Collecting and reporting information concerning mobile assets

• US 6,496,777 B2
• Filed: 02/21/2001
• Issued: 12/17/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Union Pacific Railroad Company (Union Pacific Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nexterna, Inc.
• Inventors: Lampe, Steve C., Tennison, Lynden L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Cuchlinski, Jr., William A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hernandez, Olga
• Application Number:
  US09/790,371
• Publication Number:
  US 20010027378A1
• Time in Patent Office: 664 Days
• Field of Search: 701/213, 701/200, 731/78.R, 340/991, 340/992, 340/993
• US Class Current: 701/213
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 17/00 Testing of vehicles testing fluid tightness G01M3/00; testing elastic properties of bodies or chassis, e.g. torsion-testing, G01M5/00; testing alignment of vehicle headlight devices G01M11/06; testing of engines G01M15/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/071 DGPS corrections
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/002 for traffic control, mobile tracking, guidance, surveillance or anti-collision
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0018 Transmission from mobile station to base station
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/009 Transmission of differential positioning data to mobile

Abstract

A mobile platform includes a GPS receiver system to collect position related information for storage in a database. Sensors further collect platform operational information for storage in the database. A control processor for the mobile platform collects the stored information for periodic transmission over a wireless communications link to a remote location for further processing and handling. The control processor is configured to periodically engage in data collection from the GPS receiver system and sensors at a first rate and remotely report any interim collected information over the wireless communications link at a second rate. Preferably, the first rate is greater than the second rate by integer multiple to most efficiently and economically utilize wireless communications resources. At the remote location, a central controller receives the mobile platform reported information for processing in accordance with tracking management applications. An interface to the central controller allows a user to control the information collection and reporting operations of the control processor (in the mobile platform) as well as the tracking management functions performed by the central controller.

Claims

1. A system for collecting and remotely reporting mobile platform related information, comprising:

a GPS receiver system operable to collect mobile platform position related information;

a sensor operable to collect mobile platform operational information;

a database storing the collected position related information and mobile platform operational information;

a processor operable to control operation of the GPS receiver system and sensor to collect position related information and mobile platform operational information for database storage at a first rate, the processor further controlling actions to remotely communicate any interim collected position information and mobile platform operational information from the mobile platform to a remote location at a second rate, wherein the first rate is a positive integer multiple of the second rate greater than one; and

a transceiver operable to remotely communicate the position related information and mobile platform operational information over a wireless communications link to the remote location at the second rate.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the mobile platform position related information and mobile platform operational information are remotely communicated substantially simultaneously at the second rate.

3. A system for collecting and remotely reporting mobile platform related information, comprising:

a GPS receiver system operable to collect mobile platform position related information;

a database storing the collected position related information;

a processor operable to control operation of the GPS receiver system to collect position related information for database storage at a first rate, the processor further controlling actions to remotely communicate any interim collected position information from the mobile platform to a remote location at a second rate, wherein the first rate is a positive integer multiple of the second rate greater than one;

a transceiver operable to remotely communicate the position related information over a wireless communications link to the remote location at the second rate; and

a timer associated with the processor and operable to time the first and second rates, the processor operating responsive to timer expiration of the first rate to control information collection and storage and responsive to time expiration of the second rate to control remote communication of the information.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the GPS receiver system generates a GPS time reference to which the clock is synchronized.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the first rate comprises an X time period and the second rate comprises a Y time period, and wherein the processor determines expiration of the first and second rate by counting modulo X and Y, respectively.

6. The system of claim 3 wherein the processor delays remote communication of the information following expiration of each consecutive second rate by an offset time period.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the offset time period is a randomly or pseudo-randomly selected time delay.

8. A mobile asset tracking system for use with a plurality of mobile platforms, comprising:

a central data collection center monitoring the plurality of mobile platforms; and

each of the plural mobile platforms including;

a GPS receiver system operable to collect mobile platform position related information;

a sensor operable to collect mobile platform operational information;

a database storing the collected position related information and mobile platform operational information;

a processor operable to control operation of the GPS receiver system and sensor to collect position related information and mobile platform operational information for database storage at a first rate, the processor further controlling actions to remotely communicate any interim collected position information and mobile platform operational information from the mobile platform to the central data collection center at a second rate, wherein the first rate is a positive integer multiple of the second rate greater than one; and

a transceiver operable to remotely communicate the position related information and mobile platform operational information over a wireless communications link to the central data collection center at the second rate.

11. The system of claim 8 wherein the mobile platform position related information and mobile platform operational information are remotely communicated substantially simultaneously at the second rate.

