EP1240789A1

EP1240789A1 - Fleet management using mobile working unit positioning and wireless communications systems

Info

Publication number: EP1240789A1
Application number: EP00978692A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Alex Krister Raith
Original assignee: Ericsson Inc
Current assignee: Ericsson Inc
Priority date: 1999-12-20
Filing date: 2000-11-15
Publication date: 2002-09-18
Also published as: WO2001047303A1; AU1612401A

Abstract

A fleet management system instructs a mobile working unit at which position to transmit a report containing the position of the mobile working unit to a fleet management center. An area of interest is defined by the fleet management center and sent to a mobile working unit via a public wireless communications system. The mobile working unit automatically reports to the fleet management center over the public wireless communications system when the requirements for reporting are encountered. The requirements of reporting may be merely entering or exiting the defined area, or the requirements may have other conditions that include a location dependency. The reporting by the mobile working unit is not dependent on the relative position of the mobile working unit to a base station or the mere occurence of a particular event. Instead, the reporting is based on the mobile working unit's position with respect to a defined area of interest transmitted to the mobile working unit over the wireless system.

Description

FLEET MANAGEMENT USING MOBILE WORKING UNIT POSITIONING

AND WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS

Background of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to the management of mobile working units

belonging to, or being part of, a business that operates over dispersed geographic area and

more particularly to efficiently providing location information of the mobile working units

using standard radio communication services and systems.

There are several types of business or work groups that conduct their business over

large and dispersed geographical areas. For instance, vending machine companies

typically have vending machines at dispersed locations. An inventory control system has

been developed which uses cellular modems (e.g., modems known as Cellemetri modems)

to report the status of the associated vending machines. The modem can be polled by a

central system to inquire about how many cans of soft drinks are left for a specific brand.

Alternatively, the modem may dial the central system during off-peak hours and deliver a

report. This type of system is useful for checking the status of fixed position assets, but

not for tracking or managing the movements of the personnel servicing the vending

machines.

As with vending machine companies, many other businesses and work groups

utilize mobile assets such as personnel, vehicles, robots, and the like, which are

collectively referred to herein as "mobile working units." Examples of such companies

include post delivery, utility companies, trucking and other transport companies, plumbing

companies, news services, construction companies, and the like. Typically, these

businesses have an interest in coordinating the activity of the mobile working units in order to conduct the business in an efficient manner. To this end, knowing the position of

the mobile working units is often important for improved efficiency in managing the

business and/or for security reasons. For simplicity of reference, all types of management or monitoring activities which include the aspect of multiple mobile working units spread

over a geographic area will be referred to herein as Fleet Management Systems (FMS).

Some FMS methods have been proposed that rely on wireless communications for

relaying the position of the group members to a central management or tracking facility.

For example, public buses can be equipped with a wireless communication device. In the

simplest form, these devices are simple responders which transmit a pre-defined radio

signal when receiving a pre-defined type of radio signal. A more advanced form of device

would support data communication, allowing for more extensive vehicle identification and

other attributes to be transmitted. Throughout the bus service area, several wireless radio-

ports are deployed. The radio-ports use a frequency band allocated to support specialized

applications by the spectrum management authority in the country. The radio-ports and

the wireless communications devices in the buses are developed for this application

exclusively. They typically emit low-powered signals which only allow position updates

when the bus is close to a radio-port. The information from the buses is communicated to

the bus fleet management center via the fixed radio-ports. This information can be used

for various purposes, e.g., announcing the expected arrival time of the bus at bus-stops,

etc. Such a system is a classic example of a relative position type location reporting

system. In these systems, the location of the mobile working unit with respect to the

radio-port is the trigger for a position update and position reporting takes place only in the

vicinity of the pre-defined radio-port positions. If the communication system is designed so that the communication range is much shorter than the distance between the radio-port,

no position updating is possible when the mobile working unit is located between radio-

ports. Further, these types of dedicated systems are typically expensive to develop,

deploy, and manage.

In other approaches, a conventional cellular communications system may be used

to report the location of a mobile working unit in response to a particular event. For

example, certain brands of Genreal Motors cars are equipped with a Global Positioning

System satellite receiver for positioning and a cellular modem. When an accident has

occurred, or the air-bags have deployed, the cellular modem dials a service center and

reports the status (e.g., deployed air-bag), with the position acquired by the associated GPS

receiver included in the message. Burglar alarms are another example of the use of

wireless communication system. Common for these types of applications is that a

particular event triggers the communication, thus this type of reporting is referred as event

triggered. It is believed that these event triggered systems are position independent,

meaning that the triggering event is not based on the arrival, departure, or proximity to a

particular location.

In the United States, a special form of event triggered position reporting has been

proposed by the federal government. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

has mandated the support of position reporting of mobile terminals that initiate a wireless

emergency call (typically referred to as "911 " calls). The requirement is staged in phases,

with the most stringent requirement calling for positioning within one hundred twenty-five

meters, although service providers may obviously choose to provide more accurate

estimates of position if appropriate methods are developed. This position reporting requirement will be applicable to both new and existing cellular mobile terminals. This

may necessitate a network-based solution, i.e., the fixed part of the wireless

communications network has to locate the mobile terminal rather than having the mobile

terminal first locate itself and then include its position in the 911 call message. The

expected method for the network to position a mobile terminal is to perform triangulation

from several base stations of the received signal. Since the location means is in the

network, not the mobile terminals, newly developed mobile terminals may not be required

to include their own independent location determination means, although some may

optionally include such means for other reasons.

This FCC requirement represents a substantial investment on part of the service

providers and it is expected that the service providers will try to recoup at least part of 911

call location investment by selling positioning services for a variety of other purposes. For

instance, once the means to estimate the position of mobile terminals for 911 calls is in

place, the same basic technology may be used to estimate the position of a mobile terminal

that is not engaged in emergency calls. Thus, it is likely that service providers may try to

sell this service to fleet management businesses such as the ones that have been identified

above. If so, the FMS system is expected to pay a premium over the regular subscription

charge to utilize the service. Furthermore, with a network based solution the mobile has to

transmit a signal in order for the base station to make measurements. Although this can be

made transparent to the end user, such as by setting up a call without alerting the user, it

consumes valuable bandwidth that otherwise could have been used for regular calls. Thus,

in addition to cost of deploying the position estimating means in the system, the service

providers may calculate their charges for positioning based on the loss of bandwidth for regular calls. Therefore, it may not be in the interest for the service providers for mobile

terminals to be able to determine their location on their own. Whatever the arrangement, it

is expected that the charges for the call location service will be non-trivial.

In light of the above, it is clear that there remains a need for techniques and

systems that provide information about the position of mobile working units irrespective

of the relative location of the mobile working unit with pre-determined radio-ports.

Furthermore, such a position reporting system should preferably be accomplished without

the explicit cooperation by the wireless service providers so as to avoid expected

surcharges.

Summary of the Invention

The present invention provides a method of conveying position information

between a mobile working unit and a fleet management center in a fleet management

system that allows the fleet management system to essentially by-pass the service

provider's positioning service and provides a more cost efficient positioning service for the

fleet management system operator.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a fleet management

system instructs a mobile working unit at which position to transmit a report containing

the position of the mobile working unit to a fleet management center. To do so, an area of

interest may be defined by the fleet management center and communicated to the mobile

working unit. The fleet management center sends the area definition to a specific, or a

group of, mobile working units via a public wireless communications system, such as a

common terrestrial cellular or satellite-based system, and the mobile working units

automatically reports to the fleet management center over the public wireless communications system when the requirements for reporting are encountered. The

requirements of reporting may be as simple as entering or exiting the defined area, or the

requirements may have an elapsed time aspect, or some other trigger event that includes a

location dependency. Preferably, the operation of the fleet management system is

transparent to the wireless system.

The definition of an area of interest can be expressed in many different forms. For

example, a set of coordinates, hypothetically connected constitutes an area. Another

example is just a single coordinate; when the mobile working unit is sufficiently close to

the coordinate, the mobile working unit sends a report to the fleet management center. Yet

another example is a set of ordered coordinates hypothetically connected to form a

traveling route. Common to all these examples is that the reporting by the mobile working

unit is not dependent on the relative position of the mobile working unit to a base station

or that a particular event has occurred. Instead, the reporting is based on the mobile

working unit's position with respect to a defined area of interest transmitted to the mobile

working unit over the wireless system by the fleet management center.

In other embodiments, the movements of the mobile working unit may be tracked

by having the mobile working unit report to the cellular system, or to the fleet

management center, when the mobile working unit has not moved from a position by a

suitable distance within a time period. Such reporting may be useful, for instance, in

flagging stalled mobile working units, or those having particular difficulty. Further, in

still other embodiments, the mobile working unit may have a map stored in memory and

displayed for viewing by the mobile user. The user may indicate a point on the map, such

as by pointing on a touch sensitive screen, and the corresponding indicated geographical point is communicated to the fleet management center over the wireless communications

system. This type of entry and communication may be useful, for instance, in checking off

a list of locations already serviced by the user. Optionally, the current position of the

mobile working unit and/or a status report associated with the indicated point may be

included with such a message sent by the mobile working unit to the fleet management

center.

Brief Description of the Drawings

FIGURE 1 shows a conventional cellular radio communication system in which

exemplary embodiments of the present invention can be applied.

FIGURE 2 is a simplified schematic representation of one embodiment of a

mobile working unit suited for the present invention having a built-in GPS receiver.

FIGURE 3 shows several approaches to defining an area or path of interest

according to the present invention.

Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment(s)

The present invention provides a convenient method of conveying position

information to or from a mobile working unit 20 via a wireless communications system

100, primarily for purposes of fleet management. It is assumed that the mobile working

unit 20 has the capability to communicate with the wireless communications system 100,

such as a mobile employee having an associated wireless mobile terminal (e.g., a cell

phone). For ease of reference, the discussion below will use a common cellular telephone

as an example of the mobile working unit 20. However, the present invention is not so

limited, and may instead be used with any mobile wireless communications device, if

appropriately modified according to the present invention. In addition, the following description is primarily written in terms of a terrestrial cellular radiotelephone system, but

it will be understood that the invention is not necessarily limited to that environment.

More specifically, the description is written using terms which may be associated with

ANSI-136 compliant systems, but it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the

present invention may be implemented in other wireless communication environments

including those which are designed in accordance with other standards, e.g., GSM, IS-95

or PDC, as well as future access methodologies, e.g., CDMA, cdma2000, WCDMA,

GPRS.

