Information delivery and maintenance system for dynamically generated and updated data pertaining to road maintenance vehicles and other related information

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11270231-B2
Application number	US-202016983971-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 3, 2020
Priority date	Jun 29, 2007
Publication date	Mar 8, 2022
Grant date	Mar 8, 2022

Abstract

Selected types of information are collected from various sources and a portion thereof transmitted to a remote server. The remote server dynamically compiles and processes this data with information from other similar and separate sources and provides useful and relevant information, such as vehicle and location specific road maintenance radar, forecasts and treatment recommendations, and then transmits the data back to the vehicles in the field for one or more of the appropriate deployment of equipment, instructions and the automated or manual application of materials.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system comprising:
a server adapted to receive information from:
at least one maintenance vehicle-based system, located in a maintenance vehicle, adapted to forward to the server at least one first set of information from an area proximate to the maintenance vehicle, said first set of information including at least one of weather conditions, road conditions, vehicle characteristics, and a brief history of actions previously taken in regards to the area proximate to the maintenance vehicle;
at least one stationary system adapted to forward to the server at least one second set of information from an area proximate to the stationary system, said second set of information including at least one of weather conditions, road conditions, and a brief history of actions previously taken in regards to the area proximate to the stationary system; and
wherein said server is further adapted to generate a vehicle-specific recommendation for actions to take in regards to road maintenance, using at least one of the first and second sets of information.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the vehicle characteristics are predefined or dynamically entered.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein data is displayed by a webpage accessible by the maintenance vehicle.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the webpage contains at least one of the following:
a graphical user interface displayable on a vehicle mounted display;
a truck statistics portion including information about a specific vehicle;
a camera portion including a view from at least one camera;
a radar and weather portion including at least one of Doppler radar, weather statistical information and weather information; and
a map portion including map information showing a current location of the maintenance vehicle and status of various road conditions.

5. The system of claim 3 , wherein the webpage provides a spatial map showing vehicle locations, vehicle operations, and other state information.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the spatial map depicts a current location of the maintenance vehicle as well as current locations of other, different maintenance vehicles, using icons denoting each of the maintenance vehicle and the other different maintenance vehicles and wherein a color of the icons can be varied to indicate differing vehicle states.

7. The system of claim 5 , wherein text or visual information is depicted on the spatial map adjacent to or associated with each icon, and wherein said text or visual information can describe selected state information associated with the maintenance vehicle, comprising a truck identifier, a direction of travel, speed, status of GPS signal, status and activity, and a timestamp of last data update for an identified maintenance vehicle.

8. The system of claim 5 , wherein the spatial map also depicts, for one or more selected maintenance vehicles, a trace route over a selected period of time indicating a path of travel of the one or more selected maintenance vehicles over the selected period of time.

9. The system of claim 5 , wherein the spatial map also displays reported conditions and status of the maintenance vehicle, and activities including a treatment material, quantities of material used, blading, speeds, time and images.

10. The system of claim 3 , wherein a driver may accept or make modifications to the data displayed on the webpage.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the modifications are transmitted back to the server and saved as part of the brief history of actions taken in relevant region and used as a basis for subsequent strategies and recommendation.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein onboard cameras and other sensors trigger automatic shutdown of certain vehicle functions.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein historic information is factored into the vehicle-specific recommendation for actions to take in regards to road maintenance.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the historic information is dynamically analyzed and processed by the server to ascertain more accurate recommendations for the maintenance vehicle.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the server takes into consideration other maintenance functions and a vehicle profile or status to adjust the recommendations for the maintenance vehicle.

16. The system of claim 13 , wherein the historic information is factored into new forecasts, treatment strategies and recommendations, and said new forecasts, treatment strategies and recommendations are provided to maintenance personnel and traveling public.

17. The system of claim 1 , wherein the first and second sets of information are transmitted to the server over either public or private wireless networks or land-lines or wired networks or via satellite.

18. The system of claim 1 , wherein the server uses different types of IP addresses, including static, dynamic, and spoofed addresses to communicate with the maintenance vehicle-based system and the stationary system.

19. The system of claim 1 , wherein a web page is provided for a driving public to indicate road conditions as well as areas that have been cleared by snow plows, particular icy areas, areas with heavy traffic, and other information.

20. The system of claim 1 , wherein an internal web page is provided for use by a central dispatch to determine where to allocate resources and identify problem areas.

Assignees

• Concaten Inc

Inventors

• Rennie Christopher J
• Groeneweg Kevin K

Classifications

• G06Q10/00 Primary

  Administration; Management · CPC title

• G06Q50/10

  Services · CPC title