Abstract:
In a world filled with disparate, computationally-potent, communication handhelds, any group of individual operators who need to coordinate their use of fixed or moveable equipment can use a sensor and power coordinator device, fixably mounted on each separate piece of equipment (or vehicle) and capable of supporting a varying bag of such handhelds, if such sensor and power coordinator provisions power and coordinates the metrics, authorization, and operation to enable sharing of vehicle-and-device-and-handheld-and-operator-specific data, thereby enabling aggregate operations by providing the collective operational stability while accommodating operator and handheld variation.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCES 
       [0001]    This patent application is a continuation-in-part of the patent application by the same named inventor, which was titled “Differentiated Hosting for Vehicles Interoperating With and Through Removable and Swappable Computing and Messaging Devices”, filed Apr. 16, 2013, and given Ser. No. 13/985,255, which is about to issue. The present patent application claims priority under 35 USC §120; and expressly both references the prior application and incorporates by reference all of that prior application&#39;s specification and drawings. 
     
    
     GOVERNMENT RIGHTS 
       [0002]    None 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    1.A. Field of the Invention 
         [0004]    This invention is in the field of cooperative, coordinated, operational integration of multi-device and multi-user combinations; more specifically, the field organizing a potentially varying bag of sensor-computation-messaging-and-display user devices (or ‘nodal elements’) with a second set of operational equipment, both moveable and fixed, to enable their use together in and as a single system; and most specifically, in the field of fixably-mounted coordinating devices which allow, support, and distinguish non-ordered, non-identical, user-and-device varying ‘nodal’ elements while effecting common interconnectivity and interactions, while provisioning electrical power to each connected nodal element from the more capacious source in the operational equipment. 
         [0005]    1.B. Description of the Related Art. 
         [0006]    When people try to coordinate their interactivity they face a conflict between stability and flexibility which is particularly problematic when different, particular operators may want to work with different, particular devices. With the transition from the personal computer, even the laptop, to today&#39;s handheld computational and communication devices (cell phones, smartphones, handhelds, and tablets), this conflict has greatly intensified. At one extreme are collections of fungible, identical elements; at the other, collections whose elements are each unique to their specific functioning. 
         [0007]    On the first hand, to the extent that the separate must interact, there must exist a commonality. What will distinguish a set of such devices from a jumbled and separably aggregable collection thereof, is the commonality of the terms of their interconnectivity which link only those members, and none others, together—the commonality being any combination of such subordinate necessary but non-sufficient aspects such as a common language, protocol, ownership authorization, or physically-enabling proximity or other like defining connectivity. (All humans may not speak the same language, but we form operative linguistic sets for each separate language; all devices that use CDMA form one set, as do all devices that use Bluetooth. Just as with humans, devices can belong to more than one ‘set’.) 
         [0008]    On the other hand, beyond the limits of required interactivity, additional differentiation will allow particular members to meet distinct functional needs and pressures. One user may require the larger display of a tablet, while a second may require the greater carrying ease of a smartphone—yet both may wish to interact as to the placement and movement of a particular pallet of goods, within the same distribution center. Just as both left and right hands have five digits with thumbs pointing ‘inward’ when at rest—but the left thumb points right, and the right thumb, left—yet both hands may be used to move an object too heavy for a single arm&#39;s strength. 
         [0009]    Commonality and differentiation have complementary problems; and the range of variation can extend from having fungible devices (each entirely identical to all other units in the set) to entirely unique devices (each particular to one specific operator/location/function). The more common individual members of a set are, the less organization is needed during operational use; but the more restricted will be the potential variations (if everyone has to carry the same tablet, its specifications will limit what any one can do). The more varied individual members of a set are, the more organization is needed during operational use (to avoid sending a device/operator to do a task which that particular device is not configured for); but the less restricted will be the potential variations (many more tasks may be attainable across the entire collection by sending out those device/operator pairings uniquely suited to the task constraints). 
         [0010]    The complexity and cost of managing an organized collection is generally reciprocally related to the complexity and cost of changing it. A more uniform collection is simpler to manage, but more difficult and costlier to change (since everything which is uniform must be changed together). In contrast a more diverse collection, while more difficult to manage (since substitutions, or other changes, must be tailored), generally is easier and cheaper to change (since adaptations already present can be reordered or else can be handled piecemeal). Going from English to metric measurements in a shipping operation which has only handled the first, is much harder and more expensive than doing the same for an international shipping operation already accustomed to dual measurements. 
         [0011]    Two general classes of organized collections are vehicle-based transportation operations, and manufactory operations. The first may incorporate any or all of humans (porters, stockers, stevedores, whether with or without hand tools or unpowered, dumb, trolleys), and any set of operational equipment such as forklifts, flatbeds (with or without tractor elements), conveyers, cranes, and the separable ‘planes, trains and automobiles’—all working with and in sourcing, warehousing, and destination locations. The second may incorporate a set of production lines, each comprising both operational equipment (individual machine tools with transformational and sensory capabilities) and human operators, where sub-steps of transformative operations (shaping, fitting, joining, finishing, packaging, and labeling) turn the production line&#39;s source inputs into a flow of finished goods or completed orders. 
         [0012]    The prior art has principally focused on an enforced uniformity and ‘top-down’ or ‘command-oriented’ infrastructures, that is, organizations which demanded uniformity and fungibility of the machinery and operators. While suitable for mass production and bulk transportation, it imposes a high and fixed overhead (in identicality of machinery, training, process flows, ownership, and controls). It also constrained or eliminated (as unprofitably complex and costly) flexibility and adaptivity. 
         [0013]    Additionally, the prior art focused on employer-provided and uniform collections because the producers and suppliers of these liked getting customers ‘locked-in’, as this lowered the cost to the producers and suppliers of on-going adaptation to diversity and created a greater barrier to competitive entry, the larger the cooperative organization became. 
         [0014]    One of the chief problems with the prior art was the assumption that all aspects of the commonality had to be identical in their presumption of an operative hierarchy, particularly as this seemed to match the existing ‘standard’ for communication, computational, and electrical power provisioning and control. There is a presumption that there is a centralizing, dominant, element which commands and controls all three of these functions, however much it may delegate the operative minutia to ‘subordinate’ elements. This also matches the very human, and most common social assumptions, about coordinated operations—that they require a hierarchy of leaders and supporters. Yet the reality is that both devices and humans, inasmuch as they have different capabilities, can often devise—particularly on an ad-hoc, varying basis—more effective interoperative groupings by sharing and coordinating the ‘leadership’ according to the relative strengths and demands upon the individual members; that there are times when for each of several different functions (computation, communication, power provisioning) the best and most effective organization could see three disparate ‘leaders’—particularly so, if the collection is one of heterogeneous units with differing capabilities. 
