Systems and methods for driver and vehicle tracking

• US 9,648,579 B2
• Filed: 11/21/2014
• Issued: 05/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CalAmp Corporation
• Original Assignee: CalAmp Corporation
• Inventors: Abhishek
• Primary Examiner(s): MARC-COLEMAN, MARTHE Y
• Application Number:
  US14/550,639
• Publication Number:
  US 20160146615A1
• Time in Patent Office: 900 Days
• Field of Search: 701519, 701 334, 434 65, 34087002
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3407 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/13 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3822 specially adapted for use in vehicles H04B1/3827 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]

Abstract

Systems and methods for driver and vehicle tracking in accordance with embodiments of the invention are disclosed. In one embodiment of the invention, a location tracking system includes a processor and a memory storing a location tracking application, wherein the location tracking application directs the processor to obtain vehicle location data, where the vehicle location data includes a set of vehicle location data points, obtain driver location data, where the driver location data includes a set of driver location data points, correlate the vehicle location data and the driver location data, and generate vehicle driver data based on the correlated vehicle location data and driver location data, where the generated vehicle driver data includes a set of drivers associated with a vehicle.

Claims

1. A location tracking system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory storing a location tracking application;

wherein the location tracking application directs the processor to;

obtain vehicle location data using a vehicle location device installed in a vehicle, where the vehicle location data comprises a set of vehicle location data points identifying the location of the vehicle;

obtain driver location data using a driver location device associated with a driver and distinct from the vehicle location device installed in the vehicle, where the driver location data comprises a set of driver location data points identifying the location of the driver;

correlate the vehicle location data and the driver location data by determining when the vehicle and the driver are at a similar location by identifying at least one vehicle location data point and at least one driver location data points identify a similar geographic location at one or more discreet times; and

generate vehicle driver data based on the correlated vehicle location data and driver location data, where the generated vehicle driver data comprises a set of drivers associated with a vehicle and the set of drivers comprises the driver associated with the driver location device.

2. The location tracking system of claim 1, wherein:

the location tracking system further comprises a network interface; and

the location tracking application directs the processor to obtain the vehicle location data using the network interface.

3. The location tracking system of claim 1, wherein the location tracking application directs the processor to correlate the vehicle location data and the driver location data based on overlapping location data points in the set of vehicle location data points and driver location data points.

4. The location tracking system of claim 3, wherein:

the vehicle location data further comprises a vehicle location sampling rate;

the driver location data further comprises a driver location sampling rate; and

the correlation of the overlapping location data points is based on the vehicle location sampling rate and the driver location sampling rate.

5. The location tracking system of claim 4, wherein the driver location sampling rate is greater than the vehicle location sampling rate.

6. The location tracking system of claim 5, wherein the driver location sampling rate is greater than or equal to double the vehicle location sampling rate.

7. The location tracking system of claim 1, wherein:

the driver location data further comprises driver identification data uniquely identifying the driver; and

the vehicle driver data further comprises the driver identification data.

8. The location tracking system of claim 1, wherein the location tracking application directs the processor to correlate the vehicle location and the driver location data by:

calculating vehicle route data based on the vehicle location data, where the vehicle route data comprises a path describing the route taken by the vehicle;

calculating driver route data based on the driver location data, where the driver route data comprises a path describing the route taken by the driver;

computing a similarity score based on the vehicle route data and the driver route data; and

when the similarity score exceeds a threshold value, determine that the vehicle location data and the driver location data are correlated.

9. A method for associating drivers with vehicles, comprising:

obtaining vehicle location data using a location tracking system, wherein;

the vehicle location data is generated using a vehicle location device installed in a vehicle and comprises a set of vehicle location data points identifying the location of the vehicle; and

the location tracking system comprises a processor and a memory readable by the processor;

obtaining driver location data using the location tracking system, where the driver location data is generated using a driver location device associated with a driver and distinct from the vehicle location device, where the driver location data comprises a set of driver location data points identifying the location of the driver;

correlating the vehicle location data and the driver location data using the location tracking system by determining when the vehicle and the driver are at a similar location by identifying at least one vehicle location data point and at least one driver location data points identify a similar geographic location at one or more discreet times; and

generating vehicle driver data based on the correlated vehicle location data and driver location data using the location tracking system, where the generated vehicle driver data comprises a set of drivers associated with a vehicle and the set of drivers comprises the driver associated with the driver location device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein:

the location tracking system comprises a network interface; and

the method includes obtaining the vehicle location data using the network interface.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising correlating the vehicle location data and the driver location data based on overlapping location data points in the set of vehicle location data points and driver location data points using the location tracking system.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the vehicle location data further comprises a vehicle location sampling rate;

the driver location data further comprises a driver location sampling rate; and

correlating the overlapping location data points is based on the vehicle location sampling rate and the driver location sampling rate.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the driver location sampling rate is greater than the vehicle location sampling rate.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the driver location sampling rate is greater than or equal to double the vehicle location sampling rate.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein:

the driver location data further comprises driver identification data uniquely identifying the driver; and

the vehicle driver data further comprises the driver identification data.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising correlating the vehicle location and the driver location data by:

calculating vehicle route data based on the vehicle location data using the location tracking system, where the vehicle route data comprises a path describing the route taken by the vehicle;

calculating driver route data based on the driver location data using the location tracking system, where the driver route data comprises a path describing the route taken by the driver;

computing a similarity score based on the vehicle route data and the driver route data using the location tracking system; and

when the similarity score exceeds a threshold value, determining that the vehicle location data and the driver location data are correlated using the location tracking system.