System and method for monitoring remotely located objects

• US 20030074134A1
• Filed: 09/10/2002
• Published: 04/17/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Komatsu Rental Japan Limited (Komatsu Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Bigrental Co., Ltd. (Komatsu Ltd.), Komatsu Ltd.
• Inventors: Shike, Chikashi, Abe, Noriaki
• Granted Patent: US 6,879,910 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/207
• 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

Abstract

The present invention makes it possible to precisely monitor remotely located objects. The construction vehicles each contain a GPS apparatus, and various sensors for capturing the states of vehicle parts, and are capable of reporting, as required, the current position captured by the GPS apparatus, and operation information captured by the various sensors to the TMS mail server via the satellite communication system. The TMS mail server and the rental company system are capable of communicating at any time via a communication network between computers. The TMS mail server collects the latest positional information, operation information, and so forth, on the construction vehicles being rented and relays such information in the form of electronic mail, for example, to the rental company system as required or periodically. The rental company system displays construction vehicles by means of marks in the current positions of the construction vehicles on a map represented by map data, or in the form of a list, based on the collected positional information and operation information, on a branch store computer terminal. The system also displays the operating states of rented construction vehicles based on the collected operation information, on the branch store computer terminal.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring remotely located objects, comprising:

region designating means for designating a region;

map displaying means for displaying a map including the designated region;

position detecting means for automatically detecting the position(s) of one or a plurality of remotely located objects;

object selecting means for selecting an object positioned in the designated region, on the basis of the detected position of said object; and

object position displaying means for displaying a marker representing the selected object in the position of said selected object, on a displayed map.

2. The system according to claim 1, further comprising:

state detecting means for automatically detecting the state(s) of said one or plurality of objects; and

object state displaying means for displaying the detected state of said selected object.

3. The system according to claim 1, further comprising:

means for displaying a marker that indicates at least one base, in the position of said base on said displayed map.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein said region designating means receives an area range request from a user with respect to a desired base and designates a region corresponding to the requested area range.

5. The system according to claim 1, further comprising:

means for displaying a list of selected objects.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein said position detecting means detects substantially the latest position by executing an operation for detecting said position as required or periodically.

7. The system according to claim 2, wherein said state detecting means detects substantially the latest state by executing an operation for detecting said state as required or periodically.

8. The system according to claim 2, wherein said object state displaying means displays the latest state of said object and a history of past states thereof.

9. The system according to claim 2, wherein said object state displaying means is constituted to display the state of said selected object and a map indicating the position of said selected object.

10. A system for monitoring remotely located objects, comprising:

position detecting means for automatically detecting the position(s) of one or a plurality of remotely located objects;

state detecting means for automatically detecting the state(s) of said one or plurality of objects;

selecting means for selecting an object to be output, on the basis of the detected position and state thereof; and

means for outputting a selected object.

11. A method for monitoring remotely located objects, comprising the steps of:

designating a region;

displaying a map including the designated region;

automatically detecting the position(s) of one or a plurality of remotely located objects;

selecting an object positioned in the designated region, on the basis of the detected position of said object; and

displaying a marker representing the selected object in the position of said selected object, on a displayed map.

12. A method for monitoring remotely located objects, comprising the steps of:

automatically detecting the position(s) of one or a plurality of remotely located objects;

automatically detecting the state(s) of said one or plurality of objects;

selecting an object to be output, on the basis of the detected position and state thereof; and

outputting a selected object.

13. A computer program which is installed in the system for monitoring remotely located objects and which has a computer execute the steps of:

designating a region;

displaying a map including the designated region;

automatically detecting the position(s) of one or a plurality of remotely located objects;

selecting an object positioned in the designated region, on the basis of the detected position of said object; and

displaying a marker representing the selected object in the position of said selected object, on a displayed map.

14. A computer program which is installed in the system for monitoring remotely located objects and which has a computer execute the steps of:

automatically detecting the position(s) of one or a plurality of remotely located objects;

automatically detecting the state(s) of said one or plurality of objects;

selecting an object to be output, on the basis of the detected position and state thereof; and

outputting a selected object.