Smart modem device for vehicular and roadside applications

• US 8,120,473 B2
• Filed: 03/29/2010
• Issued: 02/21/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Concaten Inc.
• Original Assignee: Concaten Inc.
• Inventors: Rennie, Christopher J., Groeneweg, Kevin K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lau, Hoi
• Application Number:
  US12/749,325
• Publication Number:
  US 20100182163A1
• Time in Patent Office: 694 Days
• Field of Search: 340/426.16, 340/995.1, 340/905, 340/436, 340/573.4, 340/426.19, 340/438, 340/539.13, 340/995.13, 342/357.07, 701/50, 701/36, 701/301, 701/25, 701/29, 701/32, 239/172, 345/156
• US Class Current: 340/426.16
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/017 identifying vehicles G08G1/015, G08G1/054 take precedence
• 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 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network

Abstract

A method and system are provided in which maintenance vehicles collect information from sensors and operators, forward the collected information to a server, and, in response, receive maps and operator instructions.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

(a) receiving over a wireless network, from a plurality of snow maintenance vehicles and by a server, a plurality of sets of collected information, each of the collected sets of information comprising a respective snow maintenance vehicle physical location and at least one of weather and road conditions in an area of the respective snow maintenance vehicle;

(b) processing, by the server, the received collected information to (i) provide a map associated with a physical location of a selected snow maintenance vehicle and (ii) determine an instruction for the selected snow maintenance vehicle and/or route; and

(c) providing, over the wireless network the map and an instruction to a user in the selected snow maintenance vehicle, wherein the map is visually displayed to the user and wherein the instruction comprises one or more of a dispatch command, an alarm based on a temporal trend in weather conditions, an alarm based on a difference in weather conditions, an alarm based on a temporal trend in road conditions, an alarm based on a difference in road conditions, a snow plow setting, a mixture of materials being applied to a road surface, and an amount of materials being applied to the road surface.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the user is at least one of an operator of the snow maintenance vehicle, a dispatcher, or a representative of a governmental entity, business entity, or independent entity, and wherein the instruction comprises one or more of an alarm based on a temporal trend in weather conditions, an alarm based on a difference in weather conditions, an alarm based on a temporal trend in road conditions, and an alarm based on a difference in road conditions, wherein the physical location is a Global Positioning System (“

GPS”

)-based location of the selected snow maintenance vehicle, wherein the GPS-based location is received by a processor from a GPS module, wherein the GPS-based location is a current and/or recorded snow maintenance vehicle physical location, and wherein each of the sets of collected information includes a unique identifier associated with the respective processor, the unique identifier being different from the processor'"'"'s IP address.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the map is generated from the plurality of sets of collected information and wherein the map depicts snow maintenance vehicle physical locations of each of the plurality of snow maintenance vehicles and the at least one of weather and road conditions in an area of each snow maintenance vehicle.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the map comprises an icon for each of the plurality of snow maintenance vehicles, a respective map location of each icon depicting a physical location of a corresponding snow maintenance vehicle, and wherein each icon is associated with text information describing a vehicle state of the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the vehicle state of the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle comprises at least one of a snow maintenance vehicle identifier, direction of snow maintenance vehicle travel, snow maintenance vehicle speed, status of a GPS signal, and the at least one of weather and road and conditions, input, on a manual basis, from the snow maintenance vehicle, and timestamp of last data update for the snow maintenance vehicle.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein an appearance of the icon denotes a corresponding one of a plurality of different possible vehicle states of the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle with differing icon appearances corresponding to differing snow maintenance vehicle states.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the appearance is color and wherein the color indicates that the snow maintenance vehicle is one of active, inactive, and out-of-wireless range.

8. The method of claim 3, wherein the map provides a trace route for each of the plurality of snow maintenance vehicles.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the instruction comprises one or more of a snow plow setting, a mixture of materials being applied to a road surface, and an amount of materials being applied to the road surface, wherein the map is provided over a cellular network, wherein the at least one of weather conditions and road conditions is weather conditions, and wherein the weather conditions comprise a plurality of temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, wind chill, and precipitation type.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the map is provided over a cellular network, wherein the at least one of weather conditions and road conditions is road conditions, and wherein the road conditions comprise one or more of icy, slushy, snow-packed, frosty, wet, and dry.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein the snow maintenance vehicle state comprises a plurality of a snow plow setting, a mixture of material being applied to a selected surface, and an amount of material being applied to the selected surface.

12. The method of claim 6, wherein the snow maintenance vehicle state comprises video images of the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle'"'"'s exterior environment.