       Presumptive Uniformity in the Art 
       [0015]    The issue of compliance with Federal Regulations, will dictate some of the design of any device seeking to be used in commercial vehicles. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (part of the Department of Transportation) has issued guidelines under 49 CFR 385, 386, 390, and 395, in the form of a Final Rule, for Electronic Logging Devices (ELDs) that establish minimum performance and design standards for Hours of Service (HOS), requirements for mandatory use by drivers required to prepare Records of Duty Status (RODS), and requirements concerning HOS supporting documents. These regulations also address some personnel issues such as concerns about harassment and worker safety and privacy resulting from mandatory use of ELDs (the FMCSA and DoT were, in this, operating in coordination with the Department of Labor). These regulations do not dictate the implementation details, but boundaries to design and functionality concerns which the final product(s) must meet to be usable by the commercial motor vehicle (CMV) market. As the FMCSA states: “The technical specifications also address, m part, statutory requirements pertaining to prevention of harassment, protection of driver privacy, compliance certification procedures, and resistance to tampering. Furthermore, they establish methods for providing authorized safety officials with drivers&#39; ELD data when required.” (Final Rule_12-10-2015, p. 138.) 
         [0016]    Examples of the prior art include one line of products focusing on the ‘stand-alone’ or ‘nodal’ approach to interoperative devices, namely, the computational-display-and-communicating devices that each human user will interact with. One such is the DLI 8300 ‘Rugged Tablet’ (http://dataltd.com/dli-8300/) and the DLI 8500P ‘Vehicle mount terminal’ (http://dataltd.com/dli-8500p/); both being simply a ‘Wintel’ tablet computer with communications links, and each having an internal battery which limits fully active use to substantially less than a full shift (an estimated 4 hours for the 8300; an estimated 1.5 hours for the 8500P). A third, like example is the Psion 8500 (www.psion.com/products/vehiclemount/8515.htm); again, a discrete ‘nodal’ device without either a shared ‘backbone’ or ‘nervous system’ (hardware or software). A fourth and fifth such are Glacier Computer&#39;s tablet computer line, and the forklift monitoring device (http://glaciercomputer.com; . . . /accessories-forklift-monitoring.html)—separate and unintegrated. Several more variations are offered by Liberty Systems (e.g., http://www.liberty-sys.com/mobile-computers/lxe/vehicle-computers/lxe.htm). 
         [0017]    Another line of products focused on hardware which provide a basic functionality of vehicle tracking (locational rather than proscriptive, i.e. not ‘driving’ the vehicle), and that chiefly as part of ‘fleet management’, such as those comprising TeleNav&#39;s Vehicle Tracker™ (http://glaciercomputer.com/accessories-forklift-monitoring.html), which contain antennae and a ‘battery line’, but require a third-party (Telenav) hosting computer and service plan to provide a ‘back-office’ functionality (see, (http://www.teIenav.com/tnt/include/pdfs/2012/Integration_INT%20DS%2001%20V2.0%200112.pdf). A second such example is the ‘Mobile Computing Platform’ offered by a Qualcomm subsidiary, Omnitracs, as can be seen at: (http://images.qesmarketing.qualcomm.com/Web/QualcommQES/%7B0b93ea29-899a-495d-8f11-9d1168f3d7bf%7D_LCL1103_03-13_MCP200_Brochure.pdf). 
         [0018]    A third line of products are designed solely for remote reporting, e.g.: http://www.gps-telematics.co.uk/documents/AT220_appnote_canbus_faqs.pdf; or, http://www.mccdaq.com/usb-data-acquisition/USB-7000-Series.aspx. 
         [0019]    The principle problem with the prior art is that the solution sets are intended to be ‘unitary’—that is, all coming from the same provider and with each particular device being fungibly identical across the multiple vehicles and for the individual operators or users. That of course is preferred by the providers, who get customers who become locked in to that provider&#39;s solution; but that total commitment is both off-putting and disliked by potential users who prefer flexibility in commitment, cost, and computational/communication approaches. It also requires that there be a single, central, and prescriptive determination of what ‘nodal’ device set can and must be used—which ignores the reality of both modern living (namely, the growing ubiquity of personal, i.e. individually-owned, tablet computers, cell phones and smartphones) and the reasonable economics of a shared yet interoperable network. 
         [0020]    Suppose, however, that there were human, and organizational, reasons to prefer more variation and flexibility? Suppose one wanted to build up interoperability piecemeal? Or to use and test different handhelds for their different virtues (or weaknesses)? Or suppose the development of handhelds, and vehicle-embeddable devices, is happening with a shorter cycle time than can be used to depreciate an entire operation&#39;s installation? Or suppose that differing human operators wanted to use differing devices—including their own? Suppose differing groups sought to establish interoperability for short-term rather than a permanent basis? Might there be a need for a way to effect like interoperability which presumed the use of heterogeneous, or at least varying, handhelds? That is what the present invention provides, meeting needs and solutions to problems and questions which the prior art at best ignored and generally considered entirely undesirable and unworkable complications. 
         [0021]    Furthermore, while the Federal Regulations may legally prescribe both who may be a validated driver, and the necessity for, and consequences for failing to adhere to, the federal regulations, the factual concerns of discerning the reality as to whether a particular operator is validated, and dealing with any situation where the actual operator is not validated, must be effected by real devices in real time. What can happen when a non-valid operator puts a vehicle into motion? What can happen when operator error, causes a conflict between real and apparent validation? How can the entity responsible for the vehicle, validation, or combination thereof, cope with errors, faults, and intentional wrongs? 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0022]    The present invention is for a fixably mounted Sensor and Power Coordinator (‘SPC’) (in the preferred embodiment, fixably mounted to a specific vehicle, also called the ‘host vehicle’ or ‘host’) providing an interoperative, supportive commonality yet directly used by a human operator only through a nodal device (‘ND’) connected with the SPC. The host vehicle will have at least one sensor (or multiple sensors) for data relating to any set of the host vehicle&#39;s condition, operational state, and external environment (including location, status, and movement history). 
         [0023]    A ND is any of a varying set of handheld computational-and-communication devices (cell phones, smartphones, handhelds, and tablets) which provide the operator with that ND&#39;s display; interactive input and output, embedded software and controls and communication link(s). 
         [0024]    The SPC is both coordinating computational and communication data display and control from, and data reporting to, an external nodal device, and provisioning electrical power from said-host vehicle&#39;s internal power source to said external nodal device. Thus the SPC provides power from and data from or about any sensor(s) or operable element(s), or current state(s) of the host vehicle, or equipment, to which it is fixed, to the ND. The ND communicates such data to the operator or through its communication link(s) to a remote computer(s); and communicates commands from the operator or remote computer(s) to the SPC to effect control over the sensor(s) or operable element(s), or current state(s) of the host vehicle. 
         [0025]    The SPC further comprises a set of internal sensor(s), state(s) knowledge and memory, and external alert element(s), and provides direct notice to at least one of the authorized user and entity responsible for the host vehicle, when the SPC detects a discrepancy between the authorized and logged-in status of any of the user and the operator, either and the ND, and the permitted operator(s) of the SPC&#39;s host; and recording specifics of the discrepancy. 
         [0026]    Upon corrective action by the user the SPC further corrects the discrepancy and cancels any alert and updates any record; but in the alternative when unauthorized movement occurs, the SPC uses internal sensor(s), state(s) and memory, to identify non-authorized usage and track the SPC vehicle host&#39;s current location and movement. The SPC can both report and keep the record of unauthorized location and movement to assist in retrieval of the host vehicle and other responsive action by the owner and/or authorities responsible for enforcement of violations of authorized usage of the host vehicle. 
     
