Machine or group of machines for monitoring location of a vehicle or freight carried by a vehicle

• US 9,773,221 B1
• Filed: 03/13/2017
• Issued: 09/26/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Macropoint LLC (The Descartes Systems Group Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Macropoint LLC (The Descartes Systems Group Incorporated)
• Inventors: Adelson, Bennett H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Rushing, Mark
• Application Number:
  US15/456,657
• Time in Patent Office: 197 Days
• Field of Search: 340988-994
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/13 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/46 the supplementary measurement being of a radio-wave signal type
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0833 Tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/13 the indicator being in the form of a map
• 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 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental

Abstract

A machine or group of machines for monitoring location of at least one of a vehicle or freight carried by the vehicle includes a server comprising a central processing unit, a memory, a clock, and a server communication transceiver that receives location information of a mobile device, the mobile device comprising a GPS receiver, a microprocessor and a wireless communication transceiver coupled to the GPS receiver, the mobile device comprising the GPS receiver programmed to receive data sent by a plurality of GPS satellites, calculate location information of the mobile device comprising the GPS receiver and transmit the location information.

Claims

1. A system for collecting data for processing network location information of distributed network entities, comprising:

a circuit including one or more data collectors configured to receive information from a first source regarding the distributed network entities and to produce records based on the information including a first network location record associated with a first one of the distributed network entities;

the circuit further configured to correlate the first network location record with data available from a second source, the second source corresponding to a location information provider which is a party or device other than any of the distributed network entities;

the circuit further configured to augment data in the first network location record with data received from the second source including location information corresponding to the first one of the distributed network entities;

a notice and consent component that indicates that consent was given to transmission of information including the location information corresponding to the first one of the distributed network entities; and

the circuit further configured to communicate the location information corresponding to the first one of the distributed network entities.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the distributed network entities correspond to vehicles in a network.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the distributed network entities correspond to freight carried by vehicles in a network.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the distributed network entities correspond to mobile communications devices transported by vehicles in a network.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuit corresponds to hardware, firmware, software, or combinations thereof.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the location information provider corresponds to one or more of:

a wireless service provider to the distributed network entities,

a third party obtaining the location information from the wireless service provider, and

a party that has access to the location information, but is other than the wireless service provider or the third party that obtains the location information from the wireless service provider.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the location information is obtained using a technique utilizing GPS receivers that form part of the distributed network entities.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the location information is obtained using a technique that does not require GPS receivers to form part of the distributed network entities.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the location information is obtained through techniques including at least one:

triangulation between radio towers,

obtaining a range of locations corresponding to a transmission range of a single radio tower,

advance forward link trilateration (AFLT),

observed time difference (OTD), and

Cell-ID (CID).

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the circuit is configured to communicate the location information corresponding to the first one of the distributed network entities to at least one of:

a freight service provider,

a party to whom the freight service provider provides freight services, or

a party that provides location information services to the freight service provider or to the party to whom the freight service provider provides freight services.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein a computer program for processing network location information of distributed network entities, the computer program performs a method when executed on a processor, the method comprising:

receiving from a first source information regarding the distributed network entities and to produce records based on the information including a first network location record associated with a first one of the distributed network entities;

correlating the first network location record with data available from a second source, the second source corresponding to a location information provider which is a party or device other than any of the distributed network entities;

augmenting data in the first network location record with data received from the second source including location information corresponding to the first one of the distributed network entities;

providing a notice and consent and for receiving and indication that consent was given to transmission of information including the location information corresponding to the first one of the distributed network entities; and

communicating the location information corresponding to the first one of the distributed network entities.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the distributed network entities correspond to vehicles in a network.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the distributed network entities correspond to freight carried by vehicles in a network.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the distributed network entities correspond to mobile communications devices transported by vehicles in a network.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the location information provider corresponds to one or more of:

a wireless service provider to the distributed network entities,

a third party obtaining the location information from the wireless service provider, and

a party that has access to the location information, but is other than the wireless service provider or the third party that obtains the location information from the wireless service provider.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the location information is obtained using a technique utilizing GPS receivers that form part of the distributed network entities.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the location information is obtained using a technique that does not require GPS receivers to form part of the distributed network entities.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the location information is obtained through techniques including at least one:

triangulation between radio towers,

obtaining a range of locations corresponding to a transmission range of a single radio tower,

advance forward link trilateration (AFLT),

observed time difference (OTD), and

Cell-ID (CID).

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, comprising computer code for communicating the location information corresponding to the first one of the distributed network entities to at least one of:

a freight service provider,

a party to whom the freight service provider provides freight services, or

a party that provides location information services to the freight service provider or to the party to whom the freight service provider provides freight services.

20. A machine or group of machines for processing network location information of distributed network entities, comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored therein computer code that, when executed in a processor or group of processors, performs a method, the method comprising;

receiving from a first source information regarding the distributed network entities and to produce records based on the information including a first network location record associated with a first one of the distributed network entities;

correlating the first network location record with data available from a second source, the second source corresponding to a location information provider which is a party or device other than any of the distributed network entities;

augmenting data in the first network location record with data received from the second source including location information corresponding to the first one of the distributed network entities;

providing a notice and consent and for receiving and indication that consent was given to transmission of information including the location information corresponding to the first one of the distributed network entities; and

communicating the location information corresponding to the first one of the distributed network entities.

21. The machine or group of machines of claim 20, wherein the distributed network entities correspond to vehicles in a network, freight carried by vehicles in a network, or mobile communications devices transported by vehicles in a network.

22. The machine or group of machines of claim 20, wherein the location information provider corresponds to one or more of:

a wireless service provider to the distributed network entities,

a third party obtaining the location information from the wireless service provider, and

a party that has access to the location information, but is other than the wireless service provider or the third party that obtains the location information from the wireless service provider.

23. The machine or group of machines of claim 20, wherein the location information is obtained using a technique utilizing GPS receivers that form part of the distributed network entities.

24. The machine or group of machines of claim 20, wherein the location information is obtained using a technique that does not require GPS receivers to form part of the distributed network entities.

25. The machine or group of machines of claim 20, wherein the location information is obtained through techniques including at least one:

triangulation between radio towers,

obtaining a range of locations corresponding to a transmission range of a single radio tower,

advance forward link trilateration (AFLT),

observed time difference (OTD), and

Cell-ID (CID).