Figure 1 is a block diagram of a mobile working unit 20 suitable for the present

invention. In particular, the disclosed embodiment of the mobile working unit 20 is a fully

functional cellular telephone, such as an ANSI-136 or IS-95 compliant cellular telephone,

capable of transmitting and receiving signals. The cellular telephone 20 includes a control

unit 22, which is typically a microcontroller-based system for controlling the operation of

the cellular telephone 20, and a memory 24 for storing control programs and data used by

the cellular telephone 20 during operation. Input/output circuits 26 interface the

microprocessor 22 with a keypad 28, a display 30, audio processing circuits 32, receiver

38, transmitter 40, and GPS receiver 50. The keypad 28 allows the operator to dial

numbers, enter commands, and select options. The display 30 allows the operator to see

dialed digits, stored information, and call status information. The audio processing

circuits 32 provide basic analog audio outputs to a speaker 34 and accept analog audio

inputs from a microphone 36. The receiver 38 and transmitter 40 receive and transmit

signals using a shared antenna 44. The GPS receiver 50 enables the mobile working unit

20 to determine its current location based on positioning signals transmitted by a GPS satellite. The GPS receiver 50 requires an antenna, which may be separate from or

integrated with the mobile working unit's antenna 44. The GPS receiver 50 could also be

configured to receive similar positioning signals from terrestrial sources.

Figure 2 illustrates a conventional cellular radio communication system 100 in

which exemplary embodiments of the present invention can be applied. The cellular

system 100 includes a plurality of base stations 110 communicating with a plurality of

mobile working units 20 within a plurality of cells using, for example, digital control

channels and digital traffic channels to communicate voice, data or other types of

information. Communications from a base station 110 to a mobile working unit 20 is

referred to as the downlink, whereas communication from a mobile working unit 20 to the

base station 110 is referred to as the uplink. The base stations 110 are in turn connected to

a mobile switching center (MSC) 120. Among other tasks, the MSC 120 coordinates the

activities of the base stations 110. The MSC 120, in turn, can be connected to a public

switched telephone network (PSTN) 130, which services various landline-connected

communication devices. Optionally, the cellular system 100 may include, or be connected

to, one or more user group management units 140 that aid in the set-up and management of

user group calls in a manner known in the art.

The cellular system 100 is used for voice and data calls in a manner well known to

those of skill in such art. The cellular system 100 typically has relatively widespread

coverage; in most developed countries, all areas with any commercial significance are

covered by at least one cellular system 100. For nationwide coverage, users may need to

use systems 100 owned by another service provider, a condition generally referred to as roaming. With the addition of roaming partners, the user may have access to nationwide coverage, at least in the more densely populated areas.

A Fleet Management System (FMS) typically includes one or more fleet

management centers 210 and a plurality of mobile working units 20 that may dispersed

throughout one or more geographical areas. The fleet management centers 210

communicate with their associated mobile working units 20 through the cellular system

100. For instance, the mobile working unit 20 may include a common cellular telephone,

a cellular modem, or the like. As an illustrative example, a FMS system for a towing

company may have each tow truck equipped with a cellular modem. The cellular modems

are regular subscribers to the cellular system 100. Depending on volume and other

marketing considerations, the FMS system may get a better rate from the cellular service

provider than other public users; however, the mobile working units 20 are essentially

regular mobile working units 20 from the perspective of the cellular system 100.

Communications within the FMS may be in a variety of forms, such as voice, data,

or Short Message Service (SMS). For positioning, either a data session or SMS is

preferred. For simplicity of discussion, a data call will be used for illustrative purposes.

Further, it will be assumed that the fleet management center 210 is connected to the

cellular system 100 via a common PSTN modem connection with a circuit switched data

call. The fleet management center 210 may then communicate with a traditional data

modem (V series) in the mobile working unit 20, using analog radio channels of the

cellular system 100. Similarly, digital radio-channels and a radio-link protocol or a packet

data service, such as CDPD and GPRS, can also be used. The fleet management center 210 may contact the cellular system 100 to send a

message to the mobile working unit 20. The cellular system 100 locates the mobile

working unit 20, typically by querying a Home Location register (HLR). The cellular

system 100 should be informed about the general whereabouts of the mobile working unit

20 on a regular basis, such as by forcing the mobile working unit 20 to register with the

cellular system 100 when traveling around in cellular system's coverage area or when

entering the area of a non-home cellular system 100. Once the general area is retrieved,

the mobile working unit 20 is paged, typically by all base stations 110 that form part of

that identified area. If the mobile working unit 20 is powered on, the cellular system 100

can now deliver the message over the particular base station 110 that received the page

response.

As mentioned above, the FMS may communicate with the mobile working unit 20

using Short Message Service (SMS). In general, SMS service typically supports small text

messages (typically about 200 octets) sent between the mobile working unit 20 and

another user through the cellular system 100. The other user in this context is the fleet

management center 210. When using SMS for communication, a SMS service center (not

shown) is typically included as part of the cellular system 100. When the fleet

management center 210 wants to send a message to a mobile working unit 20, it sends the

message to the SMS service center. The SMS message preferably contains a return

address. The mobile working unit 20, or the end-user, may now respond to the incoming

message by transmitting a SMS message to the cellular system 100. The inclusion of a

destination address, as defined in the incoming message, makes it possible for the cellular

system 100 to deliver the message to the fleet management center 210. Similarly, the set of protocols known as Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and iMode may be used

instead of SMS; see further discussion below.

It should be noted that mobile terminal registration procedures, paging, cellular

system location management, SMS message content, and managing the delivery and

receipt of SMS message is extensively described in the prior art and understood by those

of ordinary skill in such art. As such, they will not be further explained herein except to

place the present invention in context. Further, several satellite systems are now proposed

or in operation. These systems will provide similar services as the terrestrial cellular

systems, including data communications and SMS messaging. Thus, although Figure 2

illustrates a terrestrial based cellular system 100, this invention can equally well be

practiced using a satellite-based system. In fact, any wireless communication system 100

can be used to practice this invention.