    
     
       A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0027]      FIG. 1  is an overview of a Sensor and Power Coordinator (‘SPC’) with its power, communication, and operational connections. 
           [0028]      FIG. 2  is a functional block diagram of the SPC and its power, communication, and operational connections. 
           [0029]      FIG. 3  is the functional block diagram of the SPC with the power-up Initialization Sequence detailed. 
           [0030]      FIG. 4  is the flowchart for the logic of the SPC both for a Nodal Device&#39;s USB Insertion and for non-inserted operation. 
           [0031]      FIG. 5  is an overview of a SPC for a Production Control element. 
           [0032]      FIG. 6  is a functional block diagram of the SPC for a Production Control and its power, communication, and operational connections. 
           [0033]      FIG. 7  is a functional block diagram of an alternative embodiment of the SPC that elides the details of  FIGS. 1-6 , and displays details of the internal sensor(s) used by the Sensor Host Main Controller to detect the presence or absence of any of connection with a validated ND, discrepancy between the authorized and logged-in status of the user and validated ND, and unauthorized use of the host vehicle; and the sensor(s) and connection(s) to host sensor(s), and additional Flash Memory, used to track and record movement, and report current location information of the host vehicle, upon unauthorized use of the host vehicle. 
           [0034]      FIG. 8  is a flowchart for the logic of the SPC for detecting of, and alerting the user to, the presence or absence of connection with a validated ND, any discrepancy between the authorized and logged-in status of the user and validated ND, and the response(s) or lack to said alert. 
           [0035]      FIG. 9  is a functional block diagram for the SPC showing an internal real-time clock, external alarm and internal movement-tracking sensor. 
           [0036]      FIG. 10  is a flowchart for the logic of the SPC for handling both authorized and non-authorized ND and host usage. 
           [0037]      FIG. 11  is a functional block diagram of a second version of the SPC, further comprising a decoupling detector. 
           [0038]      FIG. 12  is a flowchart for the logic of the SPC for handling an unauthorized disconnection. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING S 
       [0039]      FIG. 1 : A Sensor and Power Coordinator (‘SPC’)  11  is meant to be fixedly, even permanently, attached to a host vehicle such as a truck, forklift, container-handling crane, or other moving vehicle. The SPC  11  comprises both a main processor and means for power provisioning connected with and controlled by said main processor and connected with and provisioning power for and to said external nodal device when said external nodal device is connected with said SPC, receives electrical power through a Vehicle Power Interface (‘VPI’)  51  using a power link  45 , with said power originating from the vehicle&#39;s power source(s) (i.e. whichever is active of a standard battery, alternator, generator), thus comprising means for power provisioning connected with and controlled by said main processor and connected with and provisioning power for and to said external nodal device when said external nodal device is connected with said SPC. In the preferred embodiment the VPI  51  comprises means to handle (i.e. receive, use, and distribute) a ranged set of vehicle power source levels including but not limited to, 12V and 24 VDC and of differing levels of ‘clean’ nature by balancing out any of the set of surges, phase irregularities, and drops in current flow which if not corrected can damaging more delicate electrical circuitry. 
         [0040]    The SPC  11  is able to support a set of sensors each member of which is a sensor capable of being used on a mobile vehicle. The set of potential sensors  61 ,  62  and  63  comprise but are not limited to: sensors for measuring any of temperature, pressure, distance, position, contact or latch state(s) (open, closed, locked); counters, barcode scanners, passcode signalers; compasses, gyroscopes, lasers, rangefinders (optical, laser, sonar, radar, or any combination thereof); and camera and imaging devices. The SPC  11  is able to provide from the VPI  51  power to each individual sensor through a link capable of both power and data transmission (respectively,  55 ,  56  and  57 ); and at least one sensor ( 61 ,  62 ,  63 , or any combination) will be connected with the SPC  11 . These SPC-controlled and current-limited power and data links  55 ,  56  and  57  are designed to cover the greatest range of possible sensors. The electrical power provided over  55 ,  56  and  57  is intended to be suitable for various sensors, but is generally different (in amplitude, frequency, or both) from either vehicle or SPC  11  electrical power. In the preferred embodiment the sensor signals sent from any of the individual sensors  61 ,  62  and  63  over the power and data links  55 ,  56  and  57  to the SPC  11 , and the sensor control signals reciprocally sent over each same link from the SPC  11 , may be a mixture of analog or digital signals; and the SPC  11  will support a variety of possible signal inputs. 
         [0041]    The SPC  11  is specifically designed without any inherent user display. It supports at least one USB Charging Downstream Port Interface (‘USBCDPI’)  13  to connect through a distinct power and data link  15  with a Nodal Device (‘ND’)  21  which in the preferred embodiment comprises any of the set of Cellular Phones, Smartphones, or Tablet Computers. This USBCDPI  13  in the preferred embodiment can allow at least one ND  21  to be used and operated continually while connected with the SPC  11  without needing to be removed and recharged because that ND  21  battery became exhausted, as the power and data link  15  supports both power and data transmission between the SPC  11  and ND  21 , and the VPI  51  will provide the necessary electrical power from the host vehicle&#39;s power source(s) to the ND  21 . A typical ND  21  will have multiple antennas and communication links as shown by  22 ,  23 , and  24 . These communication links  22 ,  23 , and  24  may include, but are not limited to, Wireless LAN, Bluetooth, Cellular Networking, and GPS Receivers. 
         [0042]    In the preferred embodiment the SPC  11  also incorporates a Real-Time Clock  104  connected with the main processor, which tracks the current time and date for the SPC  11 . The Real-Time Clock  104  is used to ‘time-stamp’ data from any of the sensors ( 61 ,  62 ,  63 ), which is then stored in the SPC&#39;s memory. 
         [0043]    As shown in  FIG. 1 , the operator of the host vehicle in which the SPC  11  is mounted, is able to use and share the computational, communication capabilities of the ND  21  while using the sensors and electrical power resources of the host vehicle. Software running on the ND  21  is able to receive sensor readings from any of the communicating sensors ( 61 ,  62 ,  63 ) (current, or stored in the memory when the ND  11  was not attached) through the SPC  11  and transmit them to a remote computer system (not shown). The operator can use any of the ND  21  software to send control signals to the SPC  11 . This can include setting the time of the SPC&#39;s Real Time Clock  104 . In the preferred-embodiment the SPC  11  further comprises means for detecting and operating a subset of devices of the host vehicle affecting its operation(s), condition(s) and state(s) (‘Controlled Functions’); so the SPC  11  is able to send signals via a data and control link  35  to a set of the various Controlled Functions  41  of the vehicle in which it is mounted, and thus to operate any set of the host vehicle&#39;s systems and equipment. Controlled Functions  41  could include, but are not limited to, activating relays; operating any set of the sensors ( 61 ,  62 ,  63 ); turning on or off any or all of the host vehicle&#39;s lights; powering on equipment; any of opening, closing, locking or unlocking latches; setting, triggering, or silencing any of the host vehicle alarms; and capturing an image at a specific time, angle, or distance. 
         [0044]    Many newer vehicles use a Vehicle Controller Area Network (not shown) throughout the vehicle. In a further embodiment the SPC  11  is designed to interface with one such through a data link  25  connected to an included Vehicle Controller Area Network Interface  31 , if that vehicle has a Vehicle Controller Area Network and such operation is desired. This capability can allow the SPC  11  to monitor various functions of the host vehicle including, but not limited to, its oil pressure, coolant temperature, tire pressure, distance traveled, vehicle speed, and wheel revolution counts. While these are all regularly read and analyzed on a vehicle, or by a diagnostic tool, this capability of the SPC  11  allows the data to be analyzed in real-time and transmitted through a ND  21  to any set of off-vehicle services and computers of perhaps greater, or more appropriate processing power, including even a mainframe or supercomputer. Through the ND  21  may be returned specific operational constraints or commands which, through the Controlled Functions  41 , the SPC  11  can effect, thereby preventing degradation or even damage to the host vehicle until maintenance can be done. 
         [0045]      FIG. 2  shows the preferred embodiment of the SPC  11  with more specific detail as to its functional blocks. Central control for the SPC  11  is handled by a Sensor Host Main Controller  100  which comprises a main processor to which is connected memory, which is responsible for all communication tasks, sensor reading, output control, and interfaces—subject to USB communication and control functionalities over data, which as was shown in  FIG. 1  are communicated through the USBCDPI  13 . (The details of the main processor and memory for the Sensor Host Main Controller are not shown, as linking memory with a processor is standard in the existing art.) 
         [0046]    Typically the USB Host function is done by the most capable and powerful computing platform in a system—where ‘powerful’ denotes the measurement of computational capability and/or memory, as distinct from electrical power transmission, generation, or storage capacity. Typically, also, the USB Host function includes providing electrical power to each connected device. 
         [0047]    The present invention, however, recognizes that while as shown in  FIG. 1  the most powerful computing platform will generally be the ND  21  and not the SPC  11 , the relative measure is reversed when ‘powerful’ denotes electrical power transmission, generation, or storage capacity. If the ND  21  served as the USB Host for electrical power, then it would run down its battery and require recharging (very rapidly if trying to drive a vehicle&#39;s electrical system!). In the present invention the ND  21 , while otherwise acting as the USB Host for data communication and control, hands that role as to electrical power over to the SPC  11 , which accesses, manages, and shares any combination of vehicle power generation and/or greater battery capacity of the vehicle on which the SPC is mounted, instead of drawing electrical power from, and ceding control over electrical power provisioning to, the ND  21 . 
         [0048]    To have the ability to power a ND  21  directly and to provide means for USB interoperability it is necessary for the SPC  11  to be a USB Host; accordingly, the USBCDPI  13  further comprises and provides at least a USB Embedded Host controller, the USB Embedded Host Control  110 , connecting the Sensor Host Main Controller  100  with a USB Charging Downstream Port Interface  120 . The USBCDPI  120  is also connected with the Vehicle Power Interface and Main Supply Generation  150  which serves as the source for the power for all of the SPC  11 , ND  21 , sensors  61 ,  62 ,  63  and secondary elements respectively thereof. 
         [0049]    A standard USB Host is able to provide 500 mA of current to an attached USB device. For the SPC  11  and its-ND  21 , this amount of electrical power would not be sufficient to operate many NDs for extended periods of time (or the vehicle at all). To surpass this hurdle, the SPC  11  implements a USB Charging Downstream Port Interface  120 . 
