SYSTEM FOR PROCESSING FLEET VEHICLE OPERATION INFORMATION

• US 20130338855A1
• Filed: 06/18/2013
• Published: 12/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Telogis Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Mason, Ralph James, Mitchell, David John, Morris, John Thomas
• Granted Patent: US 9,014,876 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/2
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 2009/0092 for cargo, freight or shipping containers and applications therefore in general
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0816 Indicating performance data, e.g. occurrence of a malfunction
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers

Abstract

In one embodiment, a system for presenting fleet vehicle operation information in standardized forms includes a telematics module and a data standardizing module. The telematics module receives measurements related to operation of multiple vehicles in a fleet. The data standardizing module, using a first technique, estimates a first value for a parameter for at least one vehicle of the multiple vehicles based at least on the measurements. Further, the data standardizing module, using a second technique, estimates a second value for the parameter for at least one vehicle of the multiple vehicles based at least on the measurements. The second technique including using some measurement to estimate the second value different from the measurements used to estimate the first value according to the first technique. The data standardizing module outputs one or both of the first value and the second value for presentation to a user.

Claims

1. A system for presenting fleet vehicle operation information in standardized forms, the system comprising:

a computer system comprising computer hardware programmed to implement a telematics module and a data standardizing module;

the telematics module configured to receive measurements related to operation of a plurality of vehicles in a fleet of vehicles; and

the data standardizing module configured to;

using a first technique, estimate a first value for a parameter for at least one vehicle of the plurality of vehicles based at least on one or more of the measurements, the parameter indicative of diagnostic information,

using a second technique, estimate a second value for the parameter for at least one vehicle of the plurality of vehicles based at least on one or more of the measurements, the second technique comprising using at least some measurement to estimate the second value that is different from the one or more of the measurements used to estimate the first value according to the first technique, and

output one or both of the first value and the second value for presentation to a user.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the data standardizing module is configured to estimate the first value for a first vehicle of the plurality of vehicles, and estimate the second value for the first vehicle.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the data standardizing module is configured to assign timestamps to the first value and the second value according to a time when the parameter is estimated.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the data standardizing module is configured assign a first quality value to the first value and a second quality value to the second value based at least on the measurements used to estimate the parameter.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the data standardizing module is configured to output one of the first value and the second value for presentation to the user based at least on whether the first value or the second value has a higher assigned quality value.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the data standardizing module is configured assign the first quality value and the second quality value further based on quality metrics associated with the measurements used to estimate the parameter.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the telematics module is configured to receive the measurements from in-vehicles devices associated with the plurality of vehicles.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the measurements comprise vehicle diagnostic data and global positioning system (GPS) data.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the data standardizing module is configured to estimate the first value further based on one or more previously estimated values for the parameter.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the data standardizing module is configured to store to a memory the first value and the second value, the measurements used to estimate the first value and the second value, and a link between the first value and the second value and the measurements used to estimate the first value and the second value.

11. A method for presenting fleet vehicle operation information in standardized forms, the method comprising:

accessing measurements related to operation of a plurality of vehicles in a fleet of vehicles;

using a first technique, estimating a first value for a parameter for at least one vehicle of the plurality of vehicles based at least on one or more of the measurements, the parameter indicative of diagnostic information;

using a second technique, estimating a second value for the parameter for at least one vehicle of the plurality of vehicles based at least on one or more of the measurements, the second technique comprising using at least some measurement to estimate the second value that is different from the one or more of the measurements used to estimate the first value according to the first technique; and

outputting one or both of the first value and the second value for presentation to a user,

wherein the method is performed by a computer system comprising computer hardware.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said estimating the first value comprises estimating the first value for a first vehicle of the plurality of vehicles, and wherein said estimating the second value comprising estimating the second value for a second vehicle of the plurality of vehicles, the first vehicle being a different vehicle from the second vehicle.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said outputting comprises outputting the first value and the second value for presentation to the user at the same time.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising selecting the measurements used for estimating the first value and the second value based at least on a vehicle type of the first vehicle and a vehicle type of the second vehicle.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said selecting comprises selecting the measurements further based on devices used to determine the measurements, an amount of data used to store the measurements, and an accuracy of the first value and the second value.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising generating a first configuration message for a first in-vehicle device associated with the first vehicle and a second configuration message for a second in-vehicle device associated with the second vehicle, the first configuration message instructing to determine the selected one or more of the measurements for the first vehicle, the second configuration message instructing to determine the selected one or more of the measurements for the second vehicle.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein said selecting comprises selecting the measurements for the first vehicle and the second vehicle using a dependency tree, the dependency tree organizing and ranking at least some of the measurements usable to estimate the parameter.

18. Non-transitory physical computer storage comprising instructions stored thereon for implementing, in one or more processors, a method for presenting fleet vehicle operation information in standardized forms, the method comprising:

accessing measurements related to operation of a plurality of vehicles in a fleet of vehicles;

using a first technique, estimating a first value for a parameter for at least one vehicle of the plurality of vehicles based at least on one or more of the measurements, the parameter indicative of diagnostic information;

using a second technique, estimating a second value for the parameter for at least one vehicle of the plurality of vehicles based at least on one or more of the measurements, the second technique comprising using at least some measurement to estimate the second value that is different from the one or more of the measurements used to estimate the first value according to the first technique; and

outputting one or both of the first value and the second value for presentation to a user.

19. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 18, wherein said estimating the first value comprises estimating the first value for a first vehicle of the plurality of vehicles, and wherein said estimating the second value comprises estimating the second value for the first vehicle.

20. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 18, wherein said estimating the first value comprises estimating the first value for at least one hundred vehicles of the plurality of vehicles and estimating the first value for a first vehicle of the plurality of vehicles, and wherein said estimating the second value comprising estimating the second value for at least one hundred vehicles of the plurality of vehicles and estimating the second value for a second vehicle of the plurality of vehicles, the first vehicle being a different vehicle from the second vehicle.