13. A method, comprising:

(a) sending, over a wireless cellular network, from an Internet Protocol (“

IP”

) address of a selected snow maintenance vehicle, and to a server, a set of collected information, the set of collected information comprising a physical location of the selected snow maintenance vehicle, at least one of weather and road conditions in an area of the selected snow maintenance vehicle, and a unique identifier different from the IP address;

(b) receiving, from the server and over the wireless cellular network, a map and an instruction, based on the set of collected information, for a snow maintenance vehicle and/or route;

(c) displaying, to a user in the selected snow maintenance vehicle, the map; and

(d) providing, to the fuser, the instruction, the instruction comprising one or more of a dispatch command, an alarm based on a temporal trend in weather conditions, an alarm based on a difference in weather conditions, an alarm based on a temporal trend in road conditions, an alarm based on a difference in road conditions, a snow plow setting, a mixture of materials being applied to a road surface, and an amount of materials being applied to the road surface.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the user is at least one of an operator of the selected snow maintenance vehicle and a dispatcher or representative of a governmental entity, business entity, or independent entity, wherein the instruction comprises one or more of an alarm based on a temporal trend in weather conditions, an alarm based on a difference in weather conditions, an alarm based on a temporal trend in road conditions, and an alarm based on a difference in road conditions, wherein the physical location is a Global Positioning System (“

GPS”

)-based location, wherein the GPS-based location is received by a processor from a GPS module, and wherein the GPS-based location is a current and/or recorded snow maintenance vehicle physical location.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the map is generated from the set of collected information, and wherein the map depicts snow maintenance vehicle physical locations of each of a plurality of snow maintenance vehicles, including the selected snow maintenance vehicle, and the at least one of weather and road conditions in an area of each snow maintenance vehicle.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the map comprises an icon for each of the plurality of snow maintenance vehicles, a respective map location of each icon depicting a physical location of the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle, and wherein each icon is associated with text information describing a vehicle state of the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the vehicle state of the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle comprises at least one of snow maintenance vehicle identifier, direction of snow maintenance vehicle travel, snow maintenance vehicle speed, status of a GPS signal, and the at least one of weather and road conditions, input and/or sensed, on a manual and/or automated basis, from the snow maintenance vehicle, and timestamp of last data update for the snow maintenance vehicle.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein an appearance of the icon denotes a corresponding one of a plurality of different possible states of the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle with differing icon appearances corresponding to differing snow maintenance vehicle states.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the appearance is color and wherein the color indicates that the snow maintenance vehicle is one of active, inactive, and out-of-wireless range.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the map provides a trace route for each of the plurality of snow maintenance vehicles.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein the instruction comprises one or more of a snow plow setting, a mixture of materials being applied to a road surface, and an amount of materials being applied to the road surface, wherein the map is provided by local and/or remote access, wherein the at least one of weather conditions and road conditions is weather conditions, and wherein the weather conditions comprise a plurality of temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, wind chill, and precipitation type.

22. The method of claim 13, wherein the at least one of weather and road conditions is collected from the user on a manual basis, wherein the at least one of weather conditions and road conditions is road conditions, and wherein the road conditions comprise one or more of icy, slushy, snow-packed, frosty, wet, and dry.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein the snow maintenance vehicle state comprises a plurality of snow plow setting, mixture of material being applied to a selected surface, and amount of material being applied to the selected surface.

24. The method of claim 18, wherein the snow maintenance vehicle state comprises video images of the snow maintenance vehicle'"'"'s exterior environment.

25. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

(d) in response to engine shut off, delaying, by a DC voltage regulator and sequencer, termination of power to the processor to enable orderly initiation of processor shut down.

26. A method, comprising:

(a) receiving, from a snow maintenance vehicle, information comprising a plurality of a current weather condition, a current road condition, a snow plow setting, a mixture of material being applied to a road surface, and an amount of material being applied to the road surface;

(b) obtaining, by at least one processor, a physical location of the snow maintenance vehicle;

(c) determining, by the at least one processor, that at least one of a received signal strength from a wireless network and a Quality of Service (“

QoS”

) parameter is not acceptable;

(d) buffering, by the at least one processor, the received information when the at least one of a received signal strength from a wireless network and a QoS parameter is determined not to be acceptable;

(e) when the at least one of a received signal strength from a wireless network and a QoS parameter is determined to be acceptable, sending, by the at least one processor, from an Internet Protocol (“

IP”

) address of the of the at least one processor, and over a wireless network, the received information and physical location to an electronic address associated with a remote server; and

