Method and apparatus for managing information exchanges between apparatus on a worksite

A system for managing information exchanges in an outdoor worksite with an office on said outdoor worksite, said outdoor worksite comprising any one of a civil engineering worksite, a landscaping worksite, a road or rail link construction worksite or a mining worksite, the networked items of apparatus including mobile and fixed items of apparatus comprising:

• an electronic communications network connecting items of apparatus which perform tasks in connection with said outdoor worksite and which receive and/or send data, the items of apparatus comprise the mobile items of apparatus and fixed items of apparatus, the electronic communications network comprising:
• management means cooperating with a plurality of communications interfaces, a given said item of apparatus having a data link with a specified said communications interface, wherein all said networked items of apparatus are organized in a plurality of hierarchical levels according to a determined dependency relationship of the outdoor worksite, each networked item of apparatus being capable of communication with any other networked item of apparatus within communication range of its communications interface, said management means comprising:
• means for storing a correspondence between both a selected earth moving mobile item of apparatus and a selected fixed item of apparatus and an address structure reflecting the hierarchical position of those items of apparatus in said determined dependency relationship of the outdoor worksite in a database;
• means for operating by converting said address structures reflecting the hierarchical positions of the selected items of apparatus into corresponding device addresses for accessing said selected items of apparatus on said electronic network;
• and
• means operating on the basis of said device addresses to establish communications links with the selected items of apparatus, via their communications interfaces, in response to a call for position coordinates addressed with an address structure reflecting the hierarchical position of said selected items of apparatus, wherein:
• the address structure reflecting the hierarchical position of fixed or mobile items of apparatus is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), the URL having a directory-path portion corresponding to said address structure reflecting the hierarchical position of said fixed or mobile selected item of apparatus;
• and
• hierarchical positions of fixed or mobile items of networked apparatus are dynamically changeable based on the progress of the worksite, addition of one or more new items of apparatus to the worksite, and reassignment of one or more items of apparatus on the worksite.

A method of managing information exchanges in an outdoor worksite with an office on said outdoor worksite, said outdoor worksite comprising any one of a civil engineering worksite, a landscaping worksite, a road or rail link construction worksite or a mining worksite, by networked items of apparatus which perform tasks in connection with said outdoor worksite and which receive and/or send data, the method using an electronic data network comprising management means cooperating with a plurality of communications interfaces, a given said networked item of apparatus having a data link with a specified communications interface, said networked items of apparatus comprise mobile items and fixed items, wherein all said networked items of apparatus are organized in a plurality of hierarchical levels according to a determined dependency relationship of the outdoor worksite, and in that said management means which includes a processor and memory and performs the method comprising the following acts:

• storing a correspondence between each said networked item of apparatus and an address structure reflecting the hierarchical position of that networked item of apparatus in said determined dependency relationship of the civil engineering, landscaping, road or rail link construction, or mining worksite in a database, the networked items of apparatus including the mobile items and fixed items of apparatus, wherein said address structure reflecting the hierarchical position of fixed or mobile items of apparatus includes a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), said URL having a directory-path portion corresponding to said address structure reflecting the hierarchical position of said fixed or mobile selected item of apparatus;
• operating by converting said address structure reflecting a first hierarchical position of a selected networked item of apparatus into a corresponding device address for accessing said selected networked item of apparatus on said electronic data network;
• using that device address to establish a communications link with said selected networked item of apparatus, via its communications interface, in response to a call addressed with an address structure reflecting the hierarchical position of said selected networked item of apparatus;
• and
• converting an address structure designating an item of apparatus to be accessed in accordance with a second hierarchy, the second hierarchy being different from the hierarchy used by the management means to organize the hierarchical levels according to said determined dependency relationship, into the address in said electronic network of said designated item of apparatus, wherein the second hierarchy defines a type of networked item of worksite apparatus, wherein the first and second hierarchies are dynamically changeable based on the progress of the worksite, addition of one or more new items of apparatus to the worksite, and reassignment of one or more items of apparatus on the worksite.

