Tracking Carbon Footprints
First Claim
1. A method of estimating a vehicle'"'"'s carbon emissions, the method comprising:
- capturing, with a computer system, an identity of the vehicle;
identifying, with the computer system, a first position of the vehicle at a first time;
identifying, with the computer system, a second position of the vehicle at a second time, wherein the second time is subsequent to the first time;
ascertaining one or more operating parameters of the vehicle;
identifying a vehicle activity over a first period, based at least in part on the identified first position at the first time, the identified second position at the second time, and the one or more operating parameters of the vehicle;
estimating a carbon output rate for the first period, based at least in part on the identity of the vehicle and the vehicle activity over the first period; and
generating a carbon emission value for the vehicle, based at least in part on the first carbon output rate.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
Novel solutions to the challenges of obtaining accurate information about a user'"'"'s or an organization'"'"'s carbon footprint. In some cases, these solutions can obtain and/provide feedback about a user'"'"'s carbon output based on the user'"'"'s habits and choices. Some solutions are designed to supply services to individuals as well as commercial ventures and for a variety of vehicle fleets, including without limitation construction equipment. In different aspects, systems in accordance with various embodiments enable a variety of types of users to create their own carbon emission generation profile based on vehicle type; track, estimate, and store their emissions in a database; analyze their results and performance, using established methods and metrics and/or automatically update all operating parameters of interest.
80 Citations
135 Claims
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1. A method of estimating a vehicle'"'"'s carbon emissions, the method comprising:
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capturing, with a computer system, an identity of the vehicle; identifying, with the computer system, a first position of the vehicle at a first time; identifying, with the computer system, a second position of the vehicle at a second time, wherein the second time is subsequent to the first time; ascertaining one or more operating parameters of the vehicle; identifying a vehicle activity over a first period, based at least in part on the identified first position at the first time, the identified second position at the second time, and the one or more operating parameters of the vehicle; estimating a carbon output rate for the first period, based at least in part on the identity of the vehicle and the vehicle activity over the first period; and generating a carbon emission value for the vehicle, based at least in part on the first carbon output rate. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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47. An apparatus for estimating a vehicle'"'"'s carbon emissions, comprising:
a computer readable medium having encoded thereon a set of instructions executable by one or more computers to perform one or more operations, the set of instructions comprising; instructions for capturing, with a computer system, an identity of the vehicle; instructions for identifying, with the computer system, a first position of the vehicle at a first time; instructions for identifying, with the computer system, a second position of the vehicle at a second time, wherein the second time is subsequent to the first time; instructions for ascertaining one or more operating parameters of the vehicle; instructions for identifying a vehicle activity over a first period, based at least in part on the identified first position at the first time, the identified second position at the second time, and the one or more operating parameters of the vehicle; instructions for estimating a carbon output rate for the first period, based at least in part on the identity of the vehicle and the vehicle activity over the first period; and instructions for generating a carbon emission value for the vehicle, based at least in part on the first carbon output rate.
