Multi-mode in-vehicle control unit with network selectivity for transmitting vehicle data for fleet management
First Claim
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1. A method for managing a fleet of vehicles, comprising:
- placing an in-vehicle control unit (ICU) in every unit in the fleet of vehicles, wherein at least one of the ICUs is a multi-mode ICU;
determining a percentage of the vehicles in the fleet that is not covered by a particular transmission network;
placing multi-mode ICUs only in a number of vehicles in the fleet corresponding to the percentage of the vehicles in the fleet not covered by the particular transmission network;
collecting vehicle data for each vehicle in the fleet;
transmitting the vehicle data to a processing center; and
analyzing the vehicle data to generate routing schedules to route the vehicles in the fleet.
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Abstract
A multi-mode in-vehicle control unit (ICU) contains a plurality of modems. Each modem allows the multi-mode ICU to transmit vehicle data over a different kind of transmission network. Exemplary transmission networks include wireless data networks, cellular telephone networks and satellite networks. Vehicle data is collected. The multi-mode ICU selects one of the modems for transmission of vehicle data to a processing center. Priorities can be assigned to the transmission networks and or modems to control order the transmission network selection process.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method for managing a fleet of vehicles, comprising:
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placing an in-vehicle control unit (ICU) in every unit in the fleet of vehicles, wherein at least one of the ICUs is a multi-mode ICU;
determining a percentage of the vehicles in the fleet that is not covered by a particular transmission network;
placing multi-mode ICUs only in a number of vehicles in the fleet corresponding to the percentage of the vehicles in the fleet not covered by the particular transmission network;
collecting vehicle data for each vehicle in the fleet;
transmitting the vehicle data to a processing center; and
analyzing the vehicle data to generate routing schedules to route the vehicles in the fleet. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A method for managing vehicle data transmission in a fleet of vehicles including a first vehicle containing a single mode in-vehicle control unit (ICU) and a second vehicle containing a multi-mode ICU wherein the second vehicle is in communication over a first transmission network comprising:
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determining that the first vehicle has a need to communicate over the first transmission network using the ICU;
determining that the first transmission network is fully loaded;
determining whether a bumping criterion is met; and
bumping the second vehicle from transmitting over the second communication network when the bumping criterion is met to allow the first vehicle to communicate over the first transmission network in place of the second vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A system for managing data in a fleet of vehicles having a plurality of vehicles, the fleet including at least one vehicle having a single mode in-vehicle control unit (ICU) for transmission of vehicle data over a highest priority network and at least one vehicle having a multi-mode ICU for transmission of vehicle data over a plurality of networks including the highest priority network, wherein the multi-mode ICU comprises:
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a first communication device to send vehicle data collected from a vehicle having the multi-mode ICU over the highest priority transmission network;
a second communication device to send the collected vehicle data over a second transmission network;
transmitting the logged vehicle data at a later time when costs are reduced. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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16. A method for minimizing costs of transmitting vehicle data comprising:
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determining a percentage of the vehicles in a fleet of vehicles that is not covered by a particular transmission network;
placing multi-mode in-vehicle control units only in a number of vehicles in the fleet corresponding to the percentage of the vehicles in the fleet that is not covered by the particular transmission network, wherein the multi-mode in-vehicle control unit (ICU) can transmit the data over one of a plurality of transmission networks;
collecting data concerning a first vehicle; and
transmitting the data from the first vehicle to a processing center over one of the plurality of transmission networks. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification