Distributed maintenance decision and support system and method

• US 9,373,258 B2
• Filed: 12/01/2014
• Issued: 06/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Concaten Inc.
• Original Assignee: Concaten Inc.
• Inventors: Groeneweg, Kevin K.
• Primary Examiner(s): MULLEN, THOMAS J
• Application Number:
  US14/556,240
• Publication Number:
  US 20150084789A1
• Time in Patent Office: 568 Days
• Field of Search: 340/905, 701/50, 701409-412, 701/415, 239/1, 239/61
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0967 Systems involving transmission of highway information, e.g. weather, speed limits transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/096775 where the origin of the information is 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

Abstract

The present disclosure is directed to a computer that receives weather information from a weather service provider (“WSP”) server and automatic vehicle locating system (“AVL”) collected information from an AVL server, accesses a material performance specification for at least one treatment material, and determines, based on the weather information and/or AVL collected information and the material performance specification, a treatment recommendation for a selected roadway segment and/or route.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, over a network and by an on-board computer in a maintenance vehicle, at least one set of remotely provided information;

collecting, by the on-board computer at least one set of local information;

accessing, by the on-board computer, a material performance specification for at least one treatment material on-board the maintenance vehicle; and

determining, by the on-board computer based on the remotely provided information, the local information and the material performance specification, a treatment recommendation to be followed by the maintenance vehicle for a roadway segment and/or route.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one set of remotely provided information is weather information, and wherein the weather information comprises at least one of current and/or predicted future ambient temperature, solar thermal variable, precipitation type, precipitation rate, relative humidity, dew point, wind speed, wind direction, wind chill, and barometric pressure.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one set of remotely provided information is historic maintenance vehicle parameters, wherein said historic maintenance vehicle parameters are taken from a historic maintenance vehicle that previously traversed the roadway segment and/or route, and wherein said historic maintenance vehicle parameters include at least one of traffic level, road condition, roadway surface temperature, historic maintenance vehicle speed, historic maintenance vehicle engine revolutions-per-minute, weather condition, historic maintenance vehicle snow plow setting, treatment material type applied, treatment material mixture applied, treatment material application rate, treatment material amount applied, time of treatment application, a video image of the roadway segment and/or route, roadway friction measure, thermal imaging information, infrared imaging information, solar thermal variable, and a dispatch time for a maintenance vehicle to treat the roadway segment and/or route in the future.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the local information comprises at least one of traffic level, road condition, roadway surface temperature, air temperature, maintenance vehicle speed, maintenance vehicle engine revolutions-per-minute, weather condition, maintenance vehicle snow plow setting, an on-board treatment material type, an on-board treatment material mixture, treatment material application rate, treatment material amount applied, roadway friction measure collected by an on-board sensor, thermal imaging information collected by an on-board sensor, infrared imaging information collected by an on-board sensor, and solar thermal variable.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the treatment recommendation comprises at least one of treatment material type, composition, amount, concentration, and application rate.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the network is a public and untrusted network.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a supervisor can edit the at least one set of remotely provided information for use in determining the treatment recommendation.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein an operator of the maintenance vehicle can edit the local information for use in determining the treatment recommendation.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein an operator of the selected maintenance vehicle can edit the treatment recommendation.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a supervisor edits the treatment recommendation, and wherein the supervisor is not operating a maintenance vehicle.

11. A system, comprising:

a processor-executable maintenance decision module operating on an on-board computer in a maintenance vehicle operable to;

(a) receive, over a network, at least one set of remotely provided information;

(b) collect at least one set of locally collected information;

(c) access a material performance specification for at least one treatment material; and

(d) determine, based on the remotely provided information, the locally collected information and the material performance specification, a treatment recommendation for a roadway segment and/or route.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one set of remotely provided information is weather information, and wherein the weather information comprises at least one of current and/or predicted future ambient temperature, solar thermal variable, precipitation type, precipitation rate, relative humidity, dew point, wind speed, wind direction, wind chill, and barometric pressure.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one set of remotely provided information is historic maintenance vehicle parameters, wherein said historic maintenance vehicle parameters are taken from a historic maintenance vehicle that previously traversed the roadway segment and/or route, and wherein said historic maintenance vehicle parameters include at least one of traffic level, road condition, roadway surface temperature, historic maintenance vehicle speed, historic maintenance vehicle engine revolutions-per-minute, weather condition, historic maintenance vehicle snow plow setting, treatment material type applied, treatment material mixture applied, treatment material application rate, treatment material amount applied, time of treatment application, a video image of the roadway segment and/or route, roadway friction measure, thermal imaging information, infrared imaging information, solar thermal variable, and a dispatch time for a maintenance vehicle to treat the roadway segment and/or route in the future.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the local information comprises at least one of traffic level, road condition, roadway surface temperature, air temperature, maintenance vehicle speed, maintenance vehicle engine revolutions-per-minute, weather condition, maintenance vehicle snow plow setting, an on-board treatment material type, an on-board treatment material mixture, treatment material application rate, treatment material amount applied, roadway friction measure collected by an on-board sensor, thermal imaging information collected by an on-board sensor, infrared imaging information collected by an on-board sensor, and solar thermal variable.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the treatment recommendation comprises at least one of treatment material type, composition, amount, concentration, and application rate.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein the network is a public and untrusted network.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein a supervisor can edit the at least one set of remotely provided information for use in determining the treatment recommendation.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein an operator of the maintenance vehicle can edit the locally collected information for use in determining the treatment recommendation.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein an operator of the selected maintenance vehicle can edit the treatment recommendation.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein a supervisor edits the treatment recommendation, and wherein the supervisor is not operating a maintenance vehicle.