System and method for sharing terrain data among multiple machines

• US 20070142989A1
• Filed: 12/15/2005
• Published: 06/21/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Caterpillar Trimble Control Technologies, Inc., Caterpillar Trimble Control Technologies LLC
• Original Assignee: Caterpillar Trimble Control Technologies LLC
• Inventors: Koehrsen, Craig, Sahm, William
• Granted Patent: US 7,747,369 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/50
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/38 Determining a navigation solution using signals transmitted by a satellite radio beacon positioning system
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0072 Transmission between mobile stations, e.g. anti-collision systems

Abstract

Systems and methods for sharing terrain data among one or more machines include a communications system associated with the one or more machines in electronic communication with each other and to a communications system associated with a remote location. The terrain data may be determined from information received from satellite positioning systems. New information comprising alterations to a worksite by one or more machines may be stored as a snippet. Collected snippets may be combined to form a data block which is sent to one or more identified machines. A bitmap, corresponding to each snippet, is sent to the one or more identified machines in order to locate the new information in the data block. Using the new information, the one or more identified machines may update a composite model of the worksite located at each of the one or more identified machines.

Claims

1. A method for sharing terrain data on a worksite, the method comprising:

generating a plurality of packets of terrain data associated with alterations performed on the worksite; and

transmitting the plurality of packets of terrain data from a first machine to a second machine.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein generating includes calculating the terrain data based on raw GPS positions.

6. The method of claim 1, further including

creating a data block comprising the plurality of packets of terrain data;

and

creating a plurality of bitmaps, each corresponding to a respective one of the plurality of packets of terrain data, each of the plurality of bitmaps representing locations in the data block having information for updating a composite model of the worksite.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein each packet of terrain data is associated with a parameter indicating at least one of elevation data associated with the worksite, compaction data, coverage data, and ore status information associated with the worksite.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein each packet of terrain data is associated with a parameter indicating at least one of elevation data associated with the worksite, compaction data, coverage data, and ore status information associated with the worksite, wherein each cell, associated with each packet of terrain data, has an indication of time, and wherein the indication of time is used to determine which cells associated with the second machine should be updated.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein each data block has one or more keys for setting a maximum size of the data block.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein each data block has one or more keys for setting a time for sending the data block.

11. The method of claim 6, further including

receiving at the first machine data blocks and bitmaps, associated with the data blocks, from the second machine.

12. The method of claim 11, further including:

updating a composite model of the first machine using the bitmaps received from the second machine to locate information in the data blocks received from the second machine.

13. The method of claim 12, further including:

displaying the composite model of a worksite to an operator of the first machine updated from each received data block of the second machine.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the first machine sends a request to the second machine and receives one or more packets of terrain data from the second machine after entering an area where the second machine is operating on the worksite.

15. The method of claim 6, further including:

transmitting a flag, for each bitmap, indicating an amount of new data located in the corresponding packet of terrain data.

16. The method of claim 15, further including:

receiving information from a satellite positioning system to determine alterations to a worksite attributable to the first machine.

17. The method of claim 15, further including:

determining productivity information attributable to the first machine by using information received from the satellite positioning system.

18. The method of claim 11, further including:

determining productivity information attributable to the second machine using received data blocks from the second machine.

19. The method of claim 6, wherein the packets of terrain data have a format consistent with a sparse grid.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the packets of terrain data contain a first cell indicating an absolute value for a parameter and plurality of second cells representing offsets from the absolute value.

21. The method of claim 6, further including:

updating a composite model for the second machine with the data block and plurality of bitmaps from the first machine.

22. The method of claim 21, further including:

displaying the composite model of a worksite to an operator of the second machine updated from each received data block of the first machine.

2. A method for sharing terrain data on a worksite, the method comprising:

generating a plurality of packets of terrain data associated with alterations performed on the worksite; and

transmitting the plurality of packets of terrain data from one or more machines to an office computer.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more machines send a request for information and receive one or more packets of terrain data from a site database running on an office computer.

4. The method of claim 2, further including:

transmitting the plurality of terrain data to a remote location

23. A system for sharing terrain data on a worksite, comprising:

a communications system associated with a first machine, the communications system being configured to send a plurality of first packets of terrain data corresponding to alterations on the worksite associated with the first machine, the communications system being configured to receive a plurality of second packets of terrain data corresponding to alterations on the worksite associated with a second machine; and

a database, associated with the first machine and configured to store the plurality of first packets of terrain data and the plurality of second packets of terrain data.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the communications system associated with a first machine is configured to send a first data block, the first data block including the plurality of first packets of terrain data, and a plurality of bitmaps each of which being associated with a corresponding one of the plurality first packets of terrain data, and the communications system is configured to receive a second data block, the second data block including the plurality of second packets of terrain data, and a plurality of bitmaps each of which being associated with a corresponding one of the plurality of second packets of terrain data;

and

wherein each of the plurality of bitmaps identify new information contained in the second data block to update the database.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the communication system is further configured to receive information from a satellite positioning system.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein each of the first data block and second data block is associated with a parameter corresponding to at least one of elevation data associated with the worksite, compaction data, coverage data, and ore status information associated with the worksite.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein each of the first data block and second data block has one or more keys for setting a maximum size.

28. The system of claim 26, wherein each of the first packets of terrain data and second packet of terrain data has one or more keys for setting a sending time.

29. The system of claim 24, further including:

an on-board computer, associated with the first machine, configured to access the on-board database and generate a composite site model of the worksite using information stored in the on-board database.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the on-board computer includes a display monitor to display the composite model to an operator of the first machine.

31. The system of claim 29, further including:

an on-board database, associated with the second machine, configured to store the first data block and second data block; and

an on-board computer, associated with the second machine, configured to access the on-board database associated with the second machine and generate a composite site model of the worksite using information stored in the on-board database associated with the second machine,

wherein the on-board computer associated with the second machine includes a display monitor to display the composite model to an operator of the second machine.

32. The system of claim 24, wherein the communications system receives information from a satellite positioning system to determine alterations to the worksite attributable to the first machine.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the on-board computer determines productivity information attributable to the first machine using the information received from the satellite position system.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the on-board computer determines productivity information attributable to the second machine.

35. The system of claim 24, wherein the communications system is further configured to transmit a flag, for each of the plurality bitmaps associated with each first packet of terrain data, indicating an amount of new data located in the corresponding first packet of terrain data.

36. The system of claim 24, wherein the first machine sends a request to the second machine and receives the second data block and the plurality of bitmaps associated with the second data block after entering an area where the second machine is operating on the worksite.