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48. A system, comprising:
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a computer system comprising one or more processors; and a computer readable medium in communication with the one or more processors, the computer readable medium having encoded thereon a set of instructions executable by the computer system to perform one or more operations, the set on instructions comprising; instructions for capturing, with the computer system, an identity of a vehicle; instructions for identifying, with the computer system, a first position of the vehicle at a first time; instructions for identifying, with the computer system, a second position of the vehicle at a second time, wherein the second time is subsequent to the first time; instructions for ascertaining one or more operating parameters of the vehicle; instructions for identifying a vehicle activity over a first period, based at least in part on the identified first position at the first time, the identified second position at the second time, and the one or more operating parameters of the vehicle; instructions for estimating a carbon output rate for the first period, based at least in part on the identity of the vehicle and the vehicle activity over the first period; and instructions for generating a carbon emission value for the vehicle, based at least in part on the first carbon output rate. - View Dependent Claims (49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96)
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97. A method of estimating carbon emissions for a fleet of vehicles, the method comprising:
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for each of a plurality of vehicles in the fleet of vehicles; capturing, with a computer system, an identity of the vehicle; identifying a vehicle activity over a first period; estimating a carbon output rate for the first period, based at least in part on the identity of the vehicle and the vehicle activity over the first period; and generating a carbon emission value for the vehicle, based at least in part on the first carbon output rate; and consolidating the carbon emission values generated for each of the plurality of vehicles, to obtain a carbon emission value for the fleet of vehicles. - View Dependent Claims (98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115)
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116. An apparatus, comprising:
a computer readable medium having encoded thereon a set of instructions executable by one or more computers to perform one or more operations, the set of instructions comprising; for each of a plurality of vehicles in the fleet of construction vehicles; instructions for capturing, with a computer system, an identity of the vehicle; instructions for identifying a vehicle activity over a first period; instructions for estimating a carbon output rate for the first period, based at least in part on the identity of the vehicle and the vehicle activity over the first period; and instructions for generating a carbon emission value for the vehicle, based at least in part on the first carbon output rate; and instructions for consolidating the carbon emission values generated for each of the plurality of vehicles, to obtain a carbon emission value for the fleet of construction vehicles.
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117. A computer system, comprising:
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one or more processors; and a computer readable medium in communication with the one or more processors, the computer readable medium having encoded thereon a set of instructions executable by the computer system to perform one or more operations, the set on instructions comprising; for each of a plurality of vehicles in the fleet of construction vehicles; instructions for capturing, with a computer system, an identity of the vehicle; instructions for identifying a vehicle activity over a first period; instructions for estimating a carbon output rate for the first period, based at least in part on the identity of the vehicle and the vehicle activity over the first period; and instructions for generating a carbon emission value for the vehicle, based at least in part on the first carbon output rate; and instructions for consolidating the carbon emission values generated for each of the plurality of vehicles, to obtain a carbon emission value for the fleet of construction vehicles. - View Dependent Claims (118, 119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127)
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128. A mobile device for providing information to a user about carbon emissions, the mobile device comprising:
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one or more processors; a first interface, in communication with the one or more processors, for receiving position information; a second interface, in communication with the one or more processors, for communicating via a communication network; and a computer readable storage medium in communication with the one or more processors, the computer readable storage medium having encoded thereon a set of instructions executable by the mobile device to perform one or more operations, the set of instructions comprising; instructions for providing a user interface to allow interaction between a user and the mobile device; instructions for identifying a vehicle for which carbon output is to be tracked; instructions for receiving position information via the first interface; instructions for identifying, based at least in part on the position information, a first position of the mobile device at a first time; instructions for identifying, based at least in part on the position information, a second position of the mobile device at a second time; instructions for transmitting, via the second interface, an identification of the vehicle, an identification of the first position and an identification of the second position; instructions for receiving, via the second interface, information about carbon emissions of the vehicle over a period of time defined by the first time and the second time; and instructions for providing, via the user interface, feedback for the user, based on the information about carbon emissions of the vehicle over the period of time. - View Dependent Claims (129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134)
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135. An apparatus, comprising:
a computer readable storage medium having encoded thereon a set of instructions executable by a mobile device to perform one or more operations, the set of instructions comprising; instructions for providing a user interface to allow interaction between a user and the mobile device; instructions for identifying a vehicle for which carbon output is to be tracked; instructions for receiving position information at the mobile device; instructions for identifying, based at least in part on the position information, a first position of the mobile device at a first time; instructions for identifying, based at least in part on the position information, a second position of the mobile device at a second time; instructions for transmitting an identification of the vehicle, an identification of the first position and an identification of the second position; instructions for receiving information about carbon emissions of the vehicle over a period of time defined by the first time and the second time; and instructions for providing, via the user interface, feedback for the user, based on the information about carbon emissions of the vehicle over the period of time.
Specification