GB2303452A

GB2303452A - Tachograph chart

Info

Publication number: GB2303452A
Application number: GB9614611A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Dietmar Straub; Nicholas John Rendell
Original assignee: VDO Kienzle GmbH; KIENZLE LUCAS INSTR Ltd
Current assignee: VDO Kienzle GmbH; KIENZLE LUCAS INSTR Ltd
Priority date: 1995-07-15
Filing date: 1996-07-11
Publication date: 1997-02-19
Anticipated expiration: 2016-07-11
Also published as: GB9614611D0; GB2303452B

Description

TACHOGRAPH CHART The present invention relates to a tachograph chart. Tachograph charts are data carriers used in tachographs fitted, for example, to commercial vehicles, and which record the relevant data relating to the vehicle including, for example, destination data vehicle identification data, starting time data, odometer data, driver identification data, etc. This latter data is typically stored in an appropriately designed centre field of the tachograph disc. Furthermore, data relating to the hours spent driving, the hours at rest and journey distance data are recorded in outer or circumferential areas of the disc-shaped tachograph chart.

Such a disc-shaped tachograph chart is, for example. described in GB 2,162.640.

It is common practice with such tachographs for the centre field data to be entered manually by the operator, i.e. in his handwriting. This is often not easily legible, as it might, for example, be entered under unsuitable conditions. Such handwritten entries are, under these circumstances, hardly readable visually by people evaluating the data and cannot be read by automatic scanning systems commonly used for evaluation of such data.

The object of the invention is thus to provide a disc-shaped tachograph chart which helps to overcome these limitations.

In accordance with the first aspect of the present invention there is provided a tachograph chart having, in a machine readable and a visually readable form, both indicia identifying the day within a predetermined period upon which it is intended that the chart should be used, and identification indicia unique to the associated driver or vehicle.

It will be recognised that the data analysed from tachograph charts is supplied back to the driver, or in the case of a fleet, to the fleet manager. A substantial proportion of a driver's journeys in the United Kingdom start and finish at a vehicle's usual base. The proportion may be as high as 80-90% in the United Kingdom and. in these cases, it is a waste of manual effort for the start and finish locations to be entered in relation to each tachograph chart, since these locations are known to the recipient of the analysis.

Preferably, therefore, the tachograph chart has machine readable regions which, if unaltered by the driver, are representative of starting and finishing at the usual home base, and which can be altered by the driver to indicate a start, or a finish somewhere other than the home base, the alteration being machine readable so that, if necessary, the data analysis software can request a manual input of the alternative start andlor finish location.

Similarly, the driver is normally associated with a single vehicle and, thus.

where there is driver identification on the chart, this may also serve to identify the vehicle. Preferably, the chart includes a machine readable region which if unaltered by the driver, is representative of the driver using his regular vehicle but which can be altered to indicate use of a different vehicle so that, if necessary, the data analysis software can request a manual input of the vehicle identification.

Conventionally, a vehicle operator will have a stock of identical tachograph charts for distribution as necessary to the drivers in his vehicle fleet, each driver completing the necessary information on the chart which identifies the driver, the vehicle, the date, the route and the vehicle's odometer readings, and it is an object of the present invention to provide packs of tachograph charts in a more convenient form.

In accordance with the second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a pack of tachograph charts for use in conjunction with a particular driver or a particular vehicle for a predetermined period of days, each chart in the pack bearing in a machine readable form and a visually readable form, indicia identifying the chart as part of a predetermined pack, there being within the pack a chart for each day of the predetermined period, and, each chart bearing in a machine readable form and a visually readable form indicia identifying the day within said period upon which it is intended that the chart should be utilised.

Preferably, said predetermined period is a year, and said charts are arranged within the pack, in batches identifying consecutive months and within each batch charts are arranged consecutively in relation to the days of the month.

Preferably, the pack also includes a plurality of spare charts which do not carry indicia identifying the day of use.

Desirably, the pack includes a storage box divided internally into at least 12 compartments for receiving batches of charts, the compartments being identified consecutively in relation to the 12 months of the year.

Conveniently, a 13th compartment is provided as a storage area for spare charts.

Preferably, each one year pack comprises 400 charts consisting of 31 consecutively identified charts for each of 12 consecutively identified months, and 28 spare charts.

