BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

Embodiments of the present invention relate to tracking mobile and stationary objects relative to each other using geolocation data, and more particularly to generating a geofence related to the geolocation of a mobile asset.

Background Art

GPS, which stands for Global Positioning System, is a navigational system using satellite signals to determine the location of a receiver on or above the earth's surface. At least 24 GPS satellites are in orbit above the earth, each transmitting its position and the time to all receivers within line of sight. The satellites are spaced so that from any point on earth, four satellites will be above the horizon. On the ground, a GPS receiver receives the signals from the satellites and can calculate the geographic position in latitude and longitude. Often the receiver is inside a mobile phone.

User accuracy refers to how close the receiver's calculated position is from the actual position, expressed as a radius. The user accuracy of today's GPS depends on a number of variables, but generally provides a 68% confidence interval that the location is within 10 meters of the determined coordinates. For example, GPS enabled smartphones are typically accurate to within a 4.9 m (16 ft.) radius under open sky.

A geofence is a virtual perimeter for a real-world geographic area. Geofencing allows users to set geographic boundaries around land zones or around point locations. For example, a geofence can be set as the perimeter of a school zone or around a point of interest such as a historical monument. Men the geofence perimeter is crossed by a GPS-enabled device, an alert can be sent to the user or operator via SMS text, email, or within an application on a mobile device.

Geofencing is often used to monitor information relating to an individual asset or an entire fleet of assets. Such systems are sometimes called “telematics” systems. Telematics systems gather data regarding the location of an asset, driver/operator behavior, engine diagnostics and asset activity; and display this data on software platforms in map or table formats to help fleet operators manage their resources.

Worksites such as quarries, streets being paved, and buildings being constructed, have expensive construction vehicles moving about. For surface mining, very large work machines such as off-highway trucks, large wheel loaders, large track-type tractors, excavators, and the like, perform work functions such as digging, dozing, and hauling. The movement must be coordinated to avoid interference between machines, vehicles, and people. Movement is also monitored to determine cycle time and other productivity measures.

For example, in a quarry, hydraulic mining shovels known as loaders combine the benefits of high digging forces with large capacity buckets. A loader may weigh 300,000 lbs, be more than 10 meters in length, and have a bucket capacity of 30 cubic yards. The loaders work in cooperation with mining trucks, which are oversized dump trucks. Empty trucks sit waiting in a staging area until dispatched to the jobsite where the loader is working (sometimes referred to herein as the “dig site”). A loader loads a load of rock and carries it a short distance to a truck that has travelled from the staging area to the dig site, and dumps the rock in the truck. One or more of the trucks may be at the dig site waiting to be loaded. Wait time is expensive due to the labor, fuel and other operational expenses to keep the machine running. Each loader may have to wait, too, depending on inaccuracies in dispatch, the worksite configuration and the number of trucks allocated. The time it takes to empty the truck, travel to the jobsite of the loader, receive a new load from the loader, travel to the dump site, and dump the new load from the truck is the cycle time of the truck. The shorter the cycle time the more efficient and cost-effective the work is.

Historically, the cycle time of an asset was measured by a supervisor using a stopwatch. The supervisor manually tallied the trip time, usually without any details other than the amount of time it took the asset to go from and return to the location of the supervisor with a stopwatch. The traditional approach is not particularly accurate or precise. The cycle does not account for any segments of the asset's trip, but only accounts for the total time of the total trip. It requires a supervisors time and attention. In addition, it required the supervisors line of sight to at least some portions of the roundtrip and manual tallies by the supervisor prior to any action to improve efficiency.

Newer systems impose a geofence around the dump site and another geofence around the staging area, and track the time it takes a truck to leave the dump site or staging area geofence, arrive at the staging area geofence or dump site, then return to the dump site or staging area geofence. Crossing the perimeter of a geofenced area sends a data point comprising the fence coordinates and time of crossing. Unfortunately, currently available geofence systems are not particularly accurate or precise due to a number of error sources. For example, given that the staging area may be large enough for many trucks to wait in line, and the truck to be loaded may be at the far side of the staging site, the time the truck enters the geofenced staging site is not really when it is loaded; loading may occur long after the loader enters the staging site. The other problem is that the loading site moves. As the loader has to drive further or closer into the staging site as more rock is removed, actual locations for loading change during the day. With traditional geofencing, this geofence has to be manually moved. Without a mobile jobsite to accurately measure the time it takes for each leg, it is difficult to optimize productivity of the material movement or production rate. It would be desirable to more accurately determine when the loading starts and ends for each leg of the cycle.