Many embodiments of the present invention involve a mobile working unit 20

downlinking position information from a wireless communications system, e.g., the

cellular system 100. A geographical area is defined somewhere upstream from the mobile

working unit 20, that is at any component or components logically earlier in the downlink

communications chain than the mobile working unit 20. For instance, the fixed, or

stationary, portion of the wireless communications system (e.g., the MSC 120 and the base

stations 110) are upstream from the mobile working unit 20 when a message is being sent

to the mobile working unit 20 (i.e., downlinking). Likewise, the fleet management center

210 is upstream from the mobile working unit 20. In contrast, a computer attached to the

mobile working unit 20 and receiving the downlinked message from the wireless communications system 100 via the mobile working unit 20 would be downstream from the mobile working unit 20.

In order for the fleet management center 210 to control from where a position

report shall be transmitted by the mobile working unit 20, the defined area must be

communicated to the mobile working unit 20. There are in principle two alternatives.

First, the definition of the area(s) can be sent from the fleet management center 210 over

the cellular system 100 using the cellular system's radio channels. Secondly, the area

definition can be programmed into the mobile working unit 20, or a companion device

being able to communicate with the mobile working unit 20, by not using the wireless

system 100. For instance, the area definition may be stored in a diskette or flash memory

and entered in to a small computer that is in contact with the mobile working unit 20.

Alternatively, the area definition may be entered by means of a keypad or similar device.

Because it is desired that the driver of a vehicle not be required to physically visit the fleet

management center 210 in order to pick up a new diskette or have the mobile working unit

20 programmed in situations that require frequent change of the defined areas, the use of

the cellular system 100 for the communication of the area definition is a convenient

method.

Once the geographic area is defined, the stationary portion of the wireless

communications system 100 sends a message to the mobile working unit 20 describing the

defined geographical area to the mobile working unit 20. This message may be sent on a

broadcast channel, such as a paging channel, or the message may be sent on a traffic

channel. Thus, the message from the stationary portion of the wireless communications

system 100 to the mobile working unit 20 describing the defined geographical area (the "area message") may be broadcast or may be targeted at a particular mobile working unit

20. The mobile working unit 20 then preferably stores the area definition information in

local memory 24 and responds as described in more detail below, such as by sending the

fleet management center 210 a message when the mobile working unit 20 enters the

defined area.

In addition to the area definition, the area message from the wireless

communications system 100 to the working unit 20 may also include text describing the

defined area, various other parameters described further below, or general text related to

the defined. In addition, the wireless communications system 100 may transmit

information not necessarily related to the defined area, such as traffic information, weather

information, news from the fleet management center 210, and other text.

The definition of the geographical area may take many forms. In the simplest

example, the definition of the area comprises three or more points hypothetically

connected by straight lines to form a polygonal perimeter of the defined area. See, e.g.,

C,-C₄, C₅-C₁₂ of Fig. 3. For instance, the definition may comprise the geocoordinates

(e.g., GPS coordinates) for each of the four points at the corners of a square area, such as a

city block or a particular research campus. In this example, the area message would

contain information about the geocoordinates for the four points. In another simple

example, the geographic area may be defined by a center point and a radius about that

center point. See, e.g., C_]3, R of Fig. 3. In this example, the area message may contain

information about the geocoordinates of the center point and a value representing the

radius. In another example, the defined geographic area may be that area on the other side

of a line defined by two or more points. See, e.g., C₁₄-C₁₅ of Fig. 3. In this example, the area message would contain information about the geocoordinates for the two points and

optionally a sign value indicating which side of the line was of importance, or which direction of travel through the line was important.

Armed with the definition of the geographic area, the mobile working unit 20 may

take appropriate actions depending on its location, based either on received instructions or

on a pre-determined program local to the mobile working unit 20. In a simple example, it

may be desired for the mobile working unit 20 to transmit a message to the fleet

management center 210 when the mobile working unit 20 enters the defined area. To do

so, the mobile working unit 20 may automatically monitor its position using the associated

GPS receiver 50 or other means. The mobile working unit 20 then compares its position

to the geographic area defined in the area message, and automatically reports to the fleet

management center 210 via the cellular system 100 when the mobile working unit's

position falls within the defined area, indicating that the mobile working unit 20 has

arrived in the defined area. In order to accommodate position measurement inaccuracies,

the triggering event may instead be when the mobile working unit's position falls within a

predetermined tolerance value of the defined area. The tolerance value may be supplied by

the fleet management center 210 as part of the area message, or may be a predetermined

value stored in the mobile working unit 20. The mobile working unit 20 notifies the fleet

management center 210 that it has arrived in the defined area, such as by dialing a phone

number associated with the fleet management center 210. In some embodiments, the

mobile working unit 20 merely supplies an identification number to the fleet management

center, such as the mobile working unit's identity within the cellular system 100 (e.g.,

IMSI or ESN) or the mobile working unit's identity within the fleet management system (FMS specific identity). In other embodiments, the mobile working unit 20 supplies the

estimated position of the mobile working unit 20, with or without a time stamp. In still

further embodiments, the mobile working unit 20 may supply additional information, such

as status of equipment associated with the mobile working unit 20, the time of the

transmission of the area message to the cellular system 100, or any other type of

information. Thus, the "report" by the mobile working unit 20 to the fleet management

center 210 may be in almost any form, conveying very little information, or a great deal of

information.

In addition to reporting to the fleet management center 210, the mobile working

unit 20 may alert the user to the arrival in the defined area, such as by generating an

audible alarm, or by displaying detailed directions or a map, or by providing additional

instructions to the user.

