Fleet management system

• US 9,632,506 B2
• Filed: 10/21/2015
• Issued: 04/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Crown Equipment Corporation
• Original Assignee: Crown Equipment Corporation
• Inventors: Wellman, Timothy A., Winner, Dean E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Masud, Rokib
• Application Number:
  US14/918,708
• Publication Number:
  US 20160041559A1
• Time in Patent Office: 552 Days
• Field of Search: 701 1, 701 294, 701 36, 705 4, 705 714
• 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: G05D 1/223 Command input arrangements on the remote controller, e.g. joysticks or touch screens
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/69 Coordinated control of the position or course of two or more vehicles
• 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

Materials handling vehicles are integrated with enterprise computing systems by providing a transceiver on a vehicle, where the transceiver is configured for wireless data communication across a wireless computing environment. More particularly, integration is implemented by configuring a processor on the materials handling vehicle to: communicate with the transceiver for wireless communication to a corresponding server computer, to communicate with at least one electronics component of the materials handling vehicle across a vehicle network bus and to receive logon information to identify an operator logging onto the materials handling vehicle. Integration also comprises configuring the processor to implement at least one customization function on the materials handling vehicle based upon the received logon information by: wirelessly communicating information between the server computer and the materials handling vehicle via the transceiver and interacting with at least one component of the materials handling vehicle across the materials handling vehicle network bus.

Claims

1. A method of customizing a materials handling vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving, by a processor of the materials handling vehicle, logon information to identify an operator logging onto the materials handling vehicle; and

implementing, by the processor, at least one customization function on the materials handling vehicle based upon the received logon information by;

interacting with a transceiver on the materials handling vehicle to wirelessly communicate the received logon information from the materials handling vehicle across a wireless computing environment to a corresponding server, where the server stores customization parameters that are utilized to customize one or more features of materials handling vehicles in a fleet of materials handling vehicles associated with the server;

receiving from the server, specific customization preferences that are uniquely associated with the logon information, which the server retrieves from the stored customization parameters that are associated with the fleet of materials handling vehicles; and

interacting with at least one component of the materials handling vehicle across a materials handling vehicle network bus to implement the at least one customization function based upon the received customization preferences.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

receiving from the server, specific customization preferences comprises;

receiving operator defined preferences from the server; and

interacting with at least one component of the materials handling vehicle across the materials handling vehicle network bus comprises;

communicating the customization information across the materials handling vehicle network bus of the materials handling vehicle to customize at least one networked component of the materials handling vehicle according to operator defined preferences.

3. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

obtaining customized settings selected by an operator for at least one of a specific materials handling vehicle or a specific type of materials handling vehicle for a fleet having a plurality of materials handling vehicles; and

storing the obtained customized settings at the server;

wherein;

implementing, by the processor, at least one customization function on the materials handling vehicle based upon the received logon information, further comprises identifying at least one of the specific materials handling vehicle or the materials handling vehicle type that the operator is logged into;

receiving from the server, specific customization preferences that are uniquely associated with the logon information, comprises obtaining from the server, the operator'"'"'s preferences for the materials handling vehicle that the operator is logged into; and

interacting with at least one component of the materials handling vehicle across the materials handling vehicle network bus comprises communicating across the materials handling vehicle network bus to configure the materials handling vehicle for operation according to the operator'"'"'s preferences received from the server.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

implementing, by the processor, at least one customization function comprises;

implementing performance tuning of the materials handling vehicle based at least in part upon the received logon information by;

receiving a performance rating from the server for the operator logged onto the corresponding materials handling vehicle; and

communicating instructions from the processor to at least one vehicle component across the materials handling vehicle network bus to selectively limit, disable or configure the performance of at least one feature based upon the performance rating associated with that operator.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the performance rating is stored by the server as a select one of multiple predetermined rankings, each ranking identifying a corresponding maximum limit for at least one vehicle operating characteristic, and wherein:

interacting with at least one component of the materials handling vehicle comprises communicating by the processor across the materials handling vehicle network bus to alter a select electronic component of the materials handling vehicle to set a maximum limit of operation of the select electronic component according to the maximum limit of the associated ranking.

6. The method according to claim 4 further comprising:

establishing the performance rating for each operator based upon actual monitored measures of vehicle performance automatically captured by the processor on the materials handling vehicle during use by the operator, and associated with the logon information of the materials handling vehicle operator.

