Railcar transport telematics system

• US 8,045,962 B2
• Filed: 08/19/2005
• Issued: 10/25/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Original Assignee: Accenture Global Services Limited (Accenture PLC)
• Inventors: Weseloh, Christopher J., St. Leger-Andrews, David, Schullian, John M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Appiah; Charles
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rideout; William F
• Application Number:
  US11/208,039
• Publication Number:
  US 20060047379A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,258 Days
• Field of Search: 455/412.1, 701/19, 701/207, 705/1, 705/25
• US Class Current: 455/412.1
• CPC Class Codes: B61L 27/40 Handling position reports or trackside vehicle data
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/00 Investigating or analysing materials by specific methods not covered by groups G01N1/00 - G01N31/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0833 Tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0206 Price or cost determination based on market factors
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0283 Price estimation or determination
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing

Abstract

A railcar asset management system proactively issues an alert or task when a pre-determined event occurs. The system may receive information regarding the location and status of a railcar from sensors on the railcar that may include a telematics sensing unit. A database in the railway telematics system stores the data regarding the railcar location and status information. The system determines whether an event has occurred and issues the proactive alerts and/or task. The system may communicate the proactive alert via e-mail, paging, PDAs or by cell phone and may provide interactive preconfigured web pages.

Claims

1. A method for the management of railcar assets comprising:

receiving data regarding a time and location of a railcar and a status of a product on the railcar;

storing the data in a railcar database;

comparing the status of the product on the railcar to a status alert threshold;

issuing a status alert when the comparison reveals that the status of the product on the railcar meets the status alert threshold;

monitoring status alerts issued based on the status of the product on the railcar meeting the status alert threshold, including instances where a status alert is resolved before anyone takes action;

based on the monitoring, determining a value of repetitiveness of status alerts issued based on the status of the product on the railcar meeting the status alert threshold;

comparing the value of repetitiveness of status alerts issued based on the status of the product on the railcar meeting the status alert threshold to a repetitiveness threshold; and

when the comparison reveals that the value of repetitiveness meets the repetitiveness threshold, issuing a proactive alert.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising monitoring historical data that includes a round trip time of the railcar, a time for loading, a transit time to the customer site, a time for unloading the railcar, and a time to return to a product manufacturer.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising monitoring historical data that includes status information.

4. The method of claim 1:

wherein receiving data regarding a time and location of a railcar and a status of a product on the railcar comprises receiving data regarding a temperature of the product on the railcar;

wherein comparing the status of the product on the railcar to a status alert threshold comprises comparing the temperature of the product on the railcar to a temperature alert threshold;

wherein issuing a status alert when the comparison reveals that the status of the product on the railcar meets the status alert threshold comprises issuing a status alert when the comparison reveals that the temperature of the product on the railcar is above the temperature alert threshold;

wherein monitoring status alerts issued based on the status of the product on the railcar meeting the status alert threshold, including instances where a status alert is resolved before anyone takes action comprises monitoring status alerts issued based on the temperature of the product on the railcar meeting the temperature alert threshold, including instances where the temperature drops to resolve the status alert before anyone takes action;

wherein determining a value of repetitiveness of status alerts issued based on the status of the product on the railcar meeting the status alert threshold comprises determining a value of repetitiveness of status alerts issued based on the temperature of the product on the railcar meeting the status alert threshold; and

wherein comparing the value of repetitiveness of status alerts issued based on the status of the product on the railcar meeting the temperature alert threshold to a repetitiveness threshold comprises comparing the value of repetitiveness of status alerts issued based on the temperature of the product on the railcar meeting the temperature alert threshold to a repetitiveness threshold.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising monitoring for responses to the proactive alert and escalating the proactive alert based on a determination of a lack of acknowledgement or resolution of the proactive alert.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein issuing the proactive alert comprises sending the proactive alert to at least one of a shipper, a customer, and a product manufacturer, further comprising reassigning responsibilities for the proactive alert to another user.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising changing the repetitiveness threshold to reduce a number of proactive alerts issued for repetitive status alerts.

8. A railcar asset management system comprising:

a communication system interface that receives data regarding a time and location of a railcar and a status of a product on the railcar;

a database that stores the data regarding the time and location of the railcar and the status of the product on the railcar received from the communication system interface;

a rules database including a rule defining a status alert threshold and a status alert and a rule defining a repetitiveness threshold and a proactive alert;

a data processor in communication with the communication system interface and the databases, the data processor operable to compare the status of the product on the railcar to the status alert threshold, issue the status alert when the comparison reveals that the status of the product on the railcar meets the status alert threshold, monitor status alerts issued based on the status of the product on the railcar meeting the status alert threshold, including instances where a status alert is resolved before anyone takes action, determine a value of repetitiveness of status alerts issued based on the status of the product on the railcar meeting the status alert threshold, compare the value of repetitiveness of status alerts issued based on the status of the product on the railcar meeting the status alert threshold to a repetitiveness threshold, and, when the comparison reveals that the value of repetitiveness meets the repetitiveness threshold, issue the proactive alert; and

an alert interface in communication with the data processor that communicates the proactive alert outside the railcar asset management system.

