DRIVER SCORECARD SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20150112546A1
• Filed: 10/23/2013
• Published: 04/23/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Trimble Navigation Limited (Trimble Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Trimble Navigation Limited (Trimble Inc.)
• Inventors: Ochsendorf, Ricky L., Nimchuk, William G., Dorazio, Thomas V.
• Granted Patent: US 9,349,228 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/33.4
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/172 Driving mode indication
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/174 Economic driving
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/00 Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/28 characterised by the type of the output information, e.g. video entertainment or vehicle dynamics information; characterised by the purpose of the output information, e.g. for attracting the attention of the driver
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 37/00 Dashboards as road-vehicle superstructure sub-units B62D25/14
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/0075 Automatic parameter input, automatic initialising or calibrating means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/046 involving external transmission of data to or from the vehicle, e.g. via telemetry, satellite, Global Positioning System [GPS]
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/143 Alarm means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/146 Display means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2554/801 Lateral distance
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/10 Historical data
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/45 External transmission of data to or from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2756/10 Involving external transmission of data to or from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/04 related to roll-over prevention
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/12 Lane keeping
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/16 Control of distance between vehicles, e.g. keeping a distance to preceding vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/09 Driving style or behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06393 Score-carding, benchmarking or key performance indicator [KPI] analysis
• 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 5/0841 : Registering performance data recording measured values G01D; information storage G11B
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/84 : Data processing systems or methods, management, administration

Abstract

Systems and methods are directed to monitoring and assessing driver behavior. A system comprises an interface configured to receive vehicle data acquired by a computer system of a vehicle, a wireless transceiver configured to effect communications with a central office via one or more networks, a display, memory configured to store scoring algorithms, and a processor. The processor is configured to receive at least some of the vehicle data, and generate, in substantially real-time and independently from the central office, a plurality of scores for a plurality of scoring parameters using the stored scoring algorithms and the received vehicle data. The processor is also configured to update, in substantially real-time and independently from the central office, the plurality of scores during a predetermined period of time, and cooperate with the display to present the plurality of scores on the display during the predetermined period of time.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

an interface configured to receive vehicle data acquired by a computer system of a vehicle;

a wireless transceiver configured to effect communications with a central office via one or more networks;

a display;

memory configured to store scoring algorithms; and

a processor configured to;

receive at least some of the vehicle data;

generate, in substantially real-time and independently from the central office, a plurality of scores for a plurality of scoring parameters using the stored scoring algorithms and the received vehicle data;

update, in substantially real-time and independently from the central office, the plurality of scores during a predetermined period of time; and

cooperate with the display to present the plurality of scores on the display during the predetermined period of time.

2. The system of claim 1, comprising an in-cab computing device communicatively coupled to the interface and transceiver, the in-cab computing device comprising the display, memory, and processor.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to update the plurality of scores in response to a detected driving event.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the memory is configured to store one or more display templates each defining a predetermined graphical layout; and

the processor is configured to cooperate with the display to present the plurality of scores in a scorecard format on the display using the one or more stored display templates.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the predetermined period of time is defined by a driver'"'"'s terminal day which is initiated at the driver'"'"'s terminal start time and completed at the driver'"'"'s terminal end time.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the memory is configured to store user-selectable thresholds associated with at least some of the scoring parameters; and

the processor is configured to generate and update the plurality of scores for the plurality of scoring parameters using the stored user-selectable thresholds, stored scoring algorithms, and the received vehicle data.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the user-selectable thresholds comprise user-selectable thresholds established for individual vehicles, groups of vehicles or a fleet of vehicles.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the memory is configured to store user-selectable total daily scoring thresholds and user-selectable scoring parameter thresholds associated with at least some of the scoring parameters and;

the processor is configured to generate and update;

the total daily scoring using the stored user-selectable total daily scoring thresholds, stored scoring algorithms, and the received vehicle data; and

the plurality of scores for the plurality of scoring parameters using the stored user-selectable thresholds, stored scoring algorithms, and the received vehicle data.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein each of the total daily scoring thresholds is associated with a predetermined level of driver performance.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to cooperate with the display to present the plurality of scores on the display during a safe mode of operation.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to cooperate with the display to present at times other than during the safe mode of operation a count of scoring event occurrences and associated score deductions for each scoring parameter during the predetermined time period.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to cooperate with the display to present a scorecard history computed from the count of scoring event occurrences and associated score deductions for a plurality of past predetermined time periods.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein processor is configured to:

receive multiple driver information from the central office; and

present average scores for the plurality of scoring parameters derived from the received multiple driver information on the display.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the central office comprises a processor configured to:

receive the vehicle data from the processor; and

compute, for the predetermined period of time, the plurality of scores for the plurality of scoring parameters using resident scoring algorithms and the received vehicle data;

wherein the updated scores of the processor match the computed scores of the remote entity processor.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the central office comprises at least one server configured to store the plurality of scores for the predetermined period of time received from the processor; and

the central office comprises an interface through which a third party server can access the stored plurality of scores and import the plurality of scores in a format suitable for incorporation into a scorecard producible by the third party server.

16. A system, comprising:

an interface configured to receive vehicle data acquired by a computer system of a vehicle;

a wireless transceiver configured to effect communications with a central office via one or more networks;

one or more sensors configured for installation on the vehicle and to generate sensor data;

a display;

memory configured to store scoring algorithms; and

a processor configured to;

receive at least some of the vehicle data and sensor data;

generate, in substantially real-time and independently from the central office, a plurality of scores for a plurality of scoring parameters using the stored scoring algorithms and the received vehicle and sensor data;

update, in substantially real-time and independently from the central office, the plurality of scores during a predetermined period of time; and

cooperate with the display to present the plurality of scores on the display during the predetermined period of time.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the one or more sensors comprise one or more of a lane departure sensor, a following distance sensor, and a roll stability sensor.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein at least one of the plurality of scores presented on the display comprises a score derived from the sensor data.

19. A method, comprising:

receiving vehicle data from a vehicle computer system;

storing driver scoring algorithms at the vehicle;

generating, in substantially real-time and at the vehicle, a plurality of scores for a plurality of driver scoring parameters using the stored scoring algorithms and the received vehicle data;

updating, in substantially real-time and at the vehicle, the plurality of scores during a predetermined period of time; and

presenting the plurality of scores in a cab of the vehicle during the predetermined period of time.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

storing, at the vehicle, user-selectable thresholds established for a fleet of vehicles and associated with at least some of the scoring parameters; and

generating and updating the plurality of scores for the plurality of scoring parameters using the stored user-selectable thresholds, stored scoring algorithms, and the received vehicle data.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

receiving sensor data from one or more third-party sensors added to the vehicle; and

generating, in substantially real-time and at the vehicle, at least some of the plurality of scores for at least some of the plurality of scoring parameters using the stored scoring algorithms and the received vehicle and sensor data.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising transmitting at least the plurality of scores for the predetermined period of time to a remote server.