Augmentation for GPS calculations

• US 9,909,876 B2
• Filed: 05/20/2014
• Issued: 03/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/16/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United Parcel Service Of America Incorporated (United Parcel Service Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: United Parcel Service Of America Incorporated (United Parcel Service Incorporated)
• Inventors: Siris, Marc David
• Primary Examiner(s): Previl, Daniel
• Application Number:
  US14/281,942
• Publication Number:
  US 20140257691A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,386 Days
• Field of Search: 340991, 340988, 3409951, 34099519, 3409952, 34099521, 34099523, 34053913, 3405391, 340 33, 340 331, 340994
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/072 Ionosphere corrections
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/14 specially adapted for specific applications

Abstract

Various embodiments of the present invention provide systems, methods, and computer program products for providing improved augmentation for GPS calculations. In general, various embodiments of the invention involve using a plurality of GPS devices associated with stationary objects associated with a common carrier'"'"'s delivery network and the common carrier'"'"'s delivery fleet to calculate error corrections and to communicate these error corrections to a number of GPS enable devices to be used by these devices to augment GPS calculations to correct errors associated with GPS signals. Further, various embodiments of the invention involve collecting GPS data for a plurality of delivery routes traveled by the common carrier'"'"'s delivery fleet. In particular embodiments, this collected data may be used to provide more accurate address information for locations along these delivery routes and more accurate renderings of various landscapes along these delivery routes.

Claims

1. A system for collecting global positioning system (GPS) data for a plurality of routes traveled by a plurality of vehicles, the system comprising:

(a) one or more storage media configured to store multiple collected GPS data points for the plurality of routes traveled by the plurality of vehicles;

(b) a plurality of GPS enabled devices, each GPS enabled device associated with one of the plurality of vehicles and configured to, in response to detecting one of a plurality of triggering events;

(1) receive signals from a plurality of satellites associated with a global positioning system;

(2) determine a location of the vehicle on which the GPS enabled device is located based on the received signals; and

(3) store the location in memory as the GPS data; and

(c) a plurality of communication devices, each communication device located on one of the plurality of vehicles and configured to communicate the collected GPS data for each determined location to the one or more storage media, wherein the collected GPS data for at least one location on the plurality of routes is transmitted to another system to cause the another system to update incorrect geographic data of the at least one location to correspond to the collected GPS data, and wherein the geographic data of the another system for the at least one location was previously missing or inaccurate.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the GPS enabled devices and at least one of the communication devices are the same device.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein each of the plurality of vehicles comprises one or more data sensors configured to gather data about the vehicle and the collected GPS data comprises at least a portion of the gathered data from the one or more data sensors.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the plurality of vehicles are dispatched over the plurality of routes on a regular basis to collect the GPS data for the plurality of routes.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the regular basis is daily.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the collected GPS data for a particular route is provided to a geographic information system to cause the geographic information system to render a mapping of the particular route using the collected GPS data for the particular route.

7. The system of claim 2, wherein the collected GPS data is provided to at least one of one or more web mapping providers and one or more GPS service providers.

8. The system of claim 2, wherein the communication device is configured to communicate the GPS data over a wireless communication channel.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the triggering events is an elapse of a predetermined period of time.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of vehicles comprises one or more data sensors configured to gather data about the vehicle and at least one of the triggering events is a data sensor gathering data.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the data sensor gathering data comprises at least one of the vehicle stopping, a door on the vehicle opening, or a door on the vehicle unlocking.

12. A method for collecting global positioning system (GPS) data for a plurality of routes traveled by a plurality of vehicles, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) in response to detecting each triggering event of a plurality of triggering events that occur for each of the plurality of vehicles while a particular vehicle travels on one of the plurality of routes;

(1) receiving signals, by a GPS enabled device located on the particular vehicle, from a plurality of satellites associated with a global positioning system;

(2) determining a location of the vehicle, by the GPS enabled device, based on the received signals; and

(3) storing the location in memory as the GPS data; and

(b) communicating the collected GPS data for each determined location to one or more storage media, wherein the storage media is configured to store multiple collected GPS data points for the plurality of routes traveled by the plurality of vehicles, wherein the collected GPS data for at least one location on the plurality of routes is transmitted to a system to cause the system to update incorrect geographic data of the at least one location to correspond to the collected GPS data, and wherein the geographic data of the system for the at least one location was previously missing or inaccurate.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein at least one of the triggering events is an elapse of a predetermined period of time.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of vehicles comprises one or more data sensors configured to gather data about the vehicle and at least one of the triggering events is a data sensor gathering data.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the data sensor gathering data comprises at least one of the vehicle stopping, a door on the vehicle opening, or a door on the vehicle unlocking.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein each of the plurality of vehicles comprises one or more data sensors configured to gather data about the vehicle and the collected GPS data comprises at least a portion of the gathered data from the one or more data sensors.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the plurality of vehicles are dispatched over the plurality of routes on a regular basis to collect the GPS data for the plurality of routes.

18. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of providing the collected GPS data for a particular route to a geographic information system to cause the geographic information system to render a mapping of the particular route using the collected GPS data for the particular route.

19. The method of claim 12 further comprising the step of providing the collected GPS data to at least one of one or more web mapping providers and one or more GPS service providers.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the communicating step is performed over a wireless communication channel.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containing executable code for collecting global positioning system (GPS) data for a plurality of routes traveled by a plurality of vehicles, that when executed by at least one computer processor associated with one of the plurality of vehicles as the vehicle travels along at least one of a plurality of routes causes the at least one computer processor to:

(a) detect a plurality of triggering events;

(b) in response to detecting each triggering event of the plurality of triggering events while a particular vehicle travels on a particular route;

(1) receive signals from a plurality of satellites associated with a global positioning system;

(2) determine a location of the vehicle based on the received signals; and

(3) store the location in memory as the GPS data; and

(c) communicate the collected GPS data for each determined location to one or more storage media, wherein the one or more storage media is configured to store multiple collected GPS data points for the plurality of routes traveled by the plurality of vehicles, wherein the collected GPS data for at least one location on the plurality of routes is transmitted to a system to cause the system to update incorrect geographic data of the at least one location to correspond to the collected GPS data, and wherein the geographic data of the system for the at least one location was previously missing or inaccurate.