(f) receiving, by local and/or remote access, by a user, an instruction in response to the received information and physical location, the instruction comprising one or more of a dispatch command, an alarm based on a temporal trend in weather conditions, an alarm based on a difference in weather conditions, an alarm based on a temporal trend in road conditions, an alarm based on a difference in road conditions, a snow plow setting, a mixture of materials being applied to a road surface, and an amount of materials being applied to the road surface.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the received information is input, on a manual basis, from a snow maintenance vehicle, wherein the IP address is received by the at least one processor from a domain name server of a wireless network, wherein the physical location is a set of location coordinates received from a Global Positioning System (“

GPS”

) sensor, and wherein the determining step (c) comprises the sub-operations;

(C1) forwarding, by the at least one processor, a query to an IP address of the domain name server and applying the following rules;

(C2) when a response is received from the domain name server, determining that the at least one of a received signal strength from a wireless network and a QoS parameter is acceptable; and

(C3) when no response is received from the domain name server, determining that the at least one of a received signal strength from a wireless network and a QoS parameter is not acceptable.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the at least one of a received signal strength from a cellular wireless network and a QoS parameter is determined not to be acceptable and further comprising the sub-operations:

(C4) determining, by the at least one processor, whether a communications initiation application is configured for a persistent connection and applying the following rules;

(C5) when the communications initiation application is configured for a persistent connection, allowing, by the at least one processor, the communications initiation application to reestablish a connection with the server; and

(C6) when the communications initiation application is not configured for a persistent connection, resetting logic and related parameters required for access to the wireless network to effect reestablishment of the connection with the server.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein the received information is based on information regarding vehicle state, input, on a manual basis, from a snow maintenance vehicle, and wherein the at least one processor sends, along with the received information, a unique identifier associated with the snow maintenance vehicle, the unique identifier being different from the at least one processor'"'"'s IP address.

30. The method of claim 26, wherein a combination DC voltage regulator and sequencer provide key on/off functionality with delayed power-on to provide extended minimal voltage drain upon start and delayed power-off to provide extended session status with restart and/or orderly shut-down of the at least one processor and whatever functionality is then active.

31. The method of claim 26, wherein the user is at least one of an operator of a snow maintenance vehicle and/or dispatcher or representative of a governmental entity, business entity, or independent entity, wherein the instruction comprises one or more of an alarm based on a temporal trend in weather conditions, an alarm based on a difference in weather conditions, an alarm based on a temporal trend in road conditions, and an alarm based on a difference in road conditions, and wherein the at least one processor is programmable, comprises an operating system, and provides interfaces for the transfer and/or receipt of information and instructions.

32. The method of claim 26, wherein the at least one processor comprises a connection manager to establish wireless connections and a connection monitor to monitor at least one network state parameter, the network state parameter being one or more of a signal strength over the wireless network, packet loss, jitter, and latency and, when the at least one network state parameter is determined not to be acceptable, to disconnect the connection.

33. The method of claim 26, wherein the instruction comprises one or more of a snow plow setting, a mixture of materials being applied to a road surface, and an amount of materials being applied to the road surface and wherein the at least one processor comprises a filter operable to remove duplicated information and send only information that has changed since a prior transmission and/or information outside of set or calculated parameters.

34. A system, comprising:

at least one processor operable to;

(a) receive, from a snow maintenance vehicle, information comprising a plurality of a current weather condition, a current road condition, a snow plow setting, a mixture of a material being applied to a road surface, and an amount of the material being applied to the road surface;

(b) obtain a physical location of the snow maintenance vehicle;

(c) determine that at least one of a received signal strength from a wireless network and a Quality of Service (“

QoS”

) parameter is not acceptable;

(d) buffer the received information when the at least one of a received signal strength from a wireless network and a QoS parameter is determined not to be acceptable;

(e) when the at least one of a received signal strength from a wireless network and a QoS parameter is determined to be acceptable, send, from an Internet Protocol (“

IP”

) address associated with the snow maintenance vehicle and over a wireless network, the received information and physical location to an electronic address associated with a remote server; and

(f) receive, by local and/or remote access, by a user, an instruction in response to the received information and physical location, the instruction comprising one or more of a dispatch command, an alarm based on a temporal trend in weather conditions, an alarm based on a difference in weather conditions, an alarm based on a temporal trend in road conditions, an alarm based on a difference in road conditions, a snow plow setting, a mixture of materials being applied to a road surface, and an amount of materials being applied to the road surface.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the received information is input, on a manual basis, from a snow maintenance vehicle, wherein the IP address is received by the at least one processor from a domain name server of a wireless network, wherein the physical location is a set of location coordinates received from a Global Positioning System (“