Instead of automatically reporting to the fleet management center 210 when the

mobile working unit 20 merely enters the defined area, the mobile working unit 20 may

instead initiate a report upon the occurrence of another triggering event. For instance, the

report may be triggered when the mobile working unit 20 leaves the defined area, or

moves farther away from the defined area than some tolerance amount. In other

embodiments, the reporting by the mobile working unit 20 may be based on a combination

of location and time. For example, a report from the mobile working unit 20 may be

triggered when the distance between the mobile working unit 20 and the defined area is

increasing, as indicated by an examination of such distance over time. Or, more than a

specified amount of time in or out of the defined area may be a trigger for initiating the

report. To illustrate this, assume that a time period T has been defined, either by the fleet management center 210 or elsewhere. The value of T may be sent to the mobile working

unit 20, such as by inclusion in the area definition message or in a separate message, or

pre-programmed into the mobile working unit 20 by some other means. Thereafter, the

mobile working unit 20 may report to the fleet management center 210 when the mobile

working unit 20 arrives in the defined area within time period T, such as by sending an

"arrived" message. The mobile working unit 20 may also report to the fleet management

center 210 when the mobile working unit 20 has not reached the defined area within time

period T, such as by sending a "late" message. In some situations with such time/location

dependent approaches, it may be advisable to build in some sort of minimum repeat time

to avoid flooding the fleet management center 210 with repeat messages. For instance, if a

mobile working unit 20 has sent a "late" message, the mobile working unit 20 may wait a

certain amount of time, T_w, before sending another "late" message if the mobile working

unit 20 remains outside the defined area. The value of the time period T_w may be pre¬

defined within the mobile working unit 20, either universally or situation specific, or the

value may be set elsewhere, such as by the fleet management center 210, and

communicated to the mobile working unit 20.

As mentioned above, the mobile working unit 20 preferably includes an associated

GPS receiver 50, and this GPS receiver 50 is preferably used to estimate the location of the

mobile working unit 20. It should be noted that the GPS receiver 50 may be used in the

traditional direct manner, or a differential GPS approach may be used. However, other

positioning means may also be used. For example, the wireless communications system

100 may monitor the location of the mobile working unit 20 by triangulation, or any other

known method, and the wireless communications system 100 may then inform the mobile working unit 20 of its estimated location. In other embodiments, the mobile working unit

20 may use its communication and control electronics to monitor signals received from

one or more base stations and calculate its relative position, also using triangulation or like

techniques, assuming that the relevant base stations are transmitting their positions.

In other embodiments of the present invention, the movements of the mobile

working unit 20 may be tracked by having the mobile working unit 20 report to the

cellular system 100, or to the fleet management center 210, when the mobile working unit

20 has not moved from a position P by a distance D within a time period T. Each of the

values, P, D, T may be defined upstream from the mobile working unit 20, and

downlinked by the mobile working unit 20 in one or more messages, or may be supplied to

the mobile working unit 20 via some means other than the cellular system 100. For

instance, D and T may be defined by the fleet management center 210 and transmitted to

the mobile working unit 20 by the cellular system 100, while P is simply the position of

the mobile working unit 20 when that message is received. Alternatively, the values of D

and T may be supplied to the mobile working unit 20 via other means, such pre¬

programmed into the mobile working unit 20, and the value P may be sent from the fleet

management center 210 to the mobile working unit 20. Regardless, the mobile working

unit 20 generates a report when the mobile working unit 20 has not moved sufficiently far

away from position P within the allotted time T.

In still other embodiments, the wireless communications system 100 may be used

to convey position information from the mobile working unit 20 to the fleet management

center 210. For instance, the mobile working unit 20 may have a map stored in memory

24, or stored in some other storage means, such as a companion CD-ROM device, a companion computer, an associated flash memory storage device, or the like. The map is

displayed on the display 30 for viewing by the mobile user. The user indicates a point on

the map, such as by pointing on a touch sensitive screen, and the corresponding indicated

geographical point is noted by the mobile working unit 20. Of course, other approaches

could also be used for indicating the selected point, such as by moving a cursor, entering a

corresponding reference number on the keypad 28, speaking the name associated with the

point, or any other selection/entry approach known in the art. The mobile working unit 20

then transmits a message over the wireless system 100 to the fleet management center 210;

that message including the point indicated by the user. This type of entry and

communication may be useful, for instance, in checking off a list of locations already

serviced by the user. Optionally, the current position of the mobile working unit 20 and/or

a status report associated with the indicated point, with or without a time-stamp, may be

included with such a message sent by the mobile working unit 20 to the fleet management

center 210.

In addition to defining the area of interest in terms of a perimeter polygon, a center

point and a radius, or a pair of points, the present invention may define the area of interest

as an ordered set of coordinates, hypothetically connected to form a traveling route. For

illustration, assume an ordered set of coordinates P₀, P„ ... P P_J+1, ... P_n, having at least

two coordinates and representing a traveling path. See, e.g., PrP₇ of Fig. 3. This set of

coordinates may be chosen by the fleet management center 210 and sent to the mobile

working unit 20 to define the expected path of the mobile working unit 20. When the

mobile working unit 20 departs from one coordinate P_; and moves toward P_J+I, the mobile

working unit 20 reports to the fleet management center 210 with a "going forward" message. The mobile working unit 20 could alternatively send a "off track" message it the

mobile working unit 20 departs from P. and is currently farther away from P. than the

distance between V_} and P_J+], optionally plus a tolerance amount to accommodate actual

street paths, etc. Similarly as to described above, the mobile working unit 20 may be

considered as departing from point P. when its estimated position is different than that of

P_j. Alternatively, the may be some tolerance amount D_j associated with P_j and the mobile

working unit 20 is considered as departing P_j when its estimated position is farther away

from P_j than amount D_r Also, similarly as to described above, the tolerance amounts D₀,

D,, ... D D_J+1, ... D_n may be sent to the mobile working unit 20 by the fleet management

center 210 or may be pre-programmed into the mobile working unit 20 in another fashion.

