WO2003061248A2 - Robust wireless communications system architecture and asset management application performed thereon - Google Patents
Robust wireless communications system architecture and asset management application performed thereon Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- WO2003061248A2 WO2003061248A2 PCT/US2003/000690 US0300690W WO03061248A2 WO 2003061248 A2 WO2003061248 A2 WO 2003061248A2 US 0300690 W US0300690 W US 0300690W WO 03061248 A2 WO03061248 A2 WO 03061248A2
- Authority
- WO
- WIPO (PCT)
- Prior art keywords
- asset
- data
- dataset
- mobile
- wireless
- Prior art date
Links
Classifications
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
- H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
- H04L67/01—Protocols
- H04L67/12—Protocols specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
- H04L67/125—Protocols specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks involving control of end-device applications over a network
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
- G06Q10/06—Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
- G06Q10/06—Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
- G06Q10/063—Operations research, analysis or management
- G06Q10/0631—Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
- G06Q10/06312—Adjustment or analysis of established resource schedule, e.g. resource or task levelling, or dynamic rescheduling
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
- G06Q10/08—Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
- G06Q10/087—Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G06Q20/00—Payment architectures, schemes or protocols
- G06Q20/08—Payment architectures
- G06Q20/20—Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
- G06Q20/203—Inventory monitoring
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G07—CHECKING-DEVICES
- G07B—TICKET-ISSUING APPARATUS; FARE-REGISTERING APPARATUS; FRANKING APPARATUS
- G07B15/00—Arrangements or apparatus for collecting fares, tolls or entrance fees at one or more control points
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G08—SIGNALLING
- G08C—TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS FOR MEASURED VALUES, CONTROL OR SIMILAR SIGNALS
- G08C17/00—Arrangements for transmitting signals characterised by the use of a wireless electrical link
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G08—SIGNALLING
- G08G—TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS
- G08G1/00—Traffic control systems for road vehicles
- G08G1/123—Traffic control systems for road vehicles indicating the position of vehicles, e.g. scheduled vehicles; Managing passenger vehicles circulating according to a fixed timetable, e.g. buses, trains, trams
- G08G1/127—Traffic control systems for road vehicles indicating the position of vehicles, e.g. scheduled vehicles; Managing passenger vehicles circulating according to a fixed timetable, e.g. buses, trains, trams to a central station ; Indicators in a central station
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G08—SIGNALLING
- G08G—TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS
- G08G1/00—Traffic control systems for road vehicles
- G08G1/20—Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
- H04L63/00—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security
- H04L63/10—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security for controlling access to devices or network resources
- H04L63/102—Entity profiles
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
- H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
- H04L67/01—Protocols
- H04L67/04—Protocols specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
- H04L9/00—Cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communications; Network security protocols
- H04L9/40—Network security protocols
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
- H04W8/00—Network data management
- H04W8/22—Processing or transfer of terminal data, e.g. status or physical capabilities
- H04W8/24—Transfer of terminal data
- H04W8/245—Transfer of terminal data from a network towards a terminal
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G08—SIGNALLING
- G08C—TRANSMISSION SYSTEMS FOR MEASURED VALUES, CONTROL OR SIMILAR SIGNALS
- G08C2201/00—Transmission systems of control signals via wireless link
- G08C2201/50—Receiving or transmitting feedback, e.g. replies, status updates, acknowledgements, from the controlled devices
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
- H04L63/00—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security
- H04L63/08—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security for authentication of entities
- H04L63/083—Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security for authentication of entities using passwords
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
- H04L69/00—Network arrangements, protocols or services independent of the application payload and not provided for in the other groups of this subclass
- H04L69/30—Definitions, standards or architectural aspects of layered protocol stacks
- H04L69/32—Architecture of open systems interconnection [OSI] 7-layer type protocol stacks, e.g. the interfaces between the data link level and the physical level
- H04L69/322—Intralayer communication protocols among peer entities or protocol data unit [PDU] definitions
- H04L69/329—Intralayer communication protocols among peer entities or protocol data unit [PDU] definitions in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
- H04W12/00—Security arrangements; Authentication; Protecting privacy or anonymity
- H04W12/08—Access security
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
- H04W12/00—Security arrangements; Authentication; Protecting privacy or anonymity
- H04W12/60—Context-dependent security
- H04W12/69—Identity-dependent
- H04W12/76—Group identity
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
- H04W24/00—Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
- H04W64/00—Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
Definitions
- the principles of the present invention are generally directed to an asset management system, and, more specifically, but not by way of limitation, to a system and method using a wireless architecture to communicate with wireless devices associated with the assets.
- the main assets of a business organization include buildings, equipment, people, money and data.
- Data assets are acquired, used, and maintained in the same manner as any other asset, and might include information regarding the other assets.
- Such assets can be mobile or fixed, tangible or intangible assets.
- Fixed assets may include equipment (e.g., manufacturing equipment), buildings, and fixtures.
- Mobile assets may include battery-powered or unpowered machines, such as forklifts, cars, boats, airplanes, loading equipment, railroad cars, and even small parcels, containers, letters, and even people. It should be understood that fixed and mobile assets may be personal, commercial, and/or military assets. Businesses must "manage" such assets to accomplish their business purposes.
- Asset management systems facilitate the use of such assets for directing or carrying on such business and, as such, are evaluated in the context of a specific business. For example, package delivery companies are often interested in determining the location of its fleet of trucks so that the package delivery company may easily determine the time of arrival of the trucks. Car rental companies, too, are interested in determining exact locations of their vehicles for inventory purposes. Still yet, warehousing companies are interested in determining locations of particular mobile assets, such as forklifts and containers.
- asset management systems utilize different databases depending on the nature of the business and industry, which define the data elements for each database. Regardless of the variety of databases, asset management systems require robust communications systems to ensure that all of the data defined by the business is created, stored, processed and updated according to the mandates and specifications of that business.
- Wireless communications systems have permeated all aspects of asset management systems and have become a prevalent tool in a variety of consumer and industrial applications worldwide.
- Such wireless communications systems include mobile telephones, satellite television, citizen-band radios, remote computer networking, wireless local area networks (LANs), and remote wireless devices.
- wireless communications systems including those for asset management systems, include a central computing system coupled with a wireless infrastructure that communicates with multiple wireless devices associated with specific assets, i.e., an asset communicator.
- Conventional design methodology for the wireless communications systems requires that the asset communicator have an active communication link through the wireless infrastructure to the central computing system in order to operate and perform functions associated with the asset management system.
- the asset communicator is either inoperative or not fully operative. Moreover, if either (i) the communication link between the central computing system and wireless infrastructure or (ii) the link between the wireless infrastructure and the asset communicator is not operating properly, many features of the asset communicator become inoperative.
- a useful asset management system must continue to manipulate the data as described above regardless of the loss or intermittent operation of the communication links and, therefore, requires a wireless communication architecture that facilitates the manipulation of this data.
- an asset management system for vehicles might include access control data for authorized operators.
- conventional communications systems utilized for asset management purposes require a communication link be established between the asset communicator and the central computing system.
- the asset management system must utilize a wireless communication architecture that is not fully dependent upon instantaneous or active communication between the central computer and the asset communicators.
- asset management systems and their associated wireless communications systems are developed and operated in the context of a specific business to resolve specific business problems.
- a manager of a fleet of vehicles is generally interested in assuring that the vehicles are operated by a group of employees having the approval to do so at certain times of the day and on certain days of the week to generate a list of "approved operators" that have access to a vehicle at a specific time.
- the asset management system includes a database of the approved operators that is checked when the operator logs in and starts the vehicle. Because conventional wireless communications systems rely on the communication link between the asset communicator and the central computing system, the database of the approved operators is maintained at the central computing system and accessed in the event of a login request to verify and grant access by the operator. In the case of tracking vehicles, the business goal is to determine not only the precise location of the vehicle, but also the route that the vehicle traveled to reach a particular location. Utilizing asset communicators that require an active link between the mobile wireless device and the central computing system becomes problematic for these and other particular business issues due to frequent or infrequent failures of any link between the asset communicator and the central computing system. Because of the communication link failures, essential location data for the assets is lost.
- tracking the traveled route of the asset requires that the asset communicates with the wireless infrastructure at a relatively high frequency so that the central computer system can determine location and path traveled of the asset.
- This technique of determining position and path traveled presents a significant limitation in terms of system bandwidth and computing capacity.
- the transmission of position from the asset communicator is still problematic for system bandwidth and, potentially, communication fee-related reasons. If, for example, a communications system utilizes a GPS and cellular combination solution, the cost of continuous communication updates includes a cellular telephone call for each location update.
- a robust wireless communications system has been developed.
- the robust wireless communications system allows for "intelligent" mobile wireless devices (e.g., asset communicators) to make decisions, typically without interaction with the wireless infrastructure and/or central computing system.
- asset communicators e.g., asset communicators
- the system may be utilized to solve business problems that demand real-world flexibility and are substantially fault tolerant.
- the system according to the principles of the present invention provides for information stored by the central computing system to be downloaded to the wireless infrastructure.
- the wireless infrastructure includes a computing system for maintaining and transmitting the information to the mobile wireless devices.
- the downloading and transmitting of the information from the central computing system, wireless infrastructure, and mobile wireless device is performed sequentially, but not necessarily simultaneously or even substantially simultaneously.
- information such as positioning, time of use, and fuel level, measured by the mobile wireless devices may be stored and processed by the mobile wireless devices until a communication link to the wireless infrastructure becomes established.
- the uplink information may be stored by the wireless infrastructure until a communication link is established with the central computing system.
- the data may be determined unnecessary by the mobile wireless device, and may thus be discarded, thereby dramatically eliminating the need for storage or transmission.
- the information may be maintained within the robust wireless communications system without being affected by system communication failure.
- the downlink and uplink communication techniques, and the use of intelligent mobile wireless devices allow for many previously insolvable business problems to be solved.
- FIGURE 1 is an exemplary block diagram of a robust wireless communications system for performing asset management according to the principles of the present invention
- FIGURE 2 is a more detailed block diagram of the robust wireless communications system of FIGURE 1;
- FIGURE 3 is another exemplary block diagram of the robust wireless communications system of FIGURES 1 and 2;
- FIGURE 4 is an exemplary interaction diagram for performing downlink and uplink communications between components of the robust wireless communications system of FIGURE 3;
- FIGURE 5 is an exemplary interaction diagram for performing immediate communications between the components of FIGURE 3;
- FIGURES 6 A and 6B are exemplary databases operating in the robust wireless communications system of FIGURE 3;
- FIGURE 7 is an exemplary flow diagram for communicating data in the robust wireless communications system of FIGURE 3;
- FIGURE 8 is another exemplary flow diagram for communicating data in the robust wireless communications system of FIGURE 3;
- FIGURES 9A and 9B are exemplary flow diagrams for performing uplink communication on the robust wireless communications system of FIGURES 3, 4, and 6B;
- FIGURE 10 is a graphical representation of entities associated with the robust wireless communications system of FIGURE 3 and relational databases associated therewith;
- FIGURE 11 is an exemplary flow diagram for determining and providing authorization of an asset for an operator utilizing the robust wireless communications system of FIGURES 3, 4, and 6 A;
- FIGURE 12 is an exemplary flow diagram describing altering system parameters for the robust wireless communications system of FIGURE 3;
- FIGURE 13 is an exemplary flow diagram for the asset communicator to start and stop utilization monitoring as utilized on the robust wireless system of FIGURES 3 and 6B;
- FIGURE 14 is an exemplary illustration of a mobile asset having a power monitor for monitoring power usage according to FIGURE 13;
- FIGURE 15 is an exemplary chart indicating vehicle usage during the course of a 24-hour time period on the robust wireless communications system of FIGURE 3;
- FIGURES 16A and 16B represent an exemplary flow diagram for determining and communicating position of an asset utilizing the robust wireless communications system of FIGURES 3-5 and 6B;
- FIGURE 17 is an exemplary flow diagram for performing the OSHA compliance utilizing the robust wireless communications system of FIGURES 3-5, 6 A and 6B;
- FIGURE 18 is an exemplary flow diagram providing a process for performing the two-way messaging on the robust wireless communications system of FIGURE 3;
- FIGURE 19 is an exemplary flow chart providing a process for measuring battery voltage of an asset utilizing the robust wireless communications system of FIGURES 3, 4, and 6B;
- FIGURE 20 is an exemplary flow diagram 1900 providing for a process of changing the battery with a charged battery utilizing the robust wireless communications system of FIGURES 3-5, 6A, and 6B;
- FIGURE 21 is a typical working environment for a mobile asset utilizing the robust wireless communications system of FIGURE 3 to charge and replace a battery;
- FIGURE 22 is a top view of an exemplary mobile asset of FIGURE 1 capable of measuring impact of the mobile asset;
- FIGURE 23 is an exemplary flow diagram for monitoring of an impact to the mobile asset of FIGURE 21;
- FIGURE 24 is an exemplary block diagram indicative of a method for managing scheduled maintenance of assets utilizing the robust wireless communications system of FIGURE 3 and communication technique of FIGURE
- FIGURE 25 is an exemplary embodiment of the wireless infrastructure of
- FIGURE 1 for providing wireless communications on a remotely populated fleet of assets, such as railcars
- FIGURE 26 is an exemplary flow diagram for managing the remotely populated assets utilizing the robust wireless communications system of FIGURE 3.
- Asset management and tracking has become an important issue for large and small companies due to financial considerations, customer concerns, and governmental regulations, for example.
- Technology in the fields of information technology (IT) and telecommunications has evolved to enable robust wireless communications to perform asset management, especially in a variety of aspects that solve business problems that do not necessarily require instantaneous or active communication between a central computer and an asset (i.e., mobile or fixed).
- asset i.e., mobile or fixed
- communications networks may be bandwidth and/or cost prohibitive for many asset management applications.
- the principles of the present invention provide for a robust wireless communications system that performs asset management of mobile and/or fixed assets.
- the robust wireless communications system accounts for network failures and throughput issues by providing intelligence in both the wireless infrastructure and mobile wireless devices (e.g., asset communicators) associated with the assets.
- the assets may remain substantially operational even in the event of a communication link failure between the central computer and the wireless infrastructure and/or between the wireless infrastructure and the asset communicator(s).
- an asset that becomes out-of-range of the wireless infrastructure may still perform intended duties and utilize the associated asset communicator to perform the asset management functions.
- business decisions can be made that are simply not possible without such intelligent devices , often without transmitting any data.
- the robust wireless communications system is capable of distributing downlink data utilized in performing the asset management functionality in a sequential, but not necessarily simultaneous, transmission from the central computing system to the wireless infrastructure and from the wireless infrastructure to the asset communicators.
- the asset communicators need not have active links between (i) the central computing system and wireless infrastructure, and (ii) the wireless infrastructure and asset communicators for the data to be downloaded to the asset communicators. Accordingly, the data may be transmitted to the asset communicators by the wireless infrastructure irrespective of the communication link between the central computing system and wireless infrastructure.
- the asset communicators are able to receive data from the asset and/or generate data without an active communication link with either the wireless infrastructure and/or the central computer.
- the data may be uploaded to the wireless infrastructure, stored therein, and further uploaded from the wireless infrastructure to the central computing system upon a connection being established thereto.
- transaction codes may be applied to individual datasets or data records. By applying transaction codes that are temporal (i.e., based on time of creation), the synchronization process may be maintained even if a communication failure occurs during synchronization of the data by determining the transaction codes that exist in the different locations, and continuing synchronizing therefrom.
- the transaction code On the downlink communication, the transaction code is used to indicate the most up-to- date data.
- the transaction code is used to create a unique key for ensuring the integrity of data such that the order and uniqueness of each dataset is maintained.
- datasets may be generated by a supervisor or operator who enters new data or edits existing data to download to the asset communicator(s).
- the asset communicators operate in an intelligent manner by, in general, forming data records based on events or based on receiving data from an operator interfacing with the asset communicator.
