Systems and methods for automatically generating service vehicle assignments

• US 10,393,537 B2
• Filed: 10/29/2017
• Issued: 08/27/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rubicon Technologies Holdings LLC (Founder SPAC)
• Original Assignee: Rubicon Global Holdings, LLC (Founder SPAC)
• Inventors: Rodoni, Philip
• Primary Examiner(s): Repsher, III, John T
• Application Number:
  US15/796,841
• Publication Number:
  US 20180106637A1
• Time in Patent Office: 667 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/343 Calculating itineraries, i.e. routes leading from a starting point to a series of categorical destinations using a global route restraint, round trips, touristic trips travelling salesman problem G06Q10/04; optimisation of routes G06Q10/047
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3614 through interaction with a road map, e.g. selecting a POI icon on a road map
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3664 Details of the user input interface, e.g. buttons, knobs or sliders, including those provided on a touch screen; remote controllers; input using gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/367 Details, e.g. road map scale, orientation, zooming, illumination, level of detail, scrolling of road map or positioning of current position marker
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3676 Overview of the route on the road map
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04845 for image manipulation, e.g. dragging, rotation, expansion or change of colour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0486 Drag-and-drop
• 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
• 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 by a service vehicle. The system may have a locating device configured to generate a location signal indicative of a location of the service vehicle, a sensor configured to generate a service signal indicative of a waste service being performed by the service vehicle, an input device, and a processing unit in communication with the locating device, the sensor, and the input device. The processing unit may be configured to make a determination that the service vehicle has made a plurality of service stops based on the location and service signals, and to automatically generate at least one service route including the plurality of service stops. The processing unit may also be configured to display the at least one service route and the plurality of service stops on a map in at least one graphical user interface on the input device.

Claims

1. A system for automatically generating service vehicle assignments, the system comprising:

a non-transitory memory;

one or more processors coupled to the non-transitory memory and configured to execute instructions to perform operations comprising;

monitor location data associated with one or more waste service vehicles based on location signals from one or more location sensors on the one or more waste service vehicles;

monitor one or more vehicle operation sensors of the one or more waste service vehicles, the sensors configured to detect one or more vehicle operations associated with the one or more waste service vehicles;

determine a location of one or more service stops requiring the one or more vehicle operations;

automatically determine a geographic region based on the location data associated with the one or more waste service vehicles, wherein the geographic region has a predefined geometric shape that encompasses the one or more service stops;

dynamically adjust the geographic region based on one or more added or dropped service stops; and

automatically assign a route within the geographic region that contains one or more first service stops, the route being assigned to a first waste service vehicle of the one or more waste service vehicles and being assigned based on location data associated with the first waste service vehicle, a type of a waste service vehicle, and one or more types of vehicle operations required at the one or more first service stops.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the geographic region is determined further based on a service vehicle size, a service vehicle travel range, and a service vehicle capacity.

3. The system of claim 1, the operations further comprising:

determine that a vehicle operation has been completed at a second service stop based on detecting an identification of a receptacle located at the second service stop.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the type of the waste service vehicle is one or more of a group consisting of a roll-off vehicle, a front-loading vehicle, a site-loading vehicle, and a rear-loading vehicle.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more vehicle operations include one or more of a group consisting of use of a lifting device, use of an in-bed compactor, use of a bed door, and movement of receptacles.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the geographic region is determined further based on types of receptacles corresponding to respective service stops along the assigned route.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more vehicle operation sensors include at least one RFID reader.

6. A method for automatically generating service vehicle assignments, the method comprising:

monitoring, by one or more processors coupled to a non-transitory memory, location data associated with one or more waste service vehicles based on location signals from the one or more waste service vehicles;

monitoring one or more vehicle operation sensors of the one or more waste service vehicles, the sensors configured to detect one or more vehicle operations associated with the one or more waste service vehicles;

determining a location of one or more service stops requiring the one or more vehicle operations;

automatically determining a geographic region based on the location data associated with the one or more waste service vehicles, wherein the geographic region has a predefined geometric shape that encompasses the one or more service stops;

dynamically adjusting the geographic region based on one or more added or dropped service stops; and

automatically assigning a route within the geographic region that contains one or more first service stops, the route being assigned to a first waste service vehicle of the one or more waste service vehicles and being assigned based on location data associated with the first waste service vehicle, a type of a waste service vehicle, and one or more types of vehicle operations required at the one or more first service stops.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the geographic region is dynamically adjusted further based on one or more of a fill rate or a fill level of the one or more waste service vehicles.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the geographic region is dynamically adjusted based on an amount of second routes completed by the one or more waste service vehicles.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising determining that a vehicle operation has been completed at a second service stop based on detecting an identification of a receptacle located at the second service stop.

17. The method of claim 6, wherein the type of the one or more waste service vehicles includes a roll-off vehicle, a front-loading vehicle, a side-loading vehicle, or a rear-loading vehicle.

18. The method of claim 6, wherein the one or more vehicle operation sensors include at least one RFID reader.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including computer-executable programming instructions for performing a method for automatically generating service vehicle assignments, the method comprising:

monitoring, by one or more processors coupled to a non-transitory memory, location data associated with one or more waste service vehicles based on location signals from the one or more waste service vehicles;

monitoring one or more vehicle operation sensors of the one or more waste service vehicles, the sensors configured to detect one or more vehicle operations associated with the one or more waste service vehicles;

determining a location of one or more service stops requiring the one or more vehicle operations;

automatically determining a geographic region based on the location data associated with the one or more waste service vehicles, wherein the geographic region has a predefined geometric shape that encompasses the one or more service stops;

dynamically adjusting the geographic region based on one or more added or dropped service stops; and

automatically assigning a route within the geographic region that contains one or more first service stops, the route being assigned to a first waste service vehicle of the one or more waste service vehicles and being assigned based on location data associated with the first waste service vehicle, a type of a waste service vehicle, and one or more types of vehicle operations required at the one or more first service stops.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the geographic region is dynamically adjusted further based on one or more of a fill rate or a fill level of the one or more waste service vehicles.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein:

each of the one or more waste service vehicles is equipped with a respective locating device and a sensor; and

each of the one or more waste service vehicles is automatically assigned a respective route within the geographic region based on a respective waste service vehicle type and location data associated with the respective waste service vehicle.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, the method further comprising determining that a vehicle operation has been completed at a second service stop based on detecting an identification of a receptacle located at the second service stop.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, the method further comprising displaying on a display the assigned route with the predefined geometric shape corresponding to the geographic region, the predefined geometric shape including respective service stops along the assigned route.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the type of the one or more waste service vehicles includes a roll-off vehicle, a front-loading vehicle, a side-loading vehicle, or a rear-loading vehicle.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the one or more vehicle operation sensors include at least one RFID reader.