Likewise, each point P_j may have a corresponding time period T, within which the mobile

working unit 20 must either reach the point or leave the point, failure to do so causing the

mobile working unit 20 to report to the fleet management center 210.

In some embodiments, the mobile working units 20 may belong to a User Group

and the fleet management center 210 may use User Group functionality as a convenient

way to contact the mobile working units 20. A members of a User Group may be accessed

through the user group address rather than having to address each member separately.

This type of user group functionality is supported by many of the current wireless

communications systems, see e.g., ANSI-136. Each wireless system 100 has its unique

support and procedures for the use of User Group addresses and the FMS would need to be

tailored in accordance with the particular wireless system used. In addition, text

information may be transmitted during voice calls from the fleet management center 210

to the mobile working units 20 forming the relevant user group; see U.S. Patent Application serial number 09/192,185, entitled "User Group Indication and Status Change

in Radiocommunications Systems," which is incoφorated herein by reference.

A particular mobile working unit may, in addition to the mandatory addresses

required by the wireless communications system 100, also support multiple addresses

unique to the FMS system. For example, a particular person may be assigned a FMS

specific address. The FMS system may not know where a particular person (as opposed to

a mobile working unit 20) is located with respect to multiple mobile working units 20.

The FMS system may then send a message to the multiple mobile working units 20, using

the addresses assigned to the mobile working units 20 by the wireless communications

system 100 and including the person specific address. The person may have logged-on to

a mobile working unit 20, and that mobile working unit 20 may then respond by

acknowledging the logged-in status of that person. A similar situation may arise when

several people are actively associated with a single mobile working unit 20. Furthermore,

a particular person may be assigned multiple FMS specific addresses if, for example, the

person is required to perform multiple work functions.

The area message transmissions to the mobile working unit 20 and the reports from

the mobile working unit 20 to the fleet management center 210 are handled according to

the established protocols of the wireless system 100. The wireless system 100 may or may

not understand the contents of these messages. For instance, the messages may be

according to an explicit protocol defined by the service provider that sets forth various

information elements. The protocol would typically be described in the standard in which

all other signaling is described, e.g., handoff messages, paging messages, etc. Each

element of interest, such as coordinate 1, coordinate 2, a time stamp, etc., would be described in the wireless standard. Armed with this knowledge, the wireless system 100,

and thus the service provider, can interpret content and "know" when area messages and/or

position reports are being sent. On the other hand, when the FMS system is using end-to-

end signaling, transparent to the wireless system 100, this is referred as an in-band

protocol. For example, if SMS is used, the service provider is not able to interpret the

content of the message. In the text part of the message (when addressing etc. is remoted

at the destination), an escape code could be used to trigger receivers programmed to

understand the escape code to interpret the remaining content as instructions part of an

end-to-end protocol. The FMS operator can define this protocol without any coordination

with the service provider. SMS is developed to support text messages; any sequence of

text that would be highly unlikely being present in a normal use of SMS can serve as the

escape code. For example, the sequence of BaNaNa=ReD could trigger the receiver to

enable the in-band protocol to compose or interpret messages defining positions,

coordinates, sub-addresses, time stamps, etc. To the wireless system 100 this protocol

would appear similarly constructed as a "regular" SMS message otherwise supported by

the wireless system 100. A second escape code such as BaNaNa=bLuE can serve to

disable the in-band protocol. Note, this form of in-band signaling allows mixing of normal

text that may be displayed on a display and control information that typically would not be

displayed.

Recent developments in the cellular industry are aimed at making the internet

available to small screen mobile devices. A network server extracts information from

regular, or optionally mobile specific, web pages, packages the information in an efficient

way to address the relatively low bandwidth of cellular data services. Mobile terminals receive the web data and presents it on a display. The set of protocols developed to this

end is known as Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and iMode (in Japan only). The

fleet management center and its associated mobile working units can use the WAP

protocol, with appropriate extensions, to communicate end-to-end without the need to

involve any positioning server owned by the service provider. Thus, the future WAP

protocol may allow applications to be built to address the needs of an fleet management

service operator without any bastardization of the SMS protocol (i.e., using escape codes).

As can be seen from the above, the lack of an explicit protocol does not hinder a

FMS operator to develop a positioning service. If an explicit protocol is used, the service

provider has the ability to charge such a message differently, and more likely more than a

SMS message. The use of in-band end-to-end protocol may prevent the service provider

from performing price differentiation, thereby potentially lowering cost to the FMS

operator.

The present invention may, of course, be carried out in other specific ways than

those herein set forth without departing from the spirit and essential characteristics of the

invention. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all respects as

illustrative and not restrictive, and all changes coming within the meaning and equivalency

range of the appended claims are intended to be embraced therein.

Claims

ClaimsWhat is Claimed is:

1. A method of transmitting position information from a wireless communications

system having a stationary portion to a wireless communications mobile terminal, said

method comprising:

a) defining a geographical area upstream from said mobile terminal;

b) thereafter, sending a message containing position information

describing said defined area from said stationary portion to said mobile

terminal.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said area is defined by a center point and a

radius.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said sending a message containing position

information describing said defined area includes addressing said message to said mobile

terminal only.

