Fleet management computer system for providing a fleet management user interface displaying vehicle and operator data on a geographical map

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9799149-B2
Application number	US-201213435934-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 30, 2012
Priority date	Mar 31, 2011
Publication date	Oct 24, 2017
Grant date	Oct 24, 2017

Abstract

Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to a fleet management computer system configured for providing a fleet management user interface. According to various embodiments, the fleet management computer system is configured for assessing operational data to determine a vehicle travel path and one or more operational characteristics indicated by the operational data. In addition, according to various embodiments, the fleet management computer system is configured for generating a graphical user interface that includes an evaluation results display showing the operational characteristics and a geographical map showing the vehicle travel path.

First claim

That which is claimed:

1. A fleet management computer system for providing a fleet management user interface, said fleet management computer system comprising:
one or more memory storage areas; and
one or more processors in communication with said one or more memory storage areas;
wherein said one or more processors are, collectively, configured to:
receive operational data comprising vehicle telematics data and service data, said vehicle telematics data generated based at least in part on vehicle sensor output at vehicle telematics devices located on at least one vehicle and being indicative of one or more vehicle dynamics for the at least one vehicle during one or more time periods, and said service data generated based at least in part on user input received by a user device and being indicative of one or more service dynamics for at least one vehicle operator during said one or more time periods;
generate an operational data set comprising a plurality of contextually interrelated operational data records, wherein each operational data record comprises concurrently captured operational data, and wherein one or more of the operational data records comprise telematics data and one or more of the operational data records comprise service data;
store the operational data set in the one or more memory storage areas;
determine, based on said operational data set, a vehicle travel path traveled by said vehicle during said one or more time periods;
determine, based on said operational data set, one or more operational characteristics of said vehicle dynamics and said service dynamics for said one or more time periods; and
generate a graphical user interface comprising:
at least one evaluation results display indicating one or more of said operational characteristics; and
at least one geographical map showing at least a portion of said vehicle travel path;
wherein said graphical user interface is configured to enable a user to select one or more geographical areas of said geographical map by drawing a two-dimensional shape on said geographical map; and

wherein said processors are configured to, in response to said user selection of said one or more geographical areas of said geographical map,
identify one or more area trips, wherein the one or more area trips each comprise a portion of the vehicle travel path determined to be located within a user selected geographical area and wherein each area trip begins when the vehicle enters the user selected geographical area and ends when the vehicle subsequently exits the user selected geographical area;
determine one or more area trip operational characteristics of the one or more area trips; and
display said area trips and said area trip operational characteristics in said evaluation results display.

2. The fleet management computer system of claim 1 , wherein said geographical map includes a vehicle position indicator configured for indicating the position of said at least one vehicle at any point during said one or more time periods; and
wherein said graphical user interface is configured for positioning said vehicle position indicator in said geographical map such that the position of said vehicle position indicator corresponds with a historical time selected by a user.

3. The fleet management computer system of claim 2 , wherein said graphical user interface includes a user-movable scroll bar configured to enable a user to select said historical time.

4. The fleet management computer system of claim 2 , wherein said graphical user interface includes a data field configured to enable a user to select said historical time by entering a time value into said data field.

5. The fleet management computer system of claim 2 , wherein said graphical user interface is configured to enable a user to select said historical time by selecting a user-selectable operational characteristic displayed in said evaluation results display, said user-selectable operational characteristics being associated with a particular historical time.

6. The fleet management computer system of claim 5 , wherein said user-selectable operational characteristics comprise:
a particular delivery stop;
a particular delay code; and
a particular engine idle segment.

7. The fleet management computer system of claim 2 , wherein said operational characteristics comprise activity segments representing periods of time classified according to vehicle activity or service activity;
wherein said one or more processors are configured for displaying said activity segments in said evaluation results display as a Gantt chart; and
wherein said Gantt chart includes a user-movable scroll bar configured to enable a user to select said historical time in relation to said Gantt chart.

8. The fleet management computer system of claim 2 , wherein said processors are further configured for animating the movement of said vehicle position indicator along said vehicle path based on said operational data.

9. The fleet management computer system of claim 8 , wherein said vehicle position indicator includes activity indicia indicating a type of activity occurring during said user-selected historical time, said activity indicia being configured to change during said animation to correspond with changes in said vehicle's activity.

10. The fleet management computer system of claim 8 , wherein said vehicle position indicator further indicates said vehicle's direction of travel.

11. The fleet management computer system of claim 1 , wherein said graphical user interface is configured to enable a user to define each of said selected geographical areas as a unique work area; and
wherein said processors are configured to determine one or more work area operational characteristics related to each of said work areas and display said work area operational characteristics in said evaluation results display.

12. The fleet management computer system of claim 1 , wherein said graphical user interface further comprises a plurality of user-selectable evaluation option tabs, each of said evaluation option tabs being associated with a certain evaluation of said operational data for determining a certain set of operational characteristics based on said operational data;
wherein said operational characteristics determined by said one or more processors comprise each of said certain set of operational characteristics associated with said evaluation option tabs; and
wherein said one or more processors are configured to, in response to user selection of one of said evaluation option tabs, display said certain set of operational characteristics associated with said user-selected evaluation option tab in said evaluation results display.

13. The fleet management computer system of claim 12 , wherein said graphical user interface is configured to enable a user to toggle between said evaluation option tabs.

14. The fleet management computer system of claim 12 , wherein each of said plurality of evaluation option tabs is associated with an evaluation for determining operational characteristics selected from the group consisting of:
delivery performance statistics for one or more vehicle operators;
a graphical representations of one or more vehicle and vehicle operator activities;
stop information for one or more vehicle operators;
delay code information for one or more vehicle operators;
efficiency statistics for one or more vehicles and vehicle operators;
time statistics for one or more vehicle operators;
time and distance information for a user-selected portion of a vehicle travel path;
efficiency statistics based on engine idle time relating to one

Assignees

• Davidson Mark J
• United parcel service america inc

Inventors

• Davidson Mark J

Classifications

• H04W4/021

  Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences · CPC title

• G08G1/20

  Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles · CPC title

• G08G1/202

  Dispatching vehicles on the basis of a location, e.g. taxi dispatching · CPC title

• G08G1/205

  Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental · CPC title

• G06Q10/0631

  Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations · CPC title