Method for remote monitoring equipment for an agricultural machine

• US 7,397,392 B2
• Filed: 07/05/2006
• Issued: 07/08/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Deere & Company
• Original Assignee: Deere & Company
• Inventors: Sharma, Manish K., Colvin, Steven L., Mahoney, Brian J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Goins; Davetta W.
• Application Number:
  US11/481,282
• Publication Number:
  US 20060250281A1
• Time in Patent Office: 734 Days
• Field of Search: 340/988, 340/989, 340/990, 340/991, 340/992, 340/993, 340/506, 340/539.13, 340/825.49, 340/679, 340/684, 701/1, 701/207, 701/208, 701/117, 701/29, 701/213, 701/206, 701/211, 701/209
• US Class Current: 340/988
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• 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

Abstract

A method of providing information from a plurality of fleet machines located at a plurality of locations for purposes of permitting a manager of fleet equipment to make management decisions pertaining to a fleet comprised of such equipment, monitoring functional operational data from individual machines in a fleet of machines, conveying the monitored data to a remote server, converting the monitored data into a first group pertaining to current existing operational data, and into a second group comprised of past historical data, and transmitting by wireless means to a person having responsibility for the fleet information at least one of the groups of data.

Claims

1. A method of providing information from a fleet of mobile machines capable of moving to a plurality of locations, the method comprising,

monitoring functional operational data from individual mobile machines in the fleet;

conveying the monitored data to a remote server;

converting the monitored data into a first summary group comprised of past historical data on productivity of the machines, and into a second snapshot group pertaining to current existing operational data, the productivity based on monitoring historical machine states of at least a working state, an idling state and non-operating state over a period of time; and

transmitting to the fleet manager at least one of the groups of data to facilitate knowledge of the productivity of machines within the fleet or the fleet over the period of time or rescheduling refueling for the machines within the fleet.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the transmitted data is conveyed wirelessly.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first summary group of data includes historical data at least from one of the machine functions related to machine location, area covered by the machine, engine hours, ground speed, engine speed, fuel used, fuel used/hour, load functions, current machine locations, engine coolant temperature, and rear PTO speed.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the first summery group of data includes one or more of the past historical data relating to the machine functions of the second snapshot group.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein whenever the step of monitoring senses operational data predetermined to be an emergency condition, such data is automatically transmitted to the fleet manager.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the second snapshot group includes current and instantaneous data at least from one of the machine functions related to fuel tank level, ground speed, engine speed, hydraulic oil temperatures, engine coolant temperature, wheel slips and gears, whether the machine is currently in the working state, the idling state, or in a transport mode.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising passing emergency information to an information retrievable system used with the machine composed of remote monitoring equipment comprising a communications controller/computer on the machine and connected to data buses on the machine, and secondary controllers on the machine connected to further buses on the machine and to further sensors on the machine.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the information retrievable system further comprises a central information and communications server which handles over-the-air information transmission to a remote machine communications controller/computer and to a network communications system, and to a data server.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein the operational data predetermined to be emergency conditions is reported to a plurality of predetermined remote destinations.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the data pertaining to emergency conditions is sent to a remote customer service destination.

11. The method of claim 10 Wherein the data concerning the emergency conditions is sent to the fleet manager along with any report from the remote customer service destination.

20. The method according to claim 1 further comprising:

identifying any functional Operational date that is predetermined to be an emergency condition, and

automatically generating and sending an email containing the emergency condition information to at least one email address.

12. A method of providing information from a plurality of mobile machines located at a plurality of locations, the method comprising the steps of:

providing an information retrievable system including a customer service application and a data server;

requesting a configuration selection from the customer service application; and

triggering at least one machine of the plurality of mobile machines to cause productivity information to be passed to the data server based on the configuration selection to create a configuration file, the productivity information based on monitoring historical machine states of at least a working state, an idling state and non-operating state over a period of time.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the configuration file is comprised of data regarding at least one of machine location, area covered by the machine, engine hours, ground speed, engine speed, fuel used, fuel used/hour, load functions, current machine location, engine coolant temperature, and rear PTO speed.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the informational system further comprises a central information and communications server which handles over-the-air information transmission to the data server.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the data server accepts operational data predetermined to be emergency conditions and reports the same to a plurality of predetermined remote destinations via e-mail.

21. The method according to claim 12 further comprising:

identifying any functional operational data in the configuration file that is predetermined to be an emergency condition, and

automatically generating and sending an email containing the emergency condition information to at least one email address.

16. A system for remotely monitoring one or more mobile agricultural machines in a fleet of mobile agricultural machines, the system comprising:

a communications computer on each mobile agricultural machine;

at least one controller on each mobile agricultural machine connected to at least one sensor for monitoring functional information on the mobile agricultural machine;

at least one data bus between the communications computer and the at least one controller for transmitting functional information to the communications computer;

a remote central information server capable of communicating with the communications computers on the fleet Of mobile agricultural machines, the remote information server capable of accepting functional information from the communications computers on the fleet of mobile machines; and

a data server connected to the remote central information server for accepting functional information from the central information server, processing the functional information received, generating a report of current operational data and a summary of past historical data, the data server capable of identifying any functional information that is predetermined to be an emergency condition, the data server automatically generating and sending an email containing the emergency condition information to at least one email address.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein data is transmitted between the communications computers and the remote information server via wireless means.

18. The system of claim 16 wherein the summary of past historical data includes at least one of the machine functions related to machine location, area covered by the machine, engine hours, ground speed, engine speed, fuel used, fuel used/hour, load functions, current machine locations, engine coolant temperature, and rear PTO (power-take-off) speed.

19. The system of claim 16 wherein the current operational data includes at least one of the machine functions related to fuel tank level, ground speed, engine speed, hydraulic oil temperatures, engine coolant temperature wheel slips and gears, whether the machine is currently working, idling, or in a transport mode.