Platform for real-time tracking and analysis

• US 20090216775A1
• Filed: 02/22/2008
• Published: 08/27/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Omnitracs LLC (Solera Holdings Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Omnitracs LLC (Solera Holdings Incorporated)
• Inventors: Paris, Phillip Matthew, Ratliff, Marc Gregory, Eick, Stephen Gregory
• Application Number:
  US12/070,976
• Publication Number:
  US 20090216775A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

An apparatus in one example has: at least one of an identification tag and a video feed associated with at least one asset; at least one real time location server that operatively interfaces with the at least one of the identification tag and the video feed; and real-time data analysis and tracking system that ingests asset location data for at least one asset from at least one real time location server. The real time data analysis and tracking system may have a real-time alerting rules engine. Assets being tracked may be organized into at least categories and groups, the categories may be used to manipulate visibility of sets of assets in a portal, and the groups may be used by the real-time alerting rules engine.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one of an identification tag and a video feed associated with at least one asset;

at least one real time location server that operatively interfaces with the at least one of the identification tag and the video feed; and

real-time data analysis and tracking system that ingests asset location data for at least one asset from at least one real time location server.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the real-time data analysis and tracking system has a real-time alerting rules engine, and wherein assets being tracked are organized into at least categories and groups, and wherein the categories are used to manipulate visibility of sets of assets in a portal and wherein the groups are used by the real-time alerting rules engine.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the real-time data analysis and tracking system provides current and historical asset positions that are stored in a geospatial database having a plurality of tables, and wherein the plurality of tables comprises at least the following tables:

assets being tracked;

categories of assets for portal visibility;

groups of assets for alerting engine;

current and historical asset locations;

zones;

business rules; and

alerts.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the asset location data comprises at least one of a plurality of position information and a plurality of video data for the at least one asset, and wherein the position data is derived by the real-time location servers from a plurality of radio frequency identification tags, and wherein the video data is derived from a plurality of video sources.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the asset location data is ingested through both push and pull feeds, wherein for push feeds the apparatus is activated when asset location data arrives, and wherein for pull feeds the apparatus periodically requests new asset locations from the pull feeds.

6. An apparatus, comprising

at least one location server having at least one output that provides asset location data related to at least one asset;

normalization system having at least one input operatively coupled respectively to the output of the at least one location server, and having at least one output for providing normalized location data; and

tracking and processing system having at least one input operatively coupled respectively to the at least one output of the normalization system, and having at least one output for providing tracked asset information.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the apparatus further comprises an analysis and management system having at least one input operatively coupled respectively to the at least one output of the tracking and processing system, and having at least one output for providing reportable information regarding the at least one asset

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the apparatus further comprises at least one user interface having at least one input operatively coupled respectively to the at least one output of the analysis and management system.

9. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the asset location data comprises at least one of position information and video data.

10. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the apparatus further comprises a report engine operatively coupled to the analysis and management system.

11. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the apparatus further comprises a workflow integration engine operatively coupled to the analysis and management system.

12. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein normalizing positions of the asset, de-conflicting the positions of the assets, and persisting resulting asset information are performed in a fusion engine.

13. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the tracking and processing system comprises asset tracking, processing new asset positions, applying business rules, firing alerts, and taking action by integration with workflow management systems.

14. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the tracking and processing system comprises a geofence system that defines a predetermine area.

15. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the analysis and management system provide at least one of situational awareness, historical analysis, and reports.

16. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the user interfaces comprise at least one application template.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the user interfaces comprise at least one of changing dialogues, creating vertical specific rules, and tailoring software.

18. A method, comprising:

receiving, in a first layer, asset location data related to at least one asset from a variety of real-time location servers;

accepting, in a second layer, the data from the first layer and normalizing positions of the asset, de-conflicting the positions of the assets, and persisting resulting asset information in a geospatial database;

tracking and processing, in a third layer, the at least one asset based on the asset information from the second layer, and providing tracked asset information;

analyzing and managing, in a fourth layer, the tracked asset information from the third layer to provide reportable information regarding the at least one asset; and

providing, in a fifth layer, user interfaces to the reportable information of the fourth layer.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the asset location data is at least one of position information for the at least one asset and video data for the at least one asset.

