Information reporting system for managing a fleet of an industrial vehicles

• US 9,978,186 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2009
• Issued: 05/22/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/09/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Raymond Corporation (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Raymond Corporation (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: LaFergola, Joseph Victor, Haberman, Vicki, Berryman, Michelle Swindell, Aponte, Alfredo Gonzalo, Jencks, Valerie Marie
• Primary Examiner(s): Hatcher, Deirdre D
• Application Number:
  US12/647,624
• Publication Number:
  US 20100179844A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,067 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/006 Indicating maintenance
• 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

Abstract

Operational data are transmitted, by each of a plurality of material handling vehicles at a facility, into a communications system. A computer connected to the communications system processes the operational data and presents reports on a monitor screen. The computer operates in an impact report mode which provides reports about material handling vehicle impacts with objects, a maintenance report mode for reports pertaining to vehicle maintenance, a verify report mode presenting reports about vehicle inspections, and a metrics report mode for reports describing amounts of work performed by the vehicles, and an overview mode summarizes information from each of other report modes. Each report mode has different display modes which summarize data for a group of the vehicles or provide detailed information about one particular vehicle or one specific vehicle operator.

Claims

1. A system, for managing a plurality of material handling vehicles at a facility, comprising:

a sensor on each material handling vehicle to monitor at least one of speed and acceleration of the material handling vehicle;

a communication interface on each material handling vehicle which transmits and receives data regarding vehicle operation, the data regarding vehicle operation including at least one of speed data and acceleration data;

a communications system that receives the data from each communication interface; and

a computer system comprising a processor, a user input device and a monitor having a screen on which information is displayed, and being connected to the communications system for processing the data from each of the material handling vehicles, including the at least one of speed data and acceleration data, and presenting reports on the screen based on the processed data from each of the material handling vehicles, including the at least one of speed data and acceleration data, the computer system operating in a plurality of report modes that comprises an impact report mode presenting reports about collisions of material handling vehicles with objects, a maintenance report mode presenting reports about maintenance and service performed on the material handling vehicles, a verify report mode presenting data about inspections performed on the material handling vehicles, and a metrics report mode presenting reports about amounts of work performed by the material handling vehicles, and an overview report mode presenting an overview report that contains separate graphs each summarizing report information from a different one of the impact, maintenance, verify, and metrics report modes, the processor to limit at least one vehicle operating parameter based on at least one of the presented reports, the at least one vehicle operating parameter including at least one of speed and acceleration;

wherein the computer system transitions from the overview report mode to another report mode that is selected in response to activation of the user input device, each of the impact, maintenance, verify, and metrics report modes has a summary display mode with a graph that presents data compiled from the plurality of material handling vehicles at the facility, a list display mode with a table that individually lists data about each one of at least some of the plurality of material handling vehicles, and a trend display mode containing a graph that presents a trend line of data during a defined time period, wherein the summary display mode, list display mode and the trend display mode is selectable in response a user activating the user input device to select an element presented on the screen.

2. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein in the list display mode of each of the impact, maintenance, verify, and metrics report modes, the computer system responds to another activation of the user input device by presenting information pertaining to only material handling vehicle on the screen.

3. The system as recited in claim 2 wherein the one material handling vehicle is designated in the list display mode by operation of the user input device placing a cursor on the screen location associated with the one material handling vehicle.

4. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein trend display mode extrapolates the trend line of data beyond the defined time period to predict data in a future time period.

5. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein the computer system comprises a storage device that stores a profile of a specific person authorized to use the system wherein that profile defines types of data that can be used in the report modes.

6. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein the computer system comprises a storage device that stores a profile for a specific person authorized to use the system wherein that profile defines a default report mode that appears on the screen when the specific person accesses the system.

7. The system as recited in claim 1 wherein the computer system comprises a storage device that stores a profile of a specific person authorized to use the system wherein that profile defines at least one bookmark designating at a given display mode for one of the report modes.

