Data System and Method for Quarry and Mining Operations

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021182758-A1
Application number	US-201916710510-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 11, 2019
Priority date	Dec 11, 2019
Publication date	Jun 17, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

A computer implemented system and method for quarry and mining operation is configured to coordinate operation of a plurality of departing and arriving road trucks and loading machines. The road trucks may arrive and depart at a scale housing having a scale for weighing the trucks. The scale housing may be associated with a front end system that can communicate arrival and departure data with a backend system. The backend system can receive customer order data and generate job orders for the loading machines. The backend system can also associate the job orders with the arrival data upon arrival of the road truck.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A data system for managing material loading at a worksite comprising:
a backend system including non-transitory data storage storing a plurality of pile locations each having a particular material, the backend system configured to receive a customer order data including a material type and a material quantity, to identify an identified pile location from the plurality of pile locations based on a comparison of the customer order data and the plurality of the pile locations, and to generate a job order associating the customer order data with a loading machine; a front end system configured to generate arrival data associated with a road truck arriving at the worksite and to communicate the arrival data to the backend system, the arrival data including a road truck identification; and an onboard controller associated with the loading machine, the onboard controller configured to receive the job order matched to the road truck identification by the backend system.

2 . The data system of claim 1 , wherein the front end system is configured to receive the identified pile location from the backend system and to communicate the identified pile location to the road truck.

3 . The data system of claim 2 , wherein the job order communicated to the onboard controller further includes a location status regarding the road truck.

4 . The data system of claim 3 , wherein the backend system assigns the job order to the loading machine based on one or more of proximity of the loading machine to the identified pile location or loading capabilities of the loading machine.

5 . The data system of claim 4 , wherein the front end system is operatively associated with a scale and is configured to generate departure data associated from the road truck departing the worksite, the departure data including a loaded weight measurement of the road truck from the scale and the road truck identification.

6 . The data system of claim 5 , wherein the onboard controller is further configured with an operator interface display and is configured to display a plurality of job orders matched to a plurality of road truck identifications.

7 . The data system of claim 6 , wherein the backend system is configured to generate an invoice based on the loaded weight measurement and on an empty or tare weight measurement of the road truck.

8 . The data system of claim 7 , wherein the empty or tare weight measurement is generated as arrival data by the front end system when the road truck arrives at the worksite and weighed on the scale.

9 . The data system of claim 8 , wherein the onboard controller is configured to compile job confirmation data including a loading time, a loaded material quantity, and cycle count.

10 . The data system of claim 9 , wherein the onboard controller is operatively associated with a machine transmitter/receiver to communicate with the backend system.

11 . The data system of claim 10 , wherein front end system is operatively associated with a wireless transmitter/receiver to communicate with the road truck.

12 . The data system of claim 11 , wherein the backend system is configured to generate a processing order to make material available if the customer order data cannot be filled.

13 . The data system of claim 12 , wherein the backend system is configured to conduct a data warehousing step in which the customer order data, the job order, arrival data, the job confirmation data, and the departure data, the backend system operatively associated with a subscription service portal to provide access to the warehoused data.

14 . A method of managing material loading at a worksite comprising:
receiving a customer order data specifying a material type and a material quantity; identify an identified pile location from among a plurality of pile locations based on comparing the customer order data with the plurality of pile locations; generating a job order based on the customer order data and a loading machine; receiving arrival data from a front end system indicative of a road truck arriving at the worksite, the arrival data including a road truck identification; communicating the identified pile location to the front end system for relaying the identified pile location to the road truck; associating the job order with the road truck identification; and communicating the job order to an onboard controller associated with the loading machine.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the job order is assigned to the loading machine based one of proximity of the loading machine to the identified pile location and loading capabilities of the loading machine.

16 . The method of claim 15 , further comprising receiving departure data from the front end system indicative of a road truck departing the worksite and including a loaded weight measurement;
associating the loaded weight measurement with the job order; and generating an invoice based on the loaded weight measurement and an empty or tare weight of the road truck.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the arrival data includes the empty or tare weight data obtained from a scale when the road truck arrives at the worksite.

18 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising receiving job confirmation data from the onboard controller, the job confirmation data including loading time, loaded material quantity, and cycle count.

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the job order is one a plurality of job orders communicated to the loading machine and the onboard controller displays the plurality of job orders on an operator interface display.

20 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising data warehousing the customer order data, the job order, arrival data, the job confirmation data, and the departure data and providing access to the warehoused data to interested parties.

Assignees

• Caterpillar Inc

Inventors

• Deenathayalan Manivannan
• Subramanian Gautham
• Weinhold Donald M
• Shatters Aaron R
• Spielman Michael A

Classifications

• G06Q50/02

  Agriculture; Fishing; Forestry; Mining · CPC title

• G07C5/0841

  Registering performance data (recording measured values G01D; information storage G11B) · CPC title

• G07C5/008

  communicating information to a remotely located station (transmission systems for measured values G08C) · CPC title

• G06Q10/087

  Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders · CPC title

• G06Q10/06 Primary

  Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling · CPC title