SYSTEM FOR PROCESSING FLEET VEHICLE OPERATION INFORMATION

• US 20150325062A1
• Filed: 04/16/2015
• Published: 11/12/2015
• 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 9,672,667 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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

1-20. -20. (canceled)

21. Non-transitory physical computer storage comprising instructions stored thereon for implementing, in one or more processors, a method for presenting fleet vehicle operation information to a manager of a plurality of vehicles in a fleet of vehicles, the method comprising:

receiving vehicle telematics data for the plurality of vehicles, the vehicle telematics data comprising measurements related to operation of the plurality of vehicles including a first vehicle having measurement reporting capabilities to provide a first subset of the measurements and a second subset of the measurements different from the first subset of the measurements;

assigning a first quality value to the first subset of the measurements based at least on one of a source of the first subset of the measurements, an age of the first subset of the measurements, a precision of the first subset of the measurements, and an estimated accuracy of the first subset of the measurements;

assigning a second quality value to the second subset of the measurements based at least on one of a source of the second subset of the measurements, an age of the second subset of the measurements, a precision of the second subset of the measurements, and an estimated accuracy of the second subset of the measurements, the second quality value being different from the first quality value and associated with lower quality than the first quality value;

comparing the first quality value and the second quality value with one or more thresholds;

based at least on said comparing, selecting one or more of the first subset of the measurements for use in estimating a first value for a parameter indicative of vehicle performance information for the first vehicle, the second subset of the measurements being usable to estimate a second value for the parameter;

estimating the first value for the parameter using the first subset of the measurements and without using the second subset of the measurements; and

presenting the first value on a display to the manager.

22. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 21, wherein said assigning the first quality value comprises assigning the first quality value to the first subset of the measurements based at least on the source of the first subset of the measurements, and said assigning the second quality value comprises assigning the second quality value to the second subset of the measurements based at least on the source of the second subset of the measurements, the source of the first subset of the measurements being associated with higher quality than the source of the second subset of the measurements.

23. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 21, wherein said assigning the first quality value comprises assigning the first quality value to the first subset of the measurements based at least on the source of the first subset of the measurements, and said assigning the second quality value comprises assigning the second quality value to the second subset of the measurements based at least on the source of the second subset of the measurements, wherein the method further comprises:

subsequent to said assigning the first quality value, assigning a third quality value to a third subset of the measurements different from the first subset of the measurements and the second subset of the measurements, the third quality value being different from the first quality value, the third subset of the measurements being provided by the source of the first subset of the measurements;

subsequent to said assigning the second quality value, assigning a fourth quality value to a fourth subset of the measurements different from the first subset of the measurements, the second subset of the measurements, and the third subset of the measurements, the fourth quality value being different from the third quality value and associated with higher quality than the third quality value, the fourth subset of the measurements being provided by the source of the second subset of the measurements;

based at least on comparing the third quality value and the fourth quality value with the one or more thresholds, selecting one or more of the fourth subset of the measurements for use in estimating a third value for the parameter;

estimating the third value for the parameter using the fourth subset of the measurements and without using the third subset of the measurements; and

presenting the third value on the display to the manager.

24. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 23, wherein the method further comprises presenting at least two of the first quality value, the second quality value, the third quality value, and the fourth quality value on the display to the manager.

25. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 21, wherein said assigning the first quality value comprises assigning the first quality value to the first subset of the measurements based at least on the age of the first subset of the measurements, and said assigning the second quality value comprises assigning the second quality value to the second subset of the measurements based at least on the age of the second subset of the measurements, the age of the first subset of the measurements being younger than the age of the second subset of the measurements.

26. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 21, wherein said assigning the first quality value comprises assigning the first quality value to the first subset of the measurements based at least on the precision of the first subset of the measurements, and said assigning the second quality value comprises assigning the second quality value to the second subset of the measurements based at least on the precision of the second subset of the measurements, the precision of the first subset of the measurements being higher than the precision of the second subset of the measurements.

27. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 21, wherein said assigning the first quality value comprises assigning the first quality value to the first subset of the measurements based at least on the estimated accuracy of the first subset of the measurements, and said assigning the second quality value comprises assigning the second quality value to the second subset of the measurements based at least on the estimated accuracy of the second subset of the measurements, the estimated accuracy of the first subset of the measurements being higher than the estimated accuracy of the second subset of the measurements.

28. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 21, wherein the one or more thresholds comprises the second quality value, and said selecting comprises selecting the one or more of the first subset of the measurements based at least on comparing the first quality value with the second quality value.

29. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 21, wherein the method further comprises discarding the second subset of the measurements from a memory based at least on comparing the second quality value with the one or more thresholds.

30. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 21, wherein said assigning the first quality value comprises:

selecting from at least a first quality indication, a second quality indication, and a third quality indication to be assigned as the first quality value, the first quality indication being different from the second quality indication and the third quality indication, the second quality indication being different from the third quality indication; and

assigning one of the first quality indication, the second quality indication, and the third quality indication as the first quality value.

31. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 21, wherein the method further comprises:

prior to said selecting,

storing in a memory the first subset of the measurements in association with the first quality value, and

retrieving from the memory the first subset of the measurements and the first quality value in response to a user input.

32. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 21, wherein the method further comprises, subsequent to said estimating the first value, estimating the second value for the parameter using the second subset of the measurements.

33. Non-transitory physical computer storage comprising instructions stored thereon for implementing, in one or more processors, a method for presenting fleet vehicle operation information to a manager of a plurality of vehicles in a fleet of vehicles, the method comprising:

receiving vehicle telematics data for the plurality of vehicles, the vehicle telematics data comprising measurements related to operation of the plurality of vehicles including a first vehicle having measurement reporting capabilities to provide a first subset of the measurements and a second subset of the measurements different from the first subset of the measurements;

assigning a first quality value to the first subset of the measurements based at least on one of a source of the first subset of the measurements, an age of the first subset of the measurements, a precision of the first subset of the measurements, and an estimated accuracy of the first subset of the measurements;

assigning a second quality value to the second subset of the measurements based at least on one of a source of the second subset of the measurements, an age of the second subset of the measurements, a precision of the second subset of the measurements, and an estimated accuracy of the second subset of the measurements, the second quality value being different from the first quality value;

estimating a value for the parameter using the first subset of the measurements and the second subset of the measurements by weighting the first subset of the measurements according to the first quality value and the second subset of the measurements according to the second quality value; and

presenting the value on a display to the manager.

34. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 33, wherein said assigning the first quality value comprises assigning the first quality value to the first subset of the measurements based at least on the source of the first subset of the measurements, and said assigning the second quality value comprises assigning the second quality value to the second subset of the measurements based at least on the source of the second subset of the measurements, the source of the first subset of the measurements being associated with different quality from the source of the second subset of the measurements.

35. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 33, wherein said assigning the first quality value comprises assigning the first quality value to the first subset of the measurements based at least on the age of the first subset of the measurements, and said assigning the second quality value comprises assigning the second quality value to the second subset of the measurements based at least on the age of the second subset of the measurements, the age of the first subset of the measurements being different from the age of the second subset of the measurements.

36. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 33, wherein said assigning the first quality value comprises assigning the first quality value to the first subset of the measurements based at least on the precision of the first subset of the measurements, and said assigning the second quality value comprises assigning the second quality value to the second subset of the measurements based at least on the precision of the second subset of the measurements, the precision of the first subset of the measurements being different from the precision of the second subset of the measurements.

37. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 33, wherein said assigning the first quality value comprises assigning the first quality value to the first subset of the measurements based at least on the estimated accuracy of the first subset of the measurements, and said assigning the second quality value comprises assigning the second quality value to the second subset of the measurements based at least on the estimated accuracy of the second subset of the measurements, the estimated accuracy of the first subset of the measurements being different from the estimated accuracy of the second subset of the measurements.

38. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 33, wherein the method further comprises presenting the first quality value and the second quality value on the display to the manager.

39. The non-transitory physical computer storage of claim 33, wherein said assigning the first quality value comprises:

selecting from at least a first quality indication, a second quality indication, and a third quality indication to be assigned as the first quality value, the first quality indication being different from the second quality indication and the third quality indication, the second quality indication being different from the third quality indication; and

assigning one of the first quality indication, the second quality indication, and the third quality indication as the first quality value.