9. A mobile asset tracking system for use with a plurality of mobile platforms, comprising:

a central data collection center monitoring the plurality of mobile platforms; and

each of the plural mobile platforms including;

a GPS receiver system operable to collect mobile platform position related information;

a database storing the collected position related information;

a processor operable to control operation of the GPS receiver system to collect position related information for database storage at a first rate, the processor further controlling actions to remotely communicate any interim collected position information from the mobile platform to the central data collection center at a second rate, wherein the first rate is a positive integer multiple of the second rate greater than one; and

a transceiver operable to remotely communicate the position related information over a wireless communications link to the central data collection center at the second rate;

wherein the processor in each mobile platform delays remote communication of its collected information following expiration of each consecutive second rate by an offset time period selected by that mobile platform.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the offset time period is a random or pseudo-random time delay individually selected by each mobile platform.

12. A mobile asset tracking system for use with a plurality of mobile platforms, comprising:

a central data collection center monitoring the plurality of mobile platforms; and

each of the plural mobile platforms including;

a GPS receiver system operable to collect mobile platform position related information;

a database storing the collected position related information;

a processor operable to control operation of the GPS receiver system to collect position related information for database storage at a first rate, the processor further controlling actions to remotely communicate any interim collected position information from the mobile platform to the central data collection center at a second rate, wherein the first rate is a positive integer multiple of the second rate greater than one;

a trasceiver operable to remotely communicate the position related information over a wireless communications link to the central data collection center at the second rate; and

a timer associated with the processor and operable to time the first and second rates, the processor operating responsive to timer expiration of the first rate to control information collection and storage and responsive to time expiration of the second rate to control remote communication of the information.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the GPS receiver system of each mobile platform generates a GPS time reference to which the clock is synchronized.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the first rate comprises an X time period and the second rate comprises a Y time period, and wherein the processor determines expiration of the first and second rate by counting modulo X and Y, respectively.

17. The system of claim 12 wherein the central data collection center comprises:

a database storing the information transmitted by each of the plural mobile platforms; and

a tracking application executed to process the stored information and generate output information concerning mobile asset use.

15. A mobile asset tracking system for use with a plurality of mobile platforms, comprising:

a central data collection center monitoring the plurality of mobile platforms and

each of the plural mobile platforms including;

a GPS receiver system operable to collect mobile platform position related information;

a database storing the collected position related information;

a processor operable to control operation of the GPS receiver system to collect position related information for database storage at a first rate, the processor further controlling actions to remotely communicate any interim collected position information from the mobile platform to the central data collection center at a second rate, wherein the first rate is a positive integer multiple of the second rate greater than one; and

a transceiver operable to remotely communicate the position related information over a wireless communications link to the central data collection center at the second rate;

wherein the second time period is set to be the same in each of the plural mobile platforms, and wherein the processor in each mobile platform delays remote communication of its collected information following expiration of each consecutive second rate by an offset time period individually selected by that mobile platform.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the offset time period is a random or pseudo-random time delay individually selected by each mobile platform.

18. A mobile asset tracking system for use with a plurality of mobile platforms, comprising:

a central data collection center monitoring the plurality of mobile platforms; and

each of the plural mobile platforms including;

a GPS receiver system operable to collect mobile platform position related information;

a database storing the collected position related information;

a processor operable to control operation of the GPS receiver system to collect position related information for database storage at a first rate, the processor further controlling actions to remotely communicate any interim collected position information from the mobile platform to the central data collection center at a second rate, wherein the first rate is a positive integer multiple of the second rate greater than one; and

a transceiver operable to remotely communicate the position related information over a wireless communications link to the central data collection center at the second rate;

wherein the central data collection center specifies for each of the plural mobile platforms the first and second rates.

19. A system for collecting and remotely reporting mobile platform related information, comprising:

a sensor operable to collect mobile platform operational information;

a database storing the collected operational information;

a processor operable to control operation of the sensor to collect operational information for database storage at a first rate, the processor further controlling actions to remotely communicate any interim collected operational information from the mobile platform to a remote location at a second rate, wherein the first rate is a positive integer multiple of the second rate greater than one;

a transceiver operable to remotely communicate the operational information over a wireless communications link to the remote location at the second rate; and

a timer associated with the processor and operable to time the first and second rates, the processor operating responsive to timer expiration of the first rate to control information collection and storage and responsive to time expiration of the second rate to control remote communication of the information.

20. The system of claim 19 further including GPS receiver system operable to generate a GPS time reference to which the clock is synchronized.

21. The system of claim 19 wherein the first rate comprises an X time period and the second rate comprises a Y time period, and wherein the processor determines expiration of the first and second rate by counting modulo X and Y, respectively.

22. The system of claim 19 wherein the processor delays remote communication of the information following expiration of each consecutive second rate by an offset time period.

23. The system of claim 22 wherein the offset time period is a randomly or pseudo-randomly selected time delay.