Method and apparatus for tracking vehicle location

• US 5,428,546 A
• Filed: 10/16/1992
• Issued: 06/27/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/1992
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Telematics Corporation (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Mobile Information Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Prabhakaran, Sanjiv, Shah, Mukesh C.
• Primary Examiner(s): ZANELLI, MICHAEL J
• Application Number:
  US07/961,736
• Time in Patent Office: 984 Days
• Field of Search: 364/449, 364/460, 364/452, 342/457, 342/357, 340/990, 340/995, 340/989, 340/992, 395/600, 395/153
• US Class Current: 701/207
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/127 to a central station ; Indicators in a central station
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/202 Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching

Abstract

An method and apparatus for simultaneously displaying a raster map and vectorized street information corresponding to a vehicle position is provided. The system extracts information from a plurality of databases, including a mobile position database, a raster database and a vector database. The database information is interrelated by common latitude and longitude information. A graphical user interface displays the information in a format easily understood a dispatcher.

Claims

1. A method of displaying a user locatable mark representative of a vehicle position, wherein the magnitude of at least a first Value and a second value define said vehicle position, comprising the steps of:

defining a first axis for said first value in a first segment of a display;

defining a second axis for said second value in said first segment of said display;

extracting data from a first database, said first database containing digitized information representative of a first predetermined area;

displaying a graphical representation of said digitized information adjacent to said first axis and said second axis to form a raster map of said first predetermined area;

extracting data from a second database, said second database containing mobile position data corresponding to said first value and said second value;

displaying said user locatable mark in said first display segment, said user locatable mark representative of said vehicle position during a predetermined time period;

extracting information from a third database, said third database containing vector information representative of said vehicle position in said first predetermined area; and

displaying vector text information corresponding to said first value and said second value of said user locatable mark, said vector text information being displayed on said second segment of said display.

2. The method recited in claim 1, wherein said first value is the latitude of the vehicle position and said second value is the longitude of the vehicle position.

3. The method recited in claim 1, wherein said first value is the position of the vehicle in the x direction and the second value is the position of the vehicle in the y direction.

4. The method recited in claim 3, wherein said vehicle position is additionally defined in terms of a third value, wherein said third value is the position of the vehicle in the z direction.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein said vehicle position is defined in relation to a nearest cross-street.

6. An integrated system for displaying a user locatable mark representative of a vehicle position on a raster map on a first display segment and vehicle position information on a second display segment, wherein the magnitude of at least a first value and a second value define said vehicle position, comprising:

means for simultaneously displaying a first display segment and a second display segment, the first display segment having a first and second axis, the first axis for said first value, the second axis for said second value,

wherein a user locatable mark corresponding to the magnitude of said first value and said second value at a predetermined time period is displayed on the first display segment;

a first database for storing digitized information representative of a first predetermined area;

a second database for storing mobile data information indicative of said first value and said second value during a predetermined time interval;

a third database containing vector information representative of said first display segment, a second display segment for displaying vector text information corresponding to said first value and said second value of the user locatable mark; and

means for interrelating information from the first, second, and third database so that vehicle position information is displayed on a first raster display segment simultaneously with the corresponding vector text information.

7. The method recited in claim 6, wherein said first value is related to the latitude of the vehicle position and said second value is related to the longitude of the vehicle position.

8. The method recited in claim 6, wherein said first value is the position of the vehicle in the x direction and the second value is related to the position of the vehicle in the y direction.

9. The method recited in claim 8, wherein said vehicle position is additionally defined in terms of a third value, wherein said third value is related to the position of the vehicle in the z direction.

10. The method as recited in claim 6, wherein said vehicle position is defined in relation to a nearest cross-street.

11. A method of tracking a fleet of vehicles comprising:

providing a digitized representation of a predetermined area to form a raster map from a first database and displaying said digitized representation of said predetermined area onto a first display segment;

providing a plurality of vehicle positions to a second database, each of said plurality of vehicle positions corresponding to a user locatable mark;

retrieving said plurality of vehicle positions from said second database and displaying said user locatable mark for each of said plurality of vehicle positions onto said digitized representation of said predetermined area,

providing vector text information comprising intelligent street information from a third database, said vector text information further comprising data corresponding to said plurality of vehicle positions;

retrieving said vector text information and displaying said vector text information onto a second display segment.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein each of said vehicle positions comprises a first value and a second value.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein said first value is a latitude and said second value is a longitude.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein said raster map is digitally scanned from a road map.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein said vector text information comprises a street name.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein said vector text information comprises a block number.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein said vector text information comprises a major street cross-section.

18. The method of claim 11 wherein said first display segment and said second display segment are simultaneously displayed.

19. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

specifying a predetermined post time, said post time comprising a time prior to a present time;

retrieving said vehicle positions for a vehicle for said predetermined post time; and

displaying said user locatable mark for said vehicle positions for said predetermined post time.

20. A system for fleet management comprising:

a plurality of vehicles, each of said plurality of vehicles comprising a navigation tracking device;

a data acquisition means operably coupled to said navigation tracking device, said data acquisition means receiving a first value and a second value for each of said plurality of vehicles, said first value and said second value defining a vehicle position;

a mobile position database operably coupled to said data acquisition means, said mobile position database comprising said first value and said second value;

a raster database, said raster database comprising a digitized representation of a raster map.

a vector database comprising intelligent street information and vector text information to define said vehicle position for each of said plurality of vehicles,

a first display segment comprising said digitized representation of said raster map and a plurality of user locatable marks, each of said plurality of user locatable marks representative of one of said plurality of vehicles at said vehicle position; and

a second display segment comprising said vector text information for each of said plurality of vehicles.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein said vehicle position is for a predetermined time period.

22. The system of claim 20 further comprising a vector utility, said vector utility matching said first value and said second value to a major street cross-section.

23. The system of claim 20 further comprising a raster map utility, said raster map utility matching said first value and said second value to a location on said raster map.

24. The system of claim 20 wherein said user locatable mark is an icon.

25. The system of claim 20 wherein said navigation tracking device comprises a microprocessor means operably coupled to a global positioning system (GPS) navigational sensor and a mobile radio modem operably coupled to said microprocessor means.

26. The system of claim 20 wherein said raster map is digitally scanned from a road map.

27. The system of claim 20 wherein said first value is a latitude and said second value is a longitude.

28. The system of claim 20 wherein said vector text information comprises a street name.

29. The system of claim 20 wherein said vector text information comprises a block number.

30. The system of claim 20 wherein said vector text information comprises a major street cross-section.

31. The method of claim 20 wherein said first display segment and said second display segment are simultaneously displayed.

32. A method for combining information for fleet management;

providing a plurality of vehicle positions for a predetermined time to a first database;

providing a digitized representation of a raster map to a second database and displaying said digitized representation on a first display segment;

providing vector text information comprising intelligent street information of said digitized representation of said raster map to a third database; and

correlating said plurality of vehicle locations to said vector text information and said digitized representation; and

displaying said plurality of vehicle locations each as a user locatable mark on said first display segment.

33. The method of claim 32 further comprising displaying each of said plurality of vehicle locations as said vector text information on a second display segment.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein said raster map is digitally scanned from a road map.

35. The method of claim 32 wherein each of said plurality of vehicle positions comprises a first value and a second value.

36. The method of claim 35 wherein said first value is a latitude and said second value is a longitude.

37. The method of claim 32 wherein said vector text information comprises a street name.

38. The method of claim 32 wherein said vector text information comprises a block number.

39. The method of claim 32 wherein said vector text information comprises a major street cross-section.

40. The method of claim 32 wherein said first display segment and said second display segment are simultaneously displayed.