8. A system, for managing a plurality of material handling vehicles at a facility, comprising:

a temperature sensor on each material handling vehicle;

a communication interface on each material handling vehicle which transmits and receives data regarding vehicle operation, the data regarding vehicle operation including vehicle temperature data;

a communications system that receives the data from each communication interface; and

a computer system comprising a processor, a user input device and a monitor having a screen on which information is displayed, and being connected to the communications system for processing the data from each of the material handling vehicles, including the vehicle temperature data, and presenting reports on the screen based on the processed data from each of the material handling vehicles, including the vehicle temperature data, the computer system operating in a plurality of report modes that comprises an impact report mode presenting reports about collisions of material handling vehicles with objects, a maintenance report mode presenting reports about maintenance and service performed on the material handling vehicles, a verify report mode presenting data about inspections performed on the material handling vehicles, and a metrics report mode presenting reports about amounts of work performed by the material handling vehicles, and an overview report mode presenting an overview report that contains separate graphs each summarizing report information from a different one of the impact, maintenance, verify, and metrics report modes, the processor to control at least one of a vehicle speed and a vehicle acceleration based on the vehicle temperature data from at least one of the presented reports;

wherein the computer system transitions from the overview report mode to another report mode that is selected in response to activation of the user input device, each of the impact, maintenance, verify, and metrics report modes has a first display mode with a graph that presents data compiled from the plurality of material handling vehicles at the facility, and in response to activating the user input device to select an element presented on the screen in the first display mode, the computer system transitions to a second display mode that presents information pertaining to only one material handling vehicle designated by the element.

9. The system as recited in claim 8 wherein the overview report mode comprises an impact section containing a graph of amounts of vehicle collisions that occurred during a defined period of time, a metrics section containing a graph of how many of the material handling vehicles were in use at a plurality of points in a defined period of time;

a verify section that graphically depicts how many vehicles passed the inspections; and

a maintenance section that graphically depicts operating costs for groups of the plurality of material handling vehicles.

10. The system as recited in claim 9 wherein the computer system transitions from the overview report mode to another report mode in response to operation of the user input device placing a cursor on the screen into one of the impact section, the metrics section, the verify section and the maintenance section.

11. The system as recited in claim 8 wherein activating the user input device to select an element responds to placement of a cursor over the element on the screen.

12. The system as recited in claim 8 wherein the impact report mode comprises a list display mode with a table containing an entry for each collision involving at least some of the plurality of material handling vehicles, and each such entry indicates a time and an intensity of the collision.

13. The system as recited in claim 12 wherein each entry in the list display mode indicates an operator of the material handling vehicle at the time of the related collision.

14. The system as recited in claim 13 wherein in response to activation of the user input device the computer system transitions from the list display mode to a display mode in which information about one selected operator of the material handling vehicle is presented on the screen.

15. The system as recited in claim 8 wherein the impact report mode comprises a graph depicting a trend in the amount of material handling vehicle collisions during a defined period of time.

16. The system as recited in claim 8 wherein the metrics report mode comprises a graph indicating a percentage of the plurality of material handling vehicles that were in use during a defined period of time.

17. The system as recited in claim 8 wherein the metrics report mode comprises a graph depicting a trend in the amount of the plurality of material handling vehicles that were in use during a defined period of time and an extrapolation of that trend into a future time period.

18. The system as recited in claim 8 wherein the maintenance report mode comprises a first display mode that indicates operating costs for different groups of the plurality of material handling vehicles, and a second display mode that indicates operating costs for a specific one of the plurality of material handling vehicles.

19. The system as recited in claim 8 wherein the maintenance report mode comprises a graph depicting a trend in-operating costs for the plurality of material handling vehicles during a defined period of time and an extrapolation of that trend into a future time period.

20. The system as recited in claim 8 wherein the computer system comprises a storage device that stores a profile of a specific person authorized to use the system wherein that profile defines types of data that can be used in the report modes.

