Patent ID: 6115655
Filing Date: 2000-09-05
Classification: G01C,G06Q,G07C

Abstract:
A method of measuring a distance traveled in a trip of a first type by a vehicle having a fixed base, the vehicle carrying monitoring equipment comprising a navigational receiver for receiving a location datum at each of a plurality of times and means of storing a plurality of location records, each record comprising one of the location data and the time at which it was received, in a log file, the method comprising the steps of:(a) driving the vehicle away from the fixed base;(b) storing in the log file, responsive to respective manual inputs provided by an operator of the vehicle, a plurality of time-stamped waypoint records, each waypoint record indicative of a terminus of one of the trips of the first type;(c) returning the vehicle to the fixed base and communicating the records from the log file to a base computer;(d) calculating from the communicated log file records, by means of an algorithm carried out by the base computer, a sequence of locations visited at which the vehicle stopped for longer than a predetermined minimum interval and a corresponding sequence of trip distances between sequential ones of the locations visited;(e) labeling, as a trip of the first type, each trip extending between two sequential locations at which waypoint records were entered, or between one location at which a waypoint record was entered and the fixed base.