7. The method according to claim 4 further comprising:

assigning each materials handling vehicle operator a performance rating where at least one performance rating corresponds to a beginner operator having reduced vehicle functionality and at least one performance rating corresponds to an experienced operator having relatively more available vehicle functionality than the beginner performance rating.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

interacting with at least one component of the materials handling vehicle across the materials handling vehicle network bus to implement the at least one customization function based upon the received customization preferences, comprises;

reconfiguring features of wire assignments of an input/output module according to the retrieved customization parameters.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

interacting with at least one component of the materials handling vehicle across the materials handling vehicle network bus to implement the at least one customization function based upon the received customization preferences, comprises;

dynamically adjusting a predetermined impact sensing threshold value that determines the triggering of an impact.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

interacting with at least one component of the materials handling vehicle across the materials handling vehicle network bus to implement the at least one customization function based upon the received customization preferences, comprises;

configuring a display on the materials handling vehicle to show or hide layers of details based upon the customization preferences of the operator.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

interacting with at least one component of the materials handling vehicle across the materials handling vehicle network bus to implement the at least one customization function based upon the received customization preferences, comprises;

configuring a display on the materials handling vehicle to display statistics and/or other feedback on operator efficiency based upon the customization preferences.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein:

interacting with at least one component of the materials handling vehicle across the materials handling vehicle network bus to implement the at least one customization function based upon the received customization preferences, comprises;

adjusting at least one materials handling vehicle capability based upon customization preferences that are extracted from a user profile obtained from the server.

13. A method of customizing a materials handling vehicle, the method comprising:

receiving, by a processor of the materials handling vehicle, electronically communicated logon information to identify an operator logging onto the materials handling vehicle;

communicating, by a transceiver of the materials handling vehicle, across a wireless computing environment to a corresponding server, identification information identifying the materials handling vehicle and the operator that logged onto the materials handling vehicle, where the server stores customization parameters that are utilized to customize one or more features of materials handling vehicles in a fleet of materials handling vehicles associated with the server;

receiving by the processor of the materials handling vehicle, from the server, specific customization preferences that are uniquely associated with the logon information, which the server retrieves from the stored customization parameters that are associated with the fleet of materials handling vehicles;

and

communicating by the processor to at least one component of the materials handling vehicle, commands for reconfiguring at least one feature of the materials handling vehicle based upon the received customization preferences.

14. The method according to claim 13 further comprising:

requiring the operator to provide an operator identification to log onto the materials handling vehicle; and

verifying that the provided operator identification identifies the operator as being authorized to operate the material handling vehicle;

wherein;

receiving from the server, specific customization preferences that are uniquely associated with the logon information comprises receiving operator customization parameters associated uniquely with the operator identification; and

reconfiguring at least one feature of the materials handling vehicle based upon the received customization preferences comprises reconfiguring at least one feature of the materials handling vehicle by communicating with the feature of the materials handling vehicle across a vehicle network bus, according to the retrieved operator customization parameters.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein at least one operator customization parameter comprises a language parameter, the method further comprising:

displaying operator messages on the materials handling vehicle in an operator selected language from a plurality of language options.

16. The method according to claim 13, wherein:

reconfiguring at least one feature of the materials handling vehicle based upon the received customization preferences comprises;

performing at least one of updating current operator messages in a new language format selected by the operator from a plurality of language options by downloading the new language messages from the applications server or updating new operator messages in a language format identified by the operator.

17. The method according to claim 13, wherein:

reconfiguring at least one feature of the materials handling vehicle based upon the received customization preferences, comprises;

automatically adjusting at least one of a seat position, vehicle control macros, and vehicle performance characteristics based upon the operator identification.

18. The method according to claim 13, wherein:

receiving from the server, specific customization preferences that are uniquely associated with the logon information, comprises receiving a performance rating associated with the vehicle operator; and

reconfiguring at least one feature of the materials handling vehicle based upon the received customization preferences, comprises reconfiguring at least one feature of the materials handling vehicle according to the retrieved performance rating to limit the capabilities of the materials handling vehicle according to defined limits associated with the performance rating.

19. The method according to claim 13 further comprising:

coupling the processor for communication with a plurality of electronic components using a plurality of wires;

wherein;

reconfiguring at least one feature of the materials handling vehicle based upon the received customization preferences comprises configuring the processor to communicate with the plurality of electronic components based upon parameters that change the specific functions of each of the plurality of wires that couple the processor to the plurality of electronic components based upon the received customization preferences.

20. The method according to claim 13, wherein reconfiguring at least one feature of the materials handling vehicle based upon the received customization preferences, comprises:

setting a parameter to disable or limit the functionality of the materials handling vehicle if the server determines that servicing is required for the materials handling vehicle.