SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR REPORTING PRODUCTIVITY

• US 20100094687A1
• Filed: 10/04/2007
• Published: 04/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Marine Imaging Systems S.A.
• Original Assignee: Marine Imaging Systems S.A.
• Inventors: Waggaman, Thomas E. III
• Granted Patent: US 8,306,731 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.42
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06398 Performance of employee with respect to a job function

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide systems and methods for assessing the productivity of workers employing vehicles at worksites. Devices are provided for characterizing vehicle usage into a variety of vehicle status categories. The time spent by the vehicle in the various status categories may be compared against relevant standards in order to provide useful measures of the vehicle'"'"'s productivity. This productivity information may be further provided to a interface device on a continuous or periodic basis so as to allow the operator, construction managers and clients to easily access the information. These measures of productivity may be further combined with geographical information systems (GIS) in order to provide reports of productivity having a geographical context which yield further insights. From this information, appropriate incentives and sanctions may be provided to vehicle operators in order to reward or change behaviors, helping to maintain and enhance productivity.

Claims

1. A method of measuring the productivity of an operating vehicle, comprising:

electronically receiving a plurality of positions of the vehicle as a function of time;

determining with a computer processor, a provisional vehicle status based at least in part upon the received positions as a function of time;

assigning the provisional vehicle status as a current vehicle status when the provisional vehicle status is continuously maintained over a first selected time interval;

recording the duration of the current vehicle status; and

using at least the duration of the current status over a second selected time interval to measure worker productivity.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the provisional vehicle status comprises:

calculating a velocity from the received positions as a function of time;

accessing a database containing at least one association between a velocity range and the vehicle status; and

assigning the provisional vehicle status to be the vehicle status associated with the velocity range containing the calculated velocity.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein upon a change in the current vehicle status from a first current vehicle status to a second current vehicle status, the duration of the first selected time interval is removed from the time duration assigned to the first current vehicle status and assigned to the second current vehicle status.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving at least one engine parameter indicative of the operation of the engine, wherein the engine parameter and the vehicle position as a function of time are used to determine at least one vehicle status.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising measuring worker productivity by calculating the duration of a selected current status over a second selected time interval divided by a reference standard.

6. A system for monitoring the status of a vehicle, comprising:

at least one sensor which is configured so as to electronically measure a plurality of positions of the vehicle as a function of time;

a database containing at least one association between a vehicle status and a velocity range of the vehicle, wherein upon receipt of a velocity derived from the positions as a function of time which lies within the velocity range, the database outputs the associated vehicle status as a function of time;

a memory device which stores the position as a function of time and the associated vehicle status as a function of time; and

an interface device configured to provide a report containing at least one of the measured position as a function of time and the associated vehicle status as a function of time in response to a user request.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising an alarm system in communication with the sensor and the interface device which transmits an alarm report to the user using the interface device when the sensor malfunctions.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the report comprises at least one of the sum of time the vehicle is in a selected status over a selected time interval, the sum of time the vehicle is in all statuses over a selected time interval, a weighted average of the sum of time a plurality of vehicles are in a selected status over a selected time interval, the sum of time that a plurality of vehicles is in a selected status over a selected time interval, and an arithmetic mean of the sum of time a plurality of vehicles are in a selected status over a selected time interval.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the sensor comprises at least a part of a GPS, a ground based triangulation system, a direction finding system, an inertial guidance system.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the sensor measures a velocity.

11. The system of claim 6, wherein the sensor is configured to receive at least one engine parameter indicative of the operation of the engine and wherein the database comprises least one association between a vehicle status, a velocity range of the vehicle, and the engine parameter and wherein upon receipt of a velocity derived from the position as a function of time within the velocity range and the engine parameter, the database outputs the associated vehicle status as a function of time.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the output of the engine parameter and at least one of the position and velocity by the sensor is cross-checked in order to determine if a sensor malfunction has occurred.

13. The system of claim 6, further comprising a data processing component which assesses worker productivity by calculating the duration of a selected vehicle status over a selected time interval divided by a reference standard.

14. A method of representing the efficiency of a vehicle, comprising:

electronically receiving a plurality of vehicle positions as a function of time;

determining at least one vehicle status as a function of time, wherein the status is based at least in part upon the vehicle position as a function of time;

determining at least one geographical area associated with a selected vehicle status over a selected time interval;

calculating an efficiency of the vehicle using at least the total time the vehicle is determined to be in the selected vehicle status over the selected time interval; and

providing a map upon which is superimposed a geometric figure representative of the geographic area, wherein the geometric figure is further provided with a visual indicator of the efficiency of the vehicle.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein determining the vehicle status comprises:

calculating a velocity from the received position as a function of time;

accessing a database containing at least one association between a velocity range and the vehicle status; and

assigning the vehicle status as the vehicle status within the database which is associated with the velocity range containing the calculated velocity.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the efficiency is taken as the ratio of the total time the vehicle is determined to be in the selected vehicle status over the selected time interval to a reference standard.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the visual indicator comprises at least one of a color or pattern which is associated with a range of efficiencies.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein determining the geographic area comprises:

identifying the maximum latitude, maximum longitude, minimum latitude, and minimum longitude of the plurality of vehicle positions when the vehicle is in the selected status over the selected time interval;

identifying two spatial points comprising the maximum latitude, maximum longitude and the minimum latitude, minimum longitude; and

constructing a rectangle having the two spatial points as opposite corners.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein the geographic area comprises a line.

20. A system for geographically representing the efficiency of a vehicle, comprising:

a sensor configured to electronically measure a plurality of positions of the vehicle as a function of time;

an analysis component which is configured to determine a work area over which the vehicle has worked within a selected time and an efficiency of the work based upon the vehicle'"'"'s position as a function of time; and

an interface device configured to provide reports containing at least a map upon which is superimposed a geometric figure representative of the geographic area, wherein the geometric figure is further provided with a visual indicator of the efficiency of the vehicle.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the vehicle is determined to be working when the vehicle velocity lies within a selected velocity range.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the work area is determined by:

identifying the maximum latitude, maximum longitude, minimum latitude, and minimum longitude of the plurality of vehicle positions when the vehicle is working over the selected time.

identifying two spatial points comprising the maximum latitude, maximum longitude and the minimum latitude, minimum longitude; and

constructing a rectangle having the two spatial points as opposite corners.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the work area comprises a line.(Original) The method of claim 20, wherein the visual indicator comprises at least one of a color or pattern which is associated with a range of efficiencies.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein the efficiency is taken as the ratio of the total time the vehicle is working over the selected time interval to the selected time interval.