System and process to ensure performance of mandated safety and maintenance inspections

• US 7,944,345 B2
• Filed: 05/29/2009
• Issued: 05/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Zonar Systems, Inc. (Continental AG)
• Original Assignee: Zonar Systems, Inc. (Continental AG)
• Inventors: Brinton, Brett, McQuade, Charles Michael, Mayer, Daniel, Russell, Robie G., Brinton, William Jr., Lugash, Richard, Manegold, Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Hung T.
• Application Number:
  US12/475,309
• Publication Number:
  US 20090248362A1
• Time in Patent Office: 718 Days
• Field of Search: 340/439, 340/442, 340/453, 340/539.1, 340/576, 340/870.16, 340/933, 340/938, 235/376, 235/380, 701/33, 701/35, 702/127, 702/183
• US Class Current: 340/439
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• 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 handheld, portable device is used to store data that indicates an operator was sufficiently close to each of a plurality of components during a safety inspection to actually inspect the components. The portable device includes a sensor that detects tokens, such as radio frequency identification tags, which are affixed adjacent to the components. Messages appearing on a display of the portable device prompt the operator to proceed to each checkpoint, determine a state of the component disposed there, and if the component is not operating properly, indicate a plurality of predefined conditions from which the operator can choose to identify the observed condition of the component. The state and condition of each component entered during the safety inspection are stored as data that are subsequently transferred to a remote data storage site over a wire or wireless link.

Claims

1. A method for providing a record that a location was visited during an inspection, comprising the steps of:

(a) providing a portable device for use in recording data related to the inspection, said portable device including a sensor that detects when the portable device is disposed proximate the location, producing a signal indicative thereof;

(b) enabling an operator to move the portable device proximate the location;

(c) in response to the sensor detecting that the portable device is disposed proximate the location, displaying to the operator a plurality of different possible conditions associated with the location;

(d) enabling the operator to select one of the plurality of different possible conditions, to indicate a condition associated with the location as determined by the operator; and

(e) storing in the portable device a record of said one of the plurality of different possible conditions selected by the operator, the record further including an indication that the sensor detected the portable device as being disposed proximate to the location, said record providing evidence that the operator was sufficiently close to the location to make an inspection of the location.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of conditions include:

(a) a first condition in which the location is safe for use;

(b) a second condition in which the location requires servicing, but is still usable; and

(c) a third condition in which the location is not safe for use.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein if either the second condition or the third condition is identified by the operator who making the inspection, further comprising the step of displaying a plurality of possible states of the location to enable the operator to select one of the states to indicate why the operator selected either the second condition or the third condition, and including the state in the record.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the plurality of states is unique for at least one location.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of conditions are unique for at least one location.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor is configured to detect a token exhibiting a predefined characteristic, further comprising the step of a positioning a token exhibiting the predefined characteristic proximate each location to be inspected, such that:

(a) a first token is disposed proximate a first location, and the sensor must be disposed within at least a first distance from the first token in order to detect the first token;

(b) a second token is disposed proximate a second location, and the sensor must be disposed within at least a second distance from the second token in order to detect the second token; and

(c) the first distance is greater than the second distance, such that when the sensor is disposed within at least the second distance of the first token, the sensor will detect the first token, but when the sensor is disposed within at least the first distance of the second token, the sensor will not detect the second token.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein each token comprises a radio frequency tag.

8. A method for providing a record that a location was visited during an inspection, comprising the steps of:

(a) providing;

(i) a portable device for use in recording data related to the inspection, said portable device including a sensor that detects when the portable device is disposed proximate a token exhibiting a predefined characteristic, producing a signal indicative thereof;

(ii) a first token that is disposed proximate a first location, such that the sensor must be disposed within at least a first distance from the first token in order to detect the first token; and

(ii) a second token that is disposed proximate a second location, such that the sensor must be disposed within at least a second distance from the second token in order to detect the second token, the first distance being greater than the second distance;

(b) enabling an operator to move the portable device proximate to the first and second locations;

(c) in response to the sensor detecting that the portable device is disposed at least within the first distance from the first location, storing in the portable device a first record including an indication that the sensor detected that the portable device was disposed proximate the first location, said first record providing evidence that the operator was sufficiently close to the first location to make an inspection of the first location; and

(d) in response to the sensor detecting that the portable device is disposed at least within the second distance from the second location, storing in the portable device a second record including an indication that the sensor detected that the portable device was disposed proximate the second location, said second record providing evidence that the operator was sufficiently close to the second location to make an inspection of the second location.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising the steps of:

(a) in response to the sensor detecting that the portable device is disposed proximate a location to be inspected, displaying to the operator a plurality of different possible conditions associated with the location;

(b) enabling the operator to select one of the plurality of different possible conditions, to indicate a condition associated with the location as determined by the operator; and

(c) adding to the record for the location said one of the plurality of different possible conditions selected by the operator.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of conditions include:

(a) a first condition in which the location is safe for use;

(b) a second condition in which the location requires servicing, but is still usable; and

(c) a third condition in which the location is not safe for use.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein if either the second condition or the third conditions is identified by the operator making the inspection, further comprising the step of displaying a plurality of possible states of the location to enable the operator to select one of the states to indicate why the operator selected either the second condition or the third condition, and then including the state in the record.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of conditions is unique for at least one location.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein each token comprises a radio frequency tag.

