Fleet management system

• US 9,152,933 B2
• Filed: 10/17/2011
• Issued: 10/06/2015
• 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): Zare, Scott
• Assistant Examiner(s): Masud, Rokib
• Application Number:
  US13/274,435
• Publication Number:
  US 20120046809A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,450 Days
• Field of Search: 701/1, 701/2, 701/35, 701/70, 701/71, 705/7, 705/11, 705/34, 705/7.11, 705/7.13
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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

Position dependent operation of a materials handling vehicle, comprises utilizing a processor on the materials handling vehicle to communicate across a wireless computing environment to a corresponding server computer via a transceiver on the materials handling vehicle. Operation further comprises obtaining from at least one device on the materials handling vehicle, information relating to the position of the materials handling vehicle and communicating the obtained position related information to the server computer. The operation still further comprises receiving a command from the server computer to perform a predetermined action, wherein the command is based upon the position related information of the materials handling vehicle relative to a position of a point of interest known by the server, and communicating information across a vehicle network bus to at least one component of the materials handling vehicle to perform the predetermined action in response to the received command.

Claims

1. A method of wirelessly interacting with a materials handling vehicle to implement a position dependent operation of the materials handling vehicle, the method comprising:

verifying that an operator logging onto the materials handling vehicle is authorized to operate the materials handling vehicle;

communicating an operator identification of the operator across a wireless computing environment to a corresponding server computer via a transceiver on the materials handling vehicle;

obtaining by a processor, from at least one device on the materials handling vehicle, information relating to the position of the materials handling vehicle;

receiving from the server computer by the processor on the materials handling vehicle, information regarding a geofence known by the server;

performing in response to comparing a position of the materials handling vehicle determined based upon the information obtained from the device, to the geofence;

identifying a vehicle condition based upon a current operating characteristic of the materials handling vehicle; and

communicating information across a vehicle network bus by the processor on the materials handling vehicle, to at least one component of the materials handling vehicle, to perform a predetermined action in response to the information of the geofence based upon the identified vehicle condition.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

communicating information across a vehicle network bus by the processor on the materials handling vehicle, comprises;

interacting with at least one materials handling vehicle system across a Controller Area Network (CAN) bus.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein:

interacting with at least one materials handling vehicle system across a Controller Area Network (CAN) bus, comprises;

communicating over the Controller Area Network bus to cause the materials handling vehicle to implement an evasive maneuver to avoid the geofence.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

identifying a vehicle condition comprises;

identifying the weight of the load carried on the forks of the materials handling vehicle; and

communicating information across a vehicle network bus comprises;

implementing a corrective action that is selected based upon the weight of the load carried by the materials handling vehicle.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

identifying a vehicle condition comprises;

identifying a type of the materials handling vehicle; and

communicating information across a vehicle network bus comprises;

implementing a corrective action that is selected based upon the identified type of the materials handling vehicle.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein:

implementing a corrective action that is selected based upon the type of materials handling vehicle comprises;

prohibiting a truck from entering a region that the type of materials handling vehicle is unauthorized to enter.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

identifying a vehicle condition comprises;

identifying a speed of the materials handling vehicle; and

communicating information across a vehicle network bus comprises;

implementing a corrective action that is selected based upon the identified speed of the materials handling vehicle.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

identifying a vehicle condition comprises;

identifying a direction of travel of the materials handling vehicle; and

communicating information across a vehicle network bus comprises;

implementing a corrective action that is selected based upon the identified direction of travel of the materials handling vehicle.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

obtaining by a processor from at least one device on the materials handling vehicle, information relating to the position of the materials handling vehicle, comprises;

communicating with a position determining device on the materials handling vehicle that reads tags positioned within an environment.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein:

communicating with a position determining device comprises;

communicating with a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader on the materials handling vehicle that reads RFID tags positioned within the environment.

11. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:

utilizing the position determining device on the materials handling vehicle to read fixed position tags.

12. The method according to claim 9, further comprising:

utilizing the position determining device on the materials handling vehicle to a read mobile tag proximate to the materials handling vehicle.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

receiving from the server computer by the processor on the materials handling vehicle, information regarding a geofence known by the server, comprises;

identifying the geofence based upon the operator identification of the vehicle operator.

14. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

communicating the obtained position related information from the materials handling vehicle to the server computer;

receiving a command from the server computer by the processor on the materials handling vehicle instructing the materials handling vehicle how to respond to the geofence, wherein;

the command is sent from the server in response to the communicated position related information; and

the command is based upon the communicated position related information of the materials handling vehicle relative to the geofence, and the operator identification of the vehicle operator.