SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MANAGING MOVABLE OBJECTS

• US 20130328703A1
• Filed: 08/13/2013
• Published: 12/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/07/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Omnitracs LLC (Solera Holdings Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Doyle, Marquis D. III
• Granted Patent: US 10,242,572 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/989
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/127 to a central station ; Indicators in a central station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles

Abstract

Systems and methods for managing a plurality of movable objects are disclosed. The systems and methods include determining a proposed pairing of a first movable object and a second movable object and confirming a coupling of the proposed pairing based on, at least in part, detecting that the first movable object and the second movable object are moving in unison.

Claims

1. A method of locating and pairing a plurality of movable objects, comprising:

determining a proposed pairing of a first movable object and a second movable object;

sending a notification to proceed with a coupling of the first movable object and the second movable object based on the proposed pairing; and

confirming the coupling based on detecting that the first movable object and the second movable object are moving in unison.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

authenticating the proposed pairing by determining that the first movable object and the second movable object are co-located; and

wherein the sending of the notification to proceed with the coupling is based on the authenticating of the proposed pairing.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein confirming the coupling further comprises:

detecting respective movements of a first coupling portion of the first movable object and a second coupling portion of the second movable object; and

wherein the confirming of the coupling comprises confirming upon detecting that the respective movements of the first coupling portion and the second coupling portion are moving in unison.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting, subsequent to the determining of the proposed pairing and before the confirming of the coupling, that the first movable object and the second movable object are not moving in unison; and

sending an improper coupling notification based on the detecting that the first movable object and the second movable object are not moving in unison.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, subsequent to the confirming of the coupling, that a first location of the first movable object and a second location of a second movable object deviate by a predetermined distance; and

determining that a physical decoupling event has occurred based on the determining that the first location of the first movable object and the second location of the second movable object deviate by the predetermined distance.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising determining and storing a location at which the physical decoupling event occurred.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

equipping the first movable object with a first asset tracking unit and equipping the second movable object with a second asset tracking unit; and

operatively connecting the first asset tracking unit and the second asset tracking unit to a network management center across a wireless communications system.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising operatively connecting a location determination system to the first asset tracking unit and the second asset tracking unit, wherein the location determination system is configured to transmit data between the first asset tracking unit and the second asset tracking unit and the network management center.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising establishing a virtual data connection between the first asset tracking unit and second asset tracking unit.

10. A data processing system for locating and pairing a plurality of movable objects, comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

determine a proposed pairing of a first movable object and a second movable object;

send a notification to proceed with a coupling of the first movable object and the second movable object based on the proposed pairing; and

confirm the coupling based on detecting that the first movable object and the second movable object are moving in unison.

11. The data processing system of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to authenticate the proposed pairing by determining that the first movable object and the second movable object are co-located, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to send the notification to proceed with the coupling based on the authenticating of the proposed pairing.

12. The data processing system of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to detect respective movements of a first coupling portion of the first movable object and a second coupling portion of the second movable object, and wherein the at least one processor is further configured to confirm the coupling upon detecting that the respective movements of the first coupling portion and the second coupling portion are moving in unison.

13. The data processing system of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

detect, subsequent to the determining of the proposed pairing and before the confirming of the coupling, that the first movable object and the second movable object are not moving in unison; and

send an improper coupling notification based on the detecting that the first movable object and the second movable object are not moving in unison.

14. The data processing system of claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

determine, subsequent to the confirming of the coupling, that a first location of the first movable object and a second location of a second movable object deviate by a predetermined distance; and

determine that a physical decoupling event has occurred based on the determining that the first location of the first movable object and the second location of the second movable object deviate by the predetermined distance.

15. The data processing system of claim 14, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine and store a location at which the physical decoupling event occurred.

16. The data processing system of claim 10, wherein the first movable object is equipped with a first asset tracking unit and the second movable object is equipped with a second asset tracking unit.

17. The data processing system of claim 16, further comprising:

a network management center; and

a location determination system operatively connectable to the first asset tracking unit and the second asset tracking unit and configured to transmit data between the first asset tracking unit and the second asset tracking unit and the network management center.

18. The data processing system of claim 16, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to establish a virtual data connection between the first asset tracking unit and second asset tracking unit.

19. A non-transitory storage medium containing computer software encoded in machine-readable format for locating and pairing a plurality of movable objects, the computer software comprising a set of computer instructions for:

determining a proposed pairing of a first movable object and a second movable object;

sending a notification to proceed with a coupling of the first movable object and the second movable object based on the proposed pairing; and

confirming the coupling based on detecting that the first movable object and the second movable object are moving in unison.

20. A system for locating and pairing a plurality of movable objects, comprising:

means for determining a proposed pairing of a first movable object and a second movable object;

means for sending a notification to proceed with a coupling of the first movable object and the second movable object based on the proposed pairing; and

means for confirming the coupling based on detecting that the first movable object and the second movable object are moving in unison.

21. A method of managing a plurality of movable objects, comprising:

determining a previous coupling between a first movable object and a second movable object; and

confirming whether the previous coupling between the first movable object and the second movable object still exists based on, at least in part, detecting whether the first movable object and the second movable object are moving in unison.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

obtaining data associated with each of the first movable object and the second movable object, the data comprising location information over time.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

detecting a decoupling event of the first movable object and the second movable object when the location information of the first movable object and the second movable object deviate by a predetermined distance; and

detecting that the previous coupling between the first movable object and the second movable object still exists when the first movable object and the second movable object are moving in unison based on the location information.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising recording at least location coordinates of the decoupling event.

25. A data processing system of managing a plurality of movable objects, comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

determine a previous coupling between a first movable object and a second movable object; and

confirm whether the previous coupling between the first movable object and the second movable object still exists based on, at least in part, detecting whether the first movable object and the second movable object are moving in unison.

26. The data processing system of claim 25, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to obtain data associated with each of the first movable object and the second movable object, the data comprising location information over time.

27. The data processing system of claim 26, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

detect a decoupling event of the first movable object and the second movable object when the location information of the first movable object and the second movable object deviate by a predetermined distance; and

detect that the previous coupling between the first movable object and the second movable object still exists when the first movable object and the second movable object are moving in unison based on the location information.

28. The data processing system of claim 27, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to record at least location coordinates of the decoupling event.

29. A non-transitory storage medium containing computer software encoded in machine-readable format for managing a plurality of movable objects, the computer software comprising a set of computer instructions for:

determining a previous coupling between a first movable object and a second movable object; and

confirming whether the previous coupling between the first movable object and the second movable object still exists based on, at least in part, detecting whether the first movable object and the second movable object are moving in unison.

30. A data processing system of managing a plurality of movable objects, comprising:

means for determining a previous coupling between a first movable object and a second movable object; and

means for confirming whether the previous coupling between the first movable object and the second movable object still exists based on, at least in part, detecting whether the first movable object and the second movable object are moving in unison.