Systems and methods for assessing operational data for a vehicle fleet

• US 9,691,194 B2
• Filed: 12/18/2013
• Issued: 06/27/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United Parcel Service Of America Incorporated (United Parcel Service Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: United Parcel Service Of America Incorporated (United Parcel Service Incorporated)
• Inventors: Davidson, Mark J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jabr, Fadey
• Assistant Examiner(s): Mahne, Kevin P
• Application Number:
  US14/133,258
• Publication Number:
  US 20140188533A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,287 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3469 Fuel consumption; Energy use; Emission aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3617 using user history, behaviour, conditions or preferences, e.g. predicted or inferred from previous use or current movement
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06398 Performance of employee with respect to a job function
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/00 Registering or indicating the working of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/02 Registering or indicating driving, working, idle, or waiting time only apparatus forming part of taximeters G07B13/00
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/06 in graphical form
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/123 indicating the position of vehicles, e.g. scheduled vehicles; Managing passenger vehicles circulating according to a fixed timetable, e.g. buses, trains, tramstransmission of navigation instructions to vehicles G08G1/0968
• 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: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/207 with respect to certain areas, e.g. forbidden or allowed areas with possible alerting when inside or outside boundaries
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences

Abstract

Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to a fleet management system configured for capturing and evaluating vehicle telematics data, such as data captured from one or more vehicle telematics devices indicative of one or more vehicle dynamics, and service data, such as data captured from one or more portable data acquisition devices indicative of one or more service dynamics. In certain embodiments, the fleet management system is configured to associate captured vehicle telematics data with captured service data based on the contextual attributes of each, such as the time, date, and location of data capture. By synching the vehicle telematics data to the service data, the operational data can be uniquely assessed for various operational efficiencies.

Claims

1. A fleet management system comprising:

one or more vehicle telematics devices configured for capturing vehicle telematics data comprising data indicative of one or more vehicle dynamics and data indicative of one or more contextual attributes of said one or more vehicle dynamics;

one or more portable data acquisition devices configured for capturing service data comprising data indicative of one or more service dynamics and data indicative of one or more contextual attributes of said one or more service dynamics, said service data generated based at least in part on user input received by the one or more portable data acquisition devices; and

a fleet management computer system comprising;

one or more memory storage areas; and

one or more hardware processors in communication with said one or more memory storage areas;

wherein said one or more processors are, collectively, configured to;

receive said vehicle telematics data from said one or more vehicle telematics devices;

receive said service data from said one or more portable data acquisition devices;

associate said received vehicle telematics data with said received service data by comparing said contextual attributes in said vehicle telematics data with said contextual attributes in said service data and identifying sets of vehicle telematics data and service data having common contextual attributes;

determine, for each set of vehicle telematics data and service data having common contextual attributes, a temporal relationship between the one or more vehicle dynamics and the one or more service dynamics indicated in the respective set of vehicle telematics data and service data;

store, in said one or more memory storage areas, said received vehicle telematics data in association with said service data having common contextual attributes; and

generate, via a display device, a graphical display indicative of one or more activity segments representing periods of time classified according to vehicle activity or service activity and based at least in part on the determined temporal relationship between said one or more vehicle dynamics and said one or more service dynamics.

2. The fleet management computer system of claim 1, wherein said one or more vehicle dynamics comprise one or more vehicle dynamics selected from the group consisting of:

engine speed, vehicle speed, engine ignition status, and vehicle location.

3. The fleet management computer system of claim 1, wherein said one or more service dynamics comprise one or more service dynamics selected from the group consisting of:

delivery stop commencement, delivery stop completion, and package delivery.

4. The fleet management computer system of claim 3, wherein said one or more service dynamics further comprise one or more service dynamics selected from the group consisting of:

lunch commencement, lunch completion, break commencement, break completion, coded delay commencement, and coded delay completion.

5. The fleet management computer system of claim 1, wherein said contextual attributes of said one or more vehicle dynamics further comprise one or more contextual attributes selected from the group consisting of:

the vehicle associated with a particular vehicle dynamic and the driver associated with a particular vehicle dynamic.

6. The fleet management computer system of claim 1, wherein said contextual attributes of said one or more service dynamics comprise one or more contextual attributes selected from the group consisting of:

the date of a particular service dynamic'"'"'s occurrence and the time of day of a particular service dynamic'"'"'s occurrence.

7. The fleet management computer system of claim 1, wherein said contextual attributes of said one or more service dynamics further comprise one or more contextual attributes selected from the group consisting of:

the vehicle associated with a particular service dynamic and the driver associated with a particular service dynamic.

8. The fleet management computer system of claim 1, wherein said one or more memory storage areas comprise a remote database in communication with said one or more hardware processors.