21. The system as recited in claim 8 wherein the computer system comprises a storage device that stores a profile for a specific person authorized to use the system wherein that profile defines a default report mode that appears on the screen when the specific person accesses the system.

22. The system as recited in claim 8 wherein the computer system comprises a storage device that stores a profile of a specific person authorized to use the system wherein that profile defines at least one bookmark designating at a given display mode for one of the report modes.

23. A system for managing a plurality of material handling vehicles at a plurality of facilities comprising:

a battery on each material handling vehicle;

a communication interface on each material handling vehicle which transmits and receives data regarding vehicle operation, the data regarding vehicle operation including a battery state data;

a communication system that receives the data from each communication interface;

a computer system comprising a processor, a user input device and a monitor having a display screen on which information is displayed, and being connected to the communication system for processing the data from each of the material handling vehicles including the battery state data, and presenting reports on the display screen based on the processed data from each of the material handling vehicles, including the battery state data;

the computer system operating in a plurality of report modes that comprise an impact report mode presenting reports about collisions of material handling vehicles with objects, a maintenance report mode presenting reports about maintenance and service performed on the material handling vehicles, a verify report mode presenting information about inspections performed on material handling vehicles, and a metrics report mode presenting reports about amounts of usage of material handling vehicles during defined periods of time, and an overview report mode presenting an overview report that contains separate graphs each summarizing report information from a different one of the impact, maintenance, verify, and metrics modes for all the plurality of facilities, wherein each report mode has a plurality of display modes, the processor to control at least one of a vehicle speed and a vehicle acceleration based on the battery state data from at least one of the presented reports;

wherein the computer system transitions from the overview report mode to another report mode that is selected in response to activation of the user input device, each of the impact, maintenance, verify, and metrics modes has a first display mode with a graph that presents data compiled from all the plurality of material handling vehicles at all the plurality of facilities, and in response to activating the user input device to select an element presented on the display screen in the first display mode, the computer system transitions to a second display mode that presents information pertaining to only one of the plurality of facilities, and in response to activating the user input device to select another element presented on the display screen in the second display mode, the computer system transitions to a third display mode that presents information pertaining to only one of the plurality of material handling vehicles at the only one of the plurality of facilities.

24. The system as recited in claim 23 wherein the overview report mode comprises an impact section containing a graph of amounts of vehicle collisions that occurred during a defined period of time, a metrics section containing a graph of how many of the material handling vehicles were in use at a plurality of points in a defined period of time;

a verify section that graphically depicts how many vehicles passed the inspections; and

a maintenance section that graphically depicts operating costs for groups of the plurality of material handling vehicles.

25. The system as recited in claim 23 wherein each of the impact, maintenance, verify, and metrics report modes has a summary display mode with a graph that presents data compiled from the plurality of material handling vehicles at one or more of the facilities, a list display mode with a table that individually lists data about each one of at least some of the plurality of material handling vehicles, and a trend display mode containing a graph that presents a trend line of data during a defined time period, wherein the summary display mode, list display mode and the trend display mode is selectable in response a user activating the user input device to select an element presented on the screen.

26. The system as recited in claim 25 wherein another display mode containing data for only one material handling vehicle is selected in the list display mode by operation of the user input device placing a cursor on the screen location associated with one material handling vehicle.

27. The system as recited in claim 25 wherein trend display mode extrapolates the trend line of data beyond the defined time period to predict data in a future time period.

28. The system as recited in claim 23 wherein the computer system comprises a storage device that stores a profile of a specific person authorized to use the system wherein that profile defines types of data that can be used in the report modes.

29. The system as recited in claim 23 wherein the computer system comprises a storage device that stores a profile for a specific person authorized to use the system wherein that profile defines a default report mode that appears on the screen when the specific person accesses the system.

30. The system as recited in claim 23 wherein the computer system comprises a storage device that stores a profile of a specific person authorized to use the system wherein that profile defines at least one bookmark designating at a given display mode for one of the report modes.