Fleet manager based vehicle control

• US 10,170,004 B2
• Filed: 10/25/2016
• Issued: 01/01/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Speedgauge Incorporated (Pelmorex, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Speedgauge Incorporated (Pelmorex, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hubbard, Jonathan, Kantarjiev, Christopher A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Elchanti, Hussein
• Application Number:
  US15/333,796
• Publication Number:
  US 20170076609A1
• Time in Patent Office: 798 Days
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2050/143 Alarm means
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2520/10 Longitudinal speed
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2552/00 Input parameters relating to infrastructure
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 50/14 Means for informing the driver, warning the driver or prompting a driver intervention
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/597 Recognising the driver's state or behaviour, e.g. attention or drowsiness
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/052 with provision for determining speed or overspeed speed measuring in general G01P
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/09626 where the origin of the information is within the own vehicle, e.g. a local storage device, digital map
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096775 where the origin of the information is a central station
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096827 where the route is computed onboard
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/207 with respect to certain areas, e.g. forbidden or allowed areas with possible alerting when inside or outside boundaries

Abstract

A fleet manager may communicate desired driving behavior, including maximum speed, desired route, areas to avoid, and other information to operators of vehicles in the fleet. The communication may be via an application on a mobile device, vehicle computer, or other device associated with each driver or vehicle. In operation, an administrator, such as, for example, a fleet manager, may communicate instructions to one or more vehicles, for example a vehicle of a fleet of vehicles.

Claims

1. A system for vehicle control, the system comprising:

a positioning receiver that identifies a first location of a vehicle and that later identifies a second location of the vehicle;

a memory that stores information that corresponds to a first geographic area comprising a first plurality of thoroughfares;

a communication transceiver that receives a message from a server, the message identifying a second geographic area comprising a second plurality of thoroughfares, wherein the second geographic area is within the first geographic area and the second plurality of thoroughfares are included among the first plurality of thoroughfares; and

a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor executes instructions also stored in the memory, wherein execution of the instructions causes the processor to;

identify a destination,

generate a route along a subset of the first plurality of thoroughfares from the first location of the vehicle to the destination, wherein at least a portion of the route is within the second geographic area, and

identify, based on the second location of the vehicle, that the vehicle has failed to avoid the second geographic area; and

an output device that outputs an alert automatically in response to identifying that the vehicle has failed to avoid the second geographic area, the alert providing instructions to an operator regarding control of the vehicle.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the alert identifies a speed limit.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the alert identifies a road condition.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication transceiver further transmits a report to the server, the report identifying the vehicle.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the report also identifies a speed of the vehicle at one or more times along the route.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the report also includes a timestamp associated with the vehicle having failed to avoid the second geographic area.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the output device includes a screen, and wherein the alert includes graphical data displayed via the screen.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the positioning receiver is a global positioning system (GPS) receiver and identifies the first location of the vehicle and the second location of the vehicle based on one or more GPS signals received by the GPS receiver.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication transceiver receives the message via a cellular network.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein execution of the instructions causes the processor to identify a speed of the vehicle based on a plurality of locations of the vehicle, the plurality of locations of the vehicle including at least one of the first location of the vehicle and the second location of the vehicle.

11. The system of claim 1, output device includes a speaker, and wherein the alert includes audio data output via the speaker.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the alert identifies a structure within the second geographic area.

13. A method for vehicle control, the method comprising:

identifying a first location of a vehicle via a positioning receiver;

storing information corresponding to a first plurality of thoroughfares in a memory;

receiving a message from a server, the message identifying a geographic area that includes a second plurality of thoroughfares, wherein the second plurality of thoroughfares are included among the first plurality of thoroughfares;

identifying a destination;

generating a route along a subset of the first plurality of thoroughfares from the first location of the vehicle to the destination, wherein at least a portion of the route is within the geographic area;

identifying a second location of the vehicle via the positioning receiver;

identifying, based on the second location of the vehicle, that the vehicle has failed to avoid the geographic area; and

outputting an alert automatically in response to identifying that the vehicle has failed to avoid the geographic area, the alert indicating that the second location of the vehicle is in the geographic area and providing instructions to an operator regarding control of the vehicle.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the alert identifies a speed limit.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising transmitting a report to the server, the report identifying both the vehicle and the operator.