GPS”

) sensor, and wherein the determining operation (c) comprises the sub-operations;

(B1) forwarding a query to an IP address of the domain name server and applying the following rules;

(B2) when a response is received from the domain name server, determining that the at least one of a received signal strength from a wireless network and a QoS parameter is acceptable; and

(B3) when no response is received from the domain name server, determining that the at least one of a received signal strength from a wireless network and a QoS parameter is not acceptable.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein the at least one of a received signal strength from a wireless network and a QoS parameter is determined not to be acceptable and further comprising the sub-operations:

(B4) determining whether a communications initiation application is configured for a persistent connection and applying the following rules;

(B5) when the communications initiation application is configured for a persistent connection, allowing the communications initiation application to reestablish a connection with the server; and

(B6) when the communications initiation application is not configured for a persistent connection, resetting logic and related parameters required for access to the wireless network to effect reestablishment of the connection with the server.

37. The vehicle of claim 34, wherein the received information is based on information regarding vehicle state, input, on a manual basis, from a snow maintenance vehicle, and wherein the at least one processor sends, along with the received information, a unique identifier associated with the snow maintenance vehicle, the unique identifier being different from the at least one processor'"'"'s IP address.

38. The vehicle of claim 34, wherein a combination DC voltage regulator and sequencer provides key on/off functionality with delayed power-on to provide extended minimal voltage drain upon start and delayed power-off to provide extended session status with restart and/or orderly shut-down of the at least one processor and whatever functionality is then active.

39. The vehicle of claim 34, wherein the user is at least one of an operator of a snow maintenance vehicle and a dispatcher or representative of a governmental entity, business entity, or independent entity, wherein the instruction comprises one or more of an alarm based on a temporal trend in weather conditions, an alarm based on a difference in weather conditions, an alarm based on a temporal trend in road conditions, and an alarm based on a difference in road conditions, and wherein the at least one processor is programmable, comprises an operating system, and provides interfaces for the transfer and/or receipt of information and instructions.

40. The vehicle of claim 34, wherein the at least one processor comprises a connection manager to establish wireless connections and a connection monitor to monitor at least one network state parameter, the network state parameter being one or more of a signal strength over the wireless network, packet loss, jitter, and latency and, when the at least one network state parameter is determined not to be acceptable, to disconnect the connection.

41. The vehicle of claim 34, wherein the instruction comprises one or more of a snow plow setting, a mixture of materials being applied to a road surface, and an amount of materials being applied to the road surface and wherein the at least one processor comprises a filter operable to remove duplicated information and send only information that has changed since a prior transmission and/or information outside of set or calculated parameters.

42. A method, comprising:

(a) while a snow maintenance vehicle is in operation, periodically sending, over a wireless network, from an Internet Protocol (“

IP”

) address of a processor associated with the snow maintenance vehicle, and to a server, a set of collected information, the set of collected information comprising a physical location of the snow maintenance vehicle, at least one of weather and road conditions in an area of the snow maintenance vehicle, and a unique identifier different from the IP address; and

(b) in response to engine shut off of the snow maintenance vehicle, delaying, by a DC voltage regulator and sequencer, termination of power to the processor to enable orderly initiation of processor shut down.

43. The method of claim 42, further comprising:

(b) receiving, by local and/or remote access and from the server, a map and an instruction, based on the set of collected information, for a snow maintenance vehicle and/or route;

(c) displaying, to a user, the map; and

(d) providing, to the user, the instruction, the instruction comprising one or more of a dispatch command, an alarm based on a temporal trend in weather conditions, an alarm based on a difference in weather conditions, an alarm based on a temporal trend in road conditions, an alarm based on a difference in road conditions, a snow plow setting, a mixture of materials being applied to a road surface, and an amount of materials being applied to the road surface.

44. A system, comprising:

a processor operable to determine a physical location of the snow maintenance vehicle, collect, by a sensor and/or user interface, from a snow maintenance vehicle, information comprising a plurality of a current weather condition, a current road condition, a snow plow setting, a mixture of a material being applied to a road surface, and an amount of the material being applied to the road surface, and provide, to a remote server, the collected information comprising the physical location and the plurality of a current weather condition, a current road condition, a snow plow setting, a mixture of a material being applied to a road surface, and an amount of the material being applied to the road surface; and

a combination DC voltage regulator and sequencer operable to provide key on/off functionality with delayed power-on to provide extended minimal voltage drain upon start and delayed power-off to provide extended session status with restart and/or orderly shut-down of the processor and whatever processor functionality is then active.