         [0050]    Standard USB chargers may charge devices at higher current levels than 500 mA, but do so without any data communication. The USB Charging Downstream Port Interface  120  not only allows charging the ND  21  at up to 1.5 Amps (three times the standard capacity), but also enables and permits simultaneous communication over the USB interface simultaneously. The USB Charging Downstream Port Interface  120  connects the SPC  11  with the ND  21  with at least one USB physical connector  121 . While this is more complex to implement than simple USB Device capability, it allows the SPC  11  to simultaneously communicate, power and charge any attached ND  21 . 
         [0051]    The Sensor Host Main Controller  100  in the preferred embodiment is further connected with a 3-Axis Accelerometer  130 . This element principally determines the orientation of the SPC  11  in the vehicle in which it is mounted. Typically, the SPC  11  will be fixedly mounted to a specific host vehicle. When the vehicle is moving, or being moved, the 3-Axis Accelerometer  130  can be used to determine the orientation of the SPC  11  in the host vehicle and thus the geopositioning and orientation of the host vehicle itself. While the ND  21  may have any or all of gyroscope, accelerometer and compass elements and/or geo-positioning information that would be useful to a positioning system, unfortunately, without knowing the relative orientations of both the ND  21  and the host vehicle on which the SPC  11  is mounted, such would be of limited use and accuracy. However, by combining the geo-positioning information from both ND  21  and SPC  11 , a fully integrated positioning determination can be made, not just to determine the orientation of the ND  21  within the host vehicle but also, as with the best integrated positioning systems which use both GPS and Inertial Navigation signals, to improve the accuracy of determination of precisely where the host vehicle is, including specifics of its orientation and position. 
         [0052]    The 3-Axis Accelerometer  130  helps to make such additional information possible. An additional novel feature obtained through incorporation of the 3-Axis Accelerometer  130  is the ability to detect vehicle vibration and shaking. This information can be used to determine when the vehicle&#39;s power generation element (not shown) has shutdown, and use that as a control signal to transition the SPC  11 , and the ND  21 , and any other connected elements, to low power operation so as not to drain the vehicle&#39;s battery. To allow this information to be used, the 3-Axis Accelerometer  130  is connected with the Sensor Host Main Controller  100 . 
         [0053]    The Sensor HostMain Controller  100  in the preferred embodiment is further connected with a Controller Area Network Transceiver  140  which is used to communicate with the vehicle internal databus through the connection port  141  to obtain status information of interest. 
         [0054]    The Vehicle Power Interface and Main Supply Generation  150  connecting both with the Sensor Host Main Controller  100  and the USB Charging Downstream Port Interface  120 , not only provides the means to power the SPC  11 , ND  21 , and sensors  61 ,  62 ,  63 , but also comprises standard elements to handle variable voltage levels for different types of vehicles as well as protective elements against harsh overvoltage conditions that can occur. The power output of the Vehicle Power Interface and Main Supply Generation  150  supplies ‘clean’ power (that adjusted to the much more tightly constrained limits of computational electrical subcomponents, than found or used by many ignition or lighting systems) to the Sensor Host Main Controller  100 , the USB Bus  121  through the USB Charging Downstream Port Interface  120 , the Controller Area Network Transceiver Interface  140 , and the Sensor and Output Power Generation  170 , which then adjusts the electrical power to voltage levels that are suited to sensors  172  and control signals in the overall system. 
         [0055]    The SPC  11  in the preferred embodiment further comprises means for generating, modulating, and reading digital signals, including control signals and means for modulating and sending Pulse Width Modulated analog signals. The Sensor Host Main Controller  100  connects with the at least one sensor through its connection with a Sensor Input Conditioning and Measurement element  190  (‘Sensor Input Conditioning and Measurement’) which itself has a connection  191  to the at least one sensor for data relating to any set of the host vehicle&#39;s condition, operational state, and external environment, with the Sensor Input Conditioning and Measurement  190  reporting data to and receiving control from said Sensor Host Main Controller  100 . 
         [0056]    The SPC  11  in the preferred embodiment further comprises an Output Generation element  160  (‘Output Generation’) connected to and reporting data to and receiving control from said Sensor Host Main Controller  100 , and connected to and receiving power from a Sensor and Output Power Generation element  170  (‘Sensor and Output Power Generation’), which itself is also connected with both said Vehicle Power Interface and Main Supply Generation element  152  (‘Vehicle Power Interface and Main Supply Generation’) and also to said Sensor Input Conditioning and Measurement  190 . The Output Generation  160  supports both digital control signals and Pulse Width Modulated control signals. Pulse Width Modulation permits various capabilities including generation of Analog signals with appropriate filtering and dimming of lights. Also in the preferred embodiment the Sensor Host Main Controller  100  is connected with a RS232 Transceiver interface  180  which is provided to communicate to more complex sensors systems that might have many inputs, or have only an RS232 interface. The Sensor Input Conditioning and Measurement  190  includes protecting against overvoltage and over-current conditions that might occur in a vehicle. Signals must be scaled for reading by the Sensor Host Main Controller  100  where they are read and transmitted to the ND  21 . 
         [0057]    To allow data from any of sensors  61 ,  62 ,  63 , the Vehicle Controller Area Network Interface  31 , or the 3-Axis Accelerometer  130 , to be given temporal context, in the preferred embodiment a Real-Time-Clock  104  is connected with and controlled by the Sensor Host Main Controller  100 . This allows the Sensor Host Main Controller  100  to take and store data from any or all of these inputs while no external nodal device is connected, and later, upon connection with an external nodal device, report the stored data to the now-connected external nodal device in a ‘black box’ function. 
         [0058]      FIG. 3  shows the power-up sequence within and for the SPC  11 , as well as differentiating central and peripheral functional elements therein. The first step in the power-up sequence  200  is for vehicle power to be applied to connector  151 . The Vehicle Power Interface and Main Supply Generation  150  starts to build up the system power. When the system power  152  reaches its designated level  210 , the Sensor Host Main Controller  100  will start up. The third step is for the Sensor Host Main Controller  100  to power up and activate the 3-Axis Accelerometer  130 . The fourth step is for the Sensor Host Main Controller  100  to power up and activate the USB Embedded Host Controller  110  and to begin checking for a live USB Connection; if a ND  21  is already attached to the SPC  11 , then the system will cycle through the steps described below in  FIG. 4  to determine the power to output on the USB connector  121 . Connectors and blocks  140 ,  141 ,  160 ,  161 ,  170 ,  171 ,  172 , 180 ,  181 ,  190 , and  191  are all optional, and the determination as to whether they should be enabled or powered on is based upon the content of the control messages sent to the SPC  11  from the ND  21 . When the SPC  11  and ND  21  are in full operation mode, sensor data from any sensor  61 ,  62  and  63  that has been configured is transmitted to the ND  21 . Control signals from a remote computer that have been configured can be sent from or through the ND  21  to the Output Generation  160 . In addition, RS232 messages can be sent and received through connector  181 . Controller Area Network messaging is done through connector  141 . 3-Axis Accelerometer  130  data that is generated in the SPC  11  can be processed and passed up to the ND  21 . 
         [0059]      FIG. 4  shows the Insertion Logic Flow for when a USB Device (a ND  21 ) is connected with the SPC  11 . When the SPC  11  is powered on, it checks for and as necessary waits for the attachment of a Node Device  21  as shown in  300 . When a ND  21  is inserted into connector  121 , this is detected by block  310 . The check in block  320  is used to determine whether the inserted ND  21  is a USB Device which supports Battery Charging Capability. If this is true and the ND  21  supports Battery Charging Capability, then the insertion logic follows branch  322  to the 1.5 Amp USB Host Configuration  340  state. If false and the ND  21  does not support Battery Charging Capability, then the insertion logic moves along branch  321  to the 500 mA USB Host Configuration  330  state. The SPC  11  can work for both branches  321  and  322 , but a ‘switch’ signal informs the SPC  11  which is appropriate for the inserted ND  21 . 
         [0060]    The insertion logic next moves to the Read USB Identification Information  350  state. At this point, the SPC  11  checks  360  whether the attached ND  21  is supported by the USB Embedded Host Control  110 . If the device is not supported, branch  361  is taken, a message  370  is displayed on the inserted ND  21  for its user to that effect, and the system returns to the Sensor Host Waiting for Device state  300 . If the device is supported, branch  362  is taken. 
         [0061]    Branch  362  leads to state  380  where a sequence of steps (not shown as reasonably known to the art) are taken to set up bi-directional communication between the SPC  11  and the ND  21 . In the preferred embodiment these steps will include authentication and validation of the operator and establishment of the tasks and capabilities which the ND  21  can effect through the SPC  11 . 
         [0062]    Once communication is established, the SPC  11  can check to determine whether it needs to perform a software upgrade by communicating back to a remote computer system (not shown) using the communication link of the ND  21 . In state SPC Configured  390 , the SPC  11  also sets up the Sensor Input Conditioning and Measurement  190 , the RS232 Transceiver Interface  180 , the Output Generation  160 , the Sensor and Output Power Generation  170 , and the Controller Area Network Transceiver  140 , if they are present to be connected. 
         [0063]    Once the Sensor and Power Coordinator Configured  390  state is completed, the system transitions to Full Operating Mode  400 . 
         [0064]    If the ND  21  is removed, the system processes this action in USB Removal  410 , and then transitions to Sensor and Power Coordinator Waiting for Device  300 . 
         [0065]      FIG. 5 : A Production Control Coordinator (‘PPC’)  500  is meant to be fixedly, even permanently, attached to a fixed-point station in a production line which fixed-point station comprises both machinery and at least one associated sensor that will effect a transformational operation upon a physical input. The PPC  500  is connected with a DC Power Module  530  which both powers the PPC  500  and is used by the PPC  500  through its USB Charging Downstream Port Interface (‘USBCDPI’)  513  to connect through a distinct power and data link  15  with a Nodal Device (‘ND’)  21  which in the preferred embodiment comprises any of the set of Cellular Phones, Smartphones, or Tablet Computers. The DC Power Module  530  comprises means to handle (i.e. receive, use, and distribute) a ranged set of power source levels including but not limited to, 12V and VDC and of differing levels of ‘clean’ nature (surges, phase irregularities, and drops are balanced out to avoid damaging more delicate electrical circuitry). 
         [0066]    The Production Control Coordinator  500  is able to support a set of sensors each member of which is a sensor capable of being used on that fixed-point station. The set of potential sensors  61 ,  62  and  63  comprise but are not limited to: sensors for measuring any of temperature, pressure, distance, position, contact or contact state(s) (clear, attached, locked); counters, barcode scanners, passcode signalers; compasses, gyroscopes, lasers, rangefinders (optical, laser, sonar, radar, or any combination thereof); camera and imaging devices; and temperature, chemical composition, pressure, or motion detectors. The Production Control Coordinator  500  is able to provide from the DC Power Module power to each individual sensor through a link capable of both power and data transmission (respectively,  55 ,  56  and  57 ); and at least one sensor ( 61 ,  62 ,  63 , or any combination) will be connected with the PPC  500 . These PPC-controlled and current-limited power and data links  55 ,  56  and  57  are designed to cover the greatest range of possible sensors. The electrical power provided over  55 ,  56  and  57  is intended to be suitable for various sensors, but is generally different (in amplitude, frequency, or both) from either standard DC or PPC  500  electrical power. In the preferred embodiment the sensor signals sent from any of the individual sensors  61 ,  62  and  63  over the power and data links  55 ,  56  and  57  to the PPC  500 , and the sensor control signals reciprocally sent over each same link from the PPC  500 , may be a mixture of analog or digital signals; and the Production Control Coordinator  500  will support a variety of possible signal inputs. The Production Control Coordinator  500  is specifically designed without any inherent user display. It supports at least one USB Charging Downstream Port Interface (‘USBCDPI’)  13  to connect through a distinct power and data link  15  with a Nodal Device (‘ND’)  21  which in the preferred embodiment comprises any of the set of Cellular Phones, Smartphones, or Tablet Computers. This USBCDPI  13  in the preferred embodiment can allow at least one ND  21  to be used and operated continually while connected with the PPC  500  without needing to be removed and recharged because that ND  21  battery became exhausted, as the power and data link  15  supports both power and data transmission between the PPC  500  and DC Power Module  530 , and the ND  21 , and the DC Power Module  530  will provide the necessary electrical power from the vehicle&#39;s power source(s) to the ND  21 . A typical ND  21  will have multiple antennas and communication links as shown by  22 ,  23 , and  24 . These communication links  22 ,  23 , and  24  may include, but are not limited to, Wireless LAN, Bluetooth, Cellular Networking, and GPS Receivers. 
         [0067]    As shown in  FIG. 5 , the operator of the fixed-point station in which the Production Control Coordinator  500  is fixably attached, is able to use and share the computational, communication capabilities of the ND  21  while using the sensor(s) and machinery of the fixed-point station. Software running on the NI)  21  is able to receive sensor readings from any of the communicating sensors ( 61 ,  62 ,  63 ) (current, or stored in the memory when the ND  21  was not attached) through the Production Control Coordinator  500  and transmit them to a remote computer system (not shown). The operator can use any of the ND  21  software to send control signals to the Production Control Coordinator  500 . The Production Control Coordinator  500  is then able to send signals via a data and control link  35  to a set of the various Controlled Functions  41  of the fixed-point station to which it is fixably attached, and thus to operate any set of the fixed-point station&#39;s machinery and sensor(s). Controlled Functions  41  could include, but are not limited to, activating relays; operating any set of the sensors ( 61 ,  62 ,  63 ); turning on or off any or all of the fixed-point station&#39;s machinery; any of opening, closing, locking or unlocking latches; setting, triggering, or silencing alarms; and capturing an image at a specific time, angle, or distance. 
         [0068]    Additionally the PCC  500  is connected through a network link  510  with a Production Network, which may connect in turn with at least one other fixed-point station or a remote computer (not shown). This capability can allow the PPC  500  to be integrated into a cooperating production environment where multiple operations and transformations upon the same physical input; so a first PPC  500  on a first fixed-point station could be welding a join at one end of an airplane wing while a second PPC  500  on a second fixed-point station could be drilling holes through a successive series of transverse struts within the wing while a third PPC  500  on a third fixed-point station could be cooling and then threading electrical wiring through already-drilled holes in the same series of transverse struts within the wing, with each of the first, second and third fixed-point stations, through their respective PPC  500 , being coordinated and controlled through the respective PPC&#39;s network link  510  with the Production Network. 
         [0069]    While the sensors ( 61 ,  62 ,  63 ) are all regularly read and analyzed through the PPC  500  these readings may be viewed in real-time by the fixed-point station&#39;s operator on the ND  21 &#39;s display and transmitted through a ND  21  to any set off-Network services and computers of perhaps greater, or more appropriate processing power, including even a mainframe or supercomputer. Through the ND  21  may be returned specific operational constraints or commands which, through the Controlled Functions  41 , the PPC  500  can effect, thereby preventing degradation or even damage to the fixed-point station until maintenance or resupply or even replenishment of a lacking physical input can be done. 
         [0070]      FIG. 6  shows the preferred embodiment of the Production Control Coordinator  500  with more specific detail as to its functional blocks. Central control for the PPC  500  is handled by a Sensor Host Main Controller  100 , which is responsible for all communication tasks, sensor reading, output control, and interfaces—subject to USB communication and control functionalities over data, which as was shown in  FIG. 5  are communicated through the USBCDPI  13 . (The memory for the Sensor Host Main Controller is not shown, as linking memory with a processor is standard in the existing art.) 
         [0071]      FIG. 7  shows functional details of an alternative embodiment, eliding previously-disclosed details of the Sensor Host Main Controller and its connections, displaying instead the elements used by the Sensor Host Main Controller to detect, and respond to, the presence or absence of any of non-validated and unauthorized use of the host vehicle. The Sensor Host Main Controller  100  is still connected to the USB Embedded Host Control  110  and through it to the USB Charging Downstream Port Interface  120 , and through that to the external ND  121 . An alternative connection capability is provided through a wireless Bluetooth Interface  700  that provides a wireless link to an external ND (not shown). The Sensor Host Main Controller  100  is also linked to at least one sensor that can determine the Host&#39;s geographic location that is connected (or embedded within) the host vehicle—in this drawing, a combination of three specific sensors that provide Dead Reckoning Sensor Inputs, namely, a 3-Axis Accelerometer  130 , a 3-Axis Magnetometer  701 , and a CAN Bus that records the host Vehicle speed (or ‘speedometer’)  702 , that will detect any acceleration and vector(s) of movement of the host vehicle. (Acceleration here is used in the technical sense of any change, positive or negative, in speed—thus, braking or deceleration would also be sensed and recorded.) In like fashion as stated above, to give data from any of these specific sensors ( 130 ,  701 ,  702 ) temporal context and duration, in one embodiment a Real-Time-Clock  104  (not shown in this figure) is connected with and controlled by the Sensor Host Main Controller  100 . Finally, the Sensor Host and Main Controller  100  is connected to an electronic non-volatile computer storage element comprising auxiliary memory (this ‘additional Flash memory’ or auxiliary Flash memory will be in at least one embodiment, solid-state; and in an embodiment, Flash memory having at least 256 Mbits capacity)  703 , that will store the data record of time and motion (the detected sensory data, i.e. any acceleration and vector(s) of movement of the host vehicle) even in the absence of power. This additional Flash memory will, in one embodiment, comprise at least a part storing data of Driver and Administrator Accounts data  704 , and a part storing data of Vehicle Movement Tracking  705 ; and is the element which all records of user accounts/passwords, required logging events, vehicle motion, and a record of precise vehicle movement over the last  40  driving hours. A secondary benefit of this Flash Memory  703  is that these records will help fulfill the recording and tracking requirements for commercial vehicles of the FMCSA. 
         [0072]    Each time the host vehicle is moved, the Sensor Host Main Controller checks for the presence, and specifics, of validation data from the ND  121 , and compares any presented against that in its Driver and Administrator Account  704 . If no validation data is present (whether no ND is connected; whether no validation data was given by the ND, or whether the validation data given by the ND did not match that in the Driver and Administrator Account  704 ), then the specific readings from the combined inputs of the Clock, Accelerometer, Magnetometer, and odometer, are used by the Sensor Host Main Controller  100  to calculate the vectors (direction and distance both) and period (time and duration) of all motion of the host vehicle. The data of these calculated motion(s) are recorded and kept in the Vehicle Movement Tracking  705 . These records can be reported by any of the wired or wireless communication links upon request by an authorized entity, whether that be the owner or law-enforcement. 
         [0073]    In another embodiment, the validation data can be checked at any time—even when the host vehicle has been moving under a validated ND—upon receipt of a triggering signal from outside the host vehicle. The presence, or absence, of a match between the validation data presently given to the Sensor Host Main Controller and the validation data stored in the Driver and Administrator Account  704 , can be tested and the results displayed to any of the host Vehicle, the ND, or through any wireless connection, to a third party not within the host Vehicle. 
         [0074]    In yet another embodiment, the validation data can be negated by a command entered into the Sensor Host Main Controller at any time, subject to message and control security precautions; causing the Sensor Host Main Controller to act as though no validation data is present—and so begin sensing, calculating, and recording (and optionally, reporting) the host Vehicle&#39;s motion(s). Thus if a hijack event occurs the validation can be negated, and the host vehicle will be tracked and its motion(s) recorded, and optionally reported, without further effort on the part of the no-longer-validated driver. 
         [0075]    In another embodiment the non-validation external alarm comprises both an audible element (any of a buzzer, a sound chip, and a memory code to be sent to the ND for its on-board sound activation), and a visible element (an LED in a prominent position). The audible element and visible element may repeat a number of times over a user-determinable period of time (e.g. 3 2-second buzzes at 5 second intervals, and 3 10-flash pulses on-and-off at the same 5-second intervals). 
         [0076]      FIG. 8  is the flowchart for detecting and alerting the user of the host vehicle to the presence or absence of a validated connection between a ND, an authorized driver, and a host vehicle in motion. If the module is moved between vehicles, or the vehicle shuts power down to the module when not running, this keeps accurate time to deal with the “Unidentified Driver” scenarios where an authorized and validated ND is not attached. When power is applied (the host vehicle is turned on)  800 , the SPC tests whether or not a ND is connected. (either by wire, presumably USB, or wireless, presumably Bluetooth) to the Sensor Host Main Controller  100 . If no ND is connected, the SPC tests whether the host vehicle is in motion  803 . If it is not, the SPC starts the subprocess for activated but non-moving status, described immediately below. 
         [0077]    When power is applied  800 , the SPC tests for a ND  801  and finds none, then tests whether the host vehicle is in motion  803  and finds that it is, the SPC starts the subprocess for unauthorized motion, as further described below. 
         [0078]    When the power is applied  800 , the SPC tests for a ND  801  and finds one, it next tests whether a valid driver is logged in  802  (presumably, though not necessarily, through that ND; a valid driver may log in directly through an interface with any of the host vehicle or SPC). If none is, the SPC tests whether the vehicle is in motion  804 . If it is, then the SPC starts the subprocess for unauthorized motion. If it is not, the SPC starts the subprocess for activated but non-moving status. 
         [0079]    When power is applied  800 , a valid ND has been found and a valid driver is logged in, the SPC tests whether the vehicle is in motion. If it is not, it enters the subprocess for activated but non-moving status. If it is, then the SPC starts the subprocess for activated, validated, and moving status. 
         [0080]    In the subprocess for activated; validated, and moving status the SPC records the motion for the logged-in driver  807  (in one embodiment using the ND GNSS) and repeatedly tests whether the vehicle is still in motion  810 ; as long as it is, the SPC continues to record the motion. Once the vehicle stops, the SPC starts the subprocess for activated but non-moving status. 
         [0081]    In the subprocess for activated but non-moving status, which starts only when the vehicle is not in motion (the ‘Yes’ branch from any of  803 ,  804 ,  810  or  811 ), the SPC tests whether the power has been removed  812 . If the power has been removed (the host vehicle is turned off) then the process terminates  813 . Otherwise the SPC returns to the first step of testing whether a ND is attached  801 . 
         [0082]    The subprocess for unauthorized motion can start for one of two reasons: either no valid ND is attached (the ‘No’ path from  801 ), or no valid driver is logged in (the ‘No’ path from  802 )—and is initiated only when the vehicle is in motion despite that lack of authorization confirmation. In this subprocess the SPC activates both visual and auditory warnings—a warning light is flashed  806  and a buzzer is sounded  808  on the SPC, and the SPC records motion for the unidentified driver using the SPC&#39;s dead reckoning capabilities  809 . The SPC repeatedly tests whether the vehicle is still in motion  811 , and will continue recording until the vehicle is not in motion—at which time the SPC starts the subprocess for activated but non-moving status described above. 
         [0083]    Optionally the SPC can store a record of each time and test it has made and the results it observed. The interval(s) for any repeat may be even, uneven, or a mixture of even and uneven times; and the results may comprise further activity, including any of localized and remote warnings, and disabling the host vehicle&#39;s motive and other systems. 
         [0084]    In a further embodiment, under any of the conditions when a warning and record of unauthorized motion are triggered, an additional step of notifying at least one external party (any of law enforcement and the owner, or authorizing entity) of the non-authorized motion and current location of the vehicle, and activating vehicle systems (horns, lights, brakes) may be applied to warn those in the immediate vicinity. If the vehicle begins to move again, the recording resumes  809 ; otherwise, the SPC starts the subprocess for activated but non-moving status described above. 
         [0085]      FIG. 9  shows functional details of an alternative embodiment, eliding some of the previously-disclosed details of the Sensor Host Main Controller  100  and its connections, and highlighting instead the elements used by the Sensor Host Main Controller  100  to signal to any of the driver, operator, third-persons in physical proximity to the host vehicle, and third parties remotely reached through a wireless interface, about the non-validated operation and motion of the host vehicle. In this embodiment the Real-Time-Clock  104  has been coupled to a Backup Power element  900 , which is a source of stored electrical power that can sustain a long period (at least one week) of continuous draw by the Real Time Clock  104 . This Backup Power  900  can be any combination of a battery and a large capacity (1 Farad) capacitor. This Backup Power  900  can also be recharged through the Vehicle Power Interface and Main Supply Generation  150 . The Sensor Host Main Controller  100  is also connected to a set of any of light and noise-generating elements (running lights, display lighting, head and tail lamps; horn(s), interior and exterior buzzer(s))  901  to signal the specifiable warning(s). If the host vehicle has its power turned on, and either has no validated ND attached, or has a valid ND attached but not a validated driver logged in, and the host vehicle is set in motion, the Sensor Host and Main Controller will use the Vehicle Power Interface and Main Supply Generation  150  to power the operation of the warning(s). A valid ND without a logged-in driver may trigger an in-cab buzzer and in-cab interior display, on both the vehicle and ND displays, to alert the operator to log in. Motion without an ND, or after a specified delay (in any combination of time and distance) without logging in, may in at least one embodiment cause the Sensor Host Main Controller  100  to trigger external alerts (any combination of horn activation, operating lights flashing, external display(s) activations) to those in the vicinity of unauthorized activity. 
         [0086]      FIG. 10  is the flowchart for the logic for handling authorized ND and host vehicle usage. This specific state can only be reached when an authorized ND  21  has (by any of being directly plugged in, connected by a wire, or linked through a wireless connection) been connected  940  with the SPC  11 . The SPC  11  tests whether or not a valid driver for the host vehicle is logged in  950 , repeating the test until a valid driver is logged in. Once a valid driver for the host vehicle is logged in, the SPC  11  unlocks its records for that valid driver to review and download (through the ND  21 )  951 . The SPC  11  also displays current status and events on the ND  21  for the valid driver&#39;s observation  952 . The SPC  11  also uses the ND  21  to access GNSS Positioning and Time data and transfers these from the ND  21  to the SPC  11  to record the specific details of the valid driver&#39;s physical location and travel  953 . Any of a time lapse, a moved-distance minimum, and a trigger from any of the valid driver, authorized remote third party, or contextually-specific factual situation, may effect the recording of the vehicle host&#39;s then-present location, motion, and time—including the passage across a time zone, territorial, civic, international, or property boundary. 
         [0087]    As long as the valid driver is logged in and the authorized ND  21  is connected, the access and recording continues; but if the ND  21  is disconnected  954 , the SPC  11  records that event, the time, and the identity of the valid driver who had been logged in  955 , and returns to testing whether an authorized ND  21  is connected with it. 
         [0088]      FIG. 11  is a functional block diagram of an alternative embodiment of the SPC, further comprising a decoupling detector  980 ; which detects when the Vehicle Power Interface and Main Supply Generation  150  is physically decoupled from the Vehicle Power  151 . This decoupling detector  980  can also detect the subtle changes in the SPC Input Voltage to know that the host vehicle&#39;s alternator is on versus the SPC is being supplied by Vehicle Battery Power. The decoupling detector  980  can identify when a driver attempts to remove the SPC during vehicle driving operation; possibly in an attempt to record driving that violates Hours of Service limits. The decoupling detector  980  operates on the principle that there is sufficient input capacitance on the Vehicle Power Interface input of the SPC (57 uF in an example case), that the SPC Input Voltage will not immediately drop to 0V upon a disconnection, but will decay as a function of Main Supply Generation  150  power usage. During this voltage decay, the decoupling detector  980  can make fast measurements, and protect circuitry from data corruption. 
         [0089]      FIG. 12  is a flowchart for the logic used in an embodiment of invention by the SPC  11  for handling an unauthorized disconnection, when its access to the host vehicle&#39;s power (generated, or stored) through the Vehicle Power Interface and Main Supply Generation  150  has been cut off. The bar chart on the right side gives an exemplary scale of SPC Input Voltage levels. For a standard commercial vehicle using a 12V battery system, these will be 10V, 8V and 6V. The SPC  11  repeatedly will test whether the SPC Input Voltage has dropped below Warning Level 1  1001 . Once this test returns ‘true’—the SPC Input Voltage has dropped below Warning Level 1—then the SPC  11  starts a VDrop Timer  1002 , and shifts to a second, repeating test—whether the SPC Input Voltage has dropped below Warning Level 2  1003 . If it has not, the SPC  11  also tests whether the SPC Input Voltage has rebounded and gone above Warning Level 1  1004 . If it has rebounded, then the SPC  11  returns to the first test—whether the SPC Input Voltage has dropped below Warning Level 1, and the VDROP timer is cleared. This provides ample time to safely write information to the Flash Memory  703 . 
         [0090]    If, however, the available SPC Input Voltage has dropped below Warning Level 2 (the ‘Yes’ path from  1003 ), the SPC  11  initiates a power-saving subprocess. First, it shuts off all electrical circuitry  1011  drawing on the Main Supply Generation  150  but for the SPC  11  and the Flash Memory  703 . Next it records  1012  the VDrop Time Value, and the event (the drop below Warning Level 2) to the Flash memory  703 , then write-protects Flash memory  1013  to prevent unauthorized expungement of the data concerning the disconnection(s) and vehicle movement(s). After that, the SPC  11  will repeatedly test whether the SPC Input Voltage has rebounded and gone above Warning Level 1  1014 . If it has rebounded, then the SPC  11  re-enables all electrical circuitry  1015  drawing on the Main Supply Generation  150  and records this power event, and returns to the first test—whether the Backup Power has dropped below Warning Level 1. The record of the time to re-enable all electrical circuitry  1015  is useful to identify situations where the Vehicle Starter Motor load causes the SPC Input Voltage to drop for a short intermittent period, as opposed to situations where the SPC is removed from the system. 
         [0091]    Typically the USB Host function is done by the most capable and powerful computing platform in a system—where ‘powerful’ denotes the measurement of computational capability and/or memory, as distinct from electrical power transmission, generation, or storage capacity. Typically, also, the USB Host function includes providing electrical power to each connected device. 
         [0092]    The present invention, however, recognizes that while as shown in  FIG. 5  the most powerful computing platform will generally be the ND  21  and not the PPC  500 , the relative measure is reversed when ‘powerful’ denotes electrical power transmission, generation, or storage capacity. If the ND  21  served as the USB Host for electrical power, then it would run down its battery and require recharging (very rapidly if trying to drive a fixed-point station&#39;s electrical system!). In the present invention the ND  21 , while otherwise acting, as the USB Host for data communication and control, hands that role as to electrical power over to the PPC  500 , which accesses, manages, and shares any combination of DC power of the fixed-point station on which the ND  21  is mounted, instead of drawing electrical power from, and ceding control over electrical power provisioning to, the ND  21 . 
         [0093]    To have the ability to power a ND  21  directly, it is necessary for the Production Control Coordinator  500  to be a USB Host; accordingly, the USBCDPI  13  further comprises and provides at least one USB Embedded Host Control  110  connecting the Sensor Host Main Controller  100  to a USB Charging. Downstream Port Interface  120 . The USBCDPI  120  is also connected with the DC Power Interface and Main Supply Generation  610  which serves as the source for the power for all of the PPC  500 , ND  21 , sensors  61 ,  62 ,  63  and secondary elements respectively thereof. 
         [0094]    A standard USB Host is able to provide 500 mA of current to an attached USB device. For the Production Control Coordinator  500  and its ND  21 , this amount of electrical power would not be sufficient to operate many NDs for extended periods of time (or the vehicle at all). To surpass this hurdle, the Production Control Coordinator  500  implements a USB Charging Downstream Port Interface  120 . Standard USB chargers may charge devices at higher current levels than 500 mA, but do so without any data communication. The USB Charging Downstream Port Interface  120  not only allows charging the ND  21  at up to 1.5 Amps (three times the standard capacity), but also enables and permits simultaneous communication over the USB interface simultaneously. The USB Charging Downstream Port Interface  120  connects to the ND  21  with a USB Controller  121 . While this is more complex to implement than simple USB Device capability, it allows the Production Control Coordinator  500  to simultaneously communicate, power and charge any attached ND  21 . 
         [0095]    The Sensor Host Main Controller  100  in the preferred embodiment is further connected to a 3-Axis Accelerometer  130 . This element principally determines the orientation of the Production Control Coordinator  500  in the fixed-point station in which it is mounted. When the fixed-point station is operating the 3-Axis Accelerometer  130  can be used to determine the orientation of the Production Control Coordinator  500  and thus the geopositioning and orientation of the vehicle itself. While the ND  21  may have any or all of gyroscope, accelerometer and compass elements and/or geo-positioning information that would be useful to a positioning system, unfortunately, without knowing the relative orientations of both the ND  21  and the fixed-point station on which the PPC  500  is mounted, such would be of limited use and accuracy. However, by combining the geo-positioning information from both ND  21  and PPC  500 , a fully integrated positioning determination can be made, not just to determine the orientation of the ND  21  within the vehicle but also, as with the best integrated positioning systems which use both GPS and Inertial Navigation signals, to improve the accuracy of determination of precisely where the vehicle is, including specifics of its orientation and position. 
         [0096]    The 3-Axis Accelerometer  130  helps to make such additional information possible. An additional novel feature obtained through incorporation of the 3-Axis Accelerometer  130  is the ability to detect vibration and shaking. This information can be used to determine when the fixed-point station&#39;s transformational element (not shown) has shutdown, and use that as a control signal to transition the PPC  500 , and the ND  21 , and any other connected elements, to low power operation. To allow this information to be used, the 3-Axis Accelerometer  130  is connected with the Sensor Host Main Controller  100 . 
         [0097]    The Sensor Host Main Controller  100  in the preferred embodiment is further connected with an Ethernet Transceiver  600  which is used to communicate with the production line&#39;s network or databus through the connection port  601  to obtain or share status information of interest to the production line and/or network. 
         [0098]    The DC Power Interface and Main Supply Generation  610  connecting both with the Sensor Host Main Controller  100  and the USB Charging Downstream Port Interface  120 , not only provides the means to power the PPC  500 , ND  21 , and sensors  61 ,  62 ,  63 , but also comprises standard elements to handle variable voltage levels for different types of vehicles as well as protective elements against harsh overvoltage conditions that can occur. The power output of the DC Power Interface and Main Supply Generation  150  supplies ‘clean’ power (that adjusted to the much more tightly constrained limits of computational electrical subcomponents, than found or used by many machinery operational, power transmission, or electrical driver systems) to the Sensor Host Main Controller  100 , the USB Bus  121  through the USB Charging Downstream Port Interface  120 , the Ethernet Transceiver  600 , and the Sensor and Output Power Generation  170 , which then adjusts the electrical power to voltage levels that are suited to sensors  172  and control signals in the overall system. 
         [0099]    The Output Generation  160  supports both digital control signals and Pulse Width Modulated control signals. Pulse Width Modulation permits various capabilities including generation of Analog signals with appropriate filtering and dimming of lights. The RS232 Transceiver Interface  180  is provided to communicate to more complex sensors systems that might have many inputs, or have only an RS232 interface. The Sensor Input Conditioning and Measurement Block  190  includes protecting against overvoltage and over-current conditions that might occur otherwise. Signals must be scaled for reading by the Sensor Host Main Controller  100  where they are read and transmitted to the ND  21 . 
         [0100]    The PPC  500  in the preferred embodiment also incorporates a Real-Time Clock  104 , which tracks the current time and date for the PPC  500 . The Real-Time Clock  104  is used to ‘time-stamp’ data from any of the sensors ( 61 ,  62 ,  63 ), which is then stored in the PPC&#39;s memory. The PPC  500  can also take input (control plus data) from the ND  21  to set the time of the Real Time Clock  104 . 
         [0101]    To allow data from any of sensors  61 ,  62 ,  63  or the 3-Axis Accelerometer  130 , to be given temporal context, in the preferred embodiment a Real-Time-Clock  104  is connected with and controlled by the Sensor Host Main Controller  100 . This allows the Sensor Host Main Controller  100  to take and store data from any or all of these inputs while no external nodal device is connected, and later, upon connection with an external nodal device, report the stored data to the now-connected external nodal device in a ‘black box’ function. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0102]    The present embodiment of the invention, the Sensor and Power Coordinator (‘SPC’) is designed for on the road Trucks, Port Handling Equipment, Cargo Moving equipment, and vehicles used in warehouses, or in an alternative embodiment, for fixed-station transformational equipment in a production line where such fixed-station equipment comprises both machinery and at least one associated sensor for a transformational operation upon a physical input. The SPC is a very low cost alternative to expensive and uniform Vehicle Mount Terminal solutions. 
         [0103]    Each SPC  11  receives its electrical power directly from the vehicle and will provision electrical power to any set of at least one sensor, and at least one removably-emplaceable, handheld computational and communication device. (cell phones, smartphones, handhelds, and tablets) or Nodal Device (‘ND’) which is emplaced into the SPC  11  when its human operator is going to use that specific vehicle to interoperate with the other vehicles, and humans, particularly those working within or up and to the limits of, that same warehouse. In the preferred embodiment the SPC  11  uses its connected memory to store data collected during periods of operation of the vehicle when no ND  21  is attached, which can be accessed by a human operator subsequently when he(she) attaches a ND  21  to that vehicle. 
         [0104]    From that human operator&#39;s point of view each specific SPC  11  can be thought of as a Black Box that is permanently mounted on the vehicle and attached to various vehicle sensors. For display and interfacing purposes, the SPC  11  allows a computer inherent in any of a cellphone, smartphone (collectively, each instance of such is referenced hereafter as a “&#39;phone”) or Tablet, to be either permanently attached to the vehicle, or to be attached by the operator when running the vehicle, through it to the vehicle&#39;s sensor(s) and function(s). 
         [0105]    This permits employers to use a totally new paradigm: they can share employees&#39; &#39;phones or tablet computers during vehicle operation, and can use the employees&#39; &#39;phone or tablet computer as an automatic means of identification. In this mode, when an employee takes over a vehicle, he plugs his &#39;phone/tablet, using it as the ND  21 , into that vehicle&#39;s particular SPC  11 . This plug-in will spark both the SPC  11  and the now-connected &#39;phone/tablet, now the ND  21 , to automatically log-in the employee as that specific vehicle&#39;s operator, and launch any pending software application which can now provide vehicle-and-operator-specific work instructions, vehicle tracking, sensor monitoring, and wireless communications. 
         [0106]    It should be noted that specific vehicles may be functionally differentiated (forklift from crane from flatbed truck from conveyor belt), that individual handhelds, i.e. ND&#39;s  21  can also be functionally differentiated (tablet from smartphone, Fred&#39;s smartphone from Cecilia&#39;s smartphone), and that an individual operator and handheld or ND  21  can be shifted from one vehicle to another, with this invention empowering the vehicle/operator combination according to the collective limitations of the pairings as they are made (and changed, say at shift changes, or even mid-shift temporary adaptive reassignments). 
         [0107]    A set of SPC&#39;s will be defined as those SPC&#39;s which share a common data, messaging, and control (operational and access authorizations) with and through the peripheral, nodal, handhelds as long as the latter be any of the tablet computer(s) and/or smartphone(s) currently active and accepted as authorized to belong to the interoperating organization. This has, as a consequence, the ease of reassignment across shifts as well as across functional and vehicle operations, allowing a far greater adaptability. 
         [0108]    The present invention turns the approach used by the prior art on its head. Instead of requiring a single, central, standard-setting computational ‘host’, the device and system enables and uses a split ‘co-hosting’ approach. Instead of having one master device at each vehicle control all of the communications, power, display, and computation, the device and system divide the control and provisioning of electrical power, and of computational and display efforts; with electrical power being the responsibility of the vehicle-hosted but computationally ‘dumber’ device (which has at best a lesser-quality display), and display and computation the responsibility of whatever ‘nodal device’ (tablet, cell phone, or smartphone) is currently plugged into the vehicle. 
         [0109]    Instead of a series of Login steps and having to remember their password, users are automatically authenticated with their phone/tablet. It is much easier for employees to share passwords and lose traceability than it is for them to give up their cell phones. An employee&#39;s phone is probably the biggest guarantee that they are actually in a vehicle. Passwords are easier to share than getting an employee to loan out a cellphone. 
         [0110]    An employer doesn&#39;t need to pay a burdensome and continuous monthly charge for tracking vehicles when they are on the road. Instead, the employer could offer to share the employee&#39;s phone data plan expenses. This is a win-win that helps out both the employer and the employee. 
         [0111]    The average cellular phone company works to have their customers shift to new hardware every 2-3 years. Typical fixed Vehicle Mount Terminal equipment requires usage for 5-years for return on investment calculations. This approach allows vehicles to be using up to date processing, display and interface technologies always. Employees that have older equipment will only have themselves to blame, and not their employer. 
         [0112]    Employees don&#39;t want to be without their own tablet/cell-phone. They are more likely to keep good care of their own equipment than vehicle mount equipment that they have no ownership for. 
         [0113]    If the Tablet is company owned, the costs of repair will be much cheaper than for an expensive Vehicle Mount Terminal System. With Tablet costs such as the Google Nexus 7 costing below $300 ($200 for the WiFi-only version), the unit becomes virtually disposable when it breaks. An entirely new unit is cheaper than to repair the existing one. When an operator gets into a vehicle, you never know what their phone/tablet charging status might be. Therefore, it is important to be prepared for all scenarios and to offer the employee a benefit too. 
