Vehicle data and driver association for transportation management

• US 9,390,628 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2012
• Issued: 07/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: XRS Corporation (Solera Holdings Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: XRS Corporation (Solera Holdings Incorporated)
• Inventors: Mohn, Charles, Sekula, Christopher A., Kakumanu, Sarat, Tuttle, Odell R., Fuglewicz, Daniel P., Anderson, Peter S., Martin, Thomas J. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jackson, Blane J
• Application Number:
  US13/730,046
• Publication Number:
  US 20140045428A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,292 Days
• Field of Search: 455/41.1, 455/41.2, 455/556.1, 455/566
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 17/00 Digital computing or data processing equipment or methods, specially adapted for specific functions information retrieval, database structures or file system structures therefor G06F16/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/018 Certifying business or products
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/00 Registering or indicating the working of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0858 wherein the data carrier is removable
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 7/00 Details or accessories common to the registering or indicating apparatus of groups G07C3/00 and G07C5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/00 Traffic control systems for road vehicles arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00 ; automatic vehicle control B62D
• 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: G09B 19/167 Control of land vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 5/00 Electrically-operated educational appliances working with questions and answers G09B7/00; simulators G09B9/00; advertising or displaying in general G09F
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• 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 portable wireless data transfer and display device comprises a user interface, a communication module, a display, and a short-range wireless communication module configured to wirelessly receive vehicle data from a data acquisition device mounted inside a vehicle when in close proximity to the data acquisition device. The device is configured to accept inputs of driver information from a user via the user interface. The device is configured to associate the inputs of driver information with the vehicle data, and further includes a long-range wireless communication module configured to send the vehicle data and the driver information, and the association of the vehicle data and the driver information through the communication module to a remote network device via a long-range wireless network. The device is further configured to present at least one of: the vehicle data, the driver information, processed data, driver communications to a user via the display.

Claims

1. A portable wireless data transfer and display device comprising:

a user interface;

a communication module;

a display;

a short-range wireless communication module configured to wirelessly communicate two ways with a data acquisition device mounted inside a vehicle when in close proximity to the data acquisition device and receive vehicle data from the data acquisition device,

wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device is configured to accept inputs of driver information from a user via the user interface and transmit the driver information to the data acquisition device, the driver information affecting hours of service records for drivers associated with the portable wireless data transfer and display device,

wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device is configured to associate the inputs of driver information with the vehicle data and generate a driver summary electronic report with the associated vehicle data and driver information; and

a long-range wireless communication module configured to send the driver summary electronic report through the communication module to a remote network device, via a long-range wireless network,

wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device is configured to process the vehicle data, the driver information, and driver communications into an electronic driver scorecard, the electronic driver scorecard including one or more alphanumerical ratings according to a selection of drivers, and

wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device is further configured to present at least one of;

the electronic driver scorecard, the vehicle data, the driver information, processed data, driver communications, or the driver summary electronic report to the user via the display.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device is configured to wirelessly communicate the driver summary electronic report with at least one remote network device or other portable wireless data transfer and display device via the short-range wireless communication module.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein one or more of the elements of the portable wireless data transfer and display device comprises cellular phone device that displays the hours of service information, the hours of service information being updated in response to wirelessly receiving vehicle usage information from the data acquisition device.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the short-range wireless communication module is a Bluetooth wireless communication module.

5. The device of claim 1, wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device wirelessly receives at least the vehicle usage information from the data acquisition device via the short-range wireless communication module and the data acquisition device wirelessly sends confirmation of receipt of the vehicle usage information to the portable wireless display unit.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device wirelessly communicates via the short range wireless communication module, at predetermined times, with the data acquisition device when the data acquisition device is mounted in the vehicle and the portable wireless data transfer and display device is in close proximity to the vehicle.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the long-range wireless network is selected from a group consisting of:

a cellular network;

a satellite communication link;

a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMax) link; and

a long term evolution (LTE).

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device is further configured to receive processed data via the communication module from the remote network device via the long-range wireless network.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device is further configured to send driver communications via a communication module to at least one of:

other portable wireless data transfer and display device, remote computer via the long-range wireless network.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device is further configured to receive driver communication via the communication module from at least one of:

other portable wireless data transfer and display device, remote computer via the long-range wireless network.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device is configured to download and independently install configuration updates from the remote network device via an installation module.

12. The device of claim 1, wherein portable wireless data transfer and display device is configured for storage of vehicle data, driver information, driver communications, processed data, and remote network device updates via memory.

13. The device of claim 1, wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device is configured to wirelessly transmit the driver summary electronic report to a remote computer via a wireless network.

14. The device of claim 1, wherein the portable wireless data transfer and display device is configured to send the driver summary electronic report through the communication module to the remote network device via the long-range wireless network at predetermined times.

15. A method for data transfer and display comprising:

wirelessly receiving, via a short-range wireless communication module, vehicle data from a data acquisition device mounted inside a vehicle for gathering vehicle data from the vehicle during operation of the vehicle;

accepting inputs of driver information from a user via a user interface and transmitting the driver information to the data acquisition device, the driver information affecting hours of service records for drivers associated with the portable wireless data transfer and display device;

associating the inputs of driver information with the vehicle data;

generating a driver summary electronic report with the associated vehicle data and driver information;

sending the driver summary electronic report through a long range wireless communication module to a remote network device via a long-range wireless network;

processing the vehicle data, the driver information, and driver communications into an electronic driver scorecard, the electronic driver scorecard including one or more alphanumerical ratings according to a selection of drivers; and

presenting at least one of the electronic driver scorecard, the vehicle data, the association of the vehicle data, the driver information, and the driver summary electronic report to the user.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the short-range wireless communication module is a Bluetooth wireless communication module.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein sending the driver summary electronic report through the long-range wireless communication module to the remote network device via the long-range wireless network occurs at predetermined times.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein:

receiving the vehicle data includes receiving a unique vehicle identification of the vehicle, and

the association of the vehicle data and the driver information includes the vehicle identification.