45. The system of claim 44, wherein the processor is further operable to:

determine that at least one of a received signal strength from a wireless network and a Quality of Service (“

QoS”

) parameter is not acceptable;

buffer the collected information when the at least one of a received signal strength from a wireless network and a QoS parameter is not acceptable;

when the at least one of a received signal strength from a wireless network and a QoS parameter is acceptable, send, from an Internet Protocol (“

IP”

) address of the processor and over a wireless network, the collected information to an electronic address associated with the remote server; and

receive, by local and/or remote access, by the operator of the snow maintenance vehicle and/or other user, an instruction to the snow maintenance vehicle operator and/or route, the instruction comprising one or more of a dispatch command, an alarm based on a temporal trend in weather conditions, an alarm based on a difference in weather conditions, an alarm based on a temporal trend in road conditions, an alarm based on a difference in road conditions, a snow plow setting, a mixture of materials being applied to a road surface, and an amount of materials being applied to the road surface.

46. A system, comprising:

at least one processor operable to;

(a) send, over a wireless cellular network, from an Internet Protocol (“

IP”

) address of a selected snow maintenance vehicle, and to a server, a set of collected information, the set of collected information comprising a physical location of the selected snow maintenance vehicle, at least one of weather and road conditions in an area of the selected snow maintenance vehicle, and a unique identifier different from the IP address;

(b) receive, from the server and over the wireless cellular network, a map and an instruction, based on the set of collected information, for a snow maintenance vehicle and/or route;

(c) display, to a user of the snow maintenance vehicle, the map; and

(d) provide, to the user, the instruction, the instruction comprising one or more of a dispatch command, an alarm based on a temporal trend in weather conditions, an alarm based on a difference in weather conditions, an alarm based on a temporal trend in road conditions, an alarm based on a difference in road conditions, a snow plow setting, a mixture of materials being applied to a road surface, and an amount of materials being applied to the road surface.

47. The system of claim 46, wherein the user is at least one of an operator of the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle and dispatcher or representative of a governmental entity, business entity, or independent entity, and wherein the instruction comprises one or more of an alarm based on a temporal trend in weather conditions, an alarm based on a difference in weather conditions, an alarm based on a temporal trend in road conditions, and an alarm based on a difference in road conditions, wherein the physical location is a Global Positioning System (“

GPS”

)-based location, wherein the GPS-based location is received by the at least one processor from a GPS module, and wherein the GPS-based location is a current and/or recorded snow maintenance vehicle physical location.

48. The system of claim 46, wherein the map is generated from the set of collected information and wherein the map depicts snow maintenance vehicle physical locations of each of a plurality of snow maintenance vehicles, including the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle, and the at least one of weather and road conditions in an area of each snow maintenance vehicle.

49. The system of claim 46, wherein the map comprises an icon for each of the plurality of snow maintenance vehicles, a respective map location of each icon depicting a physical location of a respective snow maintenance vehicle, and wherein each icon is associated with text information describing a vehicle state of the respective snow maintenance vehicle.

50. The system of claim 49, wherein the vehicle state of the respective snow maintenance vehicle comprises at least one of snow maintenance vehicle identifier, direction of snow maintenance vehicle travel, snow maintenance vehicle speed, status of a GPS signal from the snow maintenance vehicle, and timestamp of last data update for the snow maintenance vehicle and wherein an appearance of the icon denotes a corresponding one of a plurality of different possible vehicle states of the respective snow maintenance vehicle with differing icon appearances corresponding to differing snow maintenance vehicle states.

51. The system of claim 50, wherein the appearance is color and wherein the color indicates that the snow maintenance vehicle is one of active, inactive, and out-of-wireless range.

52. The system of claim 49, wherein the map provides a trace route for each of the plurality of snow maintenance vehicles.

53. The system of claim 46, wherein the instruction comprises one or more of a snow plow setting, a mixture of materials being applied to a road surface, and an amount of materials being applied to the road surface, wherein the at least one of weather in an area of the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle, road conditions in an area of the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle, and a vehicle state of the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle is weather conditions, and wherein the weather conditions comprise a plurality of temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, wind chill, and precipitation type.

54. The system of claim 46, wherein the at least one of weather and road conditions is collected from the user on a manual basis, wherein the at least one of weather and road conditions in an area of the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle is road conditions, and wherein the road conditions comprise one or more of icy, slushy, snow-packed, frosty, wet, and dry.

