Fleet management system

• US 8,239,251 B2
• Filed: 10/17/2011
• Issued: 08/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Crown Equipment Corporation
• Original Assignee: Crown Equipment Corporation
• Inventors: Wellman, Timothy A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gart, Matthew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Masud, Rokib
• Application Number:
  US13/274,445
• Publication Number:
  US 20120046981A1
• Time in Patent Office: 295 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701/2, 701/35, 701/70, 701/71, 705/7, 705/11, 705/34
• US Class Current: 705/11
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/55 Remote control arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/589 Wireless data transfers
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2360/592 Data transfer involving external databases
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/55 Remote controls
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/589 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2370/592 External database involved
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/00 Instruments specially adapted for vehicles; Arrangement of instruments in or on vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/80 Arrangements for controlling instruments
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 35/85 Arrangements for transferring vehicle- or driver-related data
• CPC Class Codes: B60Y 2200/15 Fork lift trucks, Industrial trucks
• CPC Class Codes: B66F 9/07581 Remote controls
• CPC Class Codes: B66F 9/24 Electrical devices or systems
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 15/02 electric
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0282 generated in a local control room
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0291 Fleet control monitoring fleets in traffic control systems for road vehicles G08G1/127, G08G1/127
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0297 by controlling means in a control room
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06316 Sequencing of tasks or work
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06398 : Performance of employee with respect to a job function
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 : Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 : communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/08 : Registering or indicating performance data other than driving, working, idle, or waiting time, with or without registering driving, working, idle or waiting time
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 : Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 : Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/185 : by embedding added-value information into content, e.g. geo-tagging
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 : for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 : Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

A system comprises a materials handling vehicle, an information linking device and a wireless transceiver. The materials handling vehicle comprises a controller area network (CAN) bus and at least one native control module coupled to the CAN bus that generates and sends the vehicle-related data over the CAN bus. The information linking device comprises a CAN-bus interface coupled to the CAN bus of the materials handling vehicle, which extracts the vehicle-related data off of the CAN bus, a memory device coupled to the CAN-bus interface, which stores the vehicle-related data extracted off of the CAN bus and an output interface coupled to the memory device. The wireless transceiver is coupled to the output interface of the information linking device. The wireless transceiver wirelessly sends and receives across a wireless network environment.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a materials handling vehicle comprising;

a controller area network (CAN) bus; and

at least one native control module coupled to the CAN bus of the materials handling vehicle that generates vehicle-related data and sends the vehicle-related data over the CAN bus;

an information linking device physically coupled to the materials handling vehicle comprising;

a CAN-bus interface coupled to the CAN bus of the materials handling vehicle, wherein the information linking device extracts the vehicle-related data off of the CAN bus; and

an interface controller having a processor and memory, the memory configured to store the vehicle-related data extracted off of the CAN bus;

wherein the processor is programmed to receive operator logon information and to perform a materials handling vehicle customization operation based upon the received operator logon;

a wireless transceiver physically coupled to the materials handling vehicle, which is coupled to the information linking device, wherein the wireless transceiver wirelessly communicates information across a wireless network environment to a server computer and wirelessly receives information from the server computer;

wherein;

the wireless transceiver communicates the operator logon information received from the information linking device to the sever computer;

the wireless transceiver receives from the server computer, at least one customization parameter based upon at least one operator-specific preference associated with the operator logon information; and

the information linking device implements the customization operation by communicating across the CAN bus to at least one native control module of the materials handling vehicle to customize the materials handling vehicle according to the corresponding operator-defined preference.

2. The system of claim 1 further including:

a display that communicates across the CAN bus that displays data from modules of the materials handling vehicle connected to the CAN bus, and also displays information obtained from the information linking device, wherein the display is configured by the customization operation to be customized based upon operator-defined preference associated with the received operator logon.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the display is customized based upon the operator preferences to display information in a user-selected language.

4. The system of claim 1,

wherein the server computer:

stores customization parameters to customize at least one feature of the materials handling vehicle as a profile associated with an operator associated with the operator logon.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein:

the wireless transceiver receives the customization parameters and sends the customization parameters to the information linking device; and

the information linking device communicates the custom parameters to the native control module over the CAN bus such that the operation of the native control module is customized based upon the custom parameters.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the profile comprises a training profile that causes a display to provide training information including at least one of the time it took the operator to perform a task, an instruction, a reminder and a feedback on operator performance.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

power enabling circuitry that controls power to the materials handling vehicle; and

the server computer sends instructions to the information linking device via the wireless interface, wherein the information linking device deactivates the power to the materials handling device using the power enabling circuitry module based upon the operator logon information.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein:

a designated one native control module comprises a select one of;

a control module and an input/output controller, which communicates vehicle-related data over the CAN bus, the vehicle-related data processed by the information linking device to control or track usage of the operation of the materials handling vehicle.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein:

the designated one native control module sends vehicle-related data across the CAN bus that comprises a select one of;

hydraulics usage and load sensing, which is obtained by the information linking device.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein:

the designated one native control module sends vehicle-related data across the CAN bus that comprises a select one of;

travel parameters, speed parameters and steering usage, which is obtained by the information linking device.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein:

the designated one native control module sends vehicle-related data across the CAN bus that comprises a select one of;

oil quality measurements, air temperature measurements, and oil temperature measurements, which is obtained by the information linking device.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein:

the designated one native control module sends vehicle-related data across the CAN bus that comprises battery charge information, which is obtained by the information linking device and is communicated to a server computer for workflow scheduling of battery recharge of the materials handling vehicle.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the peripheral device is a motor control module that controls drive wheels of the materials handling vehicle.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the peripheral device is a hydraulics control module that controls a lift of the materials handling vehicle.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the information linking device is integrated into the materials handling vehicle.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein the information linking device is separate from the materials handling vehicle and is physically coupled to the materials handling vehicle and electronically coupled to the CAN bus of the materials handling vehicle.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the customization is further based upon a particular materials handling vehicle in addition to the operator logon information.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the customization is further based upon a type of materials handling vehicle in addition to the operator logon information.