Vehicle fleet work order management system

• US 9,230,232 B2
• Filed: 09/20/2012
• Issued: 01/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Telogis Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: McCormick, Sean, Koch, Jason, Morris, Arthur N., Mason, Ralph, Elliot, William
• Primary Examiner(s): Girma, Fekadeselassie
• Assistant Examiner(s): McCormack, Thomas
• Application Number:
  US13/623,834
• Publication Number:
  US 20130069803A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,202 Days
• Field of Search: 340988-996
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0833 Tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• 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: G08G 1/202 Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching

Abstract

Vehicle management systems and associated processes can monitor the progress of assets, such as vehicle, along predetermined routes and report the progress to user. The system can compare the actual status of the vehicle to the expected status of the vehicle and to report any difference between the actual status and expected status to a user. Further, the system can receive a predetermined threshold value of the difference from a user and report to the user if the predetermined threshold has been exceeded.

Claims

1. A system for presenting fleet vehicle progress information regarding job progress in real-time to a manager of vehicles in a fleet of vehicles that service a plurality of stops associated with a plurality of jobs, the system comprising:

a computer system comprising computer hardware configured to;

access a plurality of routes for a plurality of vehicles in a fleet of vehicles, the plurality of routes connecting a plurality of stops via a network of streets in a geographic region, the plurality of stops associated with a plurality of jobs serviced by the plurality of vehicles;

determine actual statuses of the plurality of vehicles as the plurality of vehicles travel along the plurality of routes to service the plurality of jobs, the actual statuses of the plurality of vehicles determined based at least on vehicle telematics data from in-vehicle devices associated with the plurality of vehicles, the vehicle telematics data comprising data indicative of physical locations of the plurality of vehicles;

determine progress indications for the plurality of vehicles as the plurality of vehicles travel along the plurality of routes to service the plurality of jobs, the progress indications comprising a route segment fuel usage indication and at least two of a missed job indication, an unexpected job indication, and a slow job indication,

wherein the progress indications are determined based at least on comparisons of (i) the actual statuses of the plurality of vehicles as the plurality of vehicles travel along the plurality of routes to service the plurality of jobs to (ii) expected statuses of the plurality of vehicles as the plurality of vehicles travel along the plurality of routes to service the plurality of jobs, the expected statuses of the plurality of vehicles indicative of estimated progress for the plurality of vehicles as the plurality of vehicles travel along the plurality of routes to service the plurality of jobs,

wherein the route segment fuel usage indication is determined based at least on a comparison of (i) an actual fuel consumption by one vehicle of the plurality of vehicles to travel a route segment of a plurality of route segments of a route of the plurality of routes as the one vehicle travels the route to (ii) an estimated fuel consumption for the one vehicle to travel the route segment as the one vehicle travels the route; and

output at least some of the actual statuses of the plurality of vehicles, at least some of the expected statuses of the plurality of vehicles, and the progress indications to a display for presentation together to a manager of the plurality of vehicles.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer system comprising the computer hardware is configured to determine at least some of the progress indications by calculating magnitudes of differences between the actual statuses of the plurality of vehicles and the expected statuses of the plurality of vehicles.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the computer system comprising the computer hardware is configured to:

receive an input from the manager defining a threshold related to at least one of the magnitudes; and

determine at least one of the progress indications by determining if the at least one of the magnitudes is greater than the threshold.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the presentation of the at least one of the progress indications comprises presentation of a visual alert to the manager that the at least one of the magnitudes is greater than the threshold.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the visual alert comprises coloring of information output to the display for presentation to the manager.

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the presentation of the at least one of the progress indications comprises presentation of a value of the at least one of the magnitudes to the manager.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer system comprising the computer hardware is configured to output the at least some of the actual statuses of the plurality of vehicles, the at least some of the expected statuses of the plurality of vehicles, and at least some of the progress indications to the display for presentation together as part of a report that lists at least some of the plurality of stops for one of the plurality of vehicles, the report comprising textual highlighting indicative of one or more stops associated with the progress indications.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the progress indications comprise the missed job indication, the unexpected job indication, and the slow job indication.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer system comprising the computer hardware is configured to output on a geographic map a graphical representation of a cluster of vehicles of the plurality of vehicles to the display for presentation to the manager, the cluster comprising a first coloring of a first portion of the graphical representation indicating a first proportion of the cluster of vehicles that satisfy a progress threshold and a second coloring of a second portion of the graphical representation indicating a second proportion of the cluster of vehicles that do not satisfy the progress threshold.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the graphical representation comprises a circle, and the first portion comprises a first periphery portion of the circle and the second portion comprises a second periphery portion of the circle, a size of the first periphery portion corresponding to the first proportion of the cluster of vehicles that satisfy the progress threshold and a size of the second periphery portion corresponding to the second proportion of the cluster of vehicles that do not satisfy the progress threshold.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the progress threshold is satisfied by vehicles of the cluster of vehicles that are on time servicing the plurality of jobs, and the progress threshold is not satisfied by vehicles of the cluster of vehicles that are not on time servicing the plurality of jobs.