55. The system of claim 50, wherein the snow maintenance vehicle state comprises a plurality of snow plow setting, mixture of material being applied to a selected surface, and amount of material being applied to the selected surface.

56. The system of claim 50, wherein the snow maintenance vehicle state comprises video images of the snow maintenance vehicle'"'"'s exterior environment and further comprising:

a DC voltage regulator and sequencer to delay, in response to engine shut off, termination of power to the at least one processor to enable orderly initiation of at least one processor shut down.

57. The system of claim 46, wherein the at least one processor is in the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle and further comprising a user interface to collect from the user and send, from the operator, the set of collected information, and to display, to the operator, the map, and provide, to the operator, the operator and/or route instruction.

58. A system, comprising:

(a) a server operable to;

(i) communicate, over a wireless network, with a plurality of snow maintenance vehicles operated by a plurality of different independent entities;

(ii) obtain, for each snow maintenance vehicle, information comprising the current snow maintenance vehicle physical location and at least one of a weather condition and a road condition in the vicinity of the snow maintenance vehicle, (iii) generate at least one of (A) an instruction for a respective snow maintenance vehicle and/or route, comprising one or more of a dispatch command, a snow plow setting, a mixture of materials being applied to a road surface, and an amount of materials being applied to the road surface and (B) an alarm to at least one of a user associated with the respective snow maintenance vehicle and/or route and an automated component in the respective snow maintenance vehicle, (iv) generate, for each independent entity, a map, and (v) provide, to a user associated with such entity, the at least one of (A) an instruction for the respective snow maintenance vehicle and/or route and (B) an alarm and a selected map for display, the selected map being for the independent entity associated with the respective snow maintenance vehicle and/or route; and

(b) at least one database operable to store, for each snow maintenance vehicle and for each independent entity, respective information collected by the server.

59. The system of claim 58, wherein the user is at least one of an operator of a snow maintenance vehicle and a dispatcher or representative of a governmental entity, business entity, company, or independent entity, and wherein the at least one of (A) an instruction for the respective snow maintenance vehicle and/or route and (B) an alarm and the selected map is provided to the user by local and/or remote access.

60. The system of claim 58, wherein the obtained information is input, on a manual basis, from a respective snow maintenance vehicle, and wherein the at least one of (A) an instruction for the respective snow maintenance vehicle and/or route and (B) an alarm and the selected map is provided to at least one of a user and an automated component of the selected snow maintenance vehicle by a wireless network.

61. The system of claim 58, wherein the at least one of (A) an instruction for the respective snow maintenance vehicle and/or route and (B) an alarm is an alarm, wherein the alarm is at least one of an alarm based on a temporal trend in weather conditions, an alarm based on a difference in weather conditions, an alarm based on a temporal trend in road conditions, and an alarm based on a difference in road conditions, wherein the physical location is a set of Global Positioning System (“

GPS”

) coordinates, wherein each snow maintenance vehicle comprises a respective GPS location unit to provide a current snow maintenance vehicle location, and wherein the current snow maintenance vehicle physical location is sent, by each snow maintenance vehicle, to the server to be used in generation of the map.

62. The system of claim 58, wherein the server generates, using obtained information, the map, for a selected independent entity, showing an icon associated with each of the snow maintenance vehicles currently in operation for that selected independent entity, with each icon indicating a current physical location and at least one of a status of the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle, road conditions in the vicinity of the snow maintenance vehicle, and weather conditions in the vicinity of the snow maintenance vehicle.

63. The system of claim 58, wherein the map comprises an icon for each of the plurality of snow maintenance vehicles, a respective map location of each icon depicting a physical location of the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle, and wherein each icon is associated with text information describing a vehicle state of the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle.

64. The system of claim 61, wherein the at least one of (A) an instruction for the respective snow maintenance vehicle and/or route and (B) an alarm is an instruction for the respective snow maintenance vehicle and/or route, wherein the instruction is at least one of a snow plow setting, a mixture of materials being applied to a road surface, and an amount of materials being applied to the road surface, wherein the vehicle state of the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle comprises at least one of snow maintenance vehicle identifier, direction of snow maintenance vehicle travel, snow maintenance vehicle speed, status of a GPS signal from the snow maintenance vehicle, and timestamp of last data update for the snow maintenance vehicle.

65. The system of claim 63, wherein an appearance of the icon denotes a corresponding one of a plurality of different possible vehicle states of the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle with differing icon appearances corresponding to differing snow maintenance vehicle states.

66. The system of claim 63, wherein the appearance is color and wherein the color indicates that the snow maintenance vehicle is one of active, inactive, and out-of-wireless range.