4. The method of claim 2 further including establishing a user group including

said mobile terminal and wherein said sending a message containing position information

describing said defined area includes addressing said message to said user group.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein said sending a message containing position

information describing said defined area includes sending said message on a paging

channel.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein said sending a message containing position

information describing said defined area includes sending said message on a broadcast

channel.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein said area is defined by at least three points.

8. A method of downlinking position information from a wireless

communications system having a stationary portion to a wireless communications mobile

terminal comprising sending a message containing position information describing a first

geographical point from said stationary portion to said mobile terminal.

9. The method of claim 8 further including defining a second and third

geographical points upstream from said mobile terminal, and wherein:

a) said position information in said message includes said second and

third points; and

b) said first point is defined as the intersection of the path traveled by said

mobile terminal subsequent to said message and a line defined by said

second and third point.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein said position information defines a single

coordinate point.

11. A method of tracking a wireless communications mobile terminal using a

wireless communications system having a stationary portion, said method comprising:

a) defining a set of ordered coordinates, P₀, P„ ... P_j, P_j+1, ... P_n, having at

least two coordinates upstream from said mobile terminal; b) thereafter, sending a first message containing position information

describing said set from said stationary portion to said mobile terminal;

c) sending a second message from said mobile terminal to said wireless

communications system based on a position of said mobile terminal and

the contents of said first message.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein said sending a second message from said

mobile terminal to said wireless communications system based on a position of said

mobile terminal and the contents of said first message includes sending said second

message from said mobile terminal to said wireless communications system if said mobile

terminal departs from a first coordinate (P^ and moves closer to the next coordinate (P_J+1).

13. The method of claim 11 wherein said sending a second message from said

terminal departs from a first coordinate (P_j) and the mobile terminal's current position is

farther away from P, than the distance between P. and P_J+1 plus a tolerance amount.

14. The method of claim 13 further including sending said tolerance amount from

said stationary portion to said mobile terminal.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein said first message includes said tolerance

amount.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein said sending a second message from said

message from said mobile terminal to said wireless communicaitons system if both:

a) said mobile terminal's current position if farther away from P, than

tolerance amount D_j; and

b) said mobile terminal's current position is farther away from P_J+I than the

distance between P, and P_J+I plus a tolerance amount D_J+1.

17. The method of claim 16 further including sending at least one of said

tolerance amounts from said stationary portion to said mobile terminal.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein said first message includes said at least one

tolerance amount.

19. The method of claim 17 further including sending sending both said tolerance

amount D, and said tolerance amount D_J+1 from said stationary portion to said mobile

terminal.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein said first message includes both said

tolerance amount D, and said tolerance amount D_J+].

21. The method of claim 16 further including programming said tolerance

amounts into said mobile terminal prior to said sending a first message containing position

information describing said set from said stationary portion to said mobile terminal.

22. The method of claim 11 wherein said sending a second message from said

message from said mobile terminal to said wireless communcations system if said mobile

terminal fails to reach within a predetermined tolerance amount D_J+) of point P_J+1 within a

predetermined time T_J+1.

23. The method of claim 22 further including sending said tolerance amount D,₊₁

and said time T_J+1 from said stationary portion to said mobile terminal prior to said sending

a second message from said mobile terminal to said wireless communications system

based on a position of said mobile terminal and the contents of said first message.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein said first message includes said tolerance

amount D_J+] and said time T_J+1.

25. The method of claim 11 wherein said sending a second message from said

terminal departs from P_; and said mobile terminal fails to reach within a predetermined

tolerance amount D_J+1 of point P_J+1 within a predetermined time T_J+1 from the time said

mobile terminal departs from P_r

26. The method of claim 25 further including sending said tolerance amount D_J+1

27. The method of claim 25 wherein said first message includes said tolerance

amount Dj+1 and said time T_J+1.

28. A method of controlling a wireless communications mobile terminal operating

in a wireless communications system, said wireless communications system having a

stationary portion, comprising: a) defining a first geographical point upstream from said mobile terminal;

b) thereafter, sending a first message containing position information

describing said first point from said stationary portion to said mobile

terminal; c) thereafter, triggering an action by said mobile terminal based on said

first message and a position of said mobile terminal.

29. The method of claim 28 further including defining second and third geographical points upstream from said mobile terminal, and wherein:

a) said position information in said first message describes said second

and third points;

b) said first point is defined as the intersection of the path traveled by said

mobile terminal subsequent to said sending a first message containing

position information describing said first point from said stations

portion to said mobile terminal and a line defined by said second and third point.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein said triggering an action by said mobile

terminal based on said first message and a position of said mobile terminal is based on the

spatial relationship of said mobile terminal and said intersection.

31. The method of claim 30 further including determining said position of said

mobile terminal through satellite signals.

32. The method of claim 30 further including said stationary portion determining

the position of said mobile terminal and sending said position from said stationary portion

to said mobile terminal.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein said first message includes said mobile

terminal position.

34. The method of claim 28 wherein said triggering an action by said mobile

spatial relationship of said mobile terminal and said first point.

35. The method of claim 34 wherein said triggering an action by said mobile

terminal based on said first message and a position of said mobile terminal includes

sending a second message from said mobile terminal to said wireless communications

system.

36. The method of claim 35 triggering an action by said mobile terminal based on

said first message and a position of said mobile terminal includes said mobile terminal

activating an alarm routine.