- An event may include a vehicle operator logging on, performing various duties with the vehicle, and logging off.
- a summary of operational information i.e., dataset
- the dataset, including the associated transaction code may thereafter be transmitted to the wireless infrastructure and/or be used by the asset communicator to make decisions about future transactions (e.g., re-use of previously entered data, such as an OSHA checklist, for future operator(s)).
- the asset management may occur without an active communication link between the asset communicator and the wireless infrastructure, (ii) the bandwidth (and potentially communication cost) of the system may be reduced, (iii) the central computing system need not be overloaded with computational responsibilities that the distributed asset communicators are capable of handling, and (iv) the cost of system components (e.g., asset communicators, communication devices, and infrastructure installation costs) may be reduced due to the amount of memory and communication requirements being reduced.
- system components e.g., asset communicators, communication devices, and infrastructure installation costs
- the robust communications system may solve many business problems that otherwise could not be solved as the asset communicator and system are capable of performing many, if not all, of the intended business functions on future transactions without either (i) a link between the wireless infrastructure and the asset communicator and/or (ii) a link between the wireless infrastructure and the management computer system.
- FIGURE 1 shows an exemplary block diagram of a wireless communications system 100a for an asset management system according to the principles of the present invention, and more specifically, but without limitation, an asset management system for managing forklifts 105a-105d (collectively 105).
- the robust wireless communications system 100a includes at least one local monitor (LM) 110a- 11 Of (collectively 110) having a wireless unit operative with a communication range defined by the cells l l la-l l lf, respectively (collectively 111), of various radii, and a management computer network 115, configured in a central or distributed processing configuration, coupled to the local monitors 110 via a local communication link 117.
- LM local monitor
- 115 For the local monitor to communicate with the management computer network 115, communication equipment (see, FIGURE 2, units 230a-230c) is utilized.
- the local monitors 110 may be coupled to the management computer network 115 as shown by the local monitor 110a, or indirectly through a local supervisory computer (not shown) operating as a monitor to the management computer network 115.
- the cells 111 of the local monitors 110 may overlap (as shown by the cells l l ld-l l lf) or not (as shown by the cells 11 lb-11 lc) depending on the particular business needs and the space to be monitored.
- they may be positioned to cover a larger and/or more asymmetric service area as defined by the particular needs of the business.
- a multiple cell 111 structure may be designed to cover all the areas of a manufacturing facility that might be visited by a forklift 105, including both permissible and prohibited areas for a particular forklift operator.
- the local monitors 110 have the ability to use directional antennas, as understood in the art, and/or dynamically change coverage range to cover certain areas.
- the local monitors 110 may be software controlled to adjust transmission power.
- a variable attenuator may be utilized to reduce the amount of output power from a local monitor.
- the adjustment of coverage range may be utilized to further refine the location of assets.
- a local monitor near a door such as a warehouse loading dock door, may be configured to have a limited communication range for the immediate area in front of the door. It should be understood that the wireless architecture between the management computer network 115 and the local monitors 110 vary depending on the type of asset being managed for a specific business need.
- the local monitors 110 also have data processing and storage capability along with its wireless communication equipment.
- the local monitors 110 may also be coupled via a network communication link 118 to other networks (not shown) such as, for example, the Internet to a webserver 119 or wireless local area network.
- the webserver 119 may be accessed by a customer renting a vehicle or a manager of certain databases in the asset management system to inspect parameters and operating conditions of the system.
- the robust wireless communications system 100a also includes asset communicators 120a-120d (collectively 120), each one associated with a specific asset, and in this embodiment, a forklift 105a-105d, respectively, for communicating with the local monitors 120 via their associated asset communication links 130a-130d (collectively 130), respectively.
- the asset communication links 130 may be any form of wireless communication link including, without limitation, cellular, radio frequency (RF) (possibly including adjustable range), wireless Ethernet (i.e., the 802.11b wireless communication standard), paging, satellite, or a combination of any of the foregoing.
- RF radio frequency
- the asset communicators 120 also have data processing and storage capability along with their wireless communication equipment.
- the asset communicators 120 become active for uplinking or downlinking data when it comes within the range of the cell 111 of one of the local monitors 110 to establish the corresponding asset communication link 130 with the local monitor 110.
- the establishment of the asset communication links 130 is independent of the local communication link 117 for any of the local monitors 110.
- Each asset communicator (i) identifies the local monitor(s) 110 in communication therewith and (ii) determines what, when, and how often to communicate.
- the asset communicator 120 receives identifier(s) associated with the local monitor(s) 110 and determines the available communication link(s) 130.
- the data being communicated is dependent on the business problems currently being performed by the asset communicators 110. When and how often to communicate the data may be determined by current operating conditions and/or predetermined rules and system parameters.
- Data is uplinked or downlinked between one of the asset communicators 120 and one of the local monitors 110 only when the corresponding forklift 105 moves within the range of the cell 111 of that local monitor 110.
- the asset communication link 130a is established between the asset communicator 120a and the local monitor 110b, whereupon data stored on either one of the devices can be uplinked to, or downlinked from, the other device.
- a second forklift 105b might move within the range of the same cell 111b to establish a similar asset communication link 130b between its asset communicator 120b and the same local monitor 110b.
- a third forklift 105d might move within the range of the cell 11 If to establish a first asset communication link 130d between its asset communicator 120d and the local monitor 11 Of, and then move out-of-range into the range of the cell 1 l ie as shown by the arrow 131 to establish a second asset communication link 130d' at a later time between the asset communicator 120d' and a second local monitor llOe.
- An asset communicator 120b may have multiple links open simultaneously with different local monitors 110, and use the best communication link for both uplink and downlink communications.
- the robust wireless communications system 100a may be a multi-cell system as just described including a database that permits a specific forklift operator to be operating the forklift 105d in an area covered by the local monitor l lOf, but prohibits the same operator from driving that forklift to another area covered by the local monitor l lOe.
- This part of the database is stored by the asset communicator 120d setting forth the permissible and prohibited areas of operation for that operator as soon as she identifies herself by logging-in to start the forklift 105d.
- the asset communicator 120d' may determine its communication link status and communicate the presence and identification of both the forklift and the operator to the local monitor 1 lOe via the asset communication link 130d ⁇
- the asset communicator 120d' may take active measures to alert the operator of the location violation and/or disable the forklift.
- the data would then be stored in the memory of local monitor l lOe and processed to alert the operator of the violation, shut down the forklift 105d', and/or notify a supervisor of the breach by uplinking the data from the local monitor 1 lOe to the management computer network 115 via the local communication link (not shown), but only when that local communication link is established.
- the establishment of the asset communication links 130 is independent of the local communication link 117 to the management computer network 115.
- the database could have been updated by the management computer network 115 to update the database on the local monitor l lOe, but not the asset communicator 120d, authorizing the operator to be in the area covered by the cell l lle before the operator entered that area.
- the local monitor l lOe would update the asset communicator 120d' so that it would not transmit a breach signal to the local monitor l lOe.
- FIGURE 2 is a more detailed block diagram of the robust wireless communications system of FIGURE 1.
- the robust wireless communications system 100c includes the management computer network 115, wireless infrastructure 202, and asset communicator 120.
- the management computer network 115 includes a supervisor interface 205, database engine 210, middleware 215, and system administrator interface 220.
- the supervisor interface 205 is operable to provide a supervisor (e.g., a user or an external computing system operable to perform supervisory functions) of the management computer network 115 the capability to view data or update data (i.e., create new data, edit existing data, and/or delete existing data) stored in a database.
- a supervisor e.g., a user or an external computing system operable to perform supervisory functions
- a supervisory user i.e., supervisor
- the database engine 210 may be any software operable to manage data stored in the database.
- the database engine 210 may be a commercial (e.g., OracleD) or noncommercial database engine.
- the middleware 215 is software and/or hardware operable to provide communication between the database engine 210 and wireless infrastructure 202.
- the middleware 215 may also provide other management or functional operations as understood in the art.
- the system administrator interface 220 provides a system administrator the ability to perform a variety of functions in direct communication with the middleware via a communication link 222. One function that may be performed by the system administrator interface 220 includes altering the communication range of one or more local monitors 110.
- the wireless infrastructure 202 includes at least one wireless infrastructure unit 225.
- the wireless infrastructure unit 225 includes a local monitor 110, at least one of which is coupled to a wired communication unit 230a, a wireless communication unit 230b (e.g. cellular or wireless LAN), and/or a satellite communication unit 230c (collectively 230) that communicates with the middleware 215 via the local communication link 117.
- the local monitor 110 includes a processor for operating a database engine 242, which may be the same or similar to the database engine 210 of the management computer network 115, and other software (not shown) that performs specific business functions.
- the wireless infrastructure unit 225 further includes a radio frequency (RF) wireless unit 235.
- RF radio frequency
- the RF wireless unit 235 may include hardware and software for performing wireless communications utilizing any wireless protocol as understood in the art. For example, a wireless Ethernet standard may be utilized by the wireless infrastructure unit 225 to communicate with the asset communicators 120 via the asset communication link 130a.
- a local monitor 110a may communicate with another local monitor 110b via the respective RF wireless units 235.
- the local monitor 110 is shown to be coupled to the communication units 230 and RF wireless unit 235, an alternative embodiment of the local monitor 110 may include either or both units 230 and 235 in the same physical box.
- the asset communicator 120 includes an RF wireless unit 245 for communicating with the RF wireless unit 235 of the wireless infrastructure unit 225. Additionally, the asset communicator may include a wired unit (not shown) for direct wire communication with a portable computing system, for example, for downloading to or uploading from the asset communicator 120.
- the asset communicator 120 further includes a database engine 250 operable to manage data being collected or received by the asset communicator 120.
- the asset communicator 120 also contains a computer program on-board to determine what, when, where, and how often to communicate as previously discussed.
- Both the asset communicators 120 and the wireless infrastructure units 225 may be considered embedded systems, where an embedded system is defined as a combination of hardware and software that together form a component of a larger system.
- An example of an embedded system is a microprocessor that controls an automobile engine.
- Embedded systems are designed to execute without human intervention, and may be required to respond to events in real-time.
- the asset communicator 120 is coupled to the wireless infrastructure 202 via the asset communication link 130a (link A).
- the wireless infrastructure 202 is coupled to the management computer network 115 via the local communications link 117 (link B).
- the middleware 215 is coupled to the database engine 210 via a communication link 255 (link C).
- the database engine 210 is coupled to the supervisor interface 205 via a communication link 260 (link D).
- mobile wireless devices such as asset communicators, are capable of performing their intended operation by having communication links A, B, and C simultaneously operating.
- the principles of the present invention allow for the asset communicators 120 to operate autonomously without having links A, B, and/or C simultaneously operating.
- the asset communicator 120 and wireless infrastructure unit 225 are intelligent in that they are capable of performing decisions that traditionally only the management computer network 115 performed.
- FIGURE 3 is another exemplary block diagram of the robust wireless communications system of FIGURES 1 and 2.
- the management computer network 115 includes a management computing system 302 having a processor 304 coupled to a memory 306, I/O device 308 and storage device 310.
- the storage device 310 may include one or more databases 312a, 314a, and 316a, for example.
- the databases 312a-316a may be used to store various data associated with performing asset management.
- the databases may operate as relational databases in that each database may have corresponding or associated data elements with one or more other databases. For example, multiple databases may have a vehicle number so that any data associated with the vehicle number in either database may be related utilizing the database engine 210.
- the management computing system 302 may further be coupled to the supervisor interface 205 via the communication link 260 (link D), and the system administrator interface 220 via the communication link 222.
- the supervisor interface 205 and system administrator interface 220 may be utilized to interact with the management computing system to modify and view the data stored in the databases 312a-316a.
- the supervisor 205 and system administrator 220 interfaces may utilize the same processor 304 as the management computing system 302.
- the processor 304 may execute the database engine 210 and middleware 215. Alternatively, the database engine 210 may be executed on a different processor in conjunction with the storage device 310.
- the storage device 310 may be external from the management computing system 302 and be formed of one or more storage devices.
- the storage devices 310 may be a magnetic and/or optical disk, or be of another memory device type, such as random access memory.
- the management computing system 302 may further be coupled by the local communication link 117, which includes communication link 117a, network 117b (e.g., the Internet), and communication link 117c.
- the webserver 119 may be coupled to the network 117b via the network communication link 118.
- the wireless infrastructure 202a may be coupled to the network 117b via communication link 117c, and include a local monitor 110 that includes a processor 318 coupled to a memory 320, I/O unit 322, and storage device 324.
- the storage device may be internal or external from the local monitor 110, and be utilized to store databases 312b, 314b, and 316b.
- the databases 312b-316b may be replicated from the databases 312a-316a.
- the processor 318 may execute the local monitor database engine 242 that operates to maintain the replicated databases 312b-316b.
- the local monitor may be maintained in a facility 326 that the operator of the facility utilizes to perform asset management for mobile and/or fixed assets.
- the local monitor 110 may be coupled to the RF wireless unit 235 via a wired or wireless communication link (not shown), thereby forming a wireless infrastructure unit 225 a.
- a second wireless infrastructure unit 225b formed of a local monitor 110 and RF wireless unit is also utilized to communicate with assets 105 on the premises.
- the wireless infrastructure units 225a and 225b communicate with asset communicators 120g and 120h associated with mobile assets 105g and 105h (e.g., forklifts).
- the asset communicator 120g includes the RF wireless unit 245 coupled to a processor 328.
- the processor 328 may further be coupled to a memory device 330, keypad 332, display 333, and input/output (I/O) unit 334.
- the memory 330 may be random access memory, flash memory, or programmable read-only memory as understood in the art. Alternatively, the memory 330 may be a magnetic or optical disk.
- the memory 330 may be operable to store databases 312c, 314c, and 316c.
- the I/O unit 334 may include receiving and/or transmitting devices, and be coupled to power, sensors, or other input and output devices (not shown).
- the I/O unit 334 of the asset communicator 120 may receive power from a power source, such as a battery, located on the asset 105 or from a battery coupled to the asset communicator 120.
- a power source such as a battery
- the decision as to whether to receive power from an internal (e.g., battery of asset communicator 120) and/or external power source (e.g., battery of asset 105, wall power, etc.) may be based on the application that the asset communicator is being utilized. For example, if the asset communicator 120 is being used for tracking a forklift, it may be appropriate to draw power from the forklift.
- a battery of the asset communicator 120 is used to provide power as, in general, a parcel does not have a battery. It should be understood that a battery may be included with the asset communicator 120 and be utilized as a backup power supply as understood in the art upon the asset communicator 120 losing power from the asset 105.
- the sensors may include temperature, current, voltage, impact, motion, pressure, weight, or any other such electronic sensors.
- Input devices may include barcode scanners, proximity card readers, magnetic card readers, and other biometric reading devices.
- the output devices may include relays, switches, lights, sirens, horns, or any other electronic output device.
- the RF wireless unit 245 may further be coupled to an antenna 336.
- the size, structure, and configuration of the asset communicator 120 may be dependent upon the environment and asset 105 that the asset communicator 120 is associated. For example, if the asset communicator 120 is utilized in an industrial or outdoor environment, then a heavy duty housing being substantially water resistant may be used. If, however, the asset communicator 120 is utilized to perform parcel tracking, then the size, weight, thickness, and flexibility, for example, is an issue. In such a case, the asset communicator 120 may be constructed of multiple circuit boards. In one embodiment, three circuit boards having minimal dimensions (e.g., one-by-two inches) may be coplanar and coupled via a flexible, flat cable and/or circuitry having transmission lines for communicating data between the circuit boards.
- the asset communicator 120 is capable of being bent without breaking during shipping of the parcel.
- the circuitry on the circuit boards may be coated with a durable, compressible material, such as rubber, to prevent damage to the circuitry and to reduce stresses on the circuit boards during shipping of the parcel.
- a battery may further be coupled to the asset communicator 120 via the cable to provide power to the circuit board and allow for replacement. It should be understood that while the size, structure, and configuration of the asset communicator may vary, the functionality of the asset communicator 120 remains substantially the same.
- the management computing system 302 may operate as a central computing system for the robust wireless communications system 100c.
- An operator of the supervisor interface 205 may view or update (i.e., create, edit, or delete) information or data stored in the database(s) 312a-316a utilizing the database engine 210.
- a transaction code (see FIG. 4) is associated with the data, thereby forming a data record or dataset, which is stored in a database 312a, for example.
- the management computing system 302 utilizing the database engine 210 and middleware 215, communicates the data stored in the database 312a utilizing the I/O unit 308 in data packets 338a-338b over the network 117b to specified local monitors 110 based on business functions being performed and current communication links.
- a text message may be transmitted to only the local monitor 110 in communication with the asset communicator 105g as determined by the middleware 215 in conjunction with the database engine 210.
- a broadcast text message may be transmitted to all local monitors 110 servicing asset communicators 120.
- the local monitor 110 utilizing the database engine 240, stores the data in the database 312b, if necessary, to replicate the database 312a. By replicating the database 312a in the local monitor 110, it is possible for the local communication link 117 to fail and the local monitor 110 to operate independently.
- the data stored in the local monitor 110 may thereafter be transmitted or broadcast the data temporally to the asset communicators 120g and 120h operating in the range of the RF wireless units 235a and/or 235b. While the local monitor 110 is storing the data for further communication, the local monitor 110 may determine that the data becomes obsolete before communicating the data to asset communicator(s) 120.
- Such a situation may occur upon (i) the data becoming expired or out-of-date (e.g., notification for scheduled maintenance becoming past due), (ii) the data being superseded by newer data (e.g., work instructions being modified by the supervisor), or the data becoming irrelevant (e.g., text message having utility for a duration of five minutes), for example. If the data becomes obsolete, the local monitor 110 may simply not communicate and/or delete the data being stored therein.
- An asset communicator 120g that receives the data via data packets 338a-
- the 338b may determine that the data is associated with the particular asset communicator 120 by identification of a data field, and store the data in a database 312c.
- the database 312c is a subset of the data stored in the databases 312a and 312b.
- the data stored by the management computing system 302 is communicated to the local monitor 110, stored therein for an indefinite period of time, and transmitted from the local monitor 110 to all asset communicators 120 in range thereof, if needed.
- the asset communicators 120 are intelligent and capable of parsing the received data to determine the data associated therewith. Therefore, the databases 312c-316c are subsets of the databases 312a-316a and 312b-316b. It should be understood that each asset communicator 120 may receive and store data in similarly configured databases.
- FIGURE 4 is an exemplary interaction diagram 400 for performing downlink and uplink communications between components of the robust wireless communications system of FIGURE 3.
- the three associated databases 312a, 312b, and 312c are indicated by the vertical lines. Additionally, time increases down the vertical lines.
- Data communicated between the computer system database 312a and local monitor database 312b in the downlink direction is transmitted over the local communication link 117.
- the data is communicated in a data packet 338, which may include control data 402a and data 404a and datasets stored in the databases 312a-316a, for example.
- the data 404a includes a transaction code (TCI) 406a.
- TCI transaction code
- the control data 402a is associated with data communicated via data packets 338 as part of a data communication protocol.
- Acknowledgement packets 407 may be used to ensure that the downlink data is successfully replicated as determined by the local monitors 110 utilizing a checksum or other data verification technique as understood in the art.
- the acknowledgement 407 may occur upon completion of all data being transmitted from the computer system database 312a to the local monitor database 312b to minimize network bandwidth requirements.
- the data Upon the data being successfully received by the local monitor database 312b, the data is stored for an unspecified period of time DTD. At some random or non-random time T2, the data may be read and transmitted from the local monitor 110 via data packet 338x to an area or cell 111 that the local monitor 110 services. As indicated, the control data 402b, data 404b, and transaction code 406b may be different than the control data 402a, data 404a, and transaction code 406a due to (i) the time delay between Tl and T2, and (ii) new data received by the computer system database 312a not having been transmitted to the local monitor database 312b.
- An acknowledgement packet 408 may be used to confirm the receipt of the data packet 338x depending upon whether confirmation is desired for a particular business function. For example, if a text message is transmitted to a particular asset communicator 120g, then the acknowledgement 408 is desirable. Alternatively, if a broadcast text message is transmitted to all asset communicators 120, then an acknowledgement is not necessary. Ultimately, however, the data from the computer system database 312a is transmitted and may be stored in the asset communicator database 312c. While the data communicated across the communication links 117 and 130 may be transmitted sequentially (i.e., first across the local communication link 117 and second across the asset communication link 132), the data need not be communicated simultaneously across the communication links 117 and 130.
- an acknowledgment 408 may be communicated back to the local monitor database 312b, and the data 404b may be deleted therein.
- the data 404b may be deleted therein.
- the asset communicator 120 may perform the uplink communication 400b from the asset communicator database 312c to the local monitor database 312b.
- a data packet 338y including control data 410a and data 412a associated with a transaction code (TC2) 414a, is transmitted from the asset communicator database 312c to the local monitor database 312b. If there is sufficient storage capacity, the data 412a is stored by the local monitor database 312b for an indefinite period of time DTU, and an acknowledgement 409 is sent to the asset communicator.
- TC2 transaction code
- This time period DTU may extend for a minimal duration or any duration of time until the local communication link 117 becomes operational or active.
- the asset communicator 110 may delete the data packet 338y from its memory. If there is not sufficient storage capacity in the local monitor 312b, the asset communicator 110 continues to store or transmit the data 338y to another local monitor database 312b. At time T4, the data 412b, including transaction code 414b, is transmitted from the local monitor database 312b to the computer system database 312a via data packet 338z.
- An acknowledgment 416 may be communicated back to the local monitor database 312b from the computer system 312a so that (i) the local monitor database 312b does not continue to communicate the data 412b to the computer system database 312a, and (ii) the data may be deleted from the local monitor database 312b.
- the control data 402a, 402b, 410a, and 410b may include authentication and/or encryption data to ensure validity and security of communications to protect confidential information. It should be understood that in both the downlink 400a and uplink 400b communications that additional acknowledgment from the local monitor database 312b may be communicated back to both the computer system database 312a and the asset communicator database 312c to notify each to stop communicating the information associated with the particular transaction codes transmitted.
- the communication technique of FIGURE 4 is realizable because of the intelligence built into both the local monitor 110 and asset communicator 120. And, because of the communication technique, the robust communications system 100c is capable of handling and solving many business problems involved in managing assets remotely.
- FIGURE 5 is an exemplary interaction diagram 500 for performing immediate communications between the components of FIGURE 3.
- a downlink communication 500a and uplink communication 500b are shown for the paging communications that may be utilized on the robust wireless communications system 100c.
- a data packet 338m may be communicated between the computer system database 312a and local monitor database 312b, and include control data 502 and data 504 associated with transaction code (TC3) 506.
- TC3 transaction code
- an acknowledgement signal 507a may be communicated back to the computer system database 312a for verification purposes.
- the local monitor database 312b may operate as a pass-through to the asset communicator database 312c in the immediate communication mode.
- the local monitor 110 may not store the data in the local monitor database 312b.
- the data communicated from the local monitor database 312b to the asset communicator database 312c is the same or substantially similar data packet 338m including the control data 502, data 504, and transaction code (TC3) 506.
- An acknowledgement signal 507b may be communicated from the asset communicator 120 back to the local monitor 110 upon receipt of the data packet 338m by the asset communicator database 312c.
- the uplink communication 500b in the immediate communication mode transmits data at time T6 from the asset communicator database 312c to the computer system database 312a with a minimal amount of delay via the local monitor database 312b.
- the data may be communicated in a data packet 338n, which includes control data 508 and data 510 associated with a transaction code (TC4) 512.
- the data packet 338n is thereafter communicated from the local monitor database 312b to the computer system database 312a with minimal or no alterations or delay.
- Acknowledgement signals 514a and 514b may be communicated from the local monitor 110 to the asset communicator 120 and from the management computing system 302 to the local monitor 110, respectively, upon receipt of the data packets 338n.
- the immediate communication mode may operate similar to conventional wireless data communication techniques as understood in the art utilizing any communication standard thereof.
- FIGURES 6A and 6B are exemplary databases operating in the robust wireless communications system of FIGURE 3.
- FIGURE 6A illustrates the downlink functionality of the robust communications system lOOd.
- the management computing system 302 includes the storage device 310 and databases 312a, 314a, and 316a (databases A, B, and C).
- databases 312a, 314a, and 316a databases A, B, and C.
- a transaction type specifier may be included with each dataset.
- the transaction type specifier e.g., "collision”, "low battery”, “location”, and "text message response”
- the transaction code associated with each dataset may be included to indicate the most up-to-date data from the associated database.
- the data stored in the databases 312a-316a may be transmitted to the local monitor 110 while the local communication link 117 is established.
- the local monitor 110 stores the data on the storage device 324 in databases (A'-C) 312b-316b. While databases 312b-316b are intended to be replicas of the databases 312a-316a, it may not be possible to have exact replicas at any given point in time due to the local communication link 117 or other hardware or software failures during operation and/or synchronization of the data between the management computing system 302 and local monitor 110. Additionally, depending on the application and type of data, a complete replication of the databases 312a and 312b may not be needed.
- the local monitor 110 communicates the data stored in the databases 312b-316b in a broadcast fashion (i.e., without regard to asset communicators 120 in the broadcast area of the local monitor 110).
- the local monitor 110 may broadcast to only those asset communicators 120 that have registered with the local monitor 110 upon being within broadcast range.
- the bandwidth of the broadcast may be increased due to the acknowledgement 408 not needing to be transmitted and received, and the broadcast process may be simplified.
- the data communicated via the asset communication link 130 is made from each of the databases 312b-316b, and may be performed in a temporal order based on transaction codes associated with the datasets stored in the databases 312b-316b.
- Each asset communicator 120a- 120c receives the data broadcast from the local monitor 110.
- Each asset communicator 120a-120c parses the data received and stores only the data associated therewith as determined by the contents of the data (e.g., mobile asset identifiers and transaction codes).
- the asset communicator 120 does not store a dataset having a transaction code indicating that the dataset is not up-to-date.
- the databases 312c-316c are indicated as being databases A", B", and C" to indicate that the data stored in the databases is a subset of the databases (A'-C) 312b-316b.
- the asset communicators 120 may receive all communicated data from the databases A', B', and C and store all of the data in databases A", B", and C". However, such a communication technique may be problematic in terms of storage capacity in the asset communicators 120 depending on the volume of data located in the databases A', B', and C.
- FIGURE 6B is the uplink representation for the robust wireless communications system lOOd.
- each asset communicator 120 forms a database (X) 605a, 605b, and 605c.
- the databases 605a-605c may be utilized for storing location or utilization information particular to each of the asset communicators 120a- 120c.
- a transaction type specifier, transaction code, and asset number may be included in each dataset.
- the transaction code may be utilized along with the asset number to form a unique dataset key.
- the transaction type specifier again, is utilized to identify the database that the dataset is associated.
- the asset communicators 120a- 120c may transmit the data stored in the databases 605a-605c to the local monitor 110 via the asset communication link 130.
- the data is stored in the database (X') 605d.
- the local monitor 110 communicates an acknowledgment to the asset communicator 120a indicating that the data was received by the local monitor 110.
- the asset communicator 120a thereafter does not continue transmitting that particular dataset associated with the particular transaction code.
- the data may remain stored on the asset communicator 120a, but is eventually overwritten with new data or used for future calculations.
- the local monitor 110 may thereafter transmit the data stored in the database 605d to the management computing system 302.
- the data may be stored in the database (X') 605e via the local communication link 117.
- the databases may not be synchronized at all points in time as the database 605 d continues to receive data from the asset communicators 120.
- the local monitor 110 maintains the data stored in the database 605 d without transmitting to the management computing system 302. As the database 605d fills up and eventually becomes full, a message is communicated to the asset communicators 120a- 120c in the broadcast area of the local monitor 110 indicating that the local monitor 110 may no longer receive data from the asset communicators 120a- 120c due to a temporary memory full condition. If any of the asset communicators 120a- 120c are within range of another local monitor 110, then the data may be transmitted to the other local monitor 110.
- the asset communicators 120a-120c are intelligent, the asset communicators may be configured to transmit the data to the local monitor 110 over incremental periods of time (e.g., 30 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes, 30 minutes, etc). And, if the asset communicators 120 are unable to transmit the data to a local monitor 110 due to communication problems or simply being out-of-range, the asset communicators 120 are capable of storing the data for many months due to the ability of the asset communicators 120 to summarize and consolidate, or purge the data being collected based on business rules.
- incremental periods of time e.g., 30 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes, 30 minutes, etc.
- intelligent wireless communication techniques such as re-transmissions, frequency hopping, communication back-off (i.e., reducing communication rate based on communication failure), and communication termination also may be used to improve communication link and system- wide communication.
- re-transmissions such as re-transmissions, frequency hopping, communication back-off (i.e., reducing communication rate based on communication failure)
- communication termination also may be used to improve communication link and system- wide communication.
- FIGURE 7 is an exemplary flow diagram for communicating data in the robust wireless communications system of FIGURE 3.
- the process starts at step 702.
- data associated with an asset is stored in a central location. Updated data may be received at the central location at step 706.
- an identifier is applied to the updated data to form a dataset.
- the dataset may be stored at the central location.
- the central location may transmit the dataset to a distribution channel via a first communication link at step 712.
- the dataset is stored along the distribution channel.
- the dataset is transmitted to the asset via a second communication channel independent of the first communication link being simultaneously established. The process ends at step 718.
- FIGURE 8 is another exemplary flow diagram 800 for communicating data in the robust wireless communications system of FIGURE 3.
- the process starts at step 802.
- sets of data are stored temporally by a computing system.
- the most recent set of data communicated to a wireless infrastructure is determined.
- One method to determine the most recent set of data communicated (and stored) is to transmit a query to the wireless infrastructure 202.
- more recently stored data by the computing system is determined at step 808.
- the more recently stored data is communicated to the wireless infrastructure 202.
- the communicated data is stored in the wireless infrastructure 202.
- the process ends at step 814.
- FIGURES 9A and 9B illustrate exemplary flow diagrams 900a and 900b for performing uplink communication on the robust wireless communications system of FIGURES 3 and 6B.
- the process starts at step 902.
- data associated with an asset 105 is received by an asset communicator 120.
- the data may be measured by sensors located on the asset 105 or may be data entered by an operator of the asset communicator 120.
- the data may also include location data or data created through the receipt of wireless data.
- an identifier such as a transaction code, is applied to the data.
- the identifier may be temporal in relation to identifiers associated or applied to other data received by the asset communicator 120.
- the identifier may be a transaction code having an indicator associated with the asset communicator 120.
- the data and identifier are stored as a dataset.
- FIGURE 10 is a graphical representation 1000 of entities associated with a robust wireless communications system based on that of 100c of FIGURE 3, and relational databases associated therewith.
- the information associated with the entities are utilized to provide access control and authorization for operators to utilize the assets 105.
- Four entities, including vehicles 1005, operators 1010, groups 1015, and authorizations 1020 are linked together by relational databases (V, O, G).
- a vehicle (V) database links the vehicle 1005 and group 1015 entities.
- An operator (O) database links the operator 1010 and group 1015 entitles.
- a group (G) database links the authorization 1020 and group 1015 entities.
- Each of these databases may be generated and maintained in the management computer network 1005 by a supervisor utilizing the supervisor interface 205.
- each of the databases includes information associated with the particular entities of which the databases are associated.
- each dataset includes a transaction code, group identification (ID), and vehicle number.
- the transaction code is incremented based on the number of updates to the vehicle database.
- the group identifier associated with a particular vehicle is indicative of a particular group of operators or employees who have access rights to operate the vehicle.
- a group may be defined as a shipping department or group identified with a head of a department.
- vehicle number "372A7C” may be operated by any member associated with the group "A4", which may represent the shipping department.
- the vehicle number information is not stored in the asset communicator databases 312c, for example, as the vehicles need not utilize such information.
- TABLE 2 includes datasets having operator (employee) number, password/PLN, and group ID data elements.
- group ID's match the group ID's provided in the vehicle database of TABLE 1.
- group "A5" is associated with operator number "00050” has a password of "871734”.
- operator "00050” may have access to vehicle "382B2G”.
- Each dataset stored in the operator database also includes a transaction code.
- the transaction codes for the operator database are independent of the transaction codes for the vehicle database (TABLE 1).
- TABLE 3 is the group database that provides authorization based on various parameters for the groups to utilize the vehicles associated therewith.
- the group database includes group ID (to provide relation to TABLES 1 and 2), days, times, and locations.
- a transaction code is associated with each dataset for synchronization purposes within the different databases (e.g., databases 312a, 312b, and 312c).
- members of group "A4" are authorized to operate vehicles between Monday and Friday during the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., (i.e., 0800-1700) in locations "L8" and "L17".
- relational databases allows the system to (i) limit the amount of data communicated across the communication links 117 and 130, and (ii) simplify the process of associating vehicles and operators. For example, if a new vehicle is added to a fleet of vehicles, then the supervisor may simply add the vehicle to a group rather than having to assign individual operators to the vehicle directly.
- the information stored in the databases may be generated, edited, and/or deleted by an operator of the supervisor interface 205, and may be maintained by the database engine 210.
- a transaction code may be assigned thereto.
- a time-stamp may be assigned to the information.
- memory requirements may be reduced.
- the databases may be maintained separately or integrated into a single database as understood in the art.
- the datasets stored in the databases are thereafter downloaded from the management computer network 115 to the wireless infrastructure unit 225 and, ultimately, the asset communicators 120 as discussed with regard FIGURES 3 and 6A.
- the asset communicators 120 in the cell 111 of the local monitor 110 of the wireless infrastructure unit 225 receive each dataset that is transmitted from the wireless infrastructure unit 225. However, the asset communicators 120 parse the datasets received from the wireless infrastructure 120 based on vehicle number, as understood in the art. For example, from the vehicle database (TABLE 1), vehicle number "372A7C” receives the information associated with transaction code "0173842" having a group identifier of "A4". Any data record thereafter received being associated with group identifier "A4" is received and stored and/or updated by the vehicle "372A7C". For example, from the operator database (TABLE 2), transactions ""0024187” and "0024189", and information associated therewith are stored by the asset communicator 120.
- vehicle database TABLE 1
- vehicle number "372A7C” receives the information associated with transaction code "0173842" having a group identifier of "A4". Any data record thereafter received being associated with group identifier "A4" is received and stored and/
- the dataset having transaction code "0047184" is stored and/or updated in the asset communicator 120.
- operators of the assets 105 may only access the asset communicators 120 and utilize the vehicles associated therewith by having their operator number and password accepted by the asset communicator 120.
- a potential operator unauthorized to access the asset 105 is unable to start the asset 105 if not authorized by a supervisor of the asset 105 by downloading access data to the asset 105 to provide access rights for the potential operator.
- the asset communicator 120 is intelligent and unrequired to have access to the management computer network 115, an asset 105 that does not have a communication link to the wireless infrastructure unit 225 and management computer network 115 still is operable by an operator. Therefore, the utilization of the assets 105 is unaffected by communication outages and out-of-range situations for the assets 105 to be operated. Thus, a robust wireless communication and asset management system is provided.
- the intelligent asset communicator 120 may have a user interface, including a keypad 332 and display 333, an authorized operator can directly modify the authorization database stored on the asset communicator using the keypad and display. For example, an authorized operator may permit another operator to use the asset 105 by typing the identification number of the other operator directly into the asset communicator 120.
- the access control also allows for turning off the asset based on location and time. Because the asset communicator 120 is intelligent, the asset communicator does not shut down the asset while in use and in motion, for example. Rather, the asset communicator 120 determines when a "significant" stop has occurred (e.g., the vehicle has stopped for a predetermined period of time), and the asset 105 is disabled by the asset communicator 120.
- the asset communicator 120 and/or wireless infrastructure device 225 may provide access to unauthorized operators based on business rules. For example, if the asset 105 becomes out-of-range for an extended period of time, the asset communicator 120 may provide access to a select number or any operator as the asset communicator 120 may consider that a communication problem exists (e.g., receiver failure). In the case of the wireless infrastructure device 225 not receiving communications from the management computing system 302 over an extended period, the wireless infrastructure device 225 may discontinue broadcasting data as it may be assumed that some or all of the data stored by the wireless infrastructure device 225 is invalid.
- a communication problem e.g., receiver failure
- FIGURE 11 is an exemplary flow diagram for determining and providing authorization of an asset for an operator utilizing the robust wireless communications system of FIGURES 3 and 6A.
- the process starts at step 1102.
- an operator identifier is received via at least one of a variety of input devices, including, but not limited to, a keypad 332, card reader, memory chip reader, barcode scanner, wireless receiver, and biometric scanner. It should be understood that a password may also be received depending upon the business and/or security requirements.
- a group identifier associated with the operator identifier is determined utilizing the database(s) stored in the asset communicator 120.
- a determination is made at step 1108 as to whether the operator is authorized to utilize the asset based on the group identifier.
- step 1110 a determination is made as to whether authorization to the asset 105 is granted based on the group, time of day, day of week, and/or location, for example. If authorization is granted, then the process ends at step 1112. Otherwise, the process returns to step 1104 to receive a new operator identifier.
- the robust wireless communications system 100c may have system behavior altered in a distributed manner.
- the system parameters may be utilized to control a wide variety of functions of the wireless infrastructure unit 225 and asset communicators 120.
- a generic wireless communications system may be provided to a customer, and the customer may alter the system parameters to customize the system according to desires and needs.
- FIGURE 12 is an exemplary flow diagram 1200 describing altering of system parameters for the robust wireless communications system of FIGURE 3.
- the process starts at step 1202.
- the wireless infrastructure unit 225 receives altered system behavior parameters.
- the system behavior parameters may include data transmission rates, access control rules, screen behavior, keypad behavior, power modes, and scheduling of communication, for example.
- the system parameters may be utilized in the wireless infrastructure unit 225 for communicating to the asset communicators 120 or may be downloaded to the asset communicators 120 utilizing the communication technique of FIGURE 4 to alter operational behavior. The changes may affect different asset communicators differently, unless a universal command is desired.
- an identifier is applied to the altered system behavior parameter(s) to form a dataset.
- the identifier may be a transaction code utilized to indicate a temporal relationship between edits made to other system behavior parameters.
- the dataset may be stored in a system behavior parameter database on the management computer network 115 and downloaded to the wireless infrastructure unit 225 as discussed hereinabove.
- the dataset is transmitted to the asset communicators 120 for altering operational behavior of the asset communicator(s) 120. It should be understood, however, that the system behavior parameters may be directed toward the wireless infrastructure unit 225 and not the asset communicators 120, and therefore are not communicated to the asset communicators 120.
- the process ends at step 1210.
- the system administrator interface 220 may be utilized rather than the supervisor interface 205.
- a system administrator who does not perform supervisory duties over the assets 105 or operators, is able to make the changes to the system parameters for controlling functionality of the wireless infrastructure unit 225 and asset communicators 120.
- a general concept that the robust wireless communications system 100c is capable of providing is the ability to perform actions based on business rules being violated.
- a supervisor may define business rules that, upon being violated by an asset, operator, supervisor, supervisory computer, for example, trigger one or more events by at least one component of the system.
- each of the components e.g., management computing system 302, wireless infrastructure device 225, and asset communicator 120
- the associated asset communicator 120 may (i) shut down the forklift 105, and (ii) communicate a message to the wireless infrastructure device 225, which, in turn, may command all or some forklifts 105 in the area to be shut down.
- the message may be received by the management computing system 302 and a system- wide message may be communicated to some or all asset communicators 120.
- actions may be taken independent of the communication link 130 being established. It should be understood that the business rules may be varied depending on the system requirements, business functions being solved, and creativity of the system operators.
- the robust wireless communications system 100b provides the ability to perform vehicle utilization monitoring in an event driven manner due to the asset communicators 120 being intelligent (i.e., having an on-board processor and associated software).
- Vehicle utilization relates to how the vehicle is utilized as attributed to an operator, for example.
- Other associated parameters such as location, shift, etc., may be utilized.
- TABLE 4 provides an exemplary dataset of utilization parameters for the asset 105 that are measured using sensors in combination with the asset communicator 120 and associated software. It should be understood that the parameters are exemplary and that others may be utilized depending on the particular asset associated with the asset communicator 120. For example, a fixed asset utilizes different parameters than a mobile asset 105, and different mobile asset types may have different parameters.
- FIGURE 13 is an exemplary flow diagram 1300 for the asset communicator to start and stop utilization monitoring as utilized on the robust wireless system of FIGURES 3 and 6B (uplink).
- the process starts at step 1302.
- an event start is received an operator logging onto the asset communicator 120.
- data counters are initialized for the particular operator.
- the asset communicator 120 may (i) record lifetime or global counters, such as motion time and engine idle time, for the asset 105, and (ii) reset or initialize session counters, such as motion time, lift time, engine idle time, number of impacts, number of starts, and battery level.
- data is collected by the asset communicator 120 for at least the global and session counters.
- the collected data is accumulated. In accumulating the data, both raw data and summary data based on the raw data may be generated.
- a determination may be made as to whether an event stop has occurred. The event stop may be initiated by the operator logging off of the asset communicator 120.
- an event start and stop may be generated by a predetermined time period, such as a 24-hour time period (i.e., at midnight), so as to generate utilization data for each and every time period.
- a predetermined time period such as a 24-hour time period (i.e., at midnight)
- the event start is triggered from a logout and event stop is triggered from a logon. If an event stop has not occurred, then the process continues to collect data at step 1308. Otherwise, at step 1314, the collected data is stored for the global and/or session counters.
- a transaction type specifier and transaction code may be included in the dataset. It should be understood that other information may be collected and stored by the asset communicator 120 based on the same or different events.
- the stored data may be communicated from the asset communicator 120 to the wireless infrastructure 202 using the process of FIGURE 9. The process ends at step 1318.
- the asset communicator 120 may operate independent of the wireless infrastructure 202 and management computer network 115. In other words, the asset communicator 120 need not have an active communication link with the wireless infrastructure 202 to perform its intended business function, thereby providing for a more robust asset management system. Additionally, by having the asset communicator 120 being able to perform its own monitoring (i.e., not merely transmitting the information to the wireless infrastructure in a "blind" manner), the amount of data communicated to the wireless infrastructure is greatly reduced. Moreover, because the asset communicator 120 summarizes the information collected during the session for the operator, the information becomes more useful in terms of monitoring and tracking the asset 105 as utilized by the particular operator.
- the summary data may also be stored in the asset communicator 120 as discussed with regard to the operation of the robust wireless communications system 100b until the asset communicator 120 forms an active asset communication link 130 with the wireless infrastructure 202. It should be understood that because the asset communicator 120 is capable of performing its own monitoring that the process of creating data is independent of the process of transmitting data, which, again, allows the asset communicator 120 to operate independent of the wireless infrastructure 202 and management computer network 115. Also, data can be used to affect future decisions, like whether or not OSHA needs to be entered by next operator.
- FIGURE 14 is an exemplary illustration 1400 of a mobile asset 105 having a power monitor for monitoring power usage according to FIGURE 13.
- the mobile asset 105 includes the asset communicator 120 coupled thereto.
- the mobile asset 105 further includes a battery 1405 coupled to a motor 1410 for driving the mobile asset 105.
- a power sensor 1415 which may be either voltage or current, is coupled to terminals 1417a and 1417b.
- One or more lines 1420 may couple the power sensor 1415 to the asset communicator 120 that, in turn, converts an analog voltage or current into a digital value indicative of the voltage level of the battery 1405.
- an analog to digital conversion unit (not shown) may be electrically coupled between the power sensor 1415 and asset communicator 120.
- the asset power monitoring may further include in-line, tap-in, and contactless current and voltage sensors affixed to different parts of the mobile asset 105 and connected via a cable to a logic board (not shown), which may or may not be part of the asset communicator 120.
- Currents may be converted to voltages by utilizing either a remote sensor or a converter, as understood in the art, located on the logic board.
- the logic board converts the incoming voltage level to digital data.
- the asset communicator may use configurable settings, such as filter time and voltage conversion factors, to determine, based on the digital data, the meaning of the incoming signals. To set or change the configurable settings, manual, automatic, or event triggered processes may be utilized.
- filtering may be utilized to filter the data over a period of time, and compare the data to a threshold level.
- the sensor data may be combined or utilized individually by the logic board to monitor the utilization of the mobile asset 105.
- an indicator such as a visual or audible signal, may be provided by the asset communicator 120.
- the power information may be stored by the asset communicator 120 and communicated to the wireless infrastructure 202 using the communication technique of FIGURE 9. Additionally, the power information may be event driven in that the data is determined based on an operator logging on and logging off of the asset communicator 120. A transaction type specifier and transaction code may be applied to the power information based on the events. It should be understood that the process for communicating power usage data of the mobile asset 105 may be the same or similar to that of the FIGURE 13. Alternatively, communicating power usage data of the mobile asset 105 may be the same or similar to that of FIGURE 16.
- a supervisor may determine how well a battery is operating based on historical data. The supervisor also may be able to determine misuse or disuse of the battery by an operator if the battery is being charged too soon or being charged too late. In other words, if a battery is being prematurely charged or being "deep" discharged, the battery may become damaged and the supervisor may be able to disrupt such practices by the offending operator(s). Because the asset communicator 120 is intelligent, the asset communicator 120 may be able to actively control improper practices. The battery usage may be monitored over time based on utilization of the assets 105 to determine whether the battery is operating properly based on usage.
- a desire of any asset or fleet supervisor is to have aggregate information about the assets and have all information about the fleet or groups/segments of the fleet without gaps in the information. Because the asset communicators 120 are capable of generating and storing information without having an active asset communication link 130 to the wireless infrastructure unit 225, utilization data of the assets are collected without having gaps in the information. And, because the asset communicators 120 store the information based on events until an active asset communication link 130 is established, information for the asset is not lost. In other words, the supervisor at some point in time has utilization information for all assets in the fleet at any given point in time.
- the supervisor interface 205 may execute a software program, such as the database engine 210, that accesses the databases 312a-316a, for example, and generates aggregate information.
- FIGURE 15 is an exemplary chart 1500 indicating vehicle usage during the course of a 24-hour time period on the robust wireless communications system of FIGURE 3. As indicated, an aggregate of vehicles in use are provided during the course of the day. At 2:00 p.m. (i.e., hour 14), 93 vehicles were in use. As expected, the vehicles being utilized simultaneously during first shift are more than those being utilized during second and third shifts.
- the combination of time and utilization from every vehicle in the fleet may be used to make numerous determinations about vehicle fleet utilization both real- time and historically.
- the utilization information of the assets may be based on any of the utilization information generated and stored by the asset communicator 120. Accordingly, the information is uploaded from the asset communicator 120 to the wireless infrastructure unit 225 and the management computer network 115 according to FIGURE 4. Such information may include in- use/unassigned, motion/idle, speed, etc. Because the utilization information is collected and accumulated, and/or summarized based on time, vehicle, and/or operator, a wide variety of aggregate data may be generated by the supervisor.
- the robust wireless communications system 100c may further be utilized to determine the total number of different vehicle used each day, the maximum number of simultaneous vehicles used by group, and the total number of vehicles used by the group. It should be understood that other aggregate data may be collected and processed. The functional utility of the system is achieved by the fact that data collection is automated and wirelessly communicated.
- asset location monitoring Another application that may be utilized on the robust wireless communications system 100c is asset location monitoring. Because the asset communicator 120 is intelligent, the asset communicator 120 is capable of determining its own location based on signal(s) received by the asset communicator 120. By having the asset communicators 120 determine their own locations or positions, the computations are distributed to the asset communicators 120, which reduces computational requirements for the management computing network 115 and bandwidth requirements for the robust wireless communications system 100c.
- the signal(s) that are received by the asset communicators 120 may be either terrestrial or satellite based. In the case of a terrestrial signaling system, the asset communicators 120 may receive signals from multiple local monitors 110 and perform a triangulation computation as understood in the art. In one embodiment, an averaging algorithm as understood in the art may be utilized to correlate the percentage of messages received over time from a local monitor 110 with relative distances. In other words, if the asset communicator 120 receives transmissions from one local monitor 110 during every transmission, and from another local monitor 110 during half of the transmissions, then the asset communicator 120 determines that it is closer to the first local monitor 110 by an approximate percentage.
- the asset communicator may use configurable settings, such as filter time and conversion factors, to determine, based on the data, the meaning of the incoming signals. To set or change the configurable settings, manual, automatic, or event triggered processes may be utilized. The combination of the signals received from multiple local monitors with a current motion status of the asset communicator 120 also may be used to determine the location of the asset 105 (e.g., if the asset is not moving, the asset communicator knows that the RF readings cannot show the asset moving). In the case of utilizing satellite communication, a positioning system, such as the global positioning system (GPS), may be utilized. Other techniques, such as signal strength, direction finding, and dead-reckoning, may also be utilized by the asset communicator to determine location.
- GPS global positioning system
- FIGURE 16 represents an exemplary flow diagram 1600 for determining and communicating position of an asset utilizing the robust wireless communications system of FIGURES 3-5 and 6B.
- the process starts at step 1602.
- two processes operate in parallel (i.e., location determination and location transmission processes).
- communications signal(s) are received by a mobile wireless device 120.
- the mobile wireless device 120 calculates the position of the associated asset 105 at step 1606.
- Information such as motion/idle status, odometer/compass (e.g., dead-reckoning as understood in the art), or other sensory data, also may be utilized in calculating the position of the asset.
- the position of the asset 105 is updated in the mobile wireless device 120.
- the position of the asset, as determined at step 1608, is stored by the mobile wireless device 120 in a location database as provided in TABLE 5.
- TABLE 5 is an exemplary list of data elements stored in an asset location database on the asset communicator 120.
- a transaction type specifier, transaction code, vehicle number, driver ID, current location start time, current time, location readings, engine state, and battery level may be stored in the asset location database.
- the vehicle location information may include a utilization status of the vehicle.
- the current driver ID may itself provide the utilization status, whereby if the current driver ID is not specified (e.g., -1), then the vehicle is identified as being unutilized.
- a transaction code may be assigned to form a dataset.
- the supervisor of the robust wireless communications system may determine an operator utilizing a particular vehicle at any given point in time or determine the location of vehicles that are unutilized at any given point in time.
- the data of TABLE 5 is communicated from the mobile wireless device 120 to the wireless infrastructure 202 at step 1618 as provided by the communication process of FIGURES 6B and 9.
- the position data may be stored by the mobile wireless device 120 for an indefinite period of time based on the communication link status with the wireless infrastructure 202, thereby providing for a substantially continuous position tracking system.
- the process ends at step 1620.
- the location determination process is continuous (i.e., after step 1608), and the location communication process repeats upon storage of the position data at step 1616.
- the wait times for an asset that is idle or stationary may be set to a very long time period (e.g., once per hour), and an asset that is in motion may have a shorter wait time, such as once per two seconds, for example.
- wait time may be independent of motion status of the asset.
- the wait times are system parameters that may be altered by the system administrator. It should be understood that in the event that an operator logs into the mobile wireless device 120, that the wait time may be automatically updated such that the mobile wireless device 120 determines its position at the shorter wait time (i.e., higher frequency rate). It should also be understood that the storage of the position of the asset in the mobile wireless device 120 of step 1616 may be performed based on the wait time. By storing the location information at lower frequency rates, the memory of the mobile wireless device 120 is less apt to be filled during periods of the asset 105 being idle.
- the asset communicator 120 may communicate or take other actions, such as shutting down the asset 105. For example, if a forklift enters a classified area of a factory (regardless of the wait time), the asset communicator 120 may shut down the forklift and communicate an alert message to the supervisor.
- the robust wireless communications system 100c provides for OSHA compliance with regard to the vehicle safety checklist information at the vehicle to keep an automatic record of safety checklists and identify safety issues.
- the asset communicators 120 allow checklist information to be customized by vehicle, and allows for the information to be updated wirelessly and automatically.
- the wireless communicator 120 allows an operator to answer the OSHA questions (e.g., operational status of a vehicle) independent of the asset communicator 120 being in active communication with the wireless infrastructure 202. In other words, the OSHA related questions may be answered when out-of-range of the wireless infrastructure and the answers may be communicated with the wireless infrastructure 202 upon the asset communicator 120 re-establishing a communication link with the wireless infrastructure 202.
- the OSHA compliance system is bi-directional in that downlink and uplink communication is utilized to provide the questions and receive the responses.
- a supervisor may utilize the supervisor interface 205 to (i) generate lists of OSHA questions and possible responses, and (ii) associate each asset with the appropriate list of OSHA questions.
- TABLE 6A contains the specific OSHA questions and possible responses for each question list.
- Each asset may be associated with the appropriate list of OSHA questions using the data in TABLE 6B.
- the vehicle profile information may include vehicle type, vehicle number, and question list number, for example.
- a transaction code may be stored with each dataset as entered and/or amended for the OSHA questions list details and vehicle OSHA question list information. And, because the database is relational, the questions may be specifically targeted toward a vehicle type and/or vehicle number.
- the datasets may be downloaded to asset communicators 120 utilizing the robust wireless communications system and download protocol of FIGURES 4 and 6 A for synchronization of the OSHA question list for the asset communicators 120.
- Each asset communicator 120 stores the OSHA questions of TABLE 6A associated with the question list number of TABLE 6B associated with the vehicle number and/or vehicle type. If the question list number is updated for the asset communicator 120 associated with a particular vehicle number/vehicle type, then the asset communicator 120 updates and/or replaces the OSHA questions with the updated set of questions associated with the updated question list number.
- FIGURE 17 is an exemplary flow diagram 1700 for performing the OSHA compliance utilizing the robust wireless communications system of FIGURES 3, 6 A and 6B. The process starts at step 1702. At step 1704, an authorized operator identifier is received by the asset communicator 120.
- question(s) related to operational status of the mobile asset 105 may be prompted independent of an active asset communication link 130 between the asset communicator 120 and wireless infrastructure unit 225.
- the asset communicator may use previously stored responses to the OSHA questions to limit the prompting of questions. For example, depending on the OSHA requirements, the checklist only may be required for every new operator, once per shift, once per every 24 hours, etc.
- the OSHA questions may be prompted having a predetermined duration between each prompt to encourage an operator to properly inspect the asset 105 rather than simply assuming the answer. Therefore, because the asset communicator 120 is intelligent and is capable of storing data therein, OSHA compliance may be performed in accordance with specifications of a given business.
- the asset communicator 120 may not prompt questions for answers if not required at that time. Additionally, based on certain conditions (e.g., mileage) of the asset 105, a different checklist may be prompted on the asset communicator 120.
- responses to the questions are received by the asset communicator 120. The responses may be entered using a keypad, touch screen, or verbal input (if the asset communicator 120 utilizes voice recognition software), for example.
- the responses to the questions are stored by the asset communicator 120. The responses may be communicated at step 1712 using the communication technique of FIGURE 9.
- the process ends. In addition to the questions being answered by the operator, different questions may be associated with different levels of severity as defined in TABLE 6A.
- the levels of severity may be determined by system parameters maintained by a supervisor. Upon a question being answered in a certain way, different results may occur. For example, if the answer to the question of whether the headlights are working is negative, then the asset communicator may perform an immediate action in shutting down the associated mobile asset 105 or performing another action such as entering a low-speed mode or turning on a siren or light. A less immediate action may result in an event occurring based on a particular answer. For example, a negative response to the question of whether the headlights work may result in an e-mail, page, or other notification being communicated to the management computer network 115 to indicate that maintenance is required for the particular mobile asset to which the asset communicator 120 is coupled.
- any of the components individually or combined may determine that responses to the OSHA questions have not been answered in a timely manner (i.e., a business rule has been violated). If such an event occurs, action may be taken by one or more of the components. For example, if a response to an OSHA question or questions is not received by an asset communicator 120, then the asset communicator 120 may shut down the vehicle, notify the supervisor of the non-responsive operator, and/or generate a visual and/or audible display, such as a light or siren.
- a visual and/or audible display such as a light or siren.
- management computing system 302 may communicate a message to all or some of the assets 105 that prevents the non-responsive operator from having access thereto. Additionally, the supervisor may receive a message, page, or e-mail indicating the non-responsiveness of the operator.
- Two-way text messaging may be utilized on the robust wireless communications system of 100c in accordance with the communication technique of FIGURES 4, 6 A, 6B, and 9.
- the two-way text messaging is both a downlink and uplink communication technique that allows a message to be communicated to any vehicle, operator, group, or all assets.
- Each message may be associated with a set of responses communicated therewith.
- the receiver of the message may select one or more responses and communicate the responses back to the issuer of the message.
- Status information such as time of receipt, time that the message is read, time of each response, and time when message is deleted, may also be communicated to the issuer.
- Two-way text messaging further may be used to set work instructions or other dispatch information to an operator of the asset 125.
- One exemplary use of two-way messaging includes warehouse management instructions. Additionally, the two-way text messaging may be used for the operator to communicate responses to the supervisor issuing the messages. While two-way text messaging may be performed utilizing the robust wireless communications system 100c, one-way text messaging or paging may also be performed on the system. As understood in the art, one-way text messaging does not require that information be communicated back to the device that issues the one-way text message.
- FIGURE 18 is an exemplary flow diagram 1800 providing a process for performing the two-way messaging on the robust wireless communications system 100c.
- the process starts at step 1802.
- a text message is received via the downlink communication process of FIGURE 6 A.
- the mobile wireless device 120 only stores text messages associated with the vehicle number, current operator, or group identifier. All broadcast text messages are stored. Other related message status information, such as time of receipt, may be stored.
- the message is prompted on the mobile wireless device 120 on the display 333 independent of an active communication link between the mobile wireless device 120.
- an operator uses the keypad 332 and display 333 to read the contents of the text message and view the optional responses. The time that the text message is read may additionally be stored.
- the operator may respond to the text message, and the response and other related message status information may be stored at step 1810.
- the operator may respond multiple times to the same text message.
- actions may be executed by the mobile wireless device 120 based on the response(s) to the text messages. For example, a response to a text message may cause the mobile wireless device 120 to shut off the associated asset.
- the stored data is communicated using the communication technique of FIGURE 9. Once the responses and status data are stored in the management computing system database 312a, a supervisor may view the data using the supervisor interface 205.
- a battery monitoring and charging application is capable of utilizing the robust wireless communications system 100c.
- Two concepts exist for the battery monitoring including: (i) notification to the operator that the battery voltage level is low, and (ii) notification as to (a) which charger to mount the battery and (b) which charged battery to install in the asset.
- the battery monitoring and charging application provides information to an operator of a vehicle to which a battery is coupled, and utilizes both the downlink and uplink aspects of the robust wireless communications system 100c. Additionally, the communication techniques of FIGURES 4, 5, 6A, and 6B may be utilized.
- the supervisor may set a low threshold value, such as 10.7 volts, for the battery voltage by utilizing the supervisor interface 205.
- the low threshold value is a system parameter that is downloaded to the asset communicator 120 using data from TABLE 6B and the downlink techniques of FIGURE 4.
- an exemplary flow chart 1900 provides a process for measuring battery voltage of an asset utilizing the robust wireless communications system of FIGURES 3 and 6B.
- the process starts at step 1902.
- a voltage level of a battery utilized by the asset is measured.
- the voltage level may be measured by the asset communicator 120 or by an external measuring device. Further, the voltage level may be measured at the battery or remotely (i.e., at another location within the asset and electrically coupled to the battery).
- a dataset, including a voltage level and identifier (e.g., vehicle identifier) of the asset is formed based on the threshold voltage level being surpassed.
- the dataset may include data elements provided in TABLE 7, including a transaction code that is temporal with respect to other related datasets, transaction type specifier, event time, driver ID, asset assignment status, battery threshold, and location reading.
- a visual and/or audible indicator may be used to notify the operator of the vehicle that the battery level is low. The operator may respond to the indicator utilizing the process of FIGURE 20, discussed hereinafter.
- the dataset is stored at step 1908, and communicated at step 1910 in accordance with the communication technique of FIGURE 9. The process ends at step 1912.
- an exemplary flow diagram 2000 provides for a process of changing the battery with a charged battery utilizing the robust wireless communications system of FIGURES 3-5, 6A, and 6B.
- the process starts at step 2002.
- the operator of the asset 105 issues a notice to the asset communicator 120, utilizing the keypad 332, for example, that the associated battery should be changed with a charged battery.
- a message may be communicated from the asset communicator 120 to the management computing system 302 using the immediate messaging technique of FIGURE 5.
- the management computing system may determine the appropriate replacement battery and charging station for the discharged battery to be placed.
- a message or notice may be received by the asset communicator 120 from the management computing system 302 using the immediate messaging technique of FIGURE 5.
- the message may include: (i) replace battery, (ii) specific battery charger to mount the discharged battery, and (iii) specific charged battery to install into the asset 105.
- a typical working environment 2100 is provide for a mobile asset 105 utilizing the robust wireless communications system of FIGURE 3.
- the mobile asset 105 includes the asset communicator 120 and a battery 2105a for operating the mobile asset 105.
- the operator Upon the operator receiving the message via the asset communicator 120, the operator removes the battery 2105a and replaces it with a charged battery, such as a charged battery 2105b or 2105c mounted on a battery charger station 2110 as indicated by the message.
- the battery charger station 2110 may include a battery voltage monitor device (not shown) as understood in the art to monitor battery voltage of the batteries being charged.
- a local monitor 110 may be coupled to the battery voltage monitor device to communicate status of batteries being charged to the management computer network 115 so that the management computer network 115 may maintain the status of all batteries being utilized by the assets 105.
- the battery 2105a is mounted to the battery charger specified by the message.
- the charged battery 2105b for example, indicated by the message is installed into the mobile asset 105.
- the asset communicator 120 further may prompt the operator to verify that the battery is successfully changed as instructed.
- a swap confirmation message may be stored by the asset communicator 120 and communicated to the wireless infrastructure 202 using the communication technique of FIGURE 9. The process ends at step 2010.
- FIGURE 22 is a top view of an exemplary mobile asset 105 capable of measuring impact of the mobile asset 105.
- impact sensors 2202x and 2202y e.g., accelerometers
- the impact sensor 2202x is oriented in the x- axis direction
- the impact sensor 2202y is oriented in the y-axis direction.
- the asset communicator 120 is capable of receiving impact signals from the impact sensors 2202x and 2202y, and determining the level, duration, waveform, and angle of impact.
- the axes of orientation for the sensors 2202x and 2202y may be different and that the asset communicator 120 may be programmed to compute the level and angle of impact based on the orientations as understood in the art. It should be further understood that other impact sensors may be oriented in different orientations (e.g., z-axis) and utilized to measure impacts from different directions (e.g., vertical).
- FIGURE 23 is an exemplary flow diagram 2300 for monitoring for an impact to the mobile asset 105 of FIGURE 22.
- the process starts at step 2302.
- an impact between the mobile asset 105 and another object occurs, and impact signals having different axes of orientation are received.
- the impact sensors 2202x and 2202y may be position, velocity, acceleration, force, and/or impact sensors.
- the signals generated from the impact sensors 2202x and 2202y may provide parameters to the asset communicator 120 for computing the g-force of impact or any other relevant impact parameter, including duration, waveform, and profile of impact, which may be utilized to distinguish a true impact from a bump.
- the time of receipt of the impact signals are determined.
- the time of receipt of the impact may be important in terms of rescue efforts.
- the time may also be critical in replaying the historical locations of assets at the time of the impact.
- the level and angle of the impact may be determined based on the impact signals.
- the angle of impact may be computed by a software program operating in the asset communicator 120 or management computing system 302, where the software program may convert the impact levels received in Cartesian coordinates (i.e., x,y values) to polar coordinates (i.e., r, ⁇ values) to produce magnitude and angle of impact as understood in the art.
- information of the impact including time, impact level, impact duration, impact profile, and impact angle, may be stored as a dataset. The process ends at step 2312.
- TABLE 9 provides an exemplary list of parameters that may be stored with the dataset in an impact database.
- a transaction code may be generated and stored with the dataset.
- the asset communicator 120 has other various pertinent information for impact analysis, such as driver ID, assignment status of the mobile asset 105, impact threshold (system parameter), engine state, and location, other relevant information may be included on the dataset.
- impact threshold system parameter
- engine state and location
- any other data stored or determinable by the asset communicator 120 may be included in the dataset.
- the dataset may be communicated from the asset communicator 120 to the wireless infrastructure unit 225 using the communication technique of FIGURE 9. Because impact of a mobile asset 105 may involve personal injury, real-time communication may be important, so the immediate communication technique of FIGURE 5 may be utilized to inform authorities. Receipt of the page by the management computer system 115 may trigger a notification to local authorities via a paging message, e-mail, or telephone call. An impact may be considered a violation of a business rule and trigger one or more events, such as preventing the operator involved in the impact from accessing the same or other vehicles.
- the asset communicator may also (i) shut down the vehicle, (ii) put the vehicle into a creeper mode so that vehicle may be moved if necessary, but not used as normal, or (iii) turn on a signal such as a light or siren.
- the dataset may provide the supervisor or authorities with information for reconstruction of the impact. For example, if a collision occurs between two monitored assets, then the cause of the collision may be determined by the data generated from both asset communicators 120.
- One scenario may include an unutilized vehicle recording an impact with a vehicle that is being driven by an identified operator.
- Scheduled maintenance of assets may be managed by utilizing the robust wireless communications system 100c.
- the management computing system 302 may predetermine, forecast, or project an expiration date for a scheduled maintenance for the assets being managed by the management computing system 302 based on historical utilization information. Assets may also be scheduled based on responses from OSHA questions or by the asset communicator 120 sensing maintenance problems with the asset 105. Maintenance events also may be scheduled manually, such as by a maintenance supervisor. To determine the expiration date, the management computing system 302 may inspect the vehicle utilization information of TABLE 4 as stored in a database 312, for example, and extrapolate future utilization of the asset 105. Additionally, software may track global parameters for the assets 105 to determine the expiration date for the scheduled maintenance. Such global parameters may include mileage and hours of use, motion, and lift time, for example, as well as calendar time since last maintenance. Additionally, the system may prioritize based on scheduled maintenance discrepancies between the projected and scheduled maintenance times.
- FIGURE 24 is an exemplary block diagram 2400 indicative of a method for managing scheduled maintenance of assets.
- the process starts at step 2402.
- schedule maintenance due for an asset by a predetermined expiration date is determined. The determination may be made manually or automatically.
- a message is communicated to the asset using the communication technique of FIGURE 9 to indicate that the scheduled maintenance is due by the predetermined expiration date.
- the message may be generated manually by a supervisor or automatically by the management computing system 302.
- the message is transmitted to the asset communicator 120 via a paging message to ensure that the asset communicator 120 receives the message with an appropriate amount of time to have the scheduled maintenance performed on the asset.
- an operator of the asset is notified of the scheduled maintenance by communicating the message to the operator at the asset via the asset communicator 120.
- the notification may be in the form of a visual display or an audible message.
- the predetermined expiration date is a mandatory date for which maintenance is to be performed on the asset.
- the predetermined expiration date is the date by which the asset must be brought into a maintenance center, or a maintenance worker comes to the asset to perform the maintenance.
- the asset communicator 120 and/or the management computing system 302 may be updated wirelessly. And, the asset communicator 120 may communicate with an on-board computer, such as an automobile computer, to assist with the diagnostics. If, however, the scheduled maintenance is not performed on the asset before the end of the predetermined expiration date, then the asset communicator 120 may disable, put into creeper mode, and/or disable certain features (e.g., lift). At this point, only an authorized user, such as a supervisor or maintenance personnel, may access the asset communicator 120 and operate the asset.
- certain wireless infrastructure units 225 may not include a communication unit 230a, 230b, or 230c. In such a case, the wireless infrastructure unit 225 communicates with at least one other wireless infrastructure unit 225 in order to indirectly communicate with the management computing system 302. For these and other reasons, an alternative embodiment of the robust wireless infrastructure 100c is provided.
- FIGURE 25 is an exemplary embodiment of a wireless infrastructure lOOe consistent with that of FIGURE 1 for providing wireless communications on a remotely populated fleet of assets 2500, such as railcars.
- the assets include a locomotive 105g and attached railcars 105h-105k, and railcars 1051 and 105m-105n unattached to the locomotive 105g. While the railcars 105h-105k may be within wireless communication range of the station 2502 and the local monitor 110, the railcars 1051-105n are unable to form a wireless communication link with the local monitor 110.
- asset communicator/local monitor pair 120/110 may perform the same or similar functionality as the local monitor 110 having its databases (e.g., 312b, 314b, and 315b) being updated via the local monitor 110. It should be further understood that the hardware of the local monitor 110 may be substantially the same as asset communicator 120.
- an asset communicator/local monitor pair 120/110 is a device that performs both asset communicator 120 and local monitor 110 functions. Alternatively, only a local monitor may be deployed on the locomotive or key communication point.
- the asset communicator/local monitor pair 120/110 may operate as a mobile local monitor, and communicate with asset communicators 120 that are unable to communicate directly with the local monitor 110 mounted to the station 2502.
- the asset communicator/local monitor pair 120/110 may be two or more devices coupled via a wired or wireless communication link.
- the asset communicators 120h-120n may operate in a "repeater" mode, where the asset communicators 120h-120n are capable of communicating through each other. In operating in the repeater mode, the asset communicators 120h-120n are capable of transmitting and receiving the information stored in their respective databases.
- the asset communicators 120h-120n may communicate directly with the asset communicator/local monitor pair 120/110 to form an asset communication link 130e or with another asset communicator (e.g., between asset communicators 120h and 120i) to form an asset communication link 13 Of.
- Asset communicator 1201 is shown to be attempting a transmission of data with potential asset communication links 130e/f.
- the robust wireless communications system lOOe is capable of determining the number of existing assets 105 operating on the system lOOe without having direct communication links to each asset 105 (i.e., without complete coverage). Additionally, the system lOOe may be able to determine the relative distances of the asset 105 from a local monitor 110.
- an algorithm may be utilized to determine the number of "hops", where the number of hops refers to the number of intermediary links between the asset communicator 105i and the local monitor 110, which is three in this case.
- each asset communicator 120 may perform a query to determine if a direct communication link 130i to a local monitor 110 may be established. If so, then the number of hops is determined to be one. Otherwise, upon a communication link 130e between the asset communicator 120h and the asset communicator/local monitor pair 120/110, the asset communicator 120h determines that the number of hops is two by adding one to the number of hops returned by the asset communicator/local monitor pair 120/110.
- the process may repeat for each of the asset communicators 120i, 120j, and 120k, for example. It should be understood that the algorithm may be performed in other ways, but that the functionality should produce the same or similar results.
- FIGURE 26 is an exemplary flow diagram 2600 for an indirect uplink communication with remotely populated assets utilizing the robust wireless communications system lOOe according to FIGURE 3.
- the process starts at step 2602.
- data is generated at a first mobile wireless device, such as the asset communicator 120n.
- the data may be stored at the first mobile wireless device until a wireless communication link is established with a second mobile wireless device or remote local monitor.
- the data is transmitted from the first mobile wireless device to the second mobile wireless device. Again, the data may be stored at the second mobile wireless device or remote local monitor until a wireless communication link is established with a third mobile wireless device or local monitor.
- the data is transmitted from the second mobile wireless device to the local monitor, where the local monitor may be mounted to a mobile asset or fixed to a structure.
- the data may be in the form of datasets, and have transaction codes associated with each dataset as per the uplink communication technique of FIGURE 9.
- the transaction codes may be used to identify the temporal relationship between datasets produced by a mobile wireless device. It should be understood that the data may be communicated, in either the uplink or downlink direction, between any two mobile wireless devices without either of the mobile wireless devices having a wireless communication link to any other mobile wireless device or local monitor 110.
- an algorithm is provided.
- the algorithm utilizes a listing of asset communicators 120 or remote local monitors through which the data has passed.
- An asset communicator 120 or remote local monitor does not send data through any asset communicator already in the list.
- the asset communicators choose a nearby asset communicator 120 or remote local monitor that is deemed 'closer' to the local monitor 110, where 'closer' indicates that fewer communication 'hops' are required to reach the local monitor 110.
Landscapes
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
- Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Human Resources & Organizations (AREA)
- Strategic Management (AREA)
- Economics (AREA)
- Entrepreneurship & Innovation (AREA)
- Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
- Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
- General Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
- Signal Processing (AREA)
- Tourism & Hospitality (AREA)
- Operations Research (AREA)
- Quality & Reliability (AREA)
- Marketing (AREA)
- Accounting & Taxation (AREA)
- Finance (AREA)
- Development Economics (AREA)
- Computing Systems (AREA)
- Educational Administration (AREA)
- Game Theory and Decision Science (AREA)
- Computer Security & Cryptography (AREA)
- Remote Sensing (AREA)
- Radar, Positioning & Navigation (AREA)
- Databases & Information Systems (AREA)
- Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
- General Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
- Medical Informatics (AREA)
- Computer Hardware Design (AREA)
- General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Mobile Radio Communication Systems (AREA)
Abstract
Description
Claims
Priority Applications (3)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
AU2003217186A AU2003217186A1 (en) | 2002-01-09 | 2003-01-09 | Robust wireless communications system architecture and asset management application performed thereon |
EP03713222A EP1574016A4 (en) | 2002-01-09 | 2003-01-09 | Robust wireless communications system architecture and asset management application performed thereon |
CA2473137A CA2473137C (en) | 2002-01-09 | 2003-01-09 | Robust wireless communications system architecture and asset management applications performed thereon |
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US10/043,361 | 2002-01-09 | ||
US10/043,361 US7356494B2 (en) | 1999-05-19 | 2002-01-09 | Robust wireless communications system architecture and asset management applications performed thereon |
Publications (2)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
WO2003061248A2 true WO2003061248A2 (en) | 2003-07-24 |
WO2003061248A3 WO2003061248A3 (en) | 2009-06-18 |
Family
ID=21926775
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/US2003/000690 WO2003061248A2 (en) | 2002-01-09 | 2003-01-09 | Robust wireless communications system architecture and asset management application performed thereon |
Country Status (5)
Country | Link |
---|---|
US (5) | US7356494B2 (en) |
EP (2) | EP2237233A1 (en) |
AU (1) | AU2003217186A1 (en) |
CA (1) | CA2473137C (en) |
WO (1) | WO2003061248A2 (en) |
Cited By (8)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US8060400B2 (en) | 2006-12-13 | 2011-11-15 | Crown Equipment Corporation | Fleet management system |
US8583314B2 (en) | 2009-08-12 | 2013-11-12 | Crown Equipment Corporation | Information system for industrial vehicles |
US9984341B2 (en) | 2006-12-13 | 2018-05-29 | Crown Equipment Corporation | Information system for industrial vehicles including cyclical recurring vehicle information message |
US10013815B2 (en) | 2006-12-13 | 2018-07-03 | Crown Equipment Corporation | Information system for industrial vehicles |
US10600256B2 (en) | 2006-12-13 | 2020-03-24 | Crown Equipment Corporation | Impact sensing usable with fleet management system |
US11079755B2 (en) | 2019-04-05 | 2021-08-03 | Equipmentshare.Com Inc. | System and method for autonomous operation of a machine |
US11225404B2 (en) | 2006-12-13 | 2022-01-18 | Crown Equipment Corporation | Information system for industrial vehicles |
US11651637B2 (en) | 2016-09-21 | 2023-05-16 | Equipmentshare.Com Inc | Method, system and apparatus for equipment monitoring and access control |
Families Citing this family (127)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US10361802B1 (en) | 1999-02-01 | 2019-07-23 | Blanding Hovenweep, Llc | Adaptive pattern recognition based control system and method |
US8352400B2 (en) | 1991-12-23 | 2013-01-08 | Hoffberg Steven M | Adaptive pattern recognition based controller apparatus and method and human-factored interface therefore |
US7769620B1 (en) | 1998-09-01 | 2010-08-03 | Dennis Fernandez | Adaptive direct transaction for networked client group |
US7966078B2 (en) | 1999-02-01 | 2011-06-21 | Steven Hoffberg | Network media appliance system and method |
US7656271B2 (en) * | 2002-01-09 | 2010-02-02 | I.D. Systems, Inc. | System and method for managing a remotely located asset |
US7356494B2 (en) | 1999-05-19 | 2008-04-08 | I.D. Systems, Inc. | Robust wireless communications system architecture and asset management applications performed thereon |
AU5588000A (en) * | 1999-05-19 | 2000-12-05 | Id Systems, Inc. | Fully automated vehicle rental system |
US6606561B2 (en) * | 2000-05-17 | 2003-08-12 | Omega Patents, L.L.C. | Vehicle tracker including input/output features and related methods |
JP3585422B2 (en) * | 2000-06-01 | 2004-11-04 | シャープ株式会社 | Access point device and authentication processing method thereof |
EP2073117A1 (en) * | 2001-07-27 | 2009-06-24 | Raytheon Company | Radio system utilizing open systems software support |
US8266124B2 (en) | 2001-12-18 | 2012-09-11 | Caldvor Acquisitions Ltd., Llc | Integrated asset management |
US7120830B2 (en) * | 2002-02-22 | 2006-10-10 | First Data Corporation | Maintenance request systems and methods |
US7133804B2 (en) * | 2002-02-22 | 2006-11-07 | First Data Corporatino | Maintenance request systems and methods |
US20030236601A1 (en) * | 2002-03-18 | 2003-12-25 | Club Car, Inc. | Control and diagnostic system for vehicles |
US7637816B2 (en) * | 2002-04-05 | 2009-12-29 | Wms Gaming Inc. | System and method for combining low-power signals and high-power signals on a single circuit board in a gaming machine |
US20060106742A1 (en) * | 2002-04-29 | 2006-05-18 | Speed Trac Technologies, Inc. | System and method for weighing and tracking freight |
US20060261164A1 (en) * | 2002-04-29 | 2006-11-23 | Speed Trac Technologies, Inc. | System and Method for Tracking Freight |
US6983883B2 (en) * | 2002-04-29 | 2006-01-10 | Speed Trac Technologies, Inc. | System and method for weighing and tracking freight |
US7798402B2 (en) | 2002-04-29 | 2010-09-21 | Bochicchio Joseph M | System and method for shipping freight |
GB0211644D0 (en) | 2002-05-21 | 2002-07-03 | Wesby Philip B | System and method for remote asset management |
US11337047B1 (en) | 2002-05-21 | 2022-05-17 | M2M Solutions Llc | System and method for remote asset management |
JP2004220433A (en) * | 2003-01-16 | 2004-08-05 | Komatsu Ltd | Mobile machine management system |
DE602004028121D1 (en) | 2003-01-31 | 2010-08-26 | Visto Corp | ASYNCHRONOUS REAL-TIME RECALLING DATA |
GB0308991D0 (en) * | 2003-04-17 | 2003-05-28 | Psion Digital Ltd | A data access replication or communication system comprising a distributed software application |
US20060059490A1 (en) * | 2003-07-15 | 2006-03-16 | Producers Assistance Corporation | System and method for documenting critical tasks in complex work environment |
US20050033598A1 (en) * | 2003-07-15 | 2005-02-10 | Producers Assistance Corporation | System and method for documenting critical tasks in complex work environment |
US20050029872A1 (en) * | 2003-08-08 | 2005-02-10 | Ehrman Kenneth S. | Universal power supply |
US7598842B2 (en) * | 2003-10-09 | 2009-10-06 | Symbol Technologies, Inc. | Secure mobile device and allocation system |
US20080015908A1 (en) * | 2003-11-03 | 2008-01-17 | B&G Technologies, Llc | Automated vehicle check-in system |
US20080133432A1 (en) * | 2003-11-03 | 2008-06-05 | Robert Ramseyer | Automated rental vehicle check-in system |
US20090212978A1 (en) * | 2003-11-03 | 2009-08-27 | B & G Technologies, Inc. | System for managing a fleet of automotive vehicles |
US20110093160A1 (en) * | 2009-10-19 | 2011-04-21 | B&G Technologies, Llc | Vehicle check in method |
US20060020527A1 (en) * | 2004-07-26 | 2006-01-26 | Bhally Mohsin S | Scalable asset visibility management system |
US20060020528A1 (en) * | 2004-07-26 | 2006-01-26 | Levenson Samuel M | Asset visibility management system |
US20060020499A1 (en) * | 2004-07-26 | 2006-01-26 | Jethender Aitipamula | Asset visibility management system with event correlator |
US20060020498A1 (en) * | 2004-07-26 | 2006-01-26 | Jethender Aitipamula | Asset visibility management system with rule engine |
US20060020529A1 (en) * | 2004-07-26 | 2006-01-26 | Yang Chao | Asset visibility management system with binding or unbinding assets |
US7522519B2 (en) * | 2004-08-31 | 2009-04-21 | Nokia Corporation | Apparatus, and associated method, for asynchronously pre-reserving channel to effectuate an interactive packet communication service in a radio communication system |
US20060089844A1 (en) * | 2004-10-26 | 2006-04-27 | Aerovironment, Inc., A California Corporation | Dynamic replenisher management |
US7444192B2 (en) * | 2004-10-26 | 2008-10-28 | Aerovironment, Inc. | Reactive replenishable device management |
AU2006218710A1 (en) * | 2005-03-01 | 2006-09-08 | I.D. Systems, Inc. | Mobile portal for RFID applications |
US7667573B2 (en) | 2005-03-01 | 2010-02-23 | I.D. Systems, Inc. | Mobile portal for RFID applications |
US7685063B2 (en) * | 2005-03-25 | 2010-03-23 | The Crawford Group, Inc. | Client-server architecture for managing customer vehicle leasing |
US20060284593A1 (en) * | 2005-06-21 | 2006-12-21 | Nagy Louis L | Wireless battery charging system and method |
US20070046425A1 (en) * | 2005-08-25 | 2007-03-01 | Booth Irene F | Car security device |
EP1770613A1 (en) * | 2005-09-20 | 2007-04-04 | Atlet AB | Warehouse management system with data input from industrial trucks |
WO2007036940A2 (en) * | 2005-09-30 | 2007-04-05 | Sandlinks Systems Ltd. | A wide area dynamic rfid system using uwb |
US7957990B2 (en) * | 2005-12-30 | 2011-06-07 | Reflexis Systems, Inc. | System and method for managing asset installation and evaluation |
US7660652B2 (en) * | 2006-02-02 | 2010-02-09 | Signature Control Systems, Inc. | Method, system and device for monitoring vehicle usage |
US20070250411A1 (en) * | 2006-03-29 | 2007-10-25 | Williams Albert L | System and method for inventory tracking and control of mission-critical military equipment and supplies |
US7873610B2 (en) | 2006-05-26 | 2011-01-18 | Andrew S Poulsen | Meta-configuration of profiles |
US20080023543A1 (en) * | 2006-07-25 | 2008-01-31 | Beisang Arthur A | Personal Verification System |
US7894826B2 (en) * | 2006-09-07 | 2011-02-22 | Qualcomm Incorporated | Vehicle identification system |
US20080177665A1 (en) * | 2006-10-25 | 2008-07-24 | Pieter Noordam | System and method for secure asset management |
US8345710B2 (en) * | 2006-11-10 | 2013-01-01 | Fisher-Rosemount Systems, Inc. | FDT for EDDL-based field devices |
US20090059004A1 (en) * | 2007-08-31 | 2009-03-05 | Speed Trac Technologies, Inc. | System and Method for Monitoring the Handling of a Shipment of Freight |
US20090099898A1 (en) * | 2007-10-15 | 2009-04-16 | I.D Systems, Inc. | System and method for managing work requests for mobile assets |
JP5065075B2 (en) * | 2008-02-12 | 2012-10-31 | 株式会社リコー | Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program |
CA2937962C (en) | 2008-04-18 | 2019-05-07 | The Raymond Corporation | System for managing operation of industrial vehicles |
US8301330B2 (en) * | 2008-05-02 | 2012-10-30 | General Electric Company | Method and system for providing supplemental services to telematics systems |
US8391834B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2013-03-05 | Headwater Partners I Llc | Security techniques for device assisted services |
US8406748B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2013-03-26 | Headwater Partners I Llc | Adaptive ambient services |
US8548428B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2013-10-01 | Headwater Partners I Llc | Device group partitions and settlement platform |
US8275830B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2012-09-25 | Headwater Partners I Llc | Device assisted CDR creation, aggregation, mediation and billing |
US8340634B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2012-12-25 | Headwater Partners I, Llc | Enhanced roaming services and converged carrier networks with device assisted services and a proxy |
US8832777B2 (en) | 2009-03-02 | 2014-09-09 | Headwater Partners I Llc | Adapting network policies based on device service processor configuration |
US8402111B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2013-03-19 | Headwater Partners I, Llc | Device assisted services install |
US8346225B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2013-01-01 | Headwater Partners I, Llc | Quality of service for device assisted services |
US9137739B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2015-09-15 | Headwater Partners I Llc | Network based service policy implementation with network neutrality and user privacy |
US8589541B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2013-11-19 | Headwater Partners I Llc | Device-assisted services for protecting network capacity |
US8125332B2 (en) * | 2008-11-21 | 2012-02-28 | Zoombak, Inc. | Geo-fence with minimal false alarms |
US9978186B2 (en) * | 2009-01-09 | 2018-05-22 | The Raymond Corporation | Information reporting system for managing a fleet of an industrial vehicles |
US9270559B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2016-02-23 | Headwater Partners I Llc | Service policy implementation for an end-user device having a control application or a proxy agent for routing an application traffic flow |
US10264138B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2019-04-16 | Headwater Research Llc | Mobile device and service management |
US10779177B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2020-09-15 | Headwater Research Llc | Device group partitions and settlement platform |
US9392462B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2016-07-12 | Headwater Partners I Llc | Mobile end-user device with agent limiting wireless data communication for specified background applications based on a stored policy |
US10715342B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2020-07-14 | Headwater Research Llc | Managing service user discovery and service launch object placement on a device |
US10237757B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2019-03-19 | Headwater Research Llc | System and method for wireless network offloading |
US9955332B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2018-04-24 | Headwater Research Llc | Method for child wireless device activation to subscriber account of a master wireless device |
US10248996B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2019-04-02 | Headwater Research Llc | Method for operating a wireless end-user device mobile payment agent |
US9565707B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2017-02-07 | Headwater Partners I Llc | Wireless end-user device with wireless data attribution to multiple personas |
US11973804B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2024-04-30 | Headwater Research Llc | Network service plan design |
US9572019B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2017-02-14 | Headwater Partners LLC | Service selection set published to device agent with on-device service selection |
US9980146B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2018-05-22 | Headwater Research Llc | Communications device with secure data path processing agents |
US10326800B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2019-06-18 | Headwater Research Llc | Wireless network service interfaces |
US10484858B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2019-11-19 | Headwater Research Llc | Enhanced roaming services and converged carrier networks with device assisted services and a proxy |
US9706061B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2017-07-11 | Headwater Partners I Llc | Service design center for device assisted services |
US11985155B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2024-05-14 | Headwater Research Llc | Communications device with secure data path processing agents |
US10798252B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2020-10-06 | Headwater Research Llc | System and method for providing user notifications |
US10783581B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2020-09-22 | Headwater Research Llc | Wireless end-user device providing ambient or sponsored services |
US10064055B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2018-08-28 | Headwater Research Llc | Security, fraud detection, and fraud mitigation in device-assisted services systems |
US9609510B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2017-03-28 | Headwater Research Llc | Automated credential porting for mobile devices |
US9954975B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2018-04-24 | Headwater Research Llc | Enhanced curfew and protection associated with a device group |
US10492102B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2019-11-26 | Headwater Research Llc | Intermediate networking devices |
US10841839B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2020-11-17 | Headwater Research Llc | Security, fraud detection, and fraud mitigation in device-assisted services systems |
US11218854B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2022-01-04 | Headwater Research Llc | Service plan design, user interfaces, application programming interfaces, and device management |
US10200541B2 (en) | 2009-01-28 | 2019-02-05 | Headwater Research Llc | Wireless end-user device with divided user space/kernel space traffic policy system |
US20100324955A1 (en) * | 2009-06-22 | 2010-12-23 | Mark Rinehart | Asset information reporting |
GB201013129D0 (en) * | 2009-09-24 | 2010-09-22 | Barloworld Handling Ltd | Authorisation system |
US9204415B2 (en) | 2009-10-30 | 2015-12-01 | Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation Of America | Communication system and apparatus for status dependent mobile services |
JP5478298B2 (en) * | 2010-02-25 | 2014-04-23 | オリンパス株式会社 | Portable wireless terminal, wireless terminal device, and wireless communication system |
US20110254687A1 (en) * | 2010-04-15 | 2011-10-20 | Nokia Corporation | Method and apparatus for activating a device |
WO2012027472A2 (en) | 2010-08-24 | 2012-03-01 | Copiun, Inc. | Constant access gateway and de-duplicated data cache server |
US10032120B2 (en) * | 2010-09-28 | 2018-07-24 | Symbol Technologies, Llc | Method and apparatus for workforce management |
US8941489B2 (en) * | 2011-10-20 | 2015-01-27 | Qualcomm Incorporated | Method and/or apparatus for geofence management |
AU2013235059B2 (en) | 2012-03-21 | 2016-06-23 | Powercast Corporation | Wireless sensor system, method and apparatus with switch and outlet control |
US8768565B2 (en) | 2012-05-23 | 2014-07-01 | Enterprise Holdings, Inc. | Rental/car-share vehicle access and management system and method |
US10515489B2 (en) | 2012-05-23 | 2019-12-24 | Enterprise Holdings, Inc. | Rental/car-share vehicle access and management system and method |
US20170108875A1 (en) * | 2012-07-23 | 2017-04-20 | General Electric Company | Vehicle Control System |
US20140025419A1 (en) * | 2012-07-23 | 2014-01-23 | General Electric Company | System and method to update and access asset information |
US8914225B2 (en) * | 2012-12-04 | 2014-12-16 | International Business Machines Corporation | Managing vehicles on a road network |
US20140278828A1 (en) * | 2013-03-14 | 2014-09-18 | Dean Dorcas | Method and system for deriving productivity metrics from vehicle use |
US9013323B2 (en) | 2013-03-15 | 2015-04-21 | Crown Equipment Corporation | Pairing of a battery monitor to a communication device |
US10311749B1 (en) * | 2013-09-12 | 2019-06-04 | Lytx, Inc. | Safety score based on compliance and driving |
US9830424B2 (en) | 2013-09-18 | 2017-11-28 | Hill-Rom Services, Inc. | Bed/room/patient association systems and methods |
WO2015061542A1 (en) | 2013-10-23 | 2015-04-30 | Greene Charles E | Automated system for lighting control |
US9635518B2 (en) | 2014-09-29 | 2017-04-25 | Avis Budget Car Rental, LLC | Telematics system, methods and apparatus for two-way data communication between vehicles in a fleet and a fleet management system |
CN107735920B (en) | 2015-05-04 | 2021-08-03 | 鲍尔卡斯特公司 | Automation system for lighting control |
MX2017015959A (en) * | 2015-06-08 | 2018-04-20 | Hussmann Corp | Food display system integrating retailer services with consumer engagement. |
US10156842B2 (en) | 2015-12-31 | 2018-12-18 | General Electric Company | Device enrollment in a cloud service using an authenticated application |
EP3291147A1 (en) * | 2016-08-30 | 2018-03-07 | Hitachi, Ltd. | System, method and server apparatus for distribution of service requests associated with maintenance services required for maintenance of industrial assets |
EP3523881B1 (en) | 2016-10-07 | 2022-12-14 | Powercast Corporation | Automated system for lighting control |
CN108960545B (en) * | 2017-05-19 | 2021-10-15 | 腾讯科技(深圳)有限公司 | Charging scheduling method, electronic device and storage medium |
MX2020011144A (en) * | 2018-04-23 | 2021-02-26 | Overcast Holdings Llc | Automated authentication systems and methods including automated waste management system with automated weight ticket and authentication. |
US11911325B2 (en) | 2019-02-26 | 2024-02-27 | Hill-Rom Services, Inc. | Bed interface for manual location |
US11503443B2 (en) | 2020-02-12 | 2022-11-15 | Honda Motor Co., Ltd. | System and method for providing marine connectivity |
US12012110B1 (en) | 2023-10-20 | 2024-06-18 | Crawford Group, Inc. | Systems and methods for intelligently transforming data to generate improved output data using a probabilistic multi-application network |
Family Cites Families (84)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US216976A (en) * | 1879-07-01 | Improvement in wagon-boxes | ||
US5178A (en) * | 1847-06-26 | Kotary engine | ||
US15419A (en) * | 1856-07-29 | Machine for sawing marble | ||
US130913A (en) * | 1872-08-27 | Improvement in hot-air furnaces | ||
US225707A (en) * | 1880-03-23 | Latch | ||
US184062A (en) * | 1876-11-07 | Improvement in milk-pans | ||
US3705976A (en) * | 1970-11-16 | 1972-12-12 | Michael M Platzman | Revenue control system for toll roads |
US4338587A (en) * | 1979-02-23 | 1982-07-06 | Chiappetti Arthur B | Toll collection system |
US4303904A (en) * | 1979-10-12 | 1981-12-01 | Chasek Norman E | Universally applicable, in-motion and automatic toll paying system using microwaves |
US4937581A (en) * | 1980-02-13 | 1990-06-26 | Eid Electronic Identification Systems Ltd. | Electronic identification system |
US4438491A (en) | 1980-10-14 | 1984-03-20 | Constant James N | Computer having plural IC chips with each chip including a transceiver |
US5192954A (en) | 1981-02-13 | 1993-03-09 | Mark Iv Transportation Products Corporation | Roadway antennae |
US4398172A (en) | 1981-06-08 | 1983-08-09 | Eaton Corporation | Vehicle monitor apparatus |
US4656463A (en) | 1983-04-21 | 1987-04-07 | Intelli-Tech Corporation | LIMIS systems, devices and methods |
US4549264A (en) | 1983-10-04 | 1985-10-22 | B.I. Incorporated | Time and accounting system |
US4603390A (en) | 1984-03-05 | 1986-07-29 | Soft Plus Corp. | Computerized parking system |
US4688026A (en) * | 1984-05-15 | 1987-08-18 | Scribner James R | Method of collecting and using data associated with tagged objects |
FR2617309B1 (en) * | 1987-06-29 | 1993-07-16 | Cga Hbs | SYSTEM FOR THE AUTOMATIC READING OF IDENTIFICATION DATA, APPOINTED ON A VEHICLE |
US5231584A (en) | 1987-12-28 | 1993-07-27 | Aisin Aw Co., Ltd. | Navigation apparatus with non-volatile memory for return to initial departure point |
US4979170A (en) * | 1988-01-19 | 1990-12-18 | Qualcomm, Inc. | Alternating sequential half duplex communication system |
US5204670A (en) | 1988-08-29 | 1993-04-20 | B. I. Incorporated | Adaptable electric monitoring and identification system |
NO303200B1 (en) | 1988-11-04 | 1998-06-08 | Merlin Gerin | Building engineering control unit with two-wire data and power supply line |
US5257393A (en) * | 1989-04-19 | 1993-10-26 | Jrm Consultants, Inc. | Serially controlled programmable test network |
US5101200A (en) * | 1989-06-09 | 1992-03-31 | Swett Paul H | Fast lane credit card |
US5166872A (en) * | 1989-07-17 | 1992-11-24 | Ability Technologies Corporation | System and method for controlling devices through communication processors and pluralities of address-associated device controllers sharing each communication processor |
JPH03113932A (en) | 1989-09-27 | 1991-05-15 | Toshiba Corp | Store and forward switching device |
DE3942070A1 (en) | 1989-12-20 | 1991-06-27 | Deutsche Lufthansa | DEVICE FOR MANAGING A VARIETY OF MOTOR VEHICLES |
IL93567A (en) | 1990-02-27 | 1993-02-21 | Israel Hirshberg | Self renting car |
JPH04920A (en) | 1990-04-18 | 1992-01-06 | Toshiba Corp | Vehicle detection device |
US5119104A (en) | 1990-05-04 | 1992-06-02 | Heller Alan C | Location system adapted for use in multipath environments |
US5347274A (en) * | 1990-05-17 | 1994-09-13 | At/Comm Incorporated | Hazardous waste transport management system |
US5253162A (en) * | 1990-05-17 | 1993-10-12 | At/Comm, Incorporated | Shielding field method and apparatus |
US5086389A (en) | 1990-05-17 | 1992-02-04 | Hassett John J | Automatic toll processing apparatus |
US5295244A (en) * | 1990-09-17 | 1994-03-15 | Cabletron Systems, Inc. | Network management system using interconnected hierarchies to represent different network dimensions in multiple display views |
US5151684A (en) * | 1991-04-12 | 1992-09-29 | Johnsen Edward L | Electronic inventory label and security apparatus |
US5281859A (en) * | 1991-06-13 | 1994-01-25 | Molex Incorporated | Automatically switched power receptacle |
US5218344A (en) * | 1991-07-31 | 1993-06-08 | Ricketts James G | Method and system for monitoring personnel |
US5287353A (en) | 1991-12-23 | 1994-02-15 | Square D Company | Apparatus for generating and sending a serial data packet for controlling a network of single point I/O devices |
JPH0668104A (en) | 1992-08-19 | 1994-03-11 | Minolta Camera Co Ltd | Mangement system for image forming device |
US5426425A (en) * | 1992-10-07 | 1995-06-20 | Wescom, Inc. | Intelligent locator system with multiple bits represented in each pulse |
US5396215A (en) | 1992-10-28 | 1995-03-07 | Hinkle; Terry A. | Vehicle operation inhibitor control apparatus |
US5321584A (en) | 1993-01-19 | 1994-06-14 | Tek Electronics Manufacturing Corporation | Battery and holder assembly for use with a battery operated touch pen |
US5631642A (en) * | 1993-03-12 | 1997-05-20 | Austec Electronic Systems Limited | Mobile object tracking systems |
US5327144A (en) | 1993-05-07 | 1994-07-05 | Associated Rt, Inc. | Cellular telephone location system |
US5682142A (en) | 1994-07-29 | 1997-10-28 | Id Systems Inc. | Electronic control system/network |
US5514967A (en) * | 1994-08-16 | 1996-05-07 | Zelm; Richard J. | Automatic insulation test equipment for testing high voltage electrical equipment at the rated voltage level |
US5835061A (en) | 1995-06-06 | 1998-11-10 | Wayport, Inc. | Method and apparatus for geographic-based communications service |
US5691980A (en) | 1995-06-07 | 1997-11-25 | General Electric Company | Local communication network for power reduction and enhanced reliability in a multiple node tracking system |
US5822309A (en) | 1995-06-15 | 1998-10-13 | Lucent Technologies Inc. | Signaling and control architecture for an ad-hoc ATM LAN |
US5794174A (en) | 1995-10-18 | 1998-08-11 | Trimble Navigation Limited | System for automatic vehicle location viewing via television |
US5660246A (en) | 1995-11-09 | 1997-08-26 | Products Research, Inc. | Vehicle access controller |
US5917433A (en) * | 1996-06-26 | 1999-06-29 | Orbital Sciences Corporation | Asset monitoring system and associated method |
US5892441A (en) | 1996-06-26 | 1999-04-06 | Par Government Systems Corporation | Sensing with active electronic tags |
WO1998016849A1 (en) | 1996-10-17 | 1998-04-23 | Pinpoint Corporation | Article tracking system |
EP0851701A3 (en) | 1996-12-24 | 1999-12-22 | Nec Corporation | Hand-off control technique for wireless ATM network |
US6240365B1 (en) | 1997-01-21 | 2001-05-29 | Frank E. Bunn | Automated vehicle tracking and service provision system |
US6006148A (en) | 1997-06-06 | 1999-12-21 | Telxon Corporation | Automated vehicle return system |
US6133853A (en) | 1998-07-30 | 2000-10-17 | American Calcar, Inc. | Personal communication and positioning system |
US6910628B1 (en) * | 1997-06-24 | 2005-06-28 | Richard P. Sehr | Travel system and methods utilizing multi-application airline passenger cards |
US6430488B1 (en) | 1998-04-10 | 2002-08-06 | International Business Machines Corporation | Vehicle customization, restriction, and data logging |
US6141610A (en) | 1998-09-08 | 2000-10-31 | Trimble Navigation Limited | Automated vehicle monitoring system |
US6104712A (en) | 1999-02-22 | 2000-08-15 | Robert; Bruno G. | Wireless communication network including plural migratory access nodes |
US6297768B1 (en) | 1999-02-25 | 2001-10-02 | Lunareye, Inc. | Triggerable remote controller |
US6505106B1 (en) | 1999-05-06 | 2003-01-07 | International Business Machines Corporation | Analysis and profiling of vehicle fleet data |
US7356494B2 (en) | 1999-05-19 | 2008-04-08 | I.D. Systems, Inc. | Robust wireless communications system architecture and asset management applications performed thereon |
AU5588000A (en) | 1999-05-19 | 2000-12-05 | Id Systems, Inc. | Fully automated vehicle rental system |
US7656271B2 (en) | 2002-01-09 | 2010-02-02 | I.D. Systems, Inc. | System and method for managing a remotely located asset |
US6463034B1 (en) | 1999-07-14 | 2002-10-08 | Qualcomm Incorporated | Method and apparatus for avoiding data loss during a PPP renegotiation on a Um interface |
US6330499B1 (en) | 1999-07-21 | 2001-12-11 | International Business Machines Corporation | System and method for vehicle diagnostics and health monitoring |
WO2001011473A1 (en) * | 1999-08-10 | 2001-02-15 | Bonita Software, Inc. | Transfer time optimization between handheld wireless devices |
US20110208567A9 (en) | 1999-08-23 | 2011-08-25 | Roddy Nicholas E | System and method for managing a fleet of remote assets |
US7783507B2 (en) | 1999-08-23 | 2010-08-24 | General Electric Company | System and method for managing a fleet of remote assets |
US6539393B1 (en) | 1999-09-30 | 2003-03-25 | Hill-Rom Services, Inc. | Portable locator system |
EP1242906A2 (en) * | 1999-11-16 | 2002-09-25 | Dana Corporation | System and method for virtual rental fleet, modeling a simulated fleet of assets and disposing of assets |
US6614349B1 (en) | 1999-12-03 | 2003-09-02 | Airbiquity Inc. | Facility and method for tracking physical assets |
US6654363B1 (en) | 1999-12-28 | 2003-11-25 | Nortel Networks Limited | IP QOS adaptation and management system and method |
US6507786B2 (en) | 2000-05-17 | 2003-01-14 | Omega Patents, L.L.C. | Vehicle tracker with user registration reminder and related methods |
US6609082B2 (en) | 2001-03-22 | 2003-08-19 | David S. Wagner | Machine control device |
US20030074244A1 (en) | 2001-04-11 | 2003-04-17 | Braxton Charles R. | Distributed energy technology assurance |
US7177738B2 (en) | 2001-05-30 | 2007-02-13 | Alpine Electronics, Inc. | Vehicle management system |
US6662091B2 (en) | 2001-06-29 | 2003-12-09 | Battelle Memorial Institute | Diagnostics/prognostics using wireless links |
US7433826B2 (en) | 2001-09-19 | 2008-10-07 | Eleytheria, Ltd | System and method for identity validation for a regulated transaction |
US20030171939A1 (en) | 2002-01-23 | 2003-09-11 | Millennium Information Systems Llc | Method and apparatus for prescreening passengers |
US7096161B2 (en) | 2002-12-12 | 2006-08-22 | Pharmecology Associates, Llc | Pharmaceutical hazardous waste identification and management system |
-
2002
- 2002-01-09 US US10/043,361 patent/US7356494B2/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
-
2003
- 2003-01-09 AU AU2003217186A patent/AU2003217186A1/en not_active Abandoned
- 2003-01-09 EP EP10163497A patent/EP2237233A1/en not_active Withdrawn
- 2003-01-09 EP EP03713222A patent/EP1574016A4/en not_active Withdrawn
- 2003-01-09 WO PCT/US2003/000690 patent/WO2003061248A2/en not_active Application Discontinuation
- 2003-01-09 CA CA2473137A patent/CA2473137C/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 2003-04-25 US US10/426,164 patent/US7171381B2/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 2003-04-28 US US10/426,085 patent/US7165040B2/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 2003-04-28 US US10/426,175 patent/US7707054B2/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
-
2007
- 2007-08-29 US US11/846,942 patent/US20070290840A1/en not_active Abandoned
Non-Patent Citations (2)
Title |
---|
DEIERLEIN, BOB.: 'Warehouse Workhorse Goes High-Tech' BEVERAGE WORLD vol. 119, no. 1688, 15 March 2000, pages 98 - 99 * |
See also references of EP1574016A2 * |
Cited By (14)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US11225404B2 (en) | 2006-12-13 | 2022-01-18 | Crown Equipment Corporation | Information system for industrial vehicles |
US8249910B2 (en) | 2006-12-13 | 2012-08-21 | Crown Equipment Corporation | Fleet management system |
US11947361B2 (en) | 2006-12-13 | 2024-04-02 | Crown Equipment Corporation | Fleet management system |
US8060400B2 (en) | 2006-12-13 | 2011-11-15 | Crown Equipment Corporation | Fleet management system |
US9984341B2 (en) | 2006-12-13 | 2018-05-29 | Crown Equipment Corporation | Information system for industrial vehicles including cyclical recurring vehicle information message |
US10013815B2 (en) | 2006-12-13 | 2018-07-03 | Crown Equipment Corporation | Information system for industrial vehicles |
US10599160B2 (en) | 2006-12-13 | 2020-03-24 | Crown Equipment Corporation | Fleet management system |
US10600256B2 (en) | 2006-12-13 | 2020-03-24 | Crown Equipment Corporation | Impact sensing usable with fleet management system |
US10810521B2 (en) | 2006-12-13 | 2020-10-20 | Crown Equipment Corporation | Information system for industrial vehicles including cyclical recurring vehicle information message |
US11823502B2 (en) | 2006-12-13 | 2023-11-21 | Crown Equipment Corporation | Impact sensing usable with fleet management system |
US8725345B2 (en) | 2009-08-12 | 2014-05-13 | Crown Equipment Corporation | Information system for industrial vehicles |
US8583314B2 (en) | 2009-08-12 | 2013-11-12 | Crown Equipment Corporation | Information system for industrial vehicles |
US11651637B2 (en) | 2016-09-21 | 2023-05-16 | Equipmentshare.Com Inc | Method, system and apparatus for equipment monitoring and access control |
US11079755B2 (en) | 2019-04-05 | 2021-08-03 | Equipmentshare.Com Inc. | System and method for autonomous operation of a machine |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
US7707054B2 (en) | 2010-04-27 |
EP1574016A2 (en) | 2005-09-14 |
US20030130913A1 (en) | 2003-07-10 |
AU2003217186A8 (en) | 2009-07-30 |
CA2473137C (en) | 2015-11-24 |
WO2003061248A3 (en) | 2009-06-18 |
AU2003217186A1 (en) | 2003-07-30 |
US20070290840A1 (en) | 2007-12-20 |
EP2237233A1 (en) | 2010-10-06 |
US20030195825A1 (en) | 2003-10-16 |
US20040015419A1 (en) | 2004-01-22 |
US7356494B2 (en) | 2008-04-08 |
US20030216976A1 (en) | 2003-11-20 |
US7165040B2 (en) | 2007-01-16 |
US7171381B2 (en) | 2007-01-30 |
EP1574016A4 (en) | 2010-04-28 |
CA2473137A1 (en) | 2003-07-24 |
Similar Documents
Publication | Publication Date | Title |
---|---|---|
CA2473137C (en) | Robust wireless communications system architecture and asset management applications performed thereon | |
US7911320B2 (en) | Mobile asset data management system | |
US20080015955A1 (en) | Mobile asset data management system | |
US20090099898A1 (en) | System and method for managing work requests for mobile assets | |
US20210084458A1 (en) | System and method for using a monitoring device to efficiently manage and assure the safety, quality and security of goods stored within a truck, tractor or trailer transported via a roadway | |
US8103402B2 (en) | Apparatus, method and system for enforcing vehicle operator policy compliance | |
US7138913B2 (en) | Selective reporting of events in asset tracking system | |
US7463951B2 (en) | Telematics method and system | |
US6736317B1 (en) | Real time internet-based transit management and control system with wireless vehicular data link | |
US20100145865A1 (en) | Managing and securing construction and rental equipment | |
CN102574528A (en) | Impact sensing usable with fleet management system | |
US20020156553A1 (en) | Public access vehicle system |
Legal Events
Date | Code | Title | Description |
---|---|---|---|
AK | Designated states |
Kind code of ref document: A2 Designated state(s): AE AG AL AM AT AU AZ BA BB BG BR BY BZ CA CH CN CO CR CU CZ DE DK DM DZ EC EE ES FI GB GD GE GH GM HR HU ID IL IN IS JP KE KG KP KR KZ LC LK LR LS LT LU LV MA MD MG MK MN MW MX MZ NO NZ OM PH PL PT RO RU SC SD SE SG SK SL TJ TM TN TR TT TZ UA UG UZ VC VN YU ZA ZM ZW |
|
AL | Designated countries for regional patents |
Kind code of ref document: A2 Designated state(s): GH GM KE LS MW MZ SD SL SZ TZ UG ZM ZW AM AZ BY KG KZ MD RU TJ TM AT BE BG CH CY CZ DE DK EE ES FI FR GB GR HU IE IT LU MC NL PT SE SI SK TR BF BJ CF CG CI CM GA GN GQ GW ML MR NE SN TD TG |
|
121 | Ep: the epo has been informed by wipo that ep was designated in this application | ||
WWE | Wipo information: entry into national phase |
Ref document number: 2473137 Country of ref document: CA |
|
NENP | Non-entry into the national phase |
Ref country code: DE |
|
WWE | Wipo information: entry into national phase |
Ref document number: 2003713222 Country of ref document: EP |
|
DFPE | Request for preliminary examination filed prior to expiration of 19th month from priority date (pct application filed before 20040101) | ||
WWP | Wipo information: published in national office |
Ref document number: 2003713222 Country of ref document: EP |
|
NENP | Non-entry into the national phase |
Ref country code: JP |
|
WWW | Wipo information: withdrawn in national office |
Country of ref document: JP |