It will be recognised that where a batch of charts within a pack contains more charts than there are days in that month, then any spare charts can be discarded.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 shows a plan view of a first embodiment of a disc-shaped tachograph chart according to the present invention, Figure 2 shows a plan view of a second embodiment of a disc-shaped tachograph chart according to the present invention, Figure 3 shows a plan view of a disc-shaped tachograph chart constituting a typical example of the prior art, and Figure 4 is a diagrammatic perspective view of a tachograph disc pack in accordance with a second aspect of the invention.

Referring first to Figure 3, there is shown a typical disc-shaped tachograph chart 1 according to the prior art. Chart 1 has a non-circular, centrally disposed aperture 3a which enables the disc to be driven by a correspondingly shaped spindle relative to a stylus or styli. The surface of the disc is such that it can be scribed by the stylus to leave dark traces against a light background, although the stylus may be replaced by a pen which draws a chart rather than scribing through a surface finish. In an outer or circumferential area 2 real-time data, for example referring to the journey time, times of stoppage or movement, speed etc., are continuously recorded. This area of the tachograph chart is not the subject of the present invention and shall therefore, not be discussed further.

Data referring to the driver, the destination, the start and finish dates, the start and finish odometer readings and the vehicle identification are entered in the centre area 3. As can be seen from Figure 1, these entries are typically performed by hand and during subsequently analysis of the chart, must be keyed manually into the computer or hand-written onto the computer produced analysis. This data is not machine readable.

Figure 1 shows a disc-shaped tachograph chart according to a first embodiment of the present invention. Here, the centre area 3 is provided in such a way that centre area data can be entered in a simple and easily readable fashion, so that the entered data are not prone to be unreadable for a person or a scanning device during evaluation of the recorded data.

As most journeys of commercial vehicles are to and from the vehicle base, most companies merely need to record whether the vehicle was operating to or from base, the actual destination being irrelevant. By changing the block colour spot on the start and finish symbols as used in the prior art, (see reference numeral 4a in Figure 3) to a hollow circle, the driver simply has to mark out the centre of the spot to indicate if he is starting from or finishing at a point other than the base. (Compare reference numeral 4 in Figure 1). If the centre of the circle is marked in, a software system connected to the tachograph disc could prompt the operator to read the manually entered information at 4 as to the start and/or finishing point.Alternatively, it may only be necessary for the fleet manager to know that the start or finish was other than the home base, in which case completion of one of the circles 4 will simply cause the subsequent computer analysis to show that the start or finish was other than the home base.

The driver identification is designated by reference numeral 5. In the first embodiment, the driver is determined or identified by an alpha-numeric and an optical representation. By thus providing the disc with pre-applied driver identification means, the driver need no longer enter his name or some other identification manually, but instead always uses pre-printed charts bearing his code. The driver's code is printed on the disc in both manually readable form Sa and machine readable form Sb.

As an example, the machine readable form is a bar code but other machine readable representations can be employed.

Furthermore, in case the driver is not using his usual vehicle, this can, for example, be specified by filling in the centre of the "0" in 'NO", designated as reference numeral 6 in Figure 1. In a similar manner to the driver identification sign, the vehicle identification could be provided optically and alpha-numerically.

Furthermore, as a precaution in case of the driver using another vehicle, he could enter the vehicle identification by hand.

In a similar fashion, the charts are pre-dated (see reference numeral 7). This information is also both manually and machine readable having a machine readable code (e.g. a bar code 7a) and a visually readable form 7b.

In the example illustrated in figure 1 the visually readable date code 7b and the machine readable code 7a gives a day and month identification, but not a year identification, since discs one year apart are unlikely to be in use at the same time and thus the likelihood of two discs having the same day and date for the same driver, becoming confused is negligible. It is to be recognised, of course, that, if desired. the day identification could simply be the number which that day occupies within a predetermined time span, for example, day 210 of 365 would indicate the disc to be used on the 210th day of a one year usage period, the start of which could be on any day of the calendar year. Generally, however, it is thought more convenient to provide day and month identification.

During scanning and computer analysis of a tachograph chart in accordance with Figure 1, both the driver identification and the day of use of the chart can be read by the scanner, and handled by the computer so as to be incorporated in the analysis.

