US 6,892,131 B2 · Vehicle tracking, communication and fleet management system

Abstract

A vehicle fleet management information system for identification of location and direction of movement of each vehicle in the fleet in real-time and automatic communication directly with management offices to report its location and heading, and status of predetermined events in which the vehicle may be engaged. One example is a cement delivery truck which monitors location, speed and status information such as start pour, pouring, end pour, wash and leave job, and automatically transmits this information with a management office without requiring affirmative action by the vehicle operator.

Claims49

Dependent claims

A vehicle monitoring system that monitors the state of a plurality of vehicles, said system comprising:

at least one mobile data unit that generates automatic status information corresponding to a delivery vehicle, wherein the automatic status information includes position information and delivery state information;
a delivery state database that store the automatic status information generated by the mobile data unit;
wherein the mobile data unit includes a controller, a GPS receiver coupled to the controller, and at least one vehicle condition sensor coupled to the controller, and said controller generates the automatic status information based on signals received from the GPS receiver and the vehicle condition sensor;
wherein the controller determines the delivery state information based on the signal received from the vehicle condition sensor;
and
wherein the vehicle condition sensor generates a mixing barrel status signal indicative of a charge operation condition and a discharge operation condition of a mixing barrel, and wherein the controller determines a Begin Pour delivery state and an End Pour delivery state based on the mixing barrel status signal.

3 more elements

A system for automated reporting of status of a ready mix concrete or other slurry material mixer truck, including state of events related to the usage, function, operation, location, delivery, systems or cargo of the truck, to a management office for system users including dispatchers and managers using a wireless network, the automated reporting system comprising, on board the truck:

a GPS receiver for receiving GPS signals and for determining position information,
a plurality of sensors for automatically detecting or measuring the current status of parameters corresponding to various selected ones of said events, and
computer apparatus for receiving inputs from the GPS receiver and said plurality of sensors indicative of the respective detected or measured status of parameters of selected events of interest, and for determining therefrom and transmitting to the management office over the wireless network, the state of the selected events of interest and location information in the form of digital data.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Vehicle tracking, communication and fleet management system

Life of this patent

Vehicle tracking, communication and fleet management system

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims49