System and method for monitoring and managing equipment

• US 20030069648A1
• Filed: 09/10/2002
• Published: 04/10/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: FMC Technologies Incorporated (TechnipFMC, plc)
• Original Assignee: FMC Technologies Incorporated (TechnipFMC, plc)
• Inventors: Douglas, Barry, Pohly, Dan
• Application Number:
  US10/237,704
• Publication Number:
  US 20030069648A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/2
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 23/0272 Presentation of monitored results, e.g. selection of status reports to be displayed; Filtering information to the user
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system and method for tracking, monitoring, and managing equipment. An embodiment of the system for monitoring and managing equipment comprises: one or more mobile pieces of equipment; one or more fixed pieces of equipment; a central processing system; and one or more means for communicating data between said equipment and said central processing system. The data may be location or status data, in particular real-time data about the equipment.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring and managing equipment, comprising:

one or more mobile pieces of equipment;

one or more fixed pieces of equipment;

a central processing system; and

one or more means for communicating data between said equipment and said central processing system.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein said mobile equipment further comprises powered mobile equipment and non-powered mobile equipment.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein said communicating means comprises a radio frequency network.

4. The system according to claim 3, wherein said radio frequency network further comprises at least one equipment mounted device communicating via low-power radio frequency with at least two antennae.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein said communicating means comprises a cellular network.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein data comprises data about a location of said equipment.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein said data comprises data about an operational status of said equipment.

8. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a graphical user interface enabling a user to interact with said central processing system.

9. The system according to claim 1, further comprising means for remote operation of said equipment based upon said data communicated to said central processing system.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein said means for remote operation are fully automated.

11. The system according to claim 1, further comprising means for controlling operator access to said equipment.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein said means for controlling operator access further comprises:

an onboard device mounted on said equipment that enables or disables said equipment;

an identification card reader connected to said onboard device;

one or more operator identification cards containing information about the operator, said identification cards being read by said identification card reader; and

a database of operators, which communicates with said identification card reader.

13. A system for monitoring and managing equipment, comprising:

one or more mobile pieces of equipment;

one or more fixed pieces of equipment;

a plurality of distributed processing systems;

one or more means for communicating data between said equipment and said processing systems; and

means for remote operation of said equipment based on data communicated to said processing systems.

14. A method for monitoring and managing equipment, comprising the steps of:

gathering data about one or more pieces of fixed equipment;

gathering data about one or more pieces of mobile equipment; and

communicating the data to a central processing system.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the step of gathering data about one or more pieces of mobile equipment further comprises gathering data about the location of the equipment.

16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising the step of processing the location data at the central processing system to determine the physical location of the mobile equipment.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the step of processing the location data further comprises the step of triangulating the physical location of the mobile equipment.

18. The method according to claim 14, wherein the step of gathering data about one or more pieces of equipment further comprises the step of monitoring the operational status of the equipment.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the step of monitoring the operational status is selected from the group consisting of monitoring one or more of:

equipment running status;

faults and problems;

hours of operation;

fuel levels;

fluid levels;

cycles of operation;

materials processed;

items handled;

tasks accomplished; and

operator information.

20. The method according to claim 14, wherein the step of communicating the data further comprises communicating via a radio frequency network.

21. The method according to claim 14, wherein the step of communicating the data further comprises communicating via combination of a radio frequency network and a global positioning system network.

22. The method according to claim 14, wherein the step of communicating the data further comprises inputting data via a device selected from the group consisting of:

keyboard entry;

wireless handheld device;

voice recognition;

optical scanning;

character recognition; and

automatic data collection.

23. The method according to claim 14, further comprising the step of remotely operating the equipment based upon data communicated to the central processing system.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein the step of remotely operating the equipment further comprises automatically dispatching the equipment.

25. The method according to claim 14, further comprising the step of controlling operator access to the equipment.

26. The method according to claim 25, wherein the step of controlling operator access further comprises the steps of:

identifying an operator of the equipment;

determining authorization to operate the equipment based upon the operator identification; and

enabling the equipment if authorization is allowed.

27. The method according to claim 25, wherein the step of controlling operator access further comprises the step of disabling the equipment after a configurable of time.

28. The method according to claim 14, further comprising the step of maintaining the equipment based on the data communicated to the central processing system.

29. The method according to claim 14, further comprising the step of managing the finances of a business based on the data communicated to the central processing system.

30. A method for maintaining equipment, comprising the steps of:

remotely sensing a need for maintenance;

communicating the need to a central processing system;

re-allocating the equipment'"'"'s tasks;

opening a work order for the maintenance task;

assigning the task to the appropriate maintenance personnel;

acknowledging receipt of the assignment;

recording in a manner adapted to communicate with the central processing system events during task completion;

recognizing the availability of the equipment; and

notifying the central processing system that the equipment is available for use.

31. The method according to claim 30, further comprising the steps of:

assigning cost, productivity, and inventory information to the work order;

accounting for the maintenance according to generally accepted accounting principles; and

reporting parameters relating to the maintenance.