Web based data mining and location data reporting and system

• US 6,768,994 B1
• Filed: 02/23/2001
• Issued: 07/27/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/23/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Trimble Navigation Limited (Trimble Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Trimble Navigation Limited (Trimble Inc.)
• Inventors: Allen, Robert J., Howard, Craig
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Shahid
• Application Number:
  US09/792,635
• Time in Patent Office: 1,250 Days
• Field of Search: 707/3, 707/5, 707/6, 707/10, 707/104.1, 709/217, 709/218, 709/200, 709/201, 709/246, 715/501.1, 715/513, 455/445
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A database reporting and data mining system operates in one embodiment on a database of a location aware wireless gateway that processes message, location, event data obtained from an asset sensor or user, and other telemetry data from remote assets such as vehicles of a business enterprise fleet, and presents configurable reports on web pages displayed within the user'"'"'s web browser in text or chart form. Reports, which may be user-customized, are created in response to user queries regarding, e.g., activity, and trends and summaries of activity for individual vehicles or an entire fleet. Database-stored event data grouped by relationship, e.g., start and end events, enable automatic computation of desired information such as time and distance between events. Report data in XML format are re-formatted in XSL stylesheets.

Claims

1. A database reporting method that utilizes a wireless gateway for monitoring and directing the efficient usage of a fleet of vehicles of a business enterprise by respective business enterprise users of the reporting method through multiple wireless networks and the Internet using web served applications, said gateway adapted to acquire and use data related to vehicle activity, location and navigation including position, speed, direction of travel, and other specified vehicle-related events detected or determined and wirelessly reported, at least in part, by one or more vehicle-based sensors and to provide a common interface and protocol for handling said data for enabling applications that follow said protocol to interface with said gateway and to use said data to tag vehicle-related events, said gateway being further adapted for storing said tagged events and forwarding thereof in real time through the Internet to the respective business enterprise users, said method comprising:

establishing a plurality of groups of database-stored ones of said vehicle-related events according to event type, and

in response to web queries by said business enterprise users, reporting to respective ones of said users on the web concerning individual vehicle or fleet efficiency matters related to said database-stored events in each of said groups relevant to respective ones of said queries.

2. The database reporting method of claim 1, wherein said reporting step comprises:

reporting to said business enterprise users values of parameters related to the database-stored events in each of said groups relevant to said respective database queries.

3. The database reporting method of claim 2, including:

setting arbitrary start and end values for the database-stored events in at least some of said groups.

4. The database reporting method of claim 2, including:

partitioning data in the database for faster retrieval of data for reports to the respective business enterprise users, by creating smaller database portions for search in response to said queries.

5. The database reporting method of claim 2, including:

integrating web servers responsible for performing reporting functions into said gateway.

6. The database reporting method of claim 2, including:

reformatting the data for display to create a new report presentation without a new query to the database.

7. The database reporting method of claim 6, including:

using extensible stylesheet language (XSL) for reformatting the data for display.

8. The database reporting method of claim 1, wherein said reporting step comprises:

reporting to respective ones of said business enterprise users in response to queries therefrom on trend analysis of event data over time for selected ones of said groups.

9. The database reporting method of claim 8, including:

partitioning data in the database for faster retrieval and trend analysis of data for reports to the respective business enterprise users, by creating smaller database portions for search in response to said queries.

10. The database reporting method of claim 8, including:

integrating web servers responsible for trend analysis reporting functions into said gateway.

11. The database reporting method of claim 8, including:

reformatting the data for display to create a new report presentation without a new query to the database.

12. The database reporting method of claim 11, including:

using extensible stylesheet language (XSL) for reformatting the data for display.

13. The database reporting method of claim 1, wherein said reporting step comprises:

reporting to respective ones of said business enterprise users in response to queries therefrom on summaries of event data for selected ones of said groups.

14. The database reporting method of claim 13, including:

partitioning data in the database for faster retrieval and summarizing of data for reports to the respective business enterprise users, by creating smaller database portions for search in response to said queries.

15. The database reporting method of claim 13, including:

integrating web servers responsible for data summary reporting functions into said gateway.

16. The database reporting method of claim 13, including:

reformatting the data for display to create a new report presentation without a new query to the database.

17. The database reporting method of claim 16, including:

using extensible stylesheet language (XSL) for reformatting the data for display.

18. A database reporting method that utilizes a wireless gateway for connecting remote assets of a business enterprise to business enterprise users through multiple wireless networks and the Internet using web served applications, said gateway using business logic to receive location and navigation related data including position, speed, direction of travel, and other events detected or determined by one or more sensors on each of the remote assets, said gateway providing a common interface and protocol for handling said location and navigation related data with said business logic for enabling applications that follow said protocol to interface with said gateway and to use said location and navigation related data to tag events, said gateway including a database for storing said tagged events and forwarding thereof in real time through the Internet to the respective business enterprise users, said method comprising:

establishing a plurality of groups of database-stored events related by event type or asset type, and

reporting to said business enterprise users on matters, comprising values of parameters, related to said database-stored events in each of said groups relevant to database queries by the respective business enterprise users, including establishing said parameters according to the separation of the start and end values for the database-stored events in at least some of said groups, including parameters of time and distance where at least some of said remote assets are vehicles.

19. A database reporting method that utilizes a wireless gateway for connecting remote assets of a business enterprise to business enterprise users through multiple wireless networks and the Internet using web served applications, said gateway using business logic to receive location and navigation related data including position speed, direction of travel, and other events detected or determined by one or more sensors on each of the remote assets, said gateway providing a common interface and protocol for handling said location and navigation related data with said business logic for enabling applications that follow said protocol to interface with said gateway and to use said location and navigation related data to tag events, said gateway including a database for storing said tagged events and forwarding thereof in real time through the Internet to the respective business enterprise users, said method comprising:

establishing a plurality of groups of database-stored events related by event type or asset type, and

reporting to said business enterprise users on matters related to said database-stored events in each of said groups relevant to database queries by the respective business enterprise users, said reporting step comprising;

placing logical pairings of arbitrary items of data designated by said business enterprise users into at least some of said groups, and

reporting to respective ones of said business enterprise users in response to queries therefrom, on data that relates said items.

20. The database reporting method of claim 19, including:

partitioning data in the database for faster retrieval of data for reports to the respective business enterprise users, by creating smaller database portions for search in response to said queries.

21. The database reporting method of claim 19, including:

integrating web servers responsible for performing reporting functions into said gateway.

22. The database reporting method of claim 19, including:

reformatting the data for display to create a new report presentation without a new query to the database.

23. The database reporting method of claim 22, including:

using extensible stylesheet language (XSL) for reformatting the data for display.

24. A database reporting method that utilizes a wireless gateway for connecting remote assets of a business enterprise to business enterprise users through multiple wireless networks and the Internet using web served applications, said gateway using business logic to receive location and navigation related data including position, speed, direction of travel, and other events detected or determined by one or more sensors on each of the remote assets, said gateway providing a common interface and protocol for handling said location and navigation related data with said business logic for enabling applications that follow said protocol to interface with said gateway and to use said location and navigation related data to tag events, said gateway including a database for storing said tagged events and forwarding thereof in real time through the Internet to the respective business enterprise users, said method comprising:

establishing a plurality of groups of database-stored events related by event type or asset type, and

reporting to said business enterprise users on matters related to said database-stored events in each of said groups relevant to database Queries by the respective business enterprise users, said reporting step comprises comprising reporting data derived from said database-stored events to respective business enterprise users in response to queries therefrom, in web pages with active report elements selectable to display additional information about a particular report item.

25. A database reporting method that utilizes a wireless gateway for connecting remote assets of a business enterprise to business enterprise users through multiple wireless networks and the Internet using web served applications, said gateway using business logic to receive location and navigation related data including position, speed, direction of travel, and other events detected or determined by one or more sensors on each of the remote assets, said gateway providing a common interface and protocol for handling said location and navigation related data with said business logic for enabling applications that follow said protocol to interface with said gateway and to use said location and navigation related data to tag events, said gateway including a database for storing said tagged events and forwarding thereof in real time through the Internet to the respective business enterprise users, said method comprising:

establishing a plurality of groups of database-stored events related by event type or asset type, and

reporting to said business enterprise users on matters related to said database-stored events in each of said groups relevant to database queries by the respective business enterprise users, said reporting step comprising reporting to respective ones of said business enterprise users in response to queries therefrom, on data derived from said groups of database-stored events, including automatically sorting and grouping the data to be reported by location of an asset of interest.

26. A web-based database reporting method that utilizes a wireless gateway for connecting remote assets of a business enterprise to business enterprise users on web browsers through multiple wireless networks and the Internet using web served applications, said gateway using business logic to receive location and navigation related data including position, speed, direction of travel, and other events detected or determined by one or more sensors on each of the remote assets, said gateway providing a common interface and protocol for handling said location and navigation related data with said business logic for enabling applications that follow said protocol to interface with said gateway and to use said location and navigation related data to tag events, said gateway including a database for storing said tagged events and forwarding thereof in real time through the Internet to the respective business enterprise users, said method comprising:

integrating web servers responsible for performing reporting functions into said gateway,

establishing a plurality of groups of said database-stored events related by event type or asset type,

reporting data derived from said database-stored events from said web servers in extensible markup language (XML) to said web browsers of respective business enterprise users in response to queries therefrom, and

enabling business enterprise users to format the reported XML data in extensible stylesheet language (XSL) through respective ones of said web browsers for viewing on a web page.

