Maintenance decision support system and method for vehicular and roadside applications

• US 9,601,015 B2
• Filed: 05/15/2015
• Issued: 03/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Concaten Inc.
• Original Assignee: Concaten Inc.
• Inventors: Rennie, Christopher J., Groeneweg, Kevin K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lau, Hoi
• Application Number:
  US14/713,862
• Publication Number:
  US 20150262485A1
• Time in Patent Office: 676 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, 701/32.1, 701/129.19
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/18 Status alarms G08B21/02 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/017 identifying vehicles G08G1/015, G08G1/054 take precedence
• 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 1/096766 where the system is characterised by the origin of the information transmission
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/137 the indicator being in the form of a map
• 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: G08G 1/202 Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0236 radio quality, e.g. interference, losses or delay
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]

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:

(d) receiving from a plurality of maintenance vehicles and by a server, a plurality of sets of collected information, each of the sets of collected information comprising a maintenance vehicle physical location and at least one of weather conditions in an area of the maintenance vehicle and an additional data parameter;

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

(f) providing the map and the instruction to a user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the instruction comprises one or more of a dispatch command, an alarm based on a trend in weather conditions, an alarm based on a difference in weather conditions, a notification of thunderstorm activity, a notification of wind activity, or a work order for roadway maintenance.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional data parameter comprises one or more of a location of a pothole, a location of a broken lamp, a location of a broken guardrail, a location of areas requiring mowing, a location of areas requiring spraying, a location of areas requiring cleaning, a location of bridge damage, a location of other road damage, or a location of work being performed by the crew of the maintenance vehicle.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

(1) determining, by 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;

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

(3) when the at least one of a received signal strength from a wireless network and a QoS parameter is 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 collected information and physical location to an electronic address associated with the server.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the user is an operator of the respective maintenance vehicle.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the instruction and the map are transmitted over a wireless network to a handheld device associated with the user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the user is a supervisor not located in the respective maintenance vehicle.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one of the map and the instruction are provided to the supervisor at a non-portable computer terminal.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one of the map and the instruction are provided to the supervisor at a portable computer via a wireless signal.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the supervisor sends the at least one of the map and the instruction to the operator of the respective maintenance vehicle.

11. A system, comprising:

a server operable to;

(d) receive from a plurality of maintenance vehicles, a plurality of sets of collected information, each of the collected sets of information comprising a maintenance vehicle physical location and at least one of weather conditions in an area of the respective maintenance vehicle and an additional date parameter;

(e) process the received collected information;

(i) to provide a map associated with a physical location of a selected maintenance vehicle;

(ii) to determine an instruction for the selected maintenance vehicle; and

(f) provide the map and the instruction to a user.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the instruction comprises one or more of a dispatch command, an alarm based on a trend in weather conditions, an alarm based on a difference in weather conditions, a notification of thunderstorm activity, a notification of wind activity, or a work order for roadway maintenance.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the additional data parameter comprises one or more of a location of a pothole, a location of a broken lamp, a location of a broken guardrail, a location of areas requiring mowing, a location of areas requiring spraying, a location of areas requiring cleaning, a location of bridge damage, a location of other road damage, or a location of work being performed by the crew of the maintenance vehicle.

14. The system of claim 11 further comprising:

a processor operable to;

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

QoS”

) parameter is not acceptable;

(2) 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;

(3) 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 of the processor, and over a wireless network, the collected information and physical location to an electronic address associated with the server.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the user is an operator of the respective snow maintenance vehicle.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the instruction and the map are transmitted over a wireless network to a handheld device associated with the user.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the user is a supervisor not located in the respective snow maintenance vehicle.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the at least one of the map and the instruction are provided to the supervisor at a non-portable computer terminal.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the at least one of the map and the instruction are provided to the supervisor at a portable computer via a wireless signal.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the supervisor sends the at least one of the map and the instruction to the operator of the respective snow maintenance vehicle.