14. A system for providing evidence that a plurality of locations were visited during an inspection, comprising:

(a) a portable device adapted to be transported to each of the plurality of locations to be inspected during the inspection, said portable device including;

(i) a housing;

(ii) a display;

(iii) an operator interface;

(iv) a memory in which machine instructions and data are stored;

(v) a sensor for detecting when the portable device is proximate any of the plurality of locations, and in response thereto producing a signal indicating that the portable device is proximate to one of the plurality of locations; and

(vi) a controller coupled to the display, the memory, the operator interface, and the sensor, said controller executing the machine instructions and causing the memory to store a record indicative of each location visited during the inspection, in response to the signal produced by the sensor, such that whenever the sensor produces the signal indicating that the portable device is proximate to one of the plurality of locations, the controller further executes machine instructions causing a plurality of different possible conditions associated with the location to be presented to the operator on the display, the condition selected by the operator being added to the record for that location.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising a plurality of tokens to which the sensor responds, each token being associated with a different location that is to be visited during the inspection and being disposed and affixed proximate to said location.

16. A system for providing evidence that a plurality of locations were visited during an inspection, comprising:

(a) a first token disposed proximate a first location, the first token being configured to be detected when a sensor is disposed within at least a first distance from the first token;

(b) a second token disposed proximate a second location, the second token being configured to be detected when the sensor is disposed within at least a second distance from the second token, the first distance being greater than the second distance; and

(c) a portable device adapted to be transported to each location to be visited and inspected during the inspection, said portable device including;

(i) a housing;

(ii) a display;

(iii) an operator interface;

(iv) a memory in which machine instructions and data are stored;

(v) the sensor for detecting when the portable device is proximate one of the first and second locations, said sensor producing a signal whenever the portable device is disposed within the first distance from the first token and whenever the portable device is disposed within the second distance from the second token; and

(vi) a controller coupled to the display, the memory, the operator interface, and the sensor, said controller executing the machine instructions and causing the memory to store a record indicative of each location visited during the inspection, in response to the signal produced by the sensor.

17. The system of claim 16, such that whenever the sensor produces the signal indicating that the portable device is proximate one of the first and second locations, the controller further executes machine instructions causing a plurality of different possible conditions associated with the location to be displayed to enable an operator to select one of the conditions, the condition selected by the operator being added to the record for that location to indicate the condition of said location determined by the operator.

18. A method for providing a record that a mandated vehicle inspection has been performed, comprising the steps of:

(a) identifying a plurality of components that must be inspected to comply with the mandated vehicle inspection;

(b) for each component, identifying a location on the vehicle at which the component can be inspected;

(c) installing a token at each such location;

(d) providing a portable device for use in recording data related to the mandated vehicle inspection, said portable device including a sensor capable of detecting the token installed at each location, the portable device producing a sensor signal when the portable device is proximate to each token;

(e) enabling an operator to move the portable device proximate to the token installed at each location; and

(f) automatically producing a record of the sensor signal produced by the sensor, the sensor signal comprising data that are stored in the record within the portable device, said record providing evidence that the operator was actually present at each location on the vehicle at which the mandated inspection could have been performed.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising the steps of:

(a) after the sensor detects the token at a location, displaying to the operator a plurality of different possible conditions of the component at the location;

(b) enabling the operator to select one of the plurality of different possible conditions, to indicate a condition of the component determined by the operator; and

(c) adding said one of the plurality of different possible conditions selected by the operator to the record stored within the portable device for the location.

20. A method for providing a record that a mandated inspection has been performed, comprising the steps of:

(a) identifying a plurality of components that must be inspected to comply with the mandated inspection;

(b) for each component, identifying a location from which the component can be inspected;

(c) installing a token at each such location;

(d) providing a portable device for use in recording data related to the mandated inspection, said portable device including a sensor capable of detecting the token installed at each location, the portable device producing a sensor signal when the portable device is proximate to each token;

(e) enabling an operator to move the portable device proximate to the token installed at each location; and

(f) automatically producing a record of the sensor signal produced by the sensor, the sensor signal comprising data that are stored in the record within the portable device, said record providing evidence that the operator was actually present at each location from which the mandated inspection could have been performed.