Similarly, in paving, the paver needs material supplied at the right temperature. Too many trucks waiting at the paver could mean the material is cooling down and there is a lot of waste in terms of fuel, labor, and material. Too few trucks means the paver would have to stop, which is very costly. Current geofence systems do not move and have to be manually updated or only have the ability to be in a certain radius which includes trucks that are not related to the operation because the shape is not flexible.

Another problem with the current geofence system is that readings are inconsistent, even within the wide range of accuracy. That is, many of the GPS readings are outside the confidence interval and skew the averages of the length of time it takes to complete each leg. It would be desirable to determine which readings are noise and to filter out the noise.

Yet another problem with the systems of the prior art is that the static geofences of the prior art systems must be manually moved when the assets whose cycle times are being tracked no longer trigger the geofence because their actual destination is no longer within the geofence. In prior art systems, a user must delete the geofence in the system and redraw a new geofence each time the geolocation of its points must be changed. This is so impractical as to render such systems useless in many if not most applications.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF EMBODIMENTS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

This system optimizes productivity calculations for jobs involving coordinated assets, whether mobile or stationary, such as that for mining, quarry, and paving, by measuring location, time, movement, and number of assets moving in and out of a mobile geofence(s). A GPS-receiving device is placed on or in each asset to be monitored. A geofence is created in relation to the GPS-receiving device and bound to it, so that when the GPS device moves, the geofence moves. The geofence perimeter is customizable as to shape and dimension in relation to the selected asset and as to whether the asset is inside the geofence or not. Preferably the GPS-receiving device is in a tablet or other mobile communication device that can communicate to a remote computer using wi-fi or cellular signals.

The GPS-receiver receives the time and location signals and calculates the location of the mobile communication device at periodic intervals. The mobile communication device transmits the location and time to the remote computer and stores the data in a database. Given the location and time signals, the location of the geofenced area and its direction and speed can be determined. The number of assets, location, and movement in and out of geofences are used for precise measurements for optimizing productivity.

To improve accuracy, the system stores only those readings that meet certain criteria, filtering outliers from the data.

Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a system for managing assets at a worksite. In one embodiment, the system comprises: a system computer device in communication with a database; a first communication device capable of being disposed on or in a first mobile asset, the first communication device comprising a receiver of geolocation signals, at least one computer processor and at least one memory resource storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one computer processor causes the first communication device to generate geolocation data related to its geolocation based on the geolocation signals, and to communicate the geolocation data over a network to the system computer device; a second communication device capable of being disposed on or in a second mobile asset, the second communication device comprising a receiver of geolocation signals, at least one computer processor and at least one memory resource storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one computer processor causes the second communication device to generate geolocation data related to its geolocation based on the geolocation signals, and to communicate the geolocation data over the network to the system computer device; and wherein the system computer device comprises at least one computer processor and at least one memory resource storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one computer processor receives the geolocation data from the first and second communication devices over a network and stores the geolocation data in the database and stores in the database at least one datapoint of geolocation data representing a geofence, wherein the geofence relates to the geolocation data of the first communication device.

In another embodiment of the system according to the present invention, the system computer device periodically updates the at least one datapoint of the geofence based on the geolocation data of the first communication device disposed on or in the first mobile asset. In another embodiment, the update by the system computer device comprises changing each datapoint of the geofence proportionally with a change in the geolocation data of the first communication device, in the same direction as the change in the geolocation data of the first communication device. In another embodiment, the system computer device determines a cycle time of the second communication device by determining the amount of time that passes after the geofence is triggered by the second communication device, wherein the geofence is triggered by at least one of the conditions selected from the group consisting of: (1) the geolocation of the second communication device is about the same as the geolocation of at least one of the datapoints of the geofence; (2) the geolocation of the second communication device is between at least two of the datapoints of the geofence; and (3) the geolocation of the second communication device is within a preset distance of a datapoint of the geofence. In another embodiment, the at least one datapoint of geolocation data representing the geofence is a set of datapoints that, when the datapoints are connected by a continuous line, forms a closed shape that starts and ends at the same datapoint. In another embodiment, the system computer device is preset to maintain the datapoints of the geofence such that the geolocation of the first communication device is outside the closed shape of the geofence. In another embodiment, the at least one datapoint of geolocation data representing the geofence is a set of datapoints that, when the datapoints are connected by a line, forms a shape comprising a series of straight line segments. In another embodiment, the at least one datapoint of geolocation data representing the geofence is a set of datapoints that, when the datapoints are connected by a line, forms a shape that is a polygon. In another embodiment, the system computer device periodically updates the at least one datapoint of the geofence based on orientation data of the first communication device disposed on or in the first mobile asset, wherein the orientation data comprises information generated by an accelerometer, magnetic sensor and/or power take-off sensor disposed on or in the first communication device. In another embodiment, the geolocation of the at least one datapoint of the geofence is at least a distance from the first mobile communication device that is greater than a dimension of the first mobile asset. In another embodiment, the geolocation of the at least one datapoint of the geofence is less than a distance from the first mobile communication device that is about a dimension of the second mobile asset.