9. The fleet management computer system of claim 1, wherein said contextual attributes of said one or more vehicle dynamics comprise one or more contextual attributes selected from the group consisting of:

the date of a particular vehicle dynamic'"'"'s occurrence and the time of day of a particular vehicle dynamic'"'"'s occurrence.

10. A method for assessing operational data for a vehicle fleet, said method comprising the steps of:

capturing, via one or more vehicle telematics devices, vehicle telematics data comprising data indicative of one or more vehicle dynamics of at least one vehicle and telematics contextual data captured concurrently with the data indicative of the one or more vehicle dynamics and indicative of one or more contextual attributes of said one or more vehicle dynamics;

capturing, via one or more portable data acquisition devices configured for capturing service data comprising data indicative of one or more service dynamics and data indicative of one or more contextual attributes of said one or more service dynamics, said service data generated based at least in part on user input received by the one or more portable data acquisition devices;

receiving, via one or more hardware processors, said vehicle telematics data from said one or more vehicle telematics devices;

receiving, via said one or more hardware processors, said service data from said one or more portable data acquisition devices;

associating, via said one or more hardware processors and based at least in part on said telematics contextual data and said service contextual data, said received vehicle telematics data with said received service data by comparing said contextual attributes in said vehicle telematics data with said contextual attributes in said service data and identifying vehicle telematics data and service data having common contextual attributes;

storing, in one or more memory storage areas, said received vehicle telematics data in association with said service data having common contextual attributes; and

generating, via said one or more hardware processors and a display device, and based at least in part on said associated vehicle telematics data and said service data, a graphical display indicative of one or more activity segments representing periods of time classified according to vehicle activity or service activity and based at least in part on the determined temporal relationship between said one or more vehicle dynamics and said one or more service dynamics.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said one or more vehicle dynamics comprise one or more vehicle dynamics selected from the group consisting of:

engine speed, vehicle speed, engine ignition status, and vehicle location.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein said one or more service dynamics comprise one or more service dynamics selected from the group consisting of:

delivery stop commencement, delivery stop completion, and package delivery.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein said contextual attributes of said one or more vehicle dynamics comprise one or more contextual attributes selected from the group consisting of:

the date of a particular vehicle dynamic'"'"'s occurrence and the time of day of a particular vehicle dynamic'"'"'s occurrence.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein said contextual attributes of said one or more service dynamics comprise one or more contextual attributes selected from the group consisting of:

the date of a particular service dynamic'"'"'s occurrence and the time of day of a particular service dynamic'"'"'s occurrence.

15. A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer readable program code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising:

an executable portion for receiving vehicle telematics data comprising data indicative of one or more vehicle dynamics of at least one vehicle and telematics contextual data captured concurrently with the data indicative of the one or more vehicle dynamics and indicative of one or more contextual attributes of said one or more vehicle dynamics, wherein said vehicle telematics data is received from one or more vehicle telematics devices configured for capturing said vehicle telematics data;

an executable portion for receiving service data comprising data generated based at least in part on user input received by a user device and indicative of one or more service dynamics performed by at least one vehicle operator operating said at least one vehicle, and service contextual data captured concurrently with the data indicative of the one or more service dynamics and indicative of one or more contextual attributes of said one or more service dynamics, wherein said service data is received from one or more user devices configured for capturing service data;

an executable portion for associating, based at least in part on said telematics contextual data and said service contextual data, said received vehicle telematics data with said received service data by comparing said contextual attributes in said vehicle telematics data with said contextual attributes in said service data and identifying vehicle telematics data and service data having common contextual attributes;

an executable portion for storing, in one or more memory storage areas, said received vehicle telematics data in association with said service data having common contextual attributes; and

an executable portion for generating, via a display device, a graphical display indicative of one or more activity segments representing periods of time classified according to vehicle activity or service activity and based at least in part on the determined temporal relationship between said one or more vehicle dynamics and said one or more service dynamics.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein said one or more vehicle dynamics comprise one or more vehicle dynamics selected from the group consisting of:

engine speed, vehicle speed, engine ignition status, and vehicle location.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein said one or more service dynamics comprise one or more service dynamics selected from the group consisting of:

delivery stop commencement, delivery stop completion, and package delivery.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein said contextual attributes of said one or more vehicle dynamics comprise one or more contextual attributes selected from the group consisting of:

the date of a particular vehicle dynamic'"'"'s occurrence and the time of day of a particular vehicle dynamic'"'"'s occurrence.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein said contextual attributes of said one or more service dynamics comprise one or more contextual attributes selected from the group consisting of:

the date of a particular service dynamic'"'"'s occurrence and the time of day of a particular service dynamic'"'"'s occurrence.