METHOD OF AND SYSTEM AND APPARATUS FOR INTEGRATING MAINTENANCE VEHICLE AND SERVICE PERSONNEL TRACKING INFORMATION WITH THE REMOTE MONITORING OF THE LOCATION, STATUS, UTILIZATION AND CONDITION OF WIDELY GEOGRAPHICALLY DISPERSED FLEETS OF VEHICULAR CONSTRUCTION EQUIPMENT AND THE LIKE TO BE MAINTAINED, AND PROVIDING AND DISPLAYING TOGETHER BOTH CONSTRUCTION AND MAINTENANCE VEHICLE INFORMATION

• US 6,651,001 B2
• Filed: 03/18/2002
• Issued: 11/18/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Startrak Information Technologies LLC (ORBCOMM Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Micrologics Incorporated
• Inventors: Apsell, Sheldon
• Primary Examiner(s): Camby, Richard M.
• Application Number:
  US10/106,131
• Publication Number:
  US 20030176968A1
• Time in Patent Office: 610 Days
• Field of Search: 701/36, 701/29, 701/200, 701/213, 701/207, 701/208, 731/78.R, 340/439
• US Class Current: 701/213
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/825 with exchange of information between interrogator and responder
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

An integrated monitoring system for integrating and displaying the location of widely dispersed construction vehicle equipments at their respective sites together with the present location and recent track of respective maintenance vehicles for servicing the equipments, through the use of satellite positioning, wireless data communication and Internet facilities for determining such locations.

Claims

1. In a system for remotely monitoring the location, status, utilization and condition of widely geographically dispersed fleets of vehicular construction equipment, by using the resources of satellite positioning, wireless data communication and Internet facilities, and processing and displaying such information for use by fleet managers, a method of integrating maintenance vehicle and service personnel information into such displaying of the location of the vehicular construction equipment, that comprises, displaying the construction equipment location information;

integrating into such displaying, the simultaneous displaying of satellite position-derived location information of the maintenance vehicles servicing said equipment at the respective equipment sites through real-time tracking using said resources and processing; and

further displaying the recent tracks as well as the present locations of such maintenance vehicles.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the reporting of the location of the maintenance vehicles for display is made relatively frequently when the maintenance vehicle is in motion, and relatively occasionally when such vehicle is stopped.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the frequent reporting is once every few minutes, and the occasional reporting, every one or two hours.

4. In a vehicular equipment transponder-satellite communications link system wherein information sent by transponders of vehicular equipments of a widely geographically dispersed fleet of equipments is relayed by satellite to a ground station and thence via the Internet to an information-processing center, a method of providing processed information as to several or all of the locations, utilizations, status and conditions of the vehicular equipments and in sufficient detail to enable efficient management of the equipment, that comprises, inputting to a transponder at each equipment of the fleet, locally sensed parameter data of one or more of temperature, run hours, fuel level, battery voltage and/or other equipment engine parameters;

upon receiving GPS location signals, causing the transponder to transmit to the satellite, information as to its location and as to said locally sensed data; and

relaying said information from the satellite to a ground station and thence, to said information-processing center;

signal-processing the related information at the center to effect location display of the widely dispersed equipments and/or of optionally selected equipments, so as to exercise management analysis of equipment utilization and operational efficiency and maintenance or service requirements;

providing mobile maintenance vehicles/ service personnel for servicing the requirements of the respective vehicular equipments at the respective sites and each provided with GPS location signal-receiving and satellite data communication information capability;

processing the maintenance vehicle information at said information-processing center and communicating the same for displaying the present location and recent track information of the maintenance vehicle service personnel together with the equipment locations, thereby to enable the dispatch and tracking of appropriate maintenance vehicles and service personnel for the required vehicular equipment sites.

5. In a system for remotely monitoring the location, status, utilization and condition of widely geographically dispersed fleets of vehicular construction equipment using the resources of satellite positioning, wireless data communication and Internet facilities, and processing and displaying such information for use by fleet managers, a system for integrating into such displaying, the simultaneous display of the location of maintenance vehicles and their service personnel, that comprises, a GPS receiver on board each maintenance vehicle;

apparatus for using said resources to communicate the GPS information on the present location and recent past track of each maintenance vehicle and to process and display the same simultaneously with the display of the construction equipment locations.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein common processing and display means is provided for the information communicated on the monitored construction equipment locations and the information on the locations of the maintenance vehicles for servicing the same.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein means is provided for periodically displaying the maintenance vehicle location information more frequently when the maintenance vehicle is in motion than when it is stopped.