A method of managing information exchanges in an outdoor worksite with an office on said outdoor worksite, said outdoor worksite comprising any one of a civil engineering worksite, a landscaping worksite, a road or rail link construction worksite or a mining worksite, by networked items of apparatus which perform tasks in connection with said outdoor worksite and which receive and/or send data, the method using an electronic data network comprising management means cooperating with a plurality of communications interfaces, a given said networked item of apparatus having a data link with a specified communications interface, said networked items of apparatus comprise mobile items and fixed items, wherein all said networked items of apparatus are organized in a plurality hierarchical levels according to a determined dependency relationship of the outdoor worksite, and in that said management means which includes a processor and memory and performs the method comprising the following acts:

• storing a correspondence between each said networked item of apparatus and an address structure reflecting the hierarchical position of that networked item of apparatus in said determined dependency relationship of the civil engineering, landscaping, road or rail link construction, or mining worksite in a database, the networked items of apparatus including the mobile items and fixed items of apparatus;
• operating by converting said address structure reflecting the hierarchical position of a selected networked item of apparatus into a corresponding device address for accessing said selected networked item of apparatus on said electronic data network, wherein said address structure reflecting the hierarchical position of fixed or mobile items of apparatus includes a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), said URL having a directory-path portion corresponding to said address structure reflecting the hierarchical position of said fixed or mobile selected item of apparatus;
• using that device address to establish a communications link with said selected networked item of apparatus, via its communications interface, in response to a call for position coordinates addressed with an address structure reflecting the hierarchical position of said selected networked item of apparatus, wherein the hierarchical position of the selected networked item of apparatus is dynamically changeable based on the progress of the worksite, addition of one or more new items of apparatus to the worksite, and reassignment of the selected networked item of apparatus on the worksite;
• receiving a position message from the selected networked item of apparatus the position message containing the coordinates of the selected networked item of apparatus and its identification information;
• and
• updating a position table with the coordinates of the selected networked item of apparatus.

A method of managing information exchanges in an outdoor worksite with an office on said outdoor worksite, said outdoor worksite comprising any one of a civil engineering worksite, a landscaping worksite, a road or rail link construction worksite or a mining worksite, by networked items of apparatus which perform tasks in connection with said outdoor worksite and which receive and/or send data, the method using an electronic data network comprising management means cooperating with a plurality of communications interfaces, a given said networked item of apparatus having a data link with a specified communications interface, said networked items of apparatus comprise mobile items of apparatus and fixed items of apparatus, wherein all said networked items of apparatus are organized in a plurality of hierarchical levels according to a determined dependency relationship of the outdoor worksite, and in that said management means which includes a processor and memory and performs the method comprising the following acts:

• storing a correspondence between each said networked item of apparatus and an address structure reflecting the hierarchical position of that networked item of apparatus in said determined dependency relationship of the civil engineering, landscaping, road or rail link construction, or mining worksite in a database, the networked items of apparatus including the mobile items and fixed items of apparatus, wherein said address structure reflecting the hierarchical position of fixed or mobile items of apparatus includes a Uniform Resource Locator (URL), said URL having a directory-path portion corresponding to said address structure reflecting the hierarchical position of said fixed or mobile selected item of apparatus;
• operating by converting said address structure reflecting the hierarchical position of a selected networked item of apparatus into a corresponding device address for accessing said selected networked item of apparatus on said electronic data network, the device address including data identifying a context of the selected networked item of apparatus such that the selected networked item of apparatus is ascertainable from other networked items of apparatus on the worksite from the device address alone;
• and
• using that device address to establish a communications link with said selected networked item of apparatus, via its communications interface, in response to a call addressed with an address structure reflecting the hierarchical position of said selected networked item of apparatus, wherein the hierarchical position of the selected networked item of apparatus is dynamically changeable based on the progress of the worksite, addition of one or more new items of apparatus to the worksite, and reassignment of the selected networked item of apparatus on the worksite.