FLEET MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

• US 20120046981A1
• Filed: 10/17/2011
• Published: 02/23/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Crown Equipment Corporation
• Original Assignee: Crown Equipment Corporation
• Inventors: Wellman, Timothy A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,239,251 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.12
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/55 Remote control arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/589 Wireless data transfers
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/592 Data transfer involving external databases
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/00 Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/80 Arrangements for controlling instruments
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/85 Arrangements for transferring vehicle- or driver-related data
• CPC Class Codes: B60Y 2200/15 Fork lift trucks, Industrial trucks
• CPC Class Codes: B66F 9/07581 Remote controls
• CPC Class Codes: B66F 9/24 Electrical devices or systems
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0282 generated in a local control room
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0291 Fleet control monitoring fleets in traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/127, G08G1/127
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0297 by controlling means in a control room
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06316 Sequencing of tasks or work
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06398 Performance of employee with respect to a job function
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/08 : Registering or indicating performance data other than driving, working, idle, or waiting time, with or without registering driving, working, idle or waiting time
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 : Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 : Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/185 : by embedding added-value information into content, e.g. geo-tagging
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 : for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 : Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A system comprises a materials handling vehicle, an information linking device and a wireless transceiver. The materials handling vehicle comprises a controller area network (CAN) bus and at least one native control module coupled to the CAN bus that generates and sends the vehicle-related data over the CAN bus. The information linking device comprises a CAN-bus interface coupled to the CAN bus of the materials handling vehicle, which extracts the vehicle-related data off of the CAN bus, a memory device coupled to the CAN-bus interface, which stores the vehicle-related data extracted off of the CAN bus and an output interface coupled to the memory device. The wireless transceiver is coupled to the output interface of the information linking device. The wireless transceiver wirelessly sends and receives across a wireless network environment.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a materials handling vehicle comprising;

a controller area network (CAN) bus; and

at least one native control module coupled to the CAN bus of the materials handling vehicle that generates vehicle-related data and sends the vehicle-related data over the CAN bus;

an information linking device physically coupled to the materials handling vehicle comprising;

a CAN-bus interface coupled to the CAN bus of the materials handling vehicle, wherein the CAN-bus interface extracts the vehicle-related data off of the CAN bus;

a memory device coupled to the CAN-bus interface, wherein the memory device stores the vehicle-related data extracted off of the CAN bus; and

an output interface coupled to the memory device; and

a wireless transceiver physically coupled to the materials handling vehicle, which is coupled to the output interface of the information linking device, wherein the wireless transceiver wirelessly communicates information corresponding to the vehicle-related data across a wireless network environment and wirelessly receives information for communication across the CAN bus to at least one native control module from across the wireless network environment.

2. The system of claim 1 further including:

a display that communicates across the CAN bus that displays data from modules of the materials handling vehicle connected to the CAN bus, and also displays information obtained from the information linking device.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a server computer, wherein the server computer;

receives the vehicle-related data from the wireless transceiver coupled to the materials handling vehicle;

stores customization parameters to customize at least one feature of the materials handling vehicle; and

sends the customization parameters to the wireless transceiver coupled to the materials handling vehicle.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein:

the wireless transceiver receives the customization parameters and sends the customization parameters to the information linking device; and

the information linking device communicates the custom parameters to the native control module over the CAN bus such that the operation of the native control module is customized based upon the custom parameters.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

power enabling circuitry that controls power to the materials handling vehicle; and

the server computer sends instructions to the information linking device via the wireless interface, wherein the information linking device deactivates the power to the materials handling device using the power enabling circuitry module.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein:

a designated one native control module comprises a select one of;

a control module and an input/output controller, which communicates vehicle-related data over the CAN bus, the vehicle-related data processed by the information linking device to control or track usage of the operation of the materials handling vehicle.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein:

the designated one native control module sends vehicle-related data across the CAN bus that comprises a select one of;

hydraulics usage and load sensing, which is obtained by the information linking device.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein:

the designated one native control module sends vehicle-related data across the CAN bus that comprises a select one of;

travel parameters, speed parameters and steering usage, which is obtained by the information linking device.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein:

the designated one native control module sends vehicle-related data across the CAN bus that comprises a select one of;

oil quality measurements, air temperature measurements, and oil temperature measurements, which is obtained by the information linking device.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein:

the designated one native control module sends vehicle-related data across the CAN bus that comprises battery charge information, which is obtained by the information linking device and is communicated to a server computer for workflow scheduling of battery recharge of the materials handling vehicle.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the peripheral device is a motor control module that controls drive wheels of the materials handling vehicle.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the peripheral device is a hydraulics control module that controls a lift of the materials handling vehicle.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the information linking device is integrated into the materials handling vehicle.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the information linking device is separate from the materials handling vehicle and is physically coupled to the materials handling vehicle and electronically coupled to the CAN bus of the materials handling vehicle.

15. An information linking device comprising:

a controller area network (CAN) bus interface that couples to a CAN bus on a materials handling vehicle;

a first memory device coupled to the CAN-bus interface;

a wireless transceiver interface coupled to the first memory device and a wireless transceiver that communicates with a server computer; and

a processor coupled to a second memory device with an executable program stored thereon, wherein the program instructs the processor to;

extract vehicle-related data off of the CAN bus;

store the vehicle-related data extracted off of the CAN bus into the first memory device;

send the vehicle-related data from the first memory device to the wireless transceiver interface; and

receive information that is communicated across the CAN bus to native vehicle components of the materials handling vehicle.

16. The information linking device of claim 15 further comprising:

a display control module comprising;

a display; and

a display controller coupled to the first memory device, wherein the display controller converts the vehicle-related data stored in the first storage device to displayable information for display on the display.

17. The information linking device of claim 16, wherein the first memory device and the second memory device are the same physical device.

18. The information linking device of claim 15, wherein the program further instructs the processor to:

receive data from the server computer; and

send the received data over the CAN bus interface to the CAN bus to control the peripheral.