67. The system of claim 58, wherein the map provides a trace route for each of a set of the plurality of snow maintenance vehicles.

68. The system of claim 62, wherein the plurality of current weather conditions, road conditions, snow plow setting, mixture of material being applied to a road surface, and amount of material being applied to the road surface is collected on a manual basis, by a user interface, from a snow maintenance vehicle, and wherein the collected information comprises a plurality of raining, snowing, blowing snow, foggy, clear, overcast, icy road, slushy road, snow-packed road, frosty road, wet road, dry road, snow maintenance vehicle position, snow plow orientation, mixture of material being applied to the road, and amount of material being applied to the road.

69. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a server over a wireless network, information associated with a plurality of snow maintenance vehicles operated by a plurality of different independent entities, the information comprising, for each snow maintenance vehicle, the current snow maintenance vehicle physical location and at least one of a weather condition and a road condition in the vicinity of the snow maintenance vehicle;

generating at least one of (A) an instruction, for a respective snow maintenance vehicle and/or route, comprising one or more of a dispatch command, a snow plow setting, a mixture of materials being applied to a road surface, and an amount of materials being applied to the road surface and (B) an alarm to at least one of a user associated with the respective snow maintenance vehicle and/or route and an automated component in the respective snow maintenance vehicle;

generating, for each independent entity, a map;

providing, to a user associated with such entity, the at least one of (A) an instruction for the respective snow maintenance vehicle and/or route and (B) an alarm and a selected map for display, the selected map being for the independent entity associated with the respective snow maintenance vehicle; and

storing, in at least one database, for each snow maintenance vehicle, and for each independent entity, respective information collected by the server.

70. The method of claim 69, wherein the user is at least one of an operator of a snow maintenance vehicle and a dispatcher or representative of a governmental entity, business entity, or independent entity, and wherein the at least one of (A) an instruction for the respective snow maintenance vehicle and/or route and (B) an alarm and the selected map is provided to the user by local and/or remote access.

71. The method of claim 69, wherein the received information is input, on a manual basis, from a snow maintenance vehicle, and wherein the at least one of (A) an instruction for the respective snow maintenance vehicle and/or route and (B) an alarm and the selected map is provided to at least one of a user and an automated component of the selected snow maintenance vehicle by a wireless network.

72. The method of claim 69, wherein the at least one of (A) an instruction for the respective snow maintenance vehicle and/or route and (B) an alarm is an alarm, wherein the alarm is at least one of an alarm based on a temporal trend in weather conditions, an alarm based on a difference in weather conditions, an alarm based on a temporal trend in road conditions, and an alarm based on a difference in road conditions, wherein the physical location is a set of Global Positioning System (“

GPS”

) coordinates, wherein each snow maintenance vehicle comprises a respective GPS location unit to provide a current snow maintenance vehicle location, and wherein the current snow maintenance vehicle physical location is sent, by each snow maintenance vehicle, to the server to be used in generation of the map.

73. The method of claim 69, wherein the server generates, using obtained information, the map, for a selected independent entity, showing an icon associated with each of the snow maintenance vehicles currently in operation for that selected independent entity, with each icon indicating a current physical location and at least one of a status of the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle, road conditions in the vicinity of the snow maintenance vehicle, and weather conditions in the vicinity of the snow maintenance vehicle.

74. The method of claim 69, wherein the map comprises an icon for each of the plurality of snow maintenance vehicles, a respective map location of each icon depicting a physical location of the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle, and wherein each icon is associated with text information describing a vehicle state of the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle.

75. The method of claim 72, wherein the at least one of (A) an instruction for the respective snow maintenance vehicle and/or route and (B) an alarm is an instruction for the respective snow maintenance vehicle and/or route, wherein the snow maintenance vehicle operator instruction is at least one of a snow plow setting, a mixture of materials being applied to a road surface, and an amount of materials being applied to the road surface, wherein the vehicle state of the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle comprises at least one of snow maintenance vehicle identifier, direction of snow maintenance vehicle travel, snow maintenance vehicle speed, status of a GPS signal from the snow maintenance vehicle, and timestamp of last data update for the snow maintenance vehicle.

76. The method of claim 74, wherein an appearance of the icon denotes a corresponding one of a plurality of different possible vehicle states of the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle with differing icon appearances corresponding to differing snow maintenance vehicle states.

77. The method of claim 74, wherein the appearance is color and wherein the color indicates that the snow maintenance vehicle is one of active, inactive, and out-of-wireless range.

