Management server for working machine and management method for working machine

• US 9,637,891 B2
• Filed: 03/07/2014
• Issued: 05/02/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hitachi Construction Machinery Company Limited (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Hitachi Construction Machinery Company Limited (Hitachi, Ltd.)
• Inventors: Adachi, Hiroyuki, Abe, Satoshi, Kubota, Kazuki, Ota, Kenji, Seki, Kouji, Seki, Kunio, Onose, Hiroshi
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, TAN QUANG
• Application Number:
  US14/772,935
• Publication Number:
  US 20160017574A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,152 Days
• Field of Search: 701 314, 701 316, 701 318, 701 319, 701 321, 707601, 707602
• CPC Class Codes: E02F 9/2054 Fleet management
• CPC Class Codes: E02F 9/267 Diagnosing or detecting failure of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/048 Monitoring; Safety
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 2219/45012 Excavator
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/08 Construction
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0808 Diagnosing performance data testing of vehicles G01M17/00; testing of electrical installation on vehicles G01R31/005
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/0841 Registering performance data recording measured values G01D; information storage G11B
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/085 using electronic data carriers
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/12 in graphical form

Abstract

A management server for a working machine, including: a reception unit that receives a sensor output from a working machine; a regular report creation unit that creates, for each predetermined period of time, a regular report indicating an operation state of the working machine within the predetermined period of time based on the sensor output; an emergency report creation unit that creates at least one emergency report upon detecting abnormality data representing abnormality of the working machine based on the sensor output; an important report creation unit that creates an important report upon detecting predictive data indicating a sign of the abnormality based on the sensor output; and a delivery unit that delivers the regular report, the at least one emergency report, and the important report, respectively, to a regular report delivery target, an emergency report delivery target, and an important report delivery target.

Claims

1. A management server for a working machine, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory connected to the processor and storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

receive a sensor output from the working machine;

create, for each predetermined period of time, a regular report indicating an operation state of the working machine within the predetermined period of time based on the sensor output;

create at least one emergency report upon detecting abnormality data representing abnormality of the working machine based on the sensor output;

create an important report upon detecting data indicating a possibility that is likely to lead to an actual abnormality of the working machine in the future although it is unnecessary to take any immediate action to cope with the actual abnormality of the working machine in the future based on the sensor output;

identify a regular report delivery target, an emergency report delivery target, and an important report delivery target from a first database that stores first information relating to the regular report delivery target, the emergency report delivery target, and the important report delivery target; and

deliver the regular report, the at least one emergency report, and the important report, respectively, to the regular report delivery target, the emergency report delivery target, and the important report delivery target,

wherein the first information is referred to in order to identify a first delivery target that corresponds to a purchaser of the working machine and a second delivery target that corresponds to a seller of the working machine as the emergency report delivery target, to identify the second delivery target that corresponds to the seller as the important report delivery target, and to identify the first delivery target that corresponds to the purchaser and the second delivery target that corresponds to the seller as the regular report delivery target.

2. The management server for a working machine according to claim 1, wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to:

determine respective languages that are used to create each of the regular report, the at least one emergency report, and the important report by referring to second information stored in the first database,

wherein the regular report, the at least one emergency report, and the important report are created in the determined respective languages.

3. The management server for a working machine according to claim 1,

wherein the data indicating the possibility that is likely to lead to the actual abnormality of the working machine in the future is predictive data that represents a sign of the actual abnormality of the working machine which has a possibility to be an obstacle to operation of the working machine in the future.

4. The management server for a working machine according to claim 1, wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to:

a second database that stores third information relating to tuning executed to the working machine by an external terminal device; and

receive third information relating to tuning executed on the working machine from an external terminal device; and

store the received third information in a second database,

wherein if the third information is stored in the second database when creating the regular report, the regular report is created including the third information.

5. The management server for a working machine according to claim 1,

wherein the regular report includes an average value of any one of fuel consumption, operation fluid temperature, water temperature, and pump pressure based on sensor outputs from a plurality of other working machines of a same model as the working machine.

6. The management server for a working machine according to claim 1, wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to:

switch a mode for detection of the abnormality data depending on a type of the sensor output to one selected from a mode in which the abnormality data is detected when the sensor output exceeds a predetermined threshold value once, a mode in which the abnormality data is detected when the sensor output exceeds the predetermined threshold value a plurality of times consecutively, or a mode in which the abnormality data is detected when the sensor output exceeds the predetermined threshold time a specified number of time within a fixed period of time, when detecting the abnormality data based on the sensor output.

7. The management server for a working machine according to claim 1,

wherein the at least one emergency report includes a first emergency report and a second emergency report that contains an amount of information larger than the first information,

wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, further cause the processor to:

identify the first delivery target that corresponds to the purchaser as the emergency report delivery target that corresponds to the first emergency report, and identify the second delivery target that corresponds to the seller as the emergency report delivery target that corresponds to the second emergency report.

8. A method for managing a working machine, comprising:

receiving a sensor output from the working machine;

creating, for each predetermined period of time, a regular report that indicates an operation state of the working machine within the predetermined period of time based on the sensor output;

creating at least one emergency report each time when abnormality data representing abnormality of the working machine is detected based on the sensor output;

creating an important report each time when data indicating a possibility that is likely to lead to an actual abnormality of the working machine in the future although it is unnecessary to take any immediate action to cope with the actual abnormality of the working machine in the future is detected based on the sensor output;

referring to information relating to a regular report delivery target, an emergency report delivery target, and an important report delivery target which are predetermined in advance in order to identify a first delivery target that corresponds to a purchaser of the working machine and a second delivery target that corresponds to a seller of the working machine as the emergency report delivery target, to identify the second delivery target that corresponds to the seller as the important report delivery target, and to identify the first delivery target that corresponds to the purchaser and the second delivery target that corresponds to the seller as the regular report delivery target; and

delivering the regular report, the at least one emergency report, and the important report, respectively, to the identified regular report delivery target, the identified emergency report delivery target, and the identified important report delivery target.

9. The method for managing a working machine according to claim 8, further comprising:

switching a mode for detection of the abnormality data depending on a type of the sensor output to one selected from a mode in which the abnormality data is detected when the sensor output exceeds a predetermined threshold value once, a mode in which the abnormality data is detected when the sensor output exceeds the predetermined threshold value a plurality of times consecutively, and a mode in which the abnormality data is detected when the sensor output exceeds the predetermined threshold time a specified number of time within a fixed period of time, when detecting the abnormality data based on the sensor output.