Mobile asset data management system

• US 7,911,320 B2
• Filed: 11/26/2007
• Issued: 03/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Id Systems Incorporated (PowerFleet, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Id Systems Incorporated (PowerFleet, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hecker, Yaron, Ehrman, Michael L., Jagid, Jeffrey M., Pimentel, Leonard, Ehrman, Kenneth S., Pinzon, Joseph M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Brown; Vernal U
• Application Number:
  US11/986,713
• Publication Number:
  US 20080136584A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,212 Days
• Field of Search: 340/5.2, 340/825.72, 340/5.8, 340/10.5, 307/10.1
• US Class Current: 340/5.2
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2325/304 Boats
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/04 operating on the propulsion system, e.g. engine or drive motor
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/102 a signal being sent to a remote location, e.g. a radio signal being transmitted to a police station, a security company or the owner
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/302 using recording means, e.g. black box
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063 Operations research, analysis or management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06312 Adjustment or analysis of established resource schedule, e.g. resource or task levelling, or dynamic rescheduling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/382 insuring higher security of transaction
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 15/00 Arrangements or apparatus for collecting fares, tolls or entrance fees at one or more control points handling coins or valuable papers, e.g. banknotes, G07D; apparatus for vending or hiring articles or services activated by coins, credit cards, paper currency or the like G07F7/00, G07F17/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/32 in combination with an identity check
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/127 to a central station ; Indicators in a central station
• 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 63/083 using passwords cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using a predetermined code H04L9/3226
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/107 wherein the security policies are location-dependent, e.g. entities privileges depend on current location or allowing specific operations only from locally connected terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/108 when the policy decisions are valid for a limited amount of time
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 : involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 : in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 : Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 : Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 : Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/76 : Group identity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 : Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 : Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 : Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 : WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A vehicle provided with means to prevent the use of the vehicle, or access to it, by unauthorized persons is described. The method includes receiving an operator identifier from a certain operator; determining a group identifier associated with the received operator identifier, the group identifier being indicative of a group of one or more potential operators authorized to operate the asset; determining, based on the group identifier and the received operator identifier, whether the certain operator is one of the potential operators and thus authorized to utilize the asset; and communicating with the asset to enable usage of the asset by the certain operator in response to successfully determining that the certain operator is authorized to utilize the asset.

Claims

1. A method for providing access to an asset associated with a one or more vehicle groups, said method comprising:

receiving a first operator identifier from a first operator;

determining one or more operator groups associated with the first operator identifier, each operator group being indicative of a group of one or more potential operators authorized to operate an asset associated with one or more vehicle groups;

determining, based on the one or more vehicle groups, the one or more operator groups, and the first operator identifier, whether the first operator is associated with the one or more operator groups authorized to utilize the asset; and

communicating with the asset to enable usage of the asset by the first operator in response to successfully determining that the first operator is authorized to utilize the asset.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining whether the first operator is authorized to utilize the asset comprises verifying that the first operator is associated with an operator group permitted to use the asset in a particular location.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein determining whether the first operator is authorized to utilize the asset comprises verifying that the first operator is associated with an operator group permitted to use the asset at a particular time.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the operator group is performed exclusively by a device coupled to the asset.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the asset is a fixed asset.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the asset is a mobile asset.

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving a password with the first operator identifier, and confirming that the password is correct for the first operator before providing access to the asset.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising disabling the asset from being operated by the first operator if it is determined that the first operator is not associated with one of the operator groups authorized to use the asset in a particular location.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising disabling the asset from being operated by the first operator if the first operator'"'"'s use extends past an allowable time of use for the operator group associated with the first operator.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising disabling the asset from being operated by the first operator based on condition data.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising disabling the asset from being operated by the first operator when it is determined that present condition data does not match condition criteria associated with the operator group associated with the first operator.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising disabling the asset after determining that the asset is currently not being operated and has not been operated for a predetermined duration of time.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the operator group comprises accessing a database, stored on a memory device coupled to the asset.

14. The method according to claim 1, further comprising generating a transaction code in response to providing access to the asset.

15. The method according to claim 14, further comprising forming a dataset including the transaction code, time of providing access to the asset, and the first operator identifier.

16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising storing the dataset on a memory device coupled to the asset.

17. The method according to claim 15 , further comprising transmitting the dataset.

18. The method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving a biometric measurement associated with a biometric identifier of the first operator.

19. The method according to claim 1, further comprising assigning groups of assets to a group of operators.

20. An asset communicator disposed on a mobile asset having stored thereon sequences of instructions, the sequences of instructions including instructions, when executed by a processor in the asset communicator, cause the processor to:

receive a first operator identifier from a first operator via an input device;

determine one or more operator groups associated with the first operator identifier utilizing a database stored on the asset communicator, the one or more operator groups being indicative of a group of one or more potential operators authorized to operate assets associated with one or more vehicle groups;

determine using the processor, based on the operator group, the one or more vehicle groups, and the first operator identifier, whether the first operator is associated with one of the one or more operator groups authorized to utilize the asset; and

communicate with the asset to enable usage of the asset by the first operator in response to successfully determining that the first operator is authorized to utilize the asset.