System and method for communication between vehicles and a supervisor station

• US 20020123832A1
• Filed: 05/10/2002
• Published: 09/05/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 11/11/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Volvo Lastvagnar AB (AB Volvo)
• Original Assignee: Volvo Lastvagnar AB (AB Volvo)
• Inventors: Adamsson, Per, Quist, Jonas, Gotvall, Per-Lage
• Granted Patent: US 6,643,571 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/33
• 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: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/00 Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/12 Network monitoring probes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

The invention relates to a system for monitoring and/or operating of one or more moving objects like vehicles and is characterized in that each object (10) is assigned an internet address and comprises an interface to the internet via a wireless telecommunication unit (126), whereby sensors (121) and/or actuators (123) for monitoring and/or affecting components and/or conditions of the object are connected to the interface, so that a connection between a supervisor station (11) and each object can be established via the internet for evaluating conditions of the related components by means of said sensors and/or actuators.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring and operating at least one moving object comprising:

at least one moving object that is assigned an internet address and has an interface to the internet via a wireless telecommunication unit;

at least one of a sensor for monitoring and an actuator for affecting components and conditions of said at least one moving object that is connected to said interface; and

a connection between a supervisor station and said at least one moving object established via the internet for evaluating object conditions by means of said sensors and said actuators.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein each object further comprises:

a communication device for collecting and analyzing data, and for transmitting and receiving programs and data to and from said supervisor station via the internet.

3. The system according to claim 2, further comprising:

said communication device being connected with said sensors and said actuators via an in-object buss; and

a storage device and a computing device, said computing device including a test application program for generating a homepage that represents output signals of said sensors and that actuates said actuators via the supervisor station.

4. A method for conducting at least one of the operations of testing, operating, controlling, observing and monitoring at least one remote object via at least one supervisor station comprising:

providing a system for monitoring and operating at least one moving object that is assigned an internet address and has an interface to the internet via a wireless telecommunication unit, at least one of a sensor for monitoring and an actuator for affecting components and conditions of said at least one moving object that is connected to said interface, and a connection between a supervisor station and said at least one moving object established via the internet for evaluating object conditions by means of said sensors and said actuators;

establishing a connection from said supervisor station to said at least one object via the internet and one of a mobile system and a satellite telecommunication system; and

selecting measurement data from said at least one sensor for display on a home page or for uploading to the supervisor station for evaluating sensed conditions of the object.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein selection between said at least one of a sensor for monitoring and an actuator for affecting components and conditions of said at least one moving object is conducted by downloading a setup file for configuration of a test application program for running predetermined monitoring processes.

6. The method according to claim 4, further comprising:

actuating components of said at least one moving object by means of actuators in said object in response to measured values from said at least one sensor regarding sensed object conditions.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein selection between said at least one of a sensor for monitoring and an actuator for affecting components and conditions of said at least one moving object is conducted by downloading a setup file for configuration of a test application program for running predetermined monitoring processes.

8. The method according to claim 4, further comprising:

controlling said system for monitoring and operating at least one moving object utilizing a computer program including computer program code configured to run on a programmable microprocessor carried on said at least one moving object.

9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising:

adapting said computer program code to be downloaded to said programmable microprocessor via the internet.

10. The method according to claim 8, further comprising:

adapting said computer program code to upload and download data via the internet in response to polling from said supervisor station.

11. A system for monitoring and controlling at least one remotely located vehicle, via the internet, from a supervisor station, said system comprising:

a supervisor station having a computing device upon which monitoring and control protocols reside for related vehicles, said supervisor station being connectable to an internet based inter-communication system;

a vehicle configured for remote travel from said supervisor station without physical connection thereto, said vehicle carrying a computing device connectable to said computing device of said supervisor station via a wireless telecommunication unit and the internet, and said vehicle being assigned an internet-styled IP address for facilitating internet-based communication with said supervisor station;

a sensor located on said vehicle and configured to detect information for transmission to said supervisor station via the internet regarding vehicle conditions.

12. The system according to claim 11, further comprising:

a data storage unit carried upon said vehicle and configured to store detected information from said sensor for transmission to said supervisor station.

13. The system according to claim 11, further comprising:

an actuatable device carried upon said vehicle and configured to react to internet-transmitted commands from said supervisor station.

14. The system according to claim 11, further comprising:

a screen display adapted to present a homepage-styled representation of system characteristics.

15. The system according to claim 11, further comprising:

a user input device in communication with said supervisor station for permitting a user to input control commands that are visually displayed on said screen display and communicated to said vehicle as a performance-change command.

16. The system according to claim 11, further comprising:

said computing device of said supervisor station and said computing device of said vehicle having a joint capability to prescribe maintenance procedures to be undertaken during regularly scheduled vehicle stops.

17. The system according to claim 11, further comprising:

said computing device of said supervisor station and said computing device of said vehicle having a joint capability to prescribe brake system maintenance to be undertaken during a future scheduled vehicle stop.

18. The system according to claim 11, further comprising:

said computing device of said supervisor station and said computing device of said vehicle having a joint capability to prescribe fuel stops for the vehicle while said vehicle is remotely traveling away from said supervisor station.

19. The system according to claim 11 further comprising:

said computing device of said supervisor station and said computing device of said vehicle having a joint capability to initiate test programs during new vehicle program testing procedures.

20. The system according to claim 11, further comprising:

said computing device of said supervisor station and said computing device of said vehicle having a joint capability to modify test programs responsive to sensed information during new vehicle program testing procedures.