12. A method for presenting fleet vehicle progress information regarding job progress in real-time to a manager of vehicles in a fleet of vehicles that service a plurality of stops associated with a plurality of jobs, the method comprising:

accessing a plurality of routes for a plurality of vehicles in a fleet of vehicles, the plurality of routes connecting a plurality of stops via a network of streets in a geographic region, the plurality of stops associated with a plurality of jobs serviced by the plurality of vehicles;

determining actual statuses of the plurality of vehicles as the plurality of vehicles travel along the plurality of routes to service the plurality of jobs, the actual statuses of the plurality of vehicles determined based at least on vehicle telematics data from in-vehicle devices associated with the plurality of vehicles, the vehicle telematics data comprising data indicative of physical locations of the plurality of vehicles;

determining progress indications for the plurality of vehicles as the plurality of vehicles travel along the plurality of routes to service the plurality of jobs, the progress indications comprising a route segment fuel usage indication and at least two of a missed job indication, an unexpected job indication, and a slow job indication,

wherein the progress indications are determined based at least on comparisons of lithe actual statuses of the plurality of vehicles as the plurality of vehicles travel along the plurality of routes to service the plurality of jobs to (ii) expected statuses of the plurality of vehicles as the plurality of vehicles travel along the plurality of routes to service the plurality of jobs, the expected statuses of the plurality of vehicles indicative of estimated progress for the plurality of vehicles as the plurality of vehicles travel along the plurality of routes to service the plurality of jobs,

wherein the route segment fuel usage indication is determined based at least on a comparison of (i) an actual fuel consumption by one vehicle of the plurality of vehicles to travel a route segment of a plurality of route segments of a route of the plurality of routes as the one vehicle travels the route to (ii) an estimated fuel consumption for the one vehicle to travel the route segment as the one vehicle travels the route; and

outputting at least some of the actual statuses of the plurality of vehicles, at least some of the expected statuses of the plurality of vehicles, and the progress indications to a display for presentation together to a manager of the plurality of vehicles,

wherein the method is performed by a computer system comprising computer hardware.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said determining the progress indications comprises calculating magnitudes of differences between the actual statuses of the plurality of vehicles and the expected statuses of the plurality of vehicles.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising receiving an input from the manager defining a threshold related to at least one of the magnitudes, wherein said determining the progress indications comprises determining at least one of the progress indications by determining if the at least one of the magnitudes is greater than the threshold.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the presentation of the at least one of the progress indications comprises presentation of a visual alert to the manager that the at least one of the magnitudes is greater than the threshold.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the presentation of the at least one of the progress indications comprises presentation of a value of the at least one of the magnitudes to the manager.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein said outputting comprises outputting the at least some of the actual statuses of the plurality of vehicles, the at least some of the expected statuses of the plurality of vehicles, and at least some of the progress indications to the display for presentation together as part of a report that lists at least some of the plurality of stops for one of the plurality of vehicles, the report comprising textual highlighting indicative of one or more stops associated with the progress indications.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising outputting on a geographic map a graphical representation of a cluster of vehicles of the plurality of vehicles to the display for presentation to the manager, the cluster comprising a first coloring of a first portion of the graphical representation indicating a first proportion of the cluster of vehicles that satisfy a progress threshold and a second coloring of a second portion of the graphical representation indicating a second proportion of the cluster of vehicles that do not satisfy the progress threshold.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the graphical representation comprises a circle, and the first portion comprises a first periphery portion of the circle and the second portion comprises a second periphery portion of the circle, a size of the first periphery portion corresponding to the first proportion of the cluster of vehicles that satisfy the progress threshold and a size of the second periphery portion corresponding to the second proportion of the cluster of vehicles that do not satisfy the progress threshold.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the progress threshold is satisfied by vehicles of the cluster of vehicles that are on time servicing the plurality of jobs, and the progress threshold is not satisfied by vehicles of the cluster of vehicles that are not on time servicing the plurality of jobs.