DYNAMIC VEHICLE PERFORMANCE ANALYZER WITH SMOOTHING FILTER

• US 20160368508A1
• Filed: 06/17/2016
• Published: 12/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Crown Equipment Corporation
• Original Assignee: Crown Equipment Corporation
• Inventors: Manci, Lewis H., Swift, Philip W., Waltz, Lucas B.
• Granted Patent: US 10,625,751 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/143 Alarm means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/146 Display means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/45 External transmission of data to or from the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 30/188 Controlling power parameters of the driveline, e.g. determining the required power
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/0205 Diagnosing or detecting failures; Failure detection models
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/038 Limiting the input power, torque or speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• 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 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005

Abstract

A computer implemented process is carried out by identifying a metric that characterizes an event associated with the operation of an industrial vehicle. Information about the metric is transmitted to an industrial vehicle. Further, the process includes receiving event data that characterizes a response of the industrial vehicle to the event. The process also includes updating a score for the instance of the metric associated with the vehicle operator by deriving a raw score value based upon the received event data, aggregating the derived raw score value to previously derived raw scores for the metric, and computing a modified score by applying a filter to the aggregate of raw score values. The process also includes comparing the computed modified score with a predetermined modification criteria, and sending a command back to the industrial vehicle to modify the industrial vehicle based upon the comparison.

Claims

1. A computer implemented process of controlling industrial vehicle performance, comprising:

identifying, at a server computer, a metric that characterizes an event associated with the operation of an industrial vehicle, the metric having at least one performance parameter to evaluate against the event;

associating the metric with an industrial vehicle operator login identification;

transmitting information about the metric to the industrial vehicle to which an operator has logged in with the industrial vehicle operator login identification, wherein the information about the metric triggers specific programming within the industrial vehicle to begin processing the received information against monitored industrial vehicle operational information; and

performing in an ongoing manner;

receiving, at the server computer, event data that characterizes a response of the industrial vehicle to the event corresponding to the metric;

updating a score for the instance of the metric associated with the vehicle operator by deriving a raw score value based upon the received event data, aggregating the derived raw score value to previously derived raw scores for the metric associated with the vehicle operator, and, computing a modified score by applying a filter to the aggregate of raw score values;

comparing the computed modified score with a predetermined modification criteria; and

sending a command back to the industrial vehicle to modify the industrial vehicle based upon the comparison of the computed modified score with the predetermined modification criteria.

2. The computer implemented process of claim 1, wherein computing a modified score by applying a filter to the aggregate of raw score values comprises applying a rolling average filter that smoothes the raw score data.

3. The computer implemented process of claim 2 wherein applying a rolling average comprises applying a rolling average of the duration of raw score values corresponding to a defined proper outcome in between raw score values corresponding to a defined improper outcome.

4. The computer implemented process of claim 1, wherein comparing the computed modified score with a predetermined modification criteria comprises establishing a ranking based upon the computed score.

5. The computer implemented process of claim 1, wherein sending a command back to the industrial vehicle, further comprises comparing the computed modified score with a predetermined duration variable, and sending the command back to the industrial vehicle where a duration extracted from the event data exceeds the predetermined duration variable.

6. The computer implemented process of claim 1, wherein identifying, at a server computer, a metric that characterizes an event associated with the operation of an industrial vehicle, the metric having at least one performance parameter to evaluate against the event, comprises:

associating the metric with a geo-feature that links an occurrence of the event associated with the metric to a position within an operating environment of the industrial vehicle.

7. The computer implemented process of claim 6, wherein comparing the event data to an expected outcome in response to the event comprises:

evaluating industrial vehicle information to determine whether the industrial vehicle performed a desired action in response to the geo-feature.

8. The computer implemented process of claim 1, wherein sending a command back to the industrial vehicle includes sending a command back to add a new metric to be evaluated.

9. The computer implemented process of claim 1, wherein sending a command back to the industrial vehicle includes sending a command back to modify a vehicle performance capability.

10. The computer implemented process of claim 1 further comprising applying a ranking based upon the modified score.

11. The computer implemented process of claim 10 further comprising storing the ranking as a time history, wherein comparing the computed modified score with a predetermined modification criteria comprises maintaining a predetermined ranking for a predetermined duration.

12. A system for dynamic industrial vehicle monitoring and modification, the system comprising:

an interface that receives logon information of a vehicle operator, where the vehicle operator must successfully log into an industrial vehicle before the industrial vehicle is fully operational;

a wireless transceiver on the industrial vehicle, wherein the wireless transceiver receives information about a metric that characterizes an event associated with the operation of an industrial vehicle, the metric having at least one performance parameter to evaluate against the event; and

a processor on the industrial vehicle that is programmed to;

detect an encounter of the industrial vehicle corresponding to the event associated with the metric;

collect operation information on a current operating state of the industrial vehicle during the event by communicating with native electrical components of the industrial vehicle across a vehicle network bus so as to monitor a response of the industrial vehicle as a result of the encounter with the event;

generate event data from the collected operational information that characterizes a response of the industrial vehicle to the event corresponding to the metric;

communicate the generated event data to a remote server computer via the wireless transceiver; and

receive from the remote server computer, a command to modify the performance of the industrial vehicle, where the modification is based upon a score computed based upon previous encounters with the event, where the score is processed by a smoothing filter applied to a history of data collected in response to the metric.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the score is processed by a smoothing filter implemented as a rolling average filter.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the rolling average comprises a rolling average of the duration of raw score values corresponding to a defined proper outcome in between raw score values corresponding to a defined improper outcome.

15. The system according to claim 12, wherein the processor receives from the remote server, a command to modify the performance of the industrial vehicle where the filtered score satisfies a predetermined benchmark for a predetermined duration.

16. The system according to claim 12 further comprising:

an environmental based location tracking device on the industrial vehicle that detects location information of the industrial vehicle so as to continuously monitor a current location of the industrial vehicle within the limited-range environment;

wherein;

the processor is further programmed to;

receive geo-feature information about predefined geo-features associated within a predefined, limited-range environment in which the industrial vehicle operates, where the event is associated with the geo-feature; and

detect an encounter of the industrial vehicle corresponding to the event associated with the metric by identifying a geo-feature encounter by determining that a current location of the industrial vehicle coincides with a location of a corresponding geo-feature.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein the geo-feature is a location based feature.

18. The system according to claim 16, wherein the geo-feature is a vehicle based feature.

19. The system according to claim 16, wherein the geo-feature is a task based feature.

20. The system according to claim 12, wherein:

the processor is programmed to receive from the remote server computer, a command to modify the performance of the industrial vehicle, by receiving industrial vehicle performance tuning information that is linked to the vehicle operator logged into the industrial vehicle; and

the processor is configured to configure at least one performance feature of the industrial vehicle based upon the received industrial vehicle performance tuning.