System and method for adaptive motion sensing with location determination

• US 7,911,329 B2
• Filed: 01/06/2009
• Issued: 03/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SkyBitz, Inc. (Ametek Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: SkyBitz, Inc. (Ametek Incorporated)
• Inventors: Yuan, Jianming, Battista, Rich
• Primary Examiner(s): Bugg; George A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Labbees; Edny
• Application Number:
  US12/349,031
• Publication Number:
  US 20090121902A1
• Time in Patent Office: 805 Days
• Field of Search: 701/213, 701/216, 340/988.8, 340/425.5, 340/500, 340/3.71, 340/438, 340/439, 342/367
• US Class Current: 340/425.5
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/34 Power consumption
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/123 indicating the position of vehicles, e.g. scheduled vehicles; Managing passenger vehicles circulating according to a fixed timetable, e.g. buses, trains, tramstransmission of navigation instructions to vehicles G08G1/0968
• 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: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A system and method for adaptive motion sensing with location determination is described. In one embodiment, the adaptive motion sensor is based on vibration sensor readings and can identify different states of motions based on modifiable parameters.

Claims

1. An adaptive motion sensor system on a transport vehicle, comprising:

a vibration sensor that detects first non-zero vibrations from an engine in the transport vehicle during a first operating state when said engine is on and the transport vehicle is not moving, and detects second non-zero vibrations from said engine during a second operating state when said engine is on and the transport vehicle is moving;

an adaptive threshold component that receives input values based on readings of said vibration sensor, said adaptive threshold component identifying a threshold value such that an input, value on a first side of said threshold value is indicative of said first operating state, and an input value on a second side of said threshold value is indicative of said second operating state; and

a motion detection component that receives input values based on readings of said vibration sensor, said motion detection component distinguishing between said first and second operating state through an analysis of said received input values relative to said identified threshold value.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said vibration sensor is an accelerometer based micro-electro-mechanical system.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising an analog-to-digital converter coupled to said vibration sensor and a vibration filter that smoothes values produced by said analog-to-digital converter.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said adaptive threshold component match filters a raw histogram.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein parameters of said adaptive threshold component are configurable using data provided by external communication received by the adaptive motion sensor system.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein said external communication is a satellite communication.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein said motion detection component compares received input values to said identified threshold value.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein said motion detection component integrates successive results of said comparison, and compares said integration value to thresholds associated with said first and second active operating states during a configurable time period.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein said configurable time period is determined by parameters that are provided by external communication received by the adaptive motion sensor system.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein said external communication is a satellite communication.

11. An adaptive motion sensor system on a transport vehicle, comprising:

a vibration sensor that detects first non-zero vibrations from an engine in the transport vehicle during a first operating state when said engine is on and the transport vehicle is not moving, and detects second non-zero vibrations from said engine during a second operating state when said engine is on and the transport vehicle is moving; and

a motion detection component that receives input based on readings of said vibration sensor, said motion detection component analyzing said received input to distinguish between said first and second operating states.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein said vibration sensor is an accelerometer based micro-electro-mechanical system.

13. The system of claim 11, further comprising an analog-to-digital converter coupled to said vibration sensor and a vibration filter that smoothes values produced by said analog-to-digital converter.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein said motion detection component compares received input values to a threshold value.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein said motion detection component integrates successive results of said comparison, and compares said integration value to thresholds associated with different operating states during a configurable time period.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein said configurable time period is determined by parameters that are provided by external communication received by the adaptive motion sensor system.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein said external communication is a satellite communication.

18. An adaptive motion sensor method in a transport vehicle, comprising:

a. generating input data from vibration sensor readings on the transport vehicle; and

b. determining an operating state of the transport vehicle based on an analysis of said input data relative to a threshold data value, wherein said threshold data value is between two peak values on a histogram of said input data.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising match filtering a raw histogram to produce said histogram.