20. The method according to claim 18, wherein the real-time location servers receive data from a plurality of radio frequency identification tags.

21. The method according to claim 18, wherein normalizing positions of the asset, de-conflicting the positions of the assets, and persisting resulting asset information are performed in a fusion engine.

22. The method according to claim 18, wherein the tracking and processing comprises asset tracking, processing new asset positions, applying business rules, firing alerts, and taking action by integration with workflow management systems.

23. The method according to claim 18, wherein the tracking and processing comprises formation of a geofence system that defines a predetermine area.

24. The method according to claim 18, wherein the analyzing and managing provide at least one of situational awareness, historical analysis, and reports.

25. The method according to claim 18, wherein the user interfaces comprise application templates.

26. The method according to claim 18, wherein the user interfaces comprise at least one of changing dialogues, creating vertical specific rules, and tailoring software.

27. An apparatus, comprising:

a fusion server having a plurality of location ingestors operatively coupled respectively to a plurality of real time location servers;

a tracking server operatively coupled the fusion server, the tracking server having real-time alerting rules engine and workflow integration, the tracking server also having a position readings database, a zones database and a business rules and alert definitions database; and

a web 2.0 portal having an AJAX portal.

28. The apparatus according to claim 27, wherein the fusion server comprises real time location server accuracy table and real time location server de-confliction algorithm for processing respective information from location ingestors, wherein a real-time geospatial asset position database is operatively coupled to the fusion server, and wherein the fusion server produces normalized asset positions.

29. The apparatus according to claim 28, wherein assets being tracked are organized into at least categories and groups, and wherein the categories are used to manipulate visibility of sets of assets in its portal and wherein the groups are used by a real-time alerting rules engine.

30. The apparatus according to claim 29, wherein current and historical asset positions are stored in a geospatial database having a plurality of tables.

31. The apparatus according to claim 30, wherein the plurality of tables comprises at least the following tables:

assets being tracked;

categories of assets for portal visibility;

groups of assets for alerting engine;

current and historical asset locations;

zones;

business rules; and

alerts.

32. The apparatus according to claim 27, wherein the location ingestors receive asset location data, and wherein the asset location data comprises at least one of a plurality of position information and a plurality of video data for the at least one asset, and wherein the position data is derived by the real-time location servers from a plurality of radio frequency identification tags, and wherein the video data is derived from a plurality of video sources.

33. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one asset and associated asset location data;

at least one map;

real-time tracking system that shows, based on the associated location data, a position of the at least one asset on the at least one map; and

asset organization system operatively coupled to the real-time tracking system.

34. The apparatus according to claim 33, wherein the map is at least one of an outside map and an inside map.

35. The apparatus according to claim 33, wherein the map is interactive and supports panning and zooming and automatically updates when new position information for the at least one asset becomes available.

36. The apparatus according to claim 33, wherein the asset organization system displays at least one of alerts, and event timeline, and analysis charts related to the at least one asset.

37. The apparatus according to claim 33, wherein asset positions on the map are displayed using a “

breadcrumb”

trail encoded with visual cues to show historical positions of the asset.

38. The apparatus according to claim 37, wherein history in a trail of the asset is encoded using lightness and wherein the trail gradually fades out over time to prevent the display from becoming overly, busy, wherein a thickness of the trail varies to encode a speed of the asset at a particular point, and wherein the trail encodes the various points where the object stopped using filled geometric shapes.

39. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one asset and associated asset location data;

at least one map;

real-time tracking system that shows, based on the associated location data, a position of the at least one asset on the at least one map and on at least one time line;

asset organization system operatively coupled to the real-time tracking system; and

alerting engine operatively coupled to at least the asset organization system, the alerting engine generating at least one alert for at least one predetermined action related to the at least one asset.

40. The apparatus according to claim 39, wherein when the alerting engine generates an alert, generates a symbol that appears on the real-time map, generates an audio ping, and generates graphical alerts on a timeline.

41. The apparatus according to claim 39, wherein representations of the alert are linked so that mousing over the alert on the timeline causes the asset generating the alert, a location of the asset, and a breadcrumb trail of the asset to highlight on the map.

42. The apparatus according to claim 39, wherein alerts are linked between assets on the at least one map, on an alerts tab, and on a timeline.

43. The apparatus according to claim 39, wherein the alerting engine has alert templates that comprise at least one of:

Asset Close to Asset;

Asset Close to Zone;

Asset Enter/Leave Zone;

Asset Not Moving;

Asset Speeding;

Maintain Asset Signal;

Zone Population;

Day of Week; and

Time of Day.

44. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one asset and associated asset location data;

at least one map;

real-time tracking system that shows, based on the associated location data, a position of the at least one asset on the at least one map; and

video integration system that provides spatial and situational awareness of an asset operatively coupled to the real-time tracking system, the video integration system providing access to real-time streaming video feeds directly from a portal by clicking on icons embedded in the map.

45. The apparatus according to claim 44, wherein the video feeds access cameras at particular locations indicated by an icon on the map.

46. The apparatus according to claim 44, wherein video feeds of a respective asset are integrated with a timeline to provide both spatial and video forensics of an historical incident.

47. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one asset and associated asset location data;

at least one map;

real-time tracking system that shows, based on the associated location data, a position of the at least one asset on the at least one map; and

a geofencing engine that establishes a defined area, a geofence, on the map;

wherein an asset crossing the geofence is detectable.

48. The apparatus according to claim 47, wherein the geofence defines a closed area on the map.

49. An apparatus, comprising:

a tracking system that ingests asset location data of assets from a plurality of real time location servers;

the tracking system having;

a fusion engine that ingests, normalizes, de-conflicts, and persists real time location server feed information to provide accurate locations of the assets;

a real-time geospatial tracking database that includes asset information; and

an alerting engine with configurable rules;

wherein the apparatus uses both outside maps and inside maps to show asset positions, and connects to at least one of “

push” and

“

pull”

feeds.

50. The apparatus according to claim 49, wherein the asset information comprises at least one of asset identification, positions, history, zones, and alerts.

51. An apparatus, comprising:

a plurality of radio frequency identification tags attached respectively to a plurality of animals;

a plurality of real time location servers that provide asset location information based at least on the radio frequency identification tags on the animals;

at least one map and at least one timeline;

real-time tracking system that shows, based on the asset location data, positions of the animals on the at least one map and on at least one time line; and

alerting engine operatively coupled to at least the real-time tracking system, the alerting engine generating at least one alert for at least one predetermined action related to positions of the animals.

52. The apparatus according to claim 51, wherein when the alerting engine generates at least one of symbols that appears on the map, audio pings, and graphical alerts on the timeline.

53. The apparatus according to claim 51, wherein representations of the alert are linked so that mousing over the alert on the timeline causes the asset generating the alert, a location of the asset, and a breadcrumb trail of the asset to highlight on the map.

54. The apparatus according to claim 51, wherein alerts are linked between assets on the at least one map, on an alerts tab, and on a timeline.

55. The apparatus according to claim 51, wherein the alerting engine has alert templates that comprise at least one of:

Asset Close to Asset;

Asset Close to Zone;

Asset Enter/Leave Zone;

Asset Not Moving;

Asset Speeding;

Maintain Asset Signal;

Zone Population;

Day of week; and

Time of Day.

56. The apparatus according to claim 51, wherein the apparatus uses both outside maps and inside maps to show positions of the animals.

57. The apparatus according to claim 51, wherein the apparatus further comprises a geofencing engine that establishes a defined area, a geofence, on the map, and wherein an animal crossing the geofence is detectable.