FLEET MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD EMPLOYING MOBILE DEVICE MONITORING AND RESEARCH

• US 20130316731A1
• Filed: 05/14/2013
• Published: 11/28/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Trimble Navigation Limited (Trimble Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Trimble Navigation Limited (Trimble Inc.)
• Inventors: Lowell, James Russell, Konezny, Ronald Edward, Johnson, Andrew
• Granted Patent: US 8,750,899 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

Systems, apparatuses and methods for monitoring wireless communication performance. A fleet of moving vehicles equipped with communication devices communicate data call records, including a geographic location of the vehicle when the communication was attempted, to a central office. Indications of successful and unsuccessful call record communications attempts are aggregated by geographic area using the geographic location data from the vehicles. Call success rate levels for the geographic areas are determined based on the aggregated indications of successful and unsuccessful call record communication attempts. These levels may be presented on geographical maps or otherwise, and/or used for network analysis purposes.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

producing call records at each of a plurality of vehicles, wherein each of the call records comprises at least a geographic location of the respective vehicle and network carrier information when transmission of the call record was attempted;

receiving the call records associated with successful call record communication attempts in substantially real-time in response to the respective vehicles having moved into an operable network area from a defective network area that caused the unsuccessful call record communication attempts;

receiving the call records associated with unsuccessful call record communication attempts by way of their transmission with successful call record communication attempts;

aggregating indications of successful and unsuccessful call record communication attempts by geographic area as determined from a geographic location of the vehicles indicated in the respective call records; and

determining a call success rate level for each of the geographic areas based on the aggregated indications of successful and unsuccessful call record communication attempts.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting graphical output distinguishing the relative call success rate levels of the plurality of the geographic areas.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting a geographic map inclusive of a plurality of the geographic areas; and

distinguishing on the geographic map the relative call success rate levels of the plurality of the geographic areas.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

each of the call records further includes an indication of a time in which the communication of the call record was attempted; and

the method further comprises presenting a chronological timeline of the aggregated indications of successful and unsuccessful call record communication attempts by geographic area.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein:

presenting the chronological timeline comprises presenting the successful call record communication attempts on the timeline in substantially real-time; and

presenting the unsuccessful call record communication attempts on the timeline at a prior time on the timeline corresponding to the time in which the unsuccessful call record communication was attempted.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

configuring a size of the geographic areas;

wherein determining a call success rate level for each of the geographic areas comprises determining a call success rate level for the configured size of each of the geographic areas.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

each of the call records further includes an identifier of the network carrier utilized in the attempted transmission of the call record; and

the method further comprises presenting an identification of the network carriers associated with at least the unsuccessful call record attempts.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the call records comprise one or more of:

an indication of received signal strength;

communication signal quality data;

an indication of a communication system identifier (SID) area or market;

an indication of switch transfer success;

an indication of a point-to-point failure; and

an indication of a failure at a roaming provider;

9. A method, comprising:

moving a plurality of wireless communication devices by a plurality of vehicles relative to a plurality of geographically defined communication service regions;

initiating data transmissions comprising vehicle data, location data, and network carrier information by the communication devices as the vehicles move in, through, and out of the geographically defined communication service regions,

storing, locally at each vehicle, at least the vehicle data, the location data, and the network carrier information associated with each data transmission as a call record;

receiving, in substantially real-time at a central office, call records from the communication devices that successfully complete the data transmission with the central office;

receiving, at the central office, the call records for unsuccessful attempted data transmissions by way of call records of successfully completed data transmissions with the central office;

storing, in substantially real-time in a database at the central office, at least the vehicle and location data for call records received at the central office via the successfully completed data transmissions; and

updating the database to incorporate at least the vehicle data, the location data, and the network carrier information for call records corresponding to the unsuccessful attempted data transmissions.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein updating the database comprises updating a data table reflecting time of occurrence of the attempted data transmission for each of the successful and unsuccessful data transmissions.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein updating the data table comprises backfilling the data table with the vehicle data associated with call records for the unsuccessful attempted data transmissions so that the vehicle data and the network carrier information for all received call records reflected in the data table can be organized according to time of data transmission initiation.

12. The method of claim 9, comprising calculating a metric indicative of successful transmission of call records from the vehicles to the central office.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein calculating the metric comprises determining which of a plurality of potential points of failure contributed to the inability to successfully establish a connection between a particular communication device and the central office at the time of data transmission initiation.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the network carrier information comprises one or more of:

an indication of a failure at a cell tower;

an indication of a failure of a switch associated with a cell tower;

an indication of a failure at a roaming provider;

an indication of a failure at a home provider; and

an indication of a failure of an Internet connection to the central office.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the network carrier information comprises one or more of:

an indication of received signal strength;

communication signal quality data;

an indication of a communication system identifier (SID) area or market; and

an indication of a point-to-point failure.

16. A system, comprising:

a mobile communication apparatus, comprising;

a wireless communication device configured for deployment at a vehicle that transits relative to a plurality of geographically defined communication service regions;

a processor coupled to the communication device and configured to initiate data transmissions comprising vehicle data, location data, and network carrier information as the vehicle moves in, through, and out of the geographically defined communication service regions; and

memory coupled to the processor and configured to store at least the vehicle data, the location data, and the network carrier information associated with each data transmission as a call record; and

a remote system configured to communicate with each of a plurality of the mobile communication apparatuses, the remote system comprising;

a receiver configured to receive, in substantially real-time, call records from the communication devices that successfully establish a connection with the remote system at the time of data transmission initiation;

the receiver configured to receive, in a store and forward mode, call records from the communication devices that were unable to successfully establish a connection with the remote system at the time of data transmission initiation;

a processor configured to store, in substantially real-time in a database, at least the vehicle and location data for call records received at the remote system via the successfully established connections; and

the processor configured to update the database to incorporate at least the vehicle data, the location data, and the network carrier information for call records received at the remote system via the store and forward mode.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the processor of the remote system is configured to update a data table reflecting time of occurrence of a data transmission attempt for each of the successful and unsuccessful data transmissions.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the processor of the remote system is configured to backfill the data table with the vehicle data, the location data, and the network carrier information associated with call records for the unsuccessful attempted data transmissions so that the vehicle data, the location data, and the network carrier information for all received call records reflected in the data table can be organized according to time of data transmission initiation.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the processor of the remote system is configured to calculate a metric indicative of successful transmission of call records from the vehicles to the remote system.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the processor is configured to determine which of a plurality of potential points of failure contributed to the inability to successfully establish a connection between a particular communication device and the remote system at the time of data transmission initiation.