SAFETY MONITORING IN SYSTEMS OF MOBILE ASSETS

• US 20130141228A1
• Filed: 12/05/2011
• Published: 06/06/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Teletrac Navman US Ltd. (Vontier Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Navman Wireless North America Limited (Danaher Corporation)
• Inventors: Nagda, Paresh L., Todd, Nathan, Umashankkar, Beena
• Granted Patent: US 9,659,500 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/439
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental

Abstract

Systems and methods for safety monitoring are described. Mobile assets may receive safety monitoring notifications responsive to one or more safety criteria being met. A driver or other user of the mobile asset may be prompted to acknowledge the safety monitoring notification. If the user requests assistance or does not acknowledge the safety monitoring notification, notifications may be communicated to other individuals, e.g. supervisors. In this manner, the safety of, e.g. drivers in a fleet of vehicles may be monitored.

Claims

1. An apparatus for providing safety monitoring notifications comprising:

a GPS receiver; and

firmware configured, at least in part, to;

evaluate a safety criteria;

provide a safety monitoring notification responsive to the safety criteria being satisfied;

generate a first event responsive to acknowledgement of the safety monitoring notification indicating assistance requested; and

generate a second event responsive to acknowledgement of the safety monitoring notification indicating no assistance requested.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is configured to provide the first event to a data center over a network.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said safety criteria includes a predetermined amount of elapsed time.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said safety criteria includes a sensor state, and wherein said at least one processing unit is configured to receive a sensor signal indicative of the sensor state.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said safety criteria includes a combination of sensor signals.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said provide a safety monitoring notification comprises display the safety monitoring notification on a display.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein said display comprises a touchscreen, display and wherein the acknowledgement of the safety monitoring notification indicating assistance requested is responsive to a user touching a predetermined location of the touchscreen.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the apparatus further comprises a button, and wherein the acknowledgement of the safety monitoring notification indicating assistance requested is responsive to a user pressing the button.

9. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the firmware is further configured to cause the apparatus to generate a third event responsive to a lack of response to the safety monitoring notification.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said safety criteria includes deceleration indicative of excessive braking.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said first event comprises a message including a present location of the apparatus.

12. A method for monitoring a plurality of mobile assets, wherein individual ones of the mobile assets are configured to provide events responsive to safety notifications, the method comprising:

receiving events responsive to safety notifications from individual ones of the mobile assets, wherein some of the events indicate assistance was requested and wherein some of the events indicate assistance was not needed, wherein the events further include an identification of the asset providing the event;

storing the events in electronic storage;

providing information regarding assistance requests across different types of assets based, at least in part, on the stored events.

13. The method according to claim 12 wherein the information regarding assistance requests comprises a graph illustrating a frequency of the assistance requests.

14. The method according to claim 12 wherein the assets comprise vehicles and wherein the types comprise respective makes of the vehicles.

15. The method according to claim 12, wherein the events further include an identification of a user associated with the asset, and wherein the information regarding assistance requests comprises a graph illustrating a frequency of assistance requests across different users based, at least in part, on the stored events.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the assets comprise vehicles and wherein the users comprise drivers of the respective vehicles.

17. The method according to claim 12, wherein the events further include a location associated with the asset at a time the respective event was generated, and wherein information regarding assistance requests comprises a graph illustrating a frequency of assistance requests across different locations based, at least in part, on the stored events.

18. The method according to claim 12, wherein the events are received from the mobile assets over a wireless network.

19. The method according to claim 12, further comprising:

providing a first tier notification responsive to receipt of individual ones of the events indicating assistance was requested.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein the first tier notification comprises a pop-up window notification.

21. The method according to claim 19, further comprising providing a second tier notification responsive to a failure to receive an acknowledgement of the first tier notification.

22. A method for monitoring a plurality of mobile assets, wherein individual ones of the mobile assets are configured to provide safety notifications responsive to safety criteria being met, the method comprising:

electronically defining the safety criteria at a computer;

providing the safety criteria to computing devices located in the plurality of mobile assets; and

storing the safety criteria at the plurality of mobile assets.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

updating the safety criteria during operation of at least one of the mobile assets.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the safety criteria comprises a periodic time interval.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the safety criteria comprises a combination of sensor signals having predetermined levels.

26. A method comprising:

determining, by a computing device associated with a vehicle, if a safety check criteria is met;

providing a safety monitoring notification on an output device of the computing device associated with the vehicle, responsive to a determination the safety check criteria is met;

if an indication is received that a user declined assistance, generating a first event indicating no assistance is needed; and

storing the first event in a log;

if an indication is received that the user needs assistance, generating a second event indicating assistance is needed; and

providing a first tier notification responsive to the second event indicating assistance is needed;

if no response from the user to the safety monitoring notification is received after a predetermined time, generating a third event indicating assistance is needed; and

providing a notification responsive to the third event indicating assistance is needed; and

if no response to the first tier notification is received after a predetermined time;

providing a second tier notification.