9. The railcar asset management system of claim 8, wherein the data processor is operable to monitor historical data that includes a round trip time of the railcar, a time for loading, a transit time to the customer site, a time for unloading the railcar, and a time to return to a product manufacturer.

10. The railcar asset management system of claim 8, wherein the data processor is operable to monitor historical data that includes status information.

11. The railcar asset management system of claim 8:

wherein the communication system interface receives data regarding a temperature of the product on the railcar;

wherein the rules database includes a rule defining a temperature alert threshold and a status alert; and

wherein the data processor is operable to compare the temperature of the product on the railcar to the temperature alert threshold, issue the status alert when the comparison reveals that the temperature of the product on the railcar meets the temperature alert threshold, monitor status alerts issued based on the temperature of the product on the railcar meeting the temperature alert threshold, including instances where the temperature drops to resolve the status alert before anyone takes action, determine a value of repetitiveness of status alerts issued based on the temperature of the product on the railcar meeting the temperature alert threshold, and compare the value of repetitiveness of status alerts issued based on the temperature of the product on the railcar meeting the status alert threshold to a repetitiveness threshold.

12. The railcar asset management system of claim 8, wherein the data processor is operable to monitor for responses to the proactive alert and escalate the proactive alert based on a determination of a lack of acknowledgement or resolution of the proactive alert.

13. The railcar asset management system of claim 8, wherein the data processor is operable to send the proactive alert to at least one of a shipper, a customer, and a product manufacturer and reassign responsibilities for the proactive alert to another user.

14. The railcar asset management system of claim 8, wherein the data processor is operable to change the repetitiveness threshold to reduce a number of proactive alerts issued for repetitive status alerts.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving data regarding a time and location of a railcar and a status of a product on the railcar;

storing the data in a railcar database;

comparing the status of the product on the railcar to a status alert threshold;

issuing a status alert when the comparison reveals that the status of the product on the railcar meets the status alert threshold;

monitoring status alerts issued based on the status of the product on the railcar meeting the status alert threshold, including instances where a status alert is resolved before anyone takes action;

based on the monitoring, determining a value of repetitiveness of status alerts issued based on the status of the product on the railcar meeting the status alert threshold;

comparing the value of repetitiveness of status alerts issued based on the status of the product on the railcar meeting the status alert threshold to a repetitiveness threshold; and

when the comparison reveals that the value of repetitiveness meets the repetitiveness threshold, issuing a proactive alert.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising monitoring historical data that includes a round trip time of the railcar, a time for loading, a transit time to the customer site, a time for unloading the railcar, and a time to return to a product manufacturer.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising monitoring historical data that includes status information.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15:

wherein receiving data regarding a time and location of a railcar and a status of a product on the railcar comprises receiving data regarding a temperature of the product on the railcar;

wherein comparing the status of the product on the railcar to a status alert threshold comprises comparing the temperature of the product on the railcar to a temperature alert threshold;

wherein issuing a status alert when the comparison reveals that the status of the product on the railcar meets the status alert threshold comprises issuing a status alert when the comparison reveals that the temperature of the product on the railcar is above the temperature alert threshold;

wherein monitoring status alerts issued based on the status of the product on the railcar meeting the status alert threshold, including instances where a status alert is resolved before anyone takes action comprises monitoring status alerts issued based on the temperature of the product on the railcar meeting the temperature alert threshold, including instances where the temperature drops to resolve the status alert before anyone takes action;

wherein determining a value of repetitiveness of status alerts issued based on the status of the product on the railcar meeting the status alert threshold comprises determining a value of repetitiveness of status alerts issued based on the temperature of the product on the railcar meeting the status alert threshold; and

wherein comparing the value of repetitiveness of status alerts issued based on the status of the product on the railcar meeting the temperature alert threshold to a repetitiveness threshold comprises comparing the value of repetitiveness of status alerts issued based on the temperature of the product on the railcar meeting the temperature alert threshold to a repetitiveness threshold.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise monitoring for responses to the proactive alert and escalating the proactive alert based on a determination of a lack of acknowledgement or resolution of the proactive alert.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein issuing the proactive alert comprises sending the proactive alert to at least one of a shipper, a customer, and a product manufacturer, and the operations further comprise reassigning responsibilities for the proactive alert to another user.