172A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,044 Days
• Field of Search: 705 711
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063114 Status monitoring or status determination for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/26 Government or public services business processes related to the transportation industry G06Q50/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/30 Services specially adapted for particular environments, situations or purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02W 90/00 Enabling technologies or technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions mitigation

Abstract

A system is disclosed for managing waste services. The system may have a locating device configured to generate a signal indicative of a location of a service vehicle, a motion tracking device wearable by an management personnel of the service vehicle, and a controller in communication with the locating and motion tracking devices. The controller may be configured to determine based on the signal a proximity of the service vehicle to a target location at which the waste services are to be performed, and to monitor an activity of the management personnel via the motion tracking device when the proximity of the service vehicle is within a threshold proximity of the target location. The controller may also be configured to automatically flag the target location in memory as having been serviced based on the monitored activity of the management personnel.

Claims

1. A system for managing waste services, comprising:

a wearable device configured to generate a first signal indicative of motion of management personnel;

a locating device configured to generate a second signal indicative of a location of a service vehicle;

an electronic transmitter-receiver on-board the service vehicle configured to receive local wireless signals corresponding to a target location and generate a third signal identifying a unique transmitter and a strength of a local wireless signal from the target location to the service vehicle; and

a controller on-board the service vehicle in communication with the locating device and the wearable device, the controller being configured to;

determine based on the second signal a proximity of the service vehicle to the target location at which one or more waste services are to be performed;

automatically monitor an activity of the management personnel to be tracked via the wearable device attached to the management personnel, the wearable device including a motion sensor and a transmitter configured to wirelessly broadcast signals, in response to the proximity of the service vehicle being within a threshold proximity of the target location;

receive the first signal indicative of motion of the management personnel from the wearable device by the management personnel;

correlate the first signal indicative of motion of the management personnel to service activity patterns;

determine based on the correlation of the first signal to the service activity patterns, completion of a first service activity; and

automatically flag the target location in a memory as having been serviced based on the completion of the first service activity at the target location based on activity of the wearable device exceeding a threshold.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the electronic transmitter-receiver is a Wi-Fi receiver; and

the controller is configured to determine the proximity of the service vehicle to the target location based on a Wi-Fi signal broadcast from the target location and received by the Wi-Fi receiver.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the controller is configured to determine the proximity of the service vehicle to the target location based on a strength of the Wi-Fi signal and identification of a Wi-Fi transmitter at the target location that is broadcasting the Wi-Fi signal.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the locating device is a GPS receiver; and

the controller is configured to determine the proximity of the service vehicle to the target location based on a GPS signal received by the GPS receiver and based on known coordinates of the target location.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the wearable device includes at least one of an accelerometer and a gyroscope.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to automatically flag the target location in memory as having been serviced when the motion of the management personnel that is tracked matches an expected activity pattern.

7. The system of claim 1, further including an input device, wherein the controller is further configured to provide a graphical user interface for display on the input device, the graphical user interface selectively showing the target location as being serviced based on the flagging.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is further configured to generate billing for the waste services performed at the target location based on the flagging.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the motion of the management personnel includes one or more of lifting, tilting, dumping, and shaking.

9. A method for managing waste services, comprising:

receiving a first signal indicative of motion of management personnel;

generating a second signal indicative of a location of a service vehicle;

determining based on the second signal a proximity of the service vehicle to a target location at which one or more waste services are to be performed;

receiving via an electronic transmitter-receiver on-board the service vehicle local wireless signals corresponding to the target location;

generating a third signal identifying a unique transmitter and a strength of a local wireless signal from the target location to the service vehicle;

automatically monitoring an activity of management personnel to be tracked via a wearable device by the management personnel in response to the proximity of the service vehicle being within a threshold proximity of the target location;

correlating the first signal indicative of motion of the management personnel to service activity patterns;

determining based on the correlation of the first signal to the service activity patterns, completion of a first service activity; and

automatically flagging the target location as having been serviced based on activity of the wearable device exceeding a threshold.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the proximity of the service vehicle to the target location includes determining the proximity of the service vehicle to the target location based on a strength and an identification of a Wi-Fi signal broadcast from the target location.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein determining the proximity of the service vehicle to the target location includes determining the proximity of the service vehicle to the target location based on a received GPS signal associated with the service vehicle and based on known coordinates of the target location.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein automatically flagging occurs when the motion of the management personnel that is tracked matches an expected activity pattern.

13. The method of claim 9, further including selectively displaying the target location on a display inside the service vehicle as being serviced based on the flagging.

14. The method of claim 9, further including generating billing for the waste services being performed at the target location based on the flagging of the first service activity.

18. The method of claim 9, wherein the motion of the management personnel includes one or more of lifting, tilting, dumping, and shaking.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing computer-executable programming instructions for performing a method of waste service management, the method comprising:

receiving a first signal indicative of motion of the management personnel from a wearable device by the management personnel;

generating a second signal indicative of a location of a service vehicle;

determining based on a strength of local wireless signals broadcast from the target location, a proximity of a service vehicle to a target location at which one or more waste services are to be performed;

generating a third signal identifying a unique transmitter and a strength of the local wireless signals broadcast from the target location to the service vehicle;

automatically monitoring activity of the management personnel to be tracked via the wearable device by the management personnel in response to the strength of the local wireless signals broadcast being above a threshold strength;

correlating the first signal indicative of motion of the management personnel to service activity patterns;

determining based on the correlation of the first signal to the service activity patterns, completion of a service activity; and

automatically flagging the target location as having been serviced based on activity of the wearable device exceeding a threshold.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15, wherein automatically flagging occurs when the motion of the management personnel matches an expected activity pattern.