78. The method of claim 69, wherein the map provides a trace route for each of a set of the plurality of snow maintenance vehicles.

79. The method of claim 73, wherein the plurality of current weather conditions, road conditions, snow plow setting, mixture of material being applied to a road surface, and amount of material being applied to the road surface is collected on a manual basis, by a user interface, from a snow maintenance vehicle, and wherein the collected information comprises a plurality of raining, snowing, blowing snow, foggy, clear, overcast, icy road, slushy road, snow-packed road, frosty road, wet road, dry road, snow maintenance vehicle position, snow plow orientation, mixture of material being applied to the road, and amount of material being applied to the road.

80. A system, comprising:

a server operable to;

(a) receive over a wireless network, from a plurality of snow maintenance vehicles, a plurality of sets of collected information, each of the collected sets of information comprising a respective snow maintenance vehicle physical location and at least one of weather and road conditions in an area of the respective snow maintenance vehicle;

(b) process the received collected information to (i) provide a map associated with a physical location of a selected snow maintenance vehicle and (ii) determine an instruction for the selected snow maintenance vehicle and/or route; and

(c) provide, over the wireless network, the map and an instruction to a user in the selected snow maintenance vehicle, wherein the map is visually displayed to the user and wherein the instruction comprises one or more of a dispatch command, an alarm based on a temporal trend in weather conditions, an alarm based on a difference in weather conditions, an alarm based on a temporal trend in road conditions, an alarm based on a difference in road conditions, a snow plow setting, a mixture of materials being applied to a road surface, and an amount of materials being applied to the road surface.

81. The system of claim 80, wherein the user is at least one of an operator of the selected snow maintenance vehicle and a dispatcher or representative of a governmental entity, business entity, or independent entity, and wherein the instruction comprises one or more of an alarm based on a temporal trend in weather conditions, an alarm based on a difference in weather conditions, an alarm based on a temporal trend in road conditions, and an alarm based on a difference in road conditions, wherein the physical location is a Global Positioning System (“

GPS”

)-based location of the selected snow maintenance vehicle, wherein the GPS-based location is received by the processor from a GPS module, wherein the GPS-based location is a current and/or recorded snow maintenance vehicle physical location, and wherein each of the sets of collected information includes a unique identifier associated with the respective processor, the unique identifier being different from a processor'"'"'s IP address.

82. The system of claim 80, wherein the map is generated from the plurality of sets of collected information, and wherein the map depicts snow maintenance vehicle physical locations of each of the plurality of snow maintenance vehicles and the at least one of weather and road conditions in an area of each snow maintenance vehicle.

83. The system of claim 82, wherein the map comprises an icon for each of the plurality of snow maintenance vehicles, a respective map location of each icon depicting a physical location of a corresponding snow maintenance vehicle, and wherein each icon is associated with text information describing a vehicle state of the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle.

84. The system of claim 83, wherein the vehicle state of the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle comprises at least one of a snow maintenance vehicle identifier, direction of snow maintenance vehicle travel, snow maintenance vehicle speed, status of a GPS signal, and road and/or weather information, input, on a manual basis, from the snow maintenance vehicle, and timestamp of last data update for the snow maintenance vehicle.

85. The system of claim 83, wherein an appearance of the icon denotes a corresponding one of a plurality of different possible vehicle states of the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle with differing icon appearances corresponding to differing snow maintenance vehicle states.

86. The system of claim 85, wherein the appearance is color and wherein the color indicates that the snow maintenance vehicle is one of active, inactive, and out-of-wireless range.

87. The system of claim 82, wherein the map provides a trace route for each of the plurality of snow maintenance vehicles.

88. The system of claim 80, wherein the instruction comprises one or more of a snow plow setting, a mixture of materials being applied to a road surface, and an amount of materials being applied to the road surface, wherein the map is provided, over a cellular network, wherein the at least one of weather conditions and road conditions is weather conditions, and wherein the weather conditions comprise a plurality of temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, wind chill, and precipitation type.

89. The system of claim 80, wherein the map is provided, over a cellular network, wherein the at least one of weather conditions and road conditions is road conditions, and wherein the road conditions comprise one or more of icy, slushy, snow-packed, frosty, wet, and dry.

90. The system of claim 85, wherein the snow maintenance vehicle state comprises a plurality of a snow plow setting, a mixture of material being applied to a selected surface, and an amount of material being applied to the selected surface.

91. The system of claim 85, wherein the snow maintenance vehicle state comprises video images of the corresponding snow maintenance vehicle'"'"'s exterior environment.