AUTOMATED VEHICLE IDENTIFICATION AND INSPECTION DATA PROCESSING SYSTEM

• US 20170116792A1
• Filed: 10/25/2016
• Published: 04/27/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/26/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Telogis Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Jelinek, Howard, Mason, Ralph James
• Granted Patent: US 10,304,260 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/12 in graphical form
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information

Abstract

This disclosure relates to systems and methods for providing an automated verification and analysis of vehicle inspection reports to a vehicle management system. Among other features, the vehicle management system can determine the type of vehicle to be inspected during a vehicle inspection report, provide customized reports associated with the identified vehicle, and provide automatic analysis and verification that the vehicle inspection report was completed in accordance with the defined parameters of the vehicle inspection report.

Claims

1. A method of remote verification of a vehicle inspection comprising a plurality of inspections of a plurality of vehicle inspection locations, respectively, the method comprising:

by a mobile computing device comprising computer hardware;

capturing a first identification image of at least a portion of a vehicle, the portion of the vehicle comprising a vehicle identification indicia, and wherein the captured first identification image comprises an image of the vehicle identification indicia;

obtaining vehicle identification information identifying a vehicle based, at least in part, on an analysis of the first identification image;

providing an interface associated with a vehicle inspection report for the identified vehicle, the vehicle inspection report comprising at least one data field associated with a first inspection of a first inspection location on the vehicle;

capturing at least a first inspection image of the first inspection location on the vehicle;

adding the first inspection image to the vehicle inspection report and in association with first inspection data of the first inspection;

receiving an input indicating completion of the first inspection of the first inspection location on the vehicle; and

providing at least a portion of the first inspection data associated with the completion of the first inspection to a vehicle management system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the analysis of the first identification image is performed by the mobile computing device.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting the first identification image to the vehicle management system, wherein the analysis of the first identification image is performed by the vehicle management system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle identification indicia comprises a license plate.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising automatically populating a vehicle inspection report based on stored information associated with the identified vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising obtaining location information associated with the first inspection image, wherein the location information identifies a location of the mobile computing device during capture of the first inspection image.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising obtaining location information identifying a location of the mobile computing device in response to receiving input indicating completion of the first inspection.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein providing at least a portion of data associated with the completion of the inspection location to a vehicle management system is provided after the vehicle inspection report has been completed.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing instructions associated with the inspection of the first inspection location.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising providing an indication within the user interface of a second inspection location on the vehicle for inspection.

11. A system for remote verification of a vehicle inspection, the method comprising:

a data store configured to store vehicle inspection information associated with a plurality of vehicle inspection reports;

a computing device comprising a hardware processor configured with executable instructions that configure the processor to;

receive a first image of at least a portion of a vehicle comprising vehicle identification information;

obtain vehicle identification information identifying a vehicle based, at least in part, on an analysis of the first image;

provide an interface associated with a vehicle inspection report for the identified vehicle, the vehicle inspection report comprising at least one data field associated with an inspection location on the vehicle;

capture one or more images associated with the inspection location on the vehicle included within the vehicle inspection report;

update the vehicle inspection report to indicate that the completion of the inspection location on the vehicle.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the analysis of the first image is performed by the computing device.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the computing device is further configured to transmit the first image to a vehicle management system, wherein the analysis of the first image is performed by the vehicle management system.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the vehicle identification information is obtained from a license plate.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the computing device is further configured to obtain a vehicle inspection report associated with the identified vehicle from the data store.

16. The system of claim 11 further comprising obtaining location information associated with the one or more images, wherein the location information identifies a location of the computing device during capture of each image of the one or more images.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the computing device is further configured to transmit at least a portion of information included within the vehicle inspection report to a vehicle management system after completion of the vehicle inspection report.

18. A computer-implemented method of remote proximity detection during a vehicle inspection, the method comprising:

determining a vehicle location and a vehicle orientation, based at least in part, on vehicle location information received from at least one location device of a vehicle;

determining a location of an inspection point of the vehicle, based at least in part, on the determined vehicle location and the vehicle orientation;

determining a location of an operator device based, at least in part, on operator device location information received from the operator device;

determining a distance between the location of the operator device and the location of the inspection point; and

determining whether the determined distance between the location of the operator device and the location of the inspection point satisfies a proximity threshold associated with the inspection point; and

based on a determination that the determined distance satisfies the proximity threshold, outputting an indication of compliance to the operator device.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the proximity threshold identifies a maximum distance between the operator device and the inspection point.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

based on a determination that the determined distance does not satisfy the proximity threshold, outputting an indication of noncompliance to the operator device.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the indication of noncompliance includes the determined distance and a distance associated with the proximity threshold.

22. The method of claim 20 further comprising updating the location of the operator device and updating the determined distance between the location of the operator device and the location of the inspection point during the vehicle inspection.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein determining the distance between the location of the operator device and the location of the inspection point is performed during vehicle inspection.