27. The web-based database reporting method of claim 26, including:

setting arbitrary start and end values for the database-stored events in at least some of said groups.

28. The web-based database reporting method of claim 26, including:

establishing said parameters according to the separation of the start and end values for the database-stored events in at least some of said groups, including parameters of time and distance where at least some of said remote assets are vehicles.

29. The web-based database reporting method of claim 26, including:

partitioning data in the database for faster retrieval of data for reports to the respective business enterprise users, by creating smaller database portions for search in response to said queries.

30. A web-based database reporting method for business enterprise users in an application that uses plural groups of vehicle-related events involving activity, location and navigation of each vehicle in a fleet of vehicles including expenditure of time at or between various locations on specified tasks, wherein performance of said application is monitored by web distributed access of said business enterprise users to performance reports, said method comprising:

assigning said vehicle-related events to a plurality of groups of database-stored events related by type, utilizing at least in part, data acquired from real-time wireless reports by vehicle-based sensors, and

in response to queries on web browsers by said business enterprise users, reporting to respective ones of said users on the web concerning individual vehicle or fleet performance matters related to said database-stored events in each of said groups relevant to respective ones of said queries.

31. The web-based database reporting method of claim 30, wherein said reporting step comprises:

reporting to said business enterprise users values of parameters related to the database-stored events in each of said groups relevant to respective ones of said queries.

32. The web-based database reporting method of claim 30, including:

partitioning data in the database for faster retrieval of data for reports to the respective business enterprise users, by creating smaller database portions for search in response to said queries.

33. The web-based database reporting method of claim 30, including:

reformatting the data for display to create a new report presentation without a new query to the database.

34. The web-based database reporting method of claim 33, including:

using extensible stylesheet language (XSL) for reformatting the data for display.

35. The web-based database reporting method of claim 30, wherein said reporting step comprises:

reporting to respective ones of said business enterprise users in response to queries therefrom on trend analysis of event data over time for selected ones of said groups.

36. The web-based database reporting method of claim 30, wherein said reporting step comprises:

reporting to respective ones of said business enterprise users in response to queries therefrom on summaries of event data for selected ones of said groups.

37. The web-based database reporting method of claim 30, wherein said reporting step comprises:

reporting data derived from said database-stored events to respective business enterprise users in response to queries therefrom, in web pages with active report elements selectable to display additional information about a particular report item.

38. The web-based database reporting method of claim 30, wherein said reporting step comprises:

reporting to respective ones of said business enterprise users in response to queries therefrom, on data derived from said groups of database-stored events, including automatically sorting and grouping the data to be reported by time or location of a vehicle of interest.

39. A web-based database reporting method for business enterprise users in an application that uses plural groups of events involving expenditure of time at different locations on certain tasks, wherein performance of said application is monitored by web distributed access of said business enterprise users to performance reports, said method comprising:

establishing a plurality of groups of database-stored events related by type, and

reporting to said business enterprise users on the web concerning performance matters related to said database-stored events in each of said groups relevant to database queries on web browsers by the respective business enterprise users, said reporting step comprising;

placing logical pairings of arbitrary items of data designated by said business enterprise users into at least some of said groups, and

reporting to respective ones of said business enterprise users in response to queries therefrom, on data that relates said items.

40. A web-based database reporting method for performance data in carrying out a web-served application of a business enterprise to business enterprise users on web browsers through multiple wireless networks and the Internet, using business logic to receive data related to actual and projected performance of said application as detected or determined by one or more performance sensors at locations where the application is being performed, and using said data to tag events of interest toward an assessment of performance, and storing said tagged events in a database for retrieval thereof in real time through the Internet by the respective business enterprise users, said method comprising:

integrating web servers responsible for performing reporting functions into a wireless network for access to the web,

establishing a plurality of groups of said database-stored events related by event type,

reporting data derived from said database-stored events from said web servers in extensible markup language (XML) to said web browsers of respective business enterprise users in response to queries therefrom, and

enabling business enterprise users to format the reported XML data in extensible stylesheet language (XSL) through respective ones of said web browsers for viewing on a web page.

41. The web-based database reporting method of claim 40, including:

setting arbitrary start and end values for the database-stored events in at least some of said groups.

42. The web-based database reporting method of claim 40, including:

partitioning data in the database into smaller database portions for search in response to said queries, for faster retrieval of data for reports to the respective business enterprise users.

43. The web-based database reporting method of claim 40, including:

reformatting the data for display to create a new report presentation without a new query to the database.