Communications Platform For Facilitating Efficient Container Transport

• US 20170148313A1
• Filed: 11/21/2016
• Published: 05/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Leidos, Inc. (Leidos Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Leidos, Inc. (Leidos Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Zografos, Anastasios
• Granted Patent: US 9,990,845 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/047 Optimisation of routes or paths, e.g. travelling salesman problem
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06312 Adjustment or analysis of established resource schedule, e.g. resource or task levelling, or dynamic rescheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/083 Shipping
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0833 Tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0112 from the vehicle, e.g. floating car data [FCD]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/012 from other sources than vehicle or roadside beacons, e.g. mobile networks
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0141 for traffic information dissemination
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/202 Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• 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 process, including a mobile application, for tracking the drayage driver and vehicle movement and reporting where the driver is and how much time he has been at a location, as well as details about the driver and cargo is described. This process can correlate driver and vehicle identification and allow for the transfer of bill of lading or hazardous material restrictions. Data captured is easily be made available in advance to the port terminals (which must have container ready for pick up); available for the shipping company (which can see cargo en-route—regardless of which company the driver works for); and available for the destination warehouse (which must receive and process the shipment). The association of cargo owners, shippers, terminal yards, drayage companies, drivers, and drayage job assignments can further be linked.

Claims

1. A system for determining a wait time along a predetermined vehicle route comprising:

multiple sensors for receiving individual wireless signals from one or more emitting devices located in a vehicle within a predetermined threshold range of the thereof, wherein each of the multiple sensors is located along the predetermined vehicle route;

a wireless data aggregator module running on at least one processor for collecting the individual wireless signals from the multiple sensors, wherein for each individual wireless signal the wireless data aggregator module identifies at least an individual transmission device emitting the individual wireless signal and the multiple sensor that received the individual wireless signal; and

a wait time determination module running on at least one processor for analyzing data from the wireless data aggregator module to calculate a length of time that each of the individual wireless signals takes to move along the predetermined vehicle route and generating an output indicative of the length of time for at least one of the individual wireless signals.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein one or more of the individual wireless signals are emitted from a mobile device located within the vehicle or a device integrated with the vehicle.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the individual wireless signals are selected from the group consisting of Bluetooth, WiFi, and radio frequency.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the output indicative of length of time represents data for multiple individual wireless signals and includes an average wait time for a first predetermined portion of the route, an average wait time for a second predetermined portion of the route and a total average wait time for the first predetermined portion and second predetermined portion route in combination.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein at least a portion of the received individual wireless signals are from registered emitting devices, wherein an identity of one of the vehicle and the driver are known to the data aggregator module in accordance with the registered emitting device, the registered emitting devices being registered through the wait time determination module.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein for each of the registered emitting devices, the output indicative of the length of time includes estimated wait time for the registered emitting device, wherein the estimated wait time is calculated in real time using current wireless signal data available from the registered emitting device.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein for each of the registered emitting devices, the output indicative of the length of time includes an estimated running time for the registered emitting device along the predetermined vehicle route and an estimated remaining time to travel for the registered device along the predetermine vehicle route.

8. The system of claim 5, further comprising:

at least one server for communicating with one or more external sources of data related to a user associated with each of the registered emitting devices; and

at least one database for storing data indicative of the registered emitting devices, each of the individual wireless signals from the multiple sensors, and predetermined drayage order data assigned to each of the registered emitting devices;

wherein the wait time determination module analyzes stored data and determines updated drayage order status for registered emitting devices in accordance with estimated wait time for each of the registered emitting devices.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the one or more external sources of data includes driver credential information for drivers associated with the registered emitting devices.

10. A process for determining a wait time along a predetermined vehicle route comprising:

receiving individual wireless signals from one or more emitting devices in a vehicle at multiple sensors located within a predetermined threshold range of the thereof, wherein each of the multiple sensors is located along the predetermined vehicle route;

collecting the individual wireless signals from the multiple sensors at a wireless data aggregator module running on at least one processor, wherein for each individual wireless signal the wireless data aggregator module identifies at least an individual transmission device emitting the individual wireless signal and the multiple sensor that received the individual wireless signal; and

analyzing data from the wireless data aggregator module by a wait time determination module running on at least one processor to calculate a length of time that each of the individual wireless signals takes to move along the predetermined vehicle route and generating an output indicative of the length of time for at least one of the individual wireless signals.

11. The process of claim 10, wherein the output indicative of length of time represents data for multiple individual wireless signals and includes an average wait time for a first predetermined portion of the route, an average wait time for a second predetermined portion of the route and a total average wait time for the first predetermined portion and second predetermined portion route in combination.

12. The process of claim 10, wherein at least a portion of the received individual wireless signals are from registered emitting devices, wherein an identity of one of the vehicle and the driver are known to the data aggregator module in accordance with the registered emitting device, the registered emitting devices being registered through the wait time determination module.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein for each of the registered emitting devices, the output indicative of the length of time includes estimated wait time for the registered emitting device, wherein the estimated wait time is calculated in real time using current wireless signal data available from the registered emitting device.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein for each of the registered emitting devices, the output indicative of the length of time includes an estimated running time for the registered emitting device along the predetermined vehicle route and an estimated remaining time to travel for the registered device along the predetermine vehicle route.

15. The process of claim 12, further comprising:

communicating over at least one server with one or more external sources of data related to a user associated with each of the registered emitting devices; and

storing in at least one database data indicative of the registered emitting devices, each of the individual wireless signals from the multiple sensors, and predetermined drayage order data assigned to each of the registered emitting devices;

analyzing by the wait time determination module the stored data and determining updated drayage order status for registered emitting devices in accordance with estimated wait time for each of the registered emitting devices.