VEHICLE DATA AND DRIVER ASSOCIATION FOR TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT

• US 20140045428A1
• Filed: 12/28/2012
• Published: 02/13/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: XRS Corporation (Solera Holdings Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: XRS Corporation (Solera Holdings Incorporated)
• Inventors: Mohn, Charles, Sekula, Christopher A., Kakumanu, Sarat, Tuttle, Odell R., Fuglewicz, Daniel P., Anderson, Peter S., Martin, Thomas J. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 9,390,628 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/41.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/00 Registering or indicating the working of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0858 wherein the data carrier is removable
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 7/00 Details or accessories common to the registering or indicating apparatus of groups G07C3/00 and G07C5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/00 Traffic control systems for road vehicles arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00 ; automatic vehicle control B62D
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 19/167 Control of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/00 Electrically-operated educational appliances working with questions and answers G09B7/00; simulators G09B9/00; advertising or displaying in general G09F
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• 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 portable wireless data transfer and display device comprises a user interface, a communication module, a display, and a short-range wireless communication module configured to wirelessly receive vehicle data from a data acquisition device mounted inside a vehicle when in close proximity to the data acquisition device. The device is configured to accept inputs of driver information from a user via the user interface. The device is configured to associate the inputs of driver information with the vehicle data, and further includes a long-range wireless communication module configured to send the vehicle data and the driver information, and the association of the vehicle data and the driver information through the communication module to a remote network device via a long-range wireless network. The device is further configured to present at least one of: the vehicle data, the driver information, processed data, driver communications to a user via the display.

Claims

1. A portable wireless data transfer and display device comprising:

a user interface;

a communication module;

a display;

a short-range wireless communication module configured to wirelessly receive vehicle data from a data acquisition device mounted inside a vehicle when in close proximity to the data acquisition device,

wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device is configured to accept inputs of driver information from a user via the user interface,

wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device is configured to associate the inputs of driver information with the vehicle data; and

a long-range wireless communication module configured to send the vehicle data and the driver information, and the association of the vehicle data and the driver information through the communication module to a remote network device via a long-range wireless network, and

wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device is further configured to present at least one of;

the vehicle data, the driver information, processed data, driver communications to a user via the display.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device is configured to wirelessly communicate the vehicle data, the driver information, and the driver summary electronic report with at least one remote network device or other portable wireless data transfer and display device via the short-range wireless communication module.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein one or more of the elements of the portable wireless data transfer and display device comprises cellular phone device that displays hours of service information, the hours of service information being updated in response to wirelessly receiving vehicle usage information from the data acquisition device.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the short-range wireless communication module is a Bluetooth wireless communication module.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the data acquisition device and the portable wireless data transfer and display device provide two-way wireless communication such that the portable wireless data transfer and display device wirelessly receives at least the vehicle usage information from the data acquisition device via the short-range wireless communication module and the data acquisition device wirelessly sends confirmation of receipt of the vehicle usage information to the portable wireless display unit.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device wirelessly communicates via the short range wireless communication module, at predetermined times, with the data acquisition device when the data acquisition device is mounted in the vehicle and the portable wireless data transfer and display device is in close proximity to the vehicle.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the long-range wireless network is selected from a group consisting of:

a cellular network;

a satellite communication link;

a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMax) link; and

a long term evolution (LTE).

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device is further configured to receive processed data via the communication module from the remote network device via the long-range wireless network.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device is further configured to send driver communications via a communication module to at least one of:

other portable wireless data transfer and display device, remote computer via the long-range wireless network.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device is further configured to receive driver communication via the communication module from at least one of:

other portable wireless data transfer and display device, remote computer via the long-range wireless network.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device is configured to download and independently install configuration updates from the remote network device via an installation module.

12. The device of claim 1, wherein portable wireless data transfer and display device is configured for storage of vehicle data, driver information, driver communications, processed data, and remote network device updates via memory.

13. The device of claim 1, wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device is configured to process vehicle information and driver data a driver summary electronic report, wherein sending the vehicle data and the driver information, and the association of the vehicle data and the driver information through the communication module to the remote network device comprises sending the driver summary electronic report to the remote network device.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the portable wireless is configured to wirelessly transmit the electronic report to a remote computer via a wireless network.

15. The device of claim 1, wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device is configured to send the vehicle data and the driver information, and the association of the vehicle data and the driver information through the communication module to the remote network device via the long-range wireless network at predetermined times.

16. A system comprising:

a data acquisition device configured to mount inside a vehicle and provide a wired connection to the vehicle for gathering vehicle data from the vehicle during operation of the vehicle, the data acquisition device being free of a user interface display;

a portable wireless data transfer and display device; and

a remote network device,

wherein the data acquisition device includes a first short-range wireless communication module configured to wirelessly transmit the vehicle data to the portable wireless data transfer and display device,

wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device includes a second short-range wireless communication module configured to wirelessly receive the vehicle data from the data acquisition device when the data acquisition device is mounted in the vehicle and the portable wireless data transfer and display device is in close proximity to the vehicle,

wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device is configured to accept inputs of driver information from a first user via a user interface, wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device is configured to associate the inputs of driver information with the vehicle data,

wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device further includes a long-range wireless communication module, wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device is configured to send the vehicle data and the driver information, and the association of the vehicle data and the driver information through the communication module to a remote network device via a long-range wireless network,

wherein the remote network device is configured to receive the vehicle data and the driver information, and the association of the vehicle data and the driver information from the portable wireless data transfer and display device, and present at least one of the vehicle data, and the association of the vehicle data and the driver information to a second user via second display.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device comprises a cellular phone device.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the first short-range wireless communication module and the second short-range wireless communication modules are Bluetooth wireless communication modules.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device is configured to send the vehicle data and the driver information, and the association of the vehicle data and the driver information through the long-range wireless communication module to the remote network device via the long-range wireless network at predetermined times.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device is configured to process vehicle information and driver data a driver summary electronic report, wherein sending the vehicle data and the driver information, and the association of the vehicle data and the driver information through the communication module to the remote network device comprises sending the driver summary electronic report to the remote network device.