Embodiments of the present invention are also directed to a method for managing assets at a worksite. In one embodiment, the method is performed by one or more computer processors, and the method comprises: generating geolocation data related to the geolocation of a first and second communication device, the first communication device capable of being disposed on or in a first mobile asset and the second communication device capable of being disposed on or in a second mobile asset; receiving, over a network, the geolocation data and storing it in a database; and storing in the database at least one datapoint of geolocation data representing a geofence, wherein the geofence relates to the geolocation data of the first communication device.

In another embodiment of the method according to the present invention, the method further comprises updating the at least one datapoint of the geofence based on the geolocation data of the first communication device disposed on or in the first mobile asset. In another embodiment, the step of updating the at least one datapoint of the geofence comprises changing each datapoint of the geofence proportionally with a change in the geolocation data of the first communication device, in the same direction as the change in the geolocation data of the first communication device. In another embodiment, the method further comprises determining a cycle time of the second communication device by determining the amount of time that passes after the geofence is triggered by the second communication device, wherein the geofence is triggered by at least one of the conditions selected from the group consisting of: (1) the geolocation of the second communication device is about the same as the geolocation of at least one of the datapoints of the geofence; (2) the geolocation of the second communication device is between at least two of the datapoints of the geofence; and (3) the geolocation of the second communication device is within a preset distance of a datapoint of the geofence. In another embodiment, the at least one datapoint of geolocation data representing the geofence is a set of datapoints that, when the datapoints are connected by a continuous line, forms a shape that is a polygon. In another embodiment, the method further comprises periodically updating the at least one datapoint of the geofence based on orientation data of the first communication device disposed on or in the first mobile asset, wherein the orientation data comprises information determined based on information generated by an accelerometer, magnetic sensor and/or power take-off sensor disposed on or in the first communication device. In another embodiment, the geolocation of the at least one datapoint of the geofence is less than a distance from the first mobile communication device that is about a dimension of the second mobile asset.

Embodiments of the present invention are also directed to a non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores instructions, executable by one or more processors, to cause the one or more processors to perform operations that comprise: generating geolocation data related to the geolocation of a first and second communication device, the first communication device capable of being disposed on or in a first mobile asset and the second communication device capable of being disposed on or in a second mobile asset; receiving, over a network, the geolocation data and storing it in a database; storing in the database at least one datapoint of geolocation data representing a geofence, wherein the geofence relates to the geolocation data of the first communication device, and wherein the at least one datapoint of geolocation data representing the geofence is a set of datapoints that, when the datapoints are connected by a continuous line, forms a shape that is a polygon; and updating the at least one datapoint of the geofence based on the geolocation data of the first communication device disposed on or in the first mobile asset by changing each datapoint of the geofence proportionally with a change in the geolocation data of the first communication device, in the same direction as the change in the geolocation data of the first communication device.

In another embodiment of the non-transitory computer-readable medium, the medium further comprises instructions to cause the one or more processors to perform operations that comprise: determining a cycle time of the second communication device by determining the amount of time that passes after the geofence is triggered by the second communication device, wherein the geofence is triggered by at least one of the conditions selected from the group consisting of: (1) the geolocation of the second communication device is about the same as the geolocation of at least one of the datapoints of the geofence; (2) the geolocation of the second communication device is between at least two of the datapoints of the geofence; and (3) the geolocation of the second communication device is within a preset distance of a datapoint of the geofence.

Objects, advantages and novel features, and further scope of applicability of the present invention will be set forth in part in the detailed description to follow, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