Furthermore, the software which analyses the data extracted from the chart can easily be arranged to determine whether the traces on the appropriate region 12, 13 or 14 spans midnight, and it if does, then the software can note in the analysis that the journey finished on the day following the day of the chart being analysed.

It is especially advantageous to provide a driver, for example, with one disc for every day of the year. Each disc could carry specific driver identification data, vehicle specification data and a specific date. Thus, according to the day of the year, the driver would use the corresponding tachograph chart. The charts could be stored in boxes, and arranged in date order. The software would read the optical characters for the date while the driver would read the conventional numbers. To determine the finish date, the software would add the journey time in order to decide if the journey went over midnight or not.

The software can also calculate the odometer reading from the tachograph chart distance trace. Inevitably, the distance trace and the odometer reading displayed on the tachograph are not a perfect match. To overcome this, a manual reading could be entered at certain intervals to maintain a higher level of accuracy.

Each driver of a vehicle fleet managed by a software system would, for example, be allocated to a normal and a default vehicle. The software would assume that the driver was driving his usual vehicle unless the centre of the "O" of 'NO" was marked in, in which case the software would give the operator the option of amending the vehicle registration number. Obviously, the marking of the centre space "0" or any other suitable area might be assigned to any other desired meaning.

Figure 2 shows a further embodiment of the tachograph chart according to the present invention. On the disc, there are provided marking elements 10 consisting of segments 11. These elements are provided with a weak contrast compared to the background of the disc. By forming a contrast, i.e. by filling in, individual segments of the marking elements, data can be entered onto the tachograph chart. For example, a driver might enter his name or any other form of identification by filling in certain segments in a predefined fashion. The driver enters all necessary information by filling in individual segments or areas of the marking elements, and not by writing them by hand, whereby the entered information is easily readable.

In Figure 2, each individual member of the marking elements by way of example consists of seven segments. For the representation of alpha-numeric information, elements with sixteen segments are advantageous. Further types of marking elements according to the invention are also conceivable. However, a common feature of all variations is that their special arrangement on the chart is predetermined, preferably by a pre-print in the centre field of the tachograph chart.

The marking elements are provided with information content in that the driver marks certain areas of the marking elements, i.e. the segments, whereby an optical change over the original appearance is achieved. This can be achieved by the driver or any other person marking the segments, for example, with a pen or a pencil. The segments can, however, also be provided in such a way that they automatically change colour when subjected to mechanical pressure or any other suitable outside influence, thereby changing their colour or contrast.

It will be recognised that each chart of the kind illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 have a unique day of usage identification within a predetermined time span. In order to facilitate usage of such charts, and their more secure handling, a pack of the kind illustrated in Figure 4 is proposed. The Figure 4 pack is intended to provide discs for one driver for one complete year, and consists of a box 31 divided internally into thirteen compartments labelled respectively, by means of staggered index tabs 32, for each of the months of the year consecutively, with the thirteenth compartment labelled to indicate that it is an area for storage of spare charts.

It will be recognised that the first twelve compartments may be identified by a month number, or by a month name. Where the compartments are identified by a month name, then that compartment can receive a batch of charts numbered consecutively with the days of that month with the February compartment containing twenty nine charts to accommodate leap years. In years other than leap years, the twenty ninth chart from February will be unused. However, for convenience, and for those situations where the monthly compartments are simply indicated by a month number, so that the pack can conveniently be brought into use at the beginning of any month in the year, then the batch of charts for each compartment will consist of thirty one consecutively identified charts.Unused charts in any month will simply be discarded, it being believed that the cost of such unused charts is less than the cost of printing and sorting charts into specific monthly groupings. Conveniently, there will also be twenty eight spare charts stored in the thirteenth compartment, together with fifty two envelopes, each capable of housing seven charts. The box may also have provision for a pen, ink and/or replacement tachograph styli. The twenty eight spare charts are intended to permit replacement of charts which may be damaged, or to cover situations where the driver drives two different vehicles during the day, and thus needs two charts for a single day. For this reason, the spare charts although carrying the driver identification, will not carry a machine readable day identification code.Instead, they may carry a code which, after scanning, causes the software to prompt the operator to key in an appropriate date.

The exterior of the box 31 will carry the driver identification code in both machine readable form and in manually readable form, and will have an area where the driver's name, his company, and his base address can be entered for future visual reference purposes. If desired, the thirteenth compartment could be dispensed with, a stock of spare charts being held at the driver's depot.

It will be recognised that packs can be produced for different time periods and with different divisions. For example, it would be possible to produce a quarterly pack divided by weeks, each week being identified by a consecutive number within the quarter.

A fleet manager could be supplied with a plurality of packs each bearing a different driver code and the manager could then allocate the codes to particular drivers, if appropriate supplying this information to the chart analysis database so that the analysis of charts carries the drivers names.

It is possible that there will be no hard copy of the data analysis and instead records and analysis will be viewed on screen; references to hard copy are to be construed accordingly.

In all of the above examples, it is assumed that the machine readable codes and the manually readable equivalent information will be separate from one another, although physically adjacent. It is to be understood that where a suitable machine and manually readable code or character set exists, then this may be used in place of the separate machine readable code and manually readable equivalent described above.

The readability of tachograph charts according to the present invention is enhanced for an evaluation by a person (i.e. an optical evaluation), and also for an automatic evaluation, as the influence of characteristics of the handwriting of the driver or any other person are eliminated. With a scanner, the entries can be easily read and evaluated by suitable processing means.

The information recorded in the above specified way can relate to any relevant data, for example, the driver identification data, the vehicle identification data, the destination data, the odometer reading data, etc.

Claims

CLAIMS: -

1. Disc-shaped tachograph chart for a commercial vehicle suitable for carrying data to be entered before and/or after a journey and data to be recorded during the journey, wherein data recorded before and after the journey is readable by an automatic scanning system as well as by an operator.

2. Tachograph chart according to claim 1 wherein predefined marking elements are provided and the entering of data is performable by marking these marking elements.

3. Tachograph chart according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the marking elements are pre-printed on the tachograph chart.

4. Tachograph chart according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the data comprises one or more of the following data: (a) driver identification data (b) destination data (c) starting time data (d) initial odometer data (e) vehicle identification data

5. Tachograph chart according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the marking elements are provided in the centre area of the tachograph chart.

6. Tachograph chart according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the marking elements consist of a plurality of segments.

7. Tachograph chart according to claim 6 wherein the marking elements consist of segments which can be combined to form alpha-numerical symbols.

8. Tachograph chart according to any one of claims 3 to 7 wherein the marking of individual marking elements is achieved by changing the optical appearance of the segments of the marking elements relative to their surroundings.

9. Tachograph chart according to any one of claims 3 to 8 wherein during the marking the contrast of segment areas of the marking elements is enhanced as compared to their original appearance and as compared to the appearance of surroundings.

10. Tachograph chart according to any one of claims 3 to 9 wherein the contrast formation of individual segments of the marking elements is achieved by colouring applicable from the outside.

11. Tachograph chart according to any one of claims 3 to 10 wherein the contrast formation of the individual segments of the marking elements is achieved by a changing of their colour by means of external mechanical pressure.

12. Tachograph chart according to any one of claims 2 to 11 wherein a multitude of marking elements are provided, so that the representation of complex information as well as complete data words is possible.

13. Tachograph chart according to any one of the preceding claims comprising the following data: (a) driver identification data (b) destination data (c) starting time data (d) initial odometer data (e) vehicle identification data wherein this data is arranged in the centre area of the disc, and wherein this data, together with subsequently recorded journey time data and chart distance trace data are readable by a computer-controlled scanning system and by an operator, the data read by the scanning system being processable by processing means, the finish time being calculable on the basis of the starting time data and the subsequently recorded journey time data, and the final odometer reading being calculable on the basis of the initial odometer reading and the chart distance trace data subsequently recorded.

14. A pack of tachograph charts for use in conjunction with a particular driver or a particular vehicle for a predetermined period of days, each chart in the pack bearing in a machine readable form and a visually readable form indicia identifying the chart as part of a predetermined pack, there being within the pack a chart for each day of the predetermined period, and each chart bearing in a machine readable form and a visually readable form indicia identifying the day within said period upon which it is intended that the chart should be utilised.

15. A pack according to claim 14 wherein said predetermined period is a year, and said charts are arranged within the pack in batches identifying consecutive months, and within each batch charts are arranged consecutively in relation to the days of the month.