37. The method of claim 28 wherein said triggering an action by said mobile

examining the trend of distance between said mobile terminal's position and said first point

and triggering said action when said trend changes from decreasing to increasing.

38. The method of claim 37 wherein said triggering an action by said mobile

terminal based on said first message and a position of said mobile terminal includes said

mobile terminal activating an alarm routine.

39. A method of tracking the position of a wireless communications mobile

terminal using a wireless communications system having a stationary portion, comprising:

a) defining a geographical area upstream from said mobile terminal;

b) thereafter, sending a first message containing position information

describing said defined area from said stationary portion to said mobile

terminal; c) sending a second message from said mobile terminal to said wireless

communications system when arriving within said defined area.

40. The method of claim 39 wherein said area is defined by a center point and a

radius.

41. The method of claim 39 wherein said area is defined by at least three points.

42. The method of claim 39 wherein said second message includes position

information indicating a position of said mobile terminal.

43. The method of claim 42 further including determining said position of said

mobile terminal through satellite signals.

44. The method of claim 39 wherein said second message includes position and

time information indicating the position and time of said mobile terminal sending said

second message.

45. A method of tracking a position of a wireless communications mobile terminal

using a wireless communications system having a stationary portion, comprising:

a) defining a geographical area at the wireless communications system;

b) sending position information describing said defined area from said

stationary portion to said mobile terminal;

c) thereafter, reporting by said mobile terminal to said wireless

communications system when said mobile terminal arrives within said

defined area.

46. A method of tracking the position of a wireless communications mobile

a) defininga geographical area at the wireless communications system; b) sending position information describing said defined area from said stationary portion to said mobile terminal;

c) thereafter, reporting by said mobile terminal to said wireless

communications system when said mobile terminal exits said defined

area.

47. A method of tracking a position of a wireless communications mobile terminal

using a wireless communications system having a stationary portion, comprising:

a) defininga geographical area at the wireless communications system;

b) sending position information describing said defined area from said

stationary portion to said mobile terminal;

c) thereafter, activating an alarm by said mobile terminal when said

mobile terminal arrives within said defined area.

48. A method for a fleet management system to monitor the position of at least

one member of a fleet, comprising:

a) assigning a mobile terminal to said at least one member;

b) specifying a geographic area by said fleet management system;

c) sending, via a wireless communications channel, a message from said

fleet management system to said mobile terminal including an

indication of said geographic area and instructing said mobile terminal

to report to said fleet management system when said mobile terminal

enters said geographic area.

49. A method of tracking the position of a wireless communications mobile

terminal using a wireless communications system having a stationary portion, comprising: a) defining a geographical area upstream from said mobile terminal;

b) thereafter, sending a first message containing position information

describing said defined area from said stationary portion to said mobile

terminal;

c) sending a second message from said mobile terminal to said wireless

communications system if said mobile terminal arrives within said

defined area within a predetermined time period T;

d) sending a third message from said mobile terminal to said wireless

communications system if said mobile terminal fails to arrive within

said defined area within said predetermined time period T.

50. The method of claim 49 futher including setting said predetermined time

period T by said wireless communications system and transmitting T from said stationary

portion to said mobile terminal over a wireless communications channel.

51. The method of claim 50 wherein said first message includes T.

52. The method of claim 50 further including transmiting a fourth message,

distinct from said first message, including T from said stationary portion to said mobile

terminal.

53. The method of claim 49 further including providing T to said mobile terminal

separate from said wireless communications system.

54. The method of claim 49 further including storing T in said mobile terminal

prior to said sending a first message containing position information describing said

defined area from said stationary portion to said mobile terminal.

55. A method of tracking the movement of a wireless communications mobile

a) reporting by said mobile terminal to said wireless communications

system by sending a first message from said mobile terminal to said

wireless communications system via a wireless communications

channel if said mobile terminal fails to move from position P by a

distance D within time period T.

56. The method of claim 55 further including defining T and D by said stationary

portion and transmitting T and D from said stationary portion to said mobile terminal over

a wireless communications channel.

57. The method of claim 55 further including defining T by said stationary

portion and transmitting T from said stationary portion to said mobile terminal over a

wireless communications channel.

58. The method of claim 55 further including providing T to said mobile terminal

separate from said wireless communications system.

59. The method of claim 55 further including providing T and D to said mobile

terminal separate from said wireless communications system.

60. A method of tracking the movement of a wireless communications mobile

a) reporting by said mobile terminal to said wireless communications

system by sending a first message from said mobile terminal to said

wireless communications system via a wireless communications

channel if said mobile terminal moves off a specified route.

61. The method of claim 60 further including said stationary portion defining said

route and said stationary portion transmitting said route to said mobile terminal over a

wireless communications channel.

62. The method of claim 60 wherein said route is provided to said mobile

terminal separate from said wireless communications system.

63. A wireless communications position reporting device, comprising:

a) storage means for storing a map;

b) a display capable of displaying at least a portion of said map;

c) input means for receiving a user's indication of a point on said map

when said map is displayed on said display so as to define an indicated

geographic point;

d) a mobile station in communication with said input means, said mobile

station transmitting a first message over a wireless communications

channel to a wireless communications system, said first message

including said indicated point.

64. The device of claim 63 wherein said display is touch-sensitive.

65. The device of claim 63 wherein said first message includes an position

estimate of the current position of said mobile terminal.

66. The device of claim 65 wherein said first message includes a time-stamp.

67. The device of claim 65 wherein said first message includes a status report

associated with said indicated point.