Methods, apparatuses and computer program products for identifying duplicate travel

• US 10,332,064 B1
• Filed: 10/04/2013
• Issued: 06/25/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United Parcel Service Of America Incorporated (United Parcel Service Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: United Parcel Service Of America Incorporated (United Parcel Service Incorporated)
• Inventors: Davidson, Mark J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Vetter, Daniel
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tungate, Scott M
• Application Number:
  US14/046,172
• Time in Patent Office: 2,090 Days
• Field of Search: 701400
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08355 Routing methods

Abstract

An apparatus is provided for detecting duplicate travel. The apparatus may include at least one memory and at least one processor configured to detect a travel path of a vehicle based in part on received items of location data. The processor is also configured to determine whether the travel path is associated with a defined street segment including a plurality of location points corresponding to a street. The processor is further configured to determine whether the vehicle travels the street multiple times in a predefined time period. The processor is further configured to superimpose visible indicia on the defined street segment in response to detecting that the vehicle traveled the street multiple times during the predefined time period. Corresponding computer program products and methods are also provided.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting, via a carrier communication device, items of vehicle telematics data, captured from a telematics device affixed to a vehicle and transmitted over a wired or wireless computer network to the carrier communication device, the vehicle telematics data indicating GPS coordinate locations of the vehicle, a speed of the vehicle and a direction of the vehicle while the vehicle is traveling a route;

based at least on the vehicle telematics device capturing the telematics data, providing visible data, to a display device of the carrier communication device, the display device visibly indicating the GPS coordinate locations of the vehicle and the direction of travel of the vehicle while the vehicle is traveling the route;

detecting, via the carrier communication device, a travel path of the vehicle and a route plan based on the telematics device capturing and transmitting the items of telematics data over the wired or wireless network to the carrier communication device;

by the carrier communication device, determining, based at least on the detection of the travel path, whether the travel path is associated with a defined street segment comprising a plurality of location points corresponding to a street in response to detection of an indication of a selection of the street from a map;

in response to determining that the travel path is associated with the defined street segment, determining, via the carrier communication device, geocoordinates of the location points corresponding to the street and displaying, via the display device, the location points of the street in the visible data;

determining, via the carrier communication device, a number of times the vehicle travels the street within a predefined time period based at least on the telematics device capturing and transmitting the telematics data over the wired or wireless network;

receiving, within a graphical user interface of the display device, a user selection of a feature that causes the display device to display the defined street segment;

based at least on the telematics device capturing and transmitting the telematics data over the wired or wireless network, superimposing, to the display device and in response to the user selection of the feature, visible indicia on the defined street segment to highlight the defined street segment with visible content, displayed with the visible data indicating (i) the locations of the vehicle and the direction of travel of the vehicle while the vehicle travels the route and (ii) the location points corresponding to the street, via the display device of the communication device, in response to detecting that the vehicle traveled the street multiple times during the predefined time period, the superimposed visible indicia denotes that the vehicle traveled the street multiple times during the predefined time period, the superimposed visible indicia corresponds to one or more travel inefficiencies of the defined street segment for the route plan; and

modifying, in response to analyzing the superimposed visible indicia, the route plan, the modifying allows a reduction in a quantity of times the vehicle travels down the street corresponding to the defined street segment.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the travel path is associated with the defined street segment in response to detecting that the items of location data corresponding to the travel path are within a predetermined distance to the defined street segment denoting that the defined street segment is a closest street segment, among a plurality of defined street segments, to the travel path.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing visible data to the superimposed visible indicia indicating, via the display device, multiple instances in which the vehicle traveled the street corresponding to the highlighted defined street segment.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the displayed superimposed visible indicia denotes one or more inefficiencies or misbehavior of a driver driving the vehicle along the street.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the predetermined distance is configurable and the method further comprises:

changing the predetermined distance to another designated distance.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating the items of location data with data indicating at least one of an identifier of the vehicle, a speed of the vehicle traveling along the path, a heading or direction of the vehicle, a distance that the vehicle traveled along the path, indications of times in which the items of location data were detected, or a duration of time in which the vehicle traveled along the path.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the multiple times comprises three or more times.

8. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:

detect items of vehicle telematics data, captured from a telematics device affixed to a vehicle and transmitted over a wired or wireless computer network to the apparatus, the vehicle telematics data indicating locations of the vehicle, a speed of the vehicle and a direction of the vehicle while the vehicle is traveling a route;

provide visible data, to a display device of the apparatus, visibly indicating the locations of the vehicle and the direction of travel of the vehicle while the vehicle is traveling the route;

detect a travel path of the vehicle and generate a route plan based in part on the telematics device capturing and transmitting the items of telematics data over the communications network to the apparatus;

determine, based at least on the detection of the travel path, whether the travel path is associated with a defined street segment comprising a plurality of location points corresponding to a street in response to detection of an indication of a selection of the street from a map;

determine geocoordinates of the location points corresponding to the street and display, via the display device, the location points of the street in the visible data;

determine a number of times the vehicle travels the street within a predefined time period based at least on the telematics device capturing and transmitting the telematics data over the communications network;

superimpose, based at least on the telematics device capturing and transmitting the telematics data over the communications network, visible indicia on the defined street segment to highlight the defined street segment, displayed with the visible data indicating (i) the locations of the vehicle and the direction of travel of the vehicle while the vehicle travels the route and (ii) the location points corresponding to the street, via the display device of the apparatus, in response to detecting that the vehicle traveled the street multiple times during the predefined time period, the superimposed visible indicia denotes that the vehicle traveled the street multiple times during the predefined time period; and

modify, in response to analyzing the superimposed visible indicia and detecting that the vehicle has traveled the street multiple times, the route plan, the modifying includes regenerating a second route plan, the regeneration of the second route plan allows the vehicle to reduce and consolidate trips for package delivery.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the memory and computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:

determine that the travel path is associated with the defined street segment in response to detecting that the items of location data corresponding to the travel path are within a predetermined distance to the defined street segment denoting that the defined street segment is a closest street segment, among a plurality of defined street segments, to the travel path.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the memory and computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:

provide visible data to the superimposed visible indicia indicating, via the display device, multiple instances in which the vehicle traveled the street corresponding to the highlighted defined street segment.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein:

the displayed superimposed visible indicia denotes one or more inefficiencies in a route plan defined for pickup or delivery of items along the street.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein:

the displayed superimposed visible indicia denotes one or more inefficiencies or misbehavior of a driver driving the vehicle along the street.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the predetermined distance is configurable and wherein the memory and computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:

change the predetermined distance to another designated distance.

14. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the memory and computer program code are further configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:

associate the items of location data with data indicating at least one of an identifier of the vehicle, a speed of the vehicle traveling along the path, a heading or direction of the vehicle, a distance that the vehicle traveled along the path, indications of times in which the items of location data were detected, or a duration of time in which the vehicle traveled along the path.

15. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein:

the multiple times comprises three or more times.

16. A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable program code instructions stored therein, the computer-executable program code instructions comprising:

program code instructions configured to detect items of vehicle telematics data, captured from a telematics device, the vehicle telematics data indicating locations of the vehicle, a speed of the vehicle and a direction of the vehicle while the vehicle is traveling a route;

program code instructions configured to provide visible data, to a display device of a communication device, visibly indicating the locations of the vehicle and the direction of travel of the vehicle while the vehicle is traveling the route;

program code instructions configured to detect a travel path of the vehicle based in part on the items of location data;

program code instructions configured to determine whether the travel path is associated with a defined street segment comprising a plurality of location points corresponding to a street in response to detection of an indication of a selection of the street from a map;

program code instructions configured to determine geocoordinates of the location points corresponding to the street and display, via the display device, the location points of the street in the visible data;

program code instructions configured to determine a number of times the vehicle travels the street within a predefined time period; and

program code instructions configured to superimpose visible indicia on the defined street segment to highlight the defined street segment with visible content, displayed with the visible data indicating (i) the locations of the vehicle and the direction of travel of the vehicle while the vehicle travels the route and (ii) the location points corresponding to the street, via the display device of the communication device, in response to detecting that the vehicle traveled the street multiple times during the predefined time period, the superimposed visible indicia denotes that the vehicle traveled the street multiple times during the predefined time period.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, further comprising:

program code instructions configured to determine that the travel path is associated with the defined street segment in response to detecting that the items of location data corresponding to the travel path are within a predetermined distance to the defined street segment denoting that the defined street segment is a closest street segment, among a plurality of defined street segments, to the travel path.

18. The computer program product of claim 16, further comprising:

program code instructions configured to provide visible data to the superimposed visible indicia indicating, via the display device, multiple instances in which the vehicle traveled the street corresponding to the highlighted defined street segment.

19. The computer program product of claim 16,

wherein:

the displayed superimposed visible indicia denotes one or more inefficiencies in a route plan defined for pickup or delivery of items along the street.

20. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein:

the multiple times comprises three or more times.