Telematics Road Ready System with User Interface

• US 20180293891A1
• Filed: 02/25/2018
• Published: 10/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Truck-Lite Company LLC (Truck-Lite Holdings 2 Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Truck-Lite Company LLC (Truck-Lite Holdings 2 Corp.)
• Inventors: Troutman, Scott, Elmer, Roger, Jackson, Brett
• Granted Patent: US 10,388,161 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0825 using optical means
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/12 in graphical form
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/13 the indicator being in the form of a map
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles

Abstract

A system for monitoring a trailer includes a plurality of wireless sensors mounted to a trailer for monitoring conditions of the trailer; a master control unit attached to an outside surface of the trailer for receiving messages from the plurality of sensors, said master control unit including a GPS receiver module, a cellular data transceiver module for communicating with a central tracking computer via a cellular data network interfaced to the Internet, a local wireless network master transceiver module in wireless communication with the plurality of wireless sensors, and a microcontroller for controlling said local wireless network master transceiver module to periodically obtain sensor data from said wireless sensors and for controlling said cellular data transceiver module to transmit said location and sensor data; and a user interface for receiving user initiated inquires including alert requests or alert parameters and for displaying alerts including trailer status.

Claims

1. A system for remotely monitoring a plurality of trailers over a network, the system comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable medium having encoded thereon computer executable instructions configured to;

collect information regarding each trailer of the plurality of trailers, the information including the location of each trailer and data collected from a plurality of sensors and a light failure detection system;

present, in a graphical user interface (GUI) rendered on a display, the information collected in a plurality of screen views including;

an overview screen view with

a map area that includes the geographical region where at least one of said trailers is located and a graphical indication of where a trailer within said geographical region is located, and

at least one data area that displays location information for each trailer and sensor data received from at least one sensor associated with each trailer,

a dashboard screen view with a plurality of tiles for displaying sensor information from one trailer selected from the overview screen view and a control tile including a user interactive control configured to trigger a signal to a master control unit coupled to the trailer to gather information from the sensors; and

an alert screen view with a plurality of tiles for displaying alerts corresponding to sensors from a plurality of trailers.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the overview screen view displays status information for each trailer in said plurality of trailers including battery level, power source, light failure detection, door, ABS brake, cargo sensors, and tire pressure.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said overview screen view includes a hover-over function allowing a user to click on a graphical indication of where a trailer within said geographical region is located and receive information for the trailer.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the hover-over functionality provides statistical data of the trailer in order for a user to monitor and compare specific data of the trailer over time.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein said dashboard screen view includes a tile for displaying information from the trailer selected from the overview screen view as a map, including GPS location, nearby landmarks, nearby roads, and the speed of said trailer.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the graphical user interface is presented on a mobile device.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the data from the light failure detection system is generated by a light failure detection system of the trailer, the light failure detection system being coupled to a plurality of light emitting diode lighting devices and including a circuit board;

a plurality of lighting circuits, each lighting circuit being coupled to the circuit board by an input wire;

a plurality of voltage level monitoring circuits on said circuit board, each one of said plurality of voltage level monitoring circuits connected to one of said lighting circuits and adapted to measure the voltage of the one of said light circuits;

a plurality of current monitoring circuits on said circuit board, each one of said plurality of current monitoring circuits connected to one of said lighting circuits and adapted to measure a current draw of the one of said light circuits;

a voltage drop circuit for enabling the plurality of voltage level monitoring circuits and the plurality of current monitoring circuits to measure current and voltage at an adjusted input voltage;

a temperature sensor for sensing a temperature;

a switch for placing the light failure detection system into a learn mode wherein said lighting circuits are monitored with the plurality of voltage level monitoring circuits and the plurality of current monitoring circuits to determine threshold voltage and current levels for the lighting circuits;

a microcontroller coupled to the circuit board for storing the threshold voltage and current levels and the temperature sensed by the temperature sensor, said microcontroller being adapted to calculate an adjusted threshold current based on a voltage sensitivity and the sensed temperature;

a fault indicator for indicating a status of the light failure detection system if a measured current is above or below the adjusted threshold current by a predetermined value; and

a transceiver coupled to the circuit board for sending information to a master control unit, said light failure detection system also including a housing coupled to a trailer at one end and a socket at a second end for coupling to a truck tractor with a wiring harness.

8. A method comprising:

collecting, at a non-transitory computer readable medium, information regarding each trailer of a plurality of trailers, the information including the location of each trailer and data collected from a plurality of sensors and a light failure detection system;

presenting, in a graphical user interface (GUI) rendered on a display, the information collected in a plurality of screen views including an overview screen view with a map area that includes the geographical region where at least one of said trailers is located and a graphical indication of where a trailer within said geographical region is located, and at least one data area that displays location information for each trailer and sensor data received from at least one sensor associated with each trailer, a dashboard screen view with a plurality of tiles for displaying sensor information from one trailer selected from the overview screen view and a control tile including a user interactive control configured to trigger a signal to a master control unit coupled to the trailer to gather information from the sensors; and

an alert screen view with a plurality of tiles for displaying alerts corresponding to sensors from a plurality of trailers.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the overview screen view displays status information for each trailer in said plurality of trailers including battery level, power source, light failure detection, door, ABS brake, cargo sensors, and tire pressure.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein said overview screen view includes a hover-over function allowing a user to click on a graphical indication of where a trailer within said geographical region is located and receive information for the trailer.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the hover-over functionality provides statistical data of the trailer in order for a user to monitor and compare specific data of the trailer over time.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said dashboard screen view includes a tile for displaying information from the trailer selected from the overview screen view as a map, including GPS location, nearby landmarks, nearby roads, and the speed of said trailer.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the graphical user interface is presented on a mobile device.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein the data from the light failure detection system is generated by a light failure detection system of the trailer, the light failure detection system being coupled to a plurality of light emitting diode lighting devices and including a circuit board;

a plurality of lighting circuits, each lighting circuit being coupled to the circuit board by an input wire;

a plurality of voltage level monitoring circuits on said circuit board, each one of said plurality of voltage level monitoring circuits connected to one of said lighting circuits and adapted to measure the voltage of the one of said light circuits;

a plurality of current monitoring circuits on said circuit board, each one of said plurality of current monitoring circuits connected to one of said lighting circuits and adapted to measure a current draw of the one of said light circuits;

a voltage drop circuit for enabling the plurality of voltage level monitoring circuits and the plurality of current monitoring circuits to measure current and voltage at an adjusted input voltage;

a temperature sensor for sensing a temperature;

a switch for placing the light failure detection system into a learn mode wherein said lighting circuits are monitored with the plurality of voltage level monitoring circuits and the plurality of current monitoring circuits to determine threshold voltage and current levels for the lighting circuits;

a microcontroller coupled to the circuit board for storing the threshold voltage and current levels and the temperature sensed by the temperature sensor, said microcontroller being adapted to calculate an adjusted threshold current based on a voltage sensitivity and the sensed temperature;

a fault indicator for indicating a status of the light failure detection system if a measured current is above or below the adjusted threshold current by a predetermined value; and

a transceiver coupled to the circuit board for sending information to a master control unit, said light failure detection system also including a housing coupled to a trailer at one end and a socket at a second end for coupling to a truck tractor with a wiring harness.