         [0114]    Simple USB Charging Devices provide power to a device for charging it, but don&#39;t allow USB communication at the same time. Therefore, a standard, simple USB Charger can&#39;t support the SPC. 
         [0115]    Architecturally, a processing platform such as a PC, Laptop or Tablet is typically a USB Host Controller. These devices typically have the greatest processing power, are general purpose and flexible in their capabilities, and usually have significant power sources. USB Host Functions require significant intelligence, and usually must support many items being plugged in. In a configuration where a small number of sensors are to be plugged into a phone or tablet, the intuitive approach is to have the phone or tablet be the host computer. The SPC products turn this scenario on its head to provide an ideal implementation. In the present invention the roles of ‘host’ are split according to the differentiated capabilities of the fixed and attaching devices, with the computationally more powerful attaching device becoming the host for data and communications control, and the much lower ‘intelligence’ fixed device, the SPC which is linked to a greater source of electrical power, becoming the USB Host and power provisioning. 
         [0116]    A typical USB Host (or a USB On-the-Go supporting device which is a newer alternative), can provide a maximum of 500 mA of current to an attached device. This is part of the USB standard. The problem is that most good sized tablet computers with displays suitable for Vehicle Mount Applications require significantly more than 500 mA of current for optimal viewing. In these types of scenarios, the tablet battery would run down, and eventually, the device would no longer communicate. This would be unacceptable for an industrial application where 24/7 operation is required. This invention uses a novel and distinctly contrary approach to surmount this limitation of traditional systems. The SPC  11  through its USBCDPI  13  meets the USB Battery Charging Specification 1.2 while still allowing dataflow in both directions. This allows the SPC  11  to keep a ND  21  operating continuously, not only without draining the ND  21 &#39;s battery, but charging it! 
         [0117]    Most vehicle power sources are not as ‘clean’ as might be desired, and can be subject to current drops, current surges, phrase differences, and other irregularities in the electrical current flow, frequency, intensity, and phase—any of which may cause problems with or for any computational or communication circuitry that is in any of the sensors ( 61 ,  62 ,  63 ) or ND  21 , connected with the SPC  11 . While vehicle ignitions typically start with 12 volts, computer chips generally prefer much lower levels! Similarly, the means used to generate power on a vehicle are generally geared toward vehicle electrical standards, which are often much less ‘clean’ than microcircuitry can handle. Thus in a further embodiment of the invention the VPI  51  comprises at least one additional means to receive, use, and distribute an alternative ranged set of vehicle power source levels; and means to effect differing levels of ‘clean’ nature by balancing out any of the set of surges, phase irregularities, and drops in current flow which if not corrected can damaging more delicate electrical circuitry. In this further embodiment the SPC  11  interacts with the ND  21  to program the VPI  51  to handle alternative or a lesser set of vehicle power source levels appropriate to the sensor(s) and nodal device(s) that may connect to the SPC  11 , and thus the SPC  11  be used by the operator to select which set of vehicle power source levels, sensors ( 61 ,  62 ,  63 ), and ND  21  currently connected with the SPC  11  are to be powered through the SPC  11 . 
         [0118]    If a ND  21  supports simultaneous voice and data transmissions, then the SPC  11  can operate and report information during an employee phone call. For employees who are expected to take phone calls while operating vehicles, the act of having the phone or tablet plugged into the SPC will not impact their ability to take calls. Employees using this ND  21  for voice calls during vehicle operation, in the preferred embodiment, will have a Bluetooth connection to the ND  21 . This is made more important due to the fact that the ND  21  is hardwire connected to the SPC  11 , which is also controlling and providing the electrical power for the ND  21 . 
         [0119]    The SPC incorporates general purpose, industry-standard connections (for inputs and outputs). This allows one device, the SPC, to support a variety of differentiated ND&#39;s  21  and through them, a variety of multiple applications; and also permits the user to expand their use of the SPC to take advantage of, support, and enable new capabilities over time. Key status information about the SPC&#39;s attachments can allow different work programs to be automatically launched based on what vehicle an operator is running—or based on what ND  21  the operator attaches to the SPC  11 . 
         [0120]    A key innovation in the SPC  11  is the inclusion of a low cost 3-Axis Accelerometer. The SPC  11  is intended to be permanently attached to a specific vehicle. As that vehicle is operated, the SPC  11 , and thus the vehicle&#39;s, orientation can be calculated using these accelerometer outputs. Knowledge of this orientation will be continuously improved over time. This orientation is critical for any sort of fine positioning or decision processes that involve other sensors such as wheel counters, laser rangers, etc. that can be tied directly to the SPC  11  as one of the sensors ( 61 ,  62 ,  63 ). 
         [0121]    The simple software interface for the SPC  11  makes it easy for any operator to add a new type of sensor. The SPC  11  sends the sensor data to the ND  21  where it can either be displayed, or transmitted back to a host system. The SPC&#39;s Embedded Software permits all control and modification to be made from the ND  21  acting as the computational host machine, using the SPC interface software and the ND&#39;s controls and display. This provides a single point of user interaction with the system. 
         [0122]    The SPC  11  further comprises connections to a number of standard interfaces. This allows a wide range of sensor devices or complete products such as bar-code scanners to be tied to the SPC  11 . However, as the sensor devices use the SPC interface software, the user with the ND  21  will not have to learn a different command language for each device. What is more novel is that the ND  21  that is attached to the SPC will likely have more accurate Gyroscopes, Accelerometers, Compasses or other sensors. The employee might set the ND  21  on the seat, in a cradle, or in a mount with an adjustable position for best viewing. Since the ND  21  could be in a wide range of orientations, the fixed Accelerometer values from the SPC  11  can be used to simplify the orientation of the ND  21  to the SPC  11  and by extension, the vehicle. 
         [0123]    The interface is presently over USB as the underlying physical layer. Commands will be sent bi-directionally using an XML packet format, and may, and in a further embodiment will, be encrypted (as will the data). Otherwise, someone can put a USB sniffer on the connection and look at all of the packets. 
         [0124]    The SPC  11  in the preferred embodiment comprises means for Ethernet connection, wherein said means comprise having the Sensor-Host Main Controller  100  further connected with any of an Ethernet Transceiver or physical Ethernet connection. 
         [0125]    In a further embodiment, the user who is authenticated may instantiate his own encryption process between his peripheral and the network host. With multiple, different, encryption processes, none of which are shared beyond the last link separating the mobile node from the centralizing host(s), the ability of any third party to penetrate the entirety of the system degrades, not just linearly but potentially geometrically with the increasing number of last link nodes. 
         [0126]    A. Message Types: 
         [0127]    There will initially be three types of messages: setup, data, and alert. The setup messages will be sent at the beginning of a session, and are used to configure what data will be sent, how frequently, it will be sent, and how it will be presented. The data messages will contain Time-stamped values corresponding to the value of associated sensors. 
         [0128]    A.1: Setup Messages: 
         [0129]    There are two forms of setup messages. These are pin configuration messages, and filtering messages. The onboard accelerometers are automatically configured to be operating, but the user can decide whether to Enable or Disable the processing and sending of their data. 
         [0130]    The preferred embodiment of the SPC  11  will comprise an embedded microprocessor suited for production or moderate-capacity computational devices (such as a 32 Bit PIC Microprocessor by Microchip, as opposed to a core microprocessor for the high-end computers such as 64-bit Intel i7-3840QM Processor) and in charge of its computational, communication and control activities. The SPC  11  also comprises an Analog/Digital Converter (“ADC”) connected and communicating with, if it is not a part of, the embedded microprocessor and also connected and communicating, with the means to route multiple analog inputs to the ADC, and thus at least one sensor for its data (concerning any of the vehicle&#39;s condition, operational state or environment). The preferred embodiment will also comprise at least 2 4-20 mA Analog Inputs that will be sampled with the ADC in the PIC. A typical 3-Axis Accelerometer such as the ADXL345 by Analog Devices produces digital outputs at rates up to 3200 Samples/second. Most analog or digital inputs in the SPC  11  will not require sampling at greater than 100 Hz. Therefore, if the 3-Axis Accelerometer data is to be used in conjunction with slower sampled input data, it will usually be necessary to decimate accelerometer data-sent to the ND  21 . Accelerometer data can be very noisy especially in a vehicle, and it is generally desirable to filter the data. The preferred filtering will introduce Group Delay into the signal, and to properly time correlate the filtered data with other inputs that are unfiltered, this Group Delay must be accounted for. The preferred embodiment provides various filter cutoff frequencies, sampling rates, correlated Group Delays, and samples/sec sent to the Node Device (e.g. a Tablet computer) as shown in Table 1, to lessen any degree of adaptive experimentation. 
         [0000]    
       
         
               
             
               
               
               
             
               
               
               
               
             
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
             
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
               
             
           
               
                 TABLE 1 
               
             
             
               
                   
               
               
                 Filtering for Accelerometer Inputs (All Handled Equivalently) 
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                 Input 
                   
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                 Group 
                 Sample 
                   
               
             
          
           
               
                   
                 3rd order 
                   
                 Sampling 
                 Group 
                 Delay for 
                 Shift for 
                   
               
               
                   
                 Butterworth Filter 
                   
                 Rate for 
                 Delay for 
                 Cutoff 
                 Group 
                 Samples/sec 
               
               
                 XML Name 
                 Cutoff Frequency 
                 Reset State 
                 ADXL345 
                 0 Hz 
                 Frequency 
                 Delay 
                 to Tablet 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
           
               
                 XYZ_ACCEL 
                 “Cutoff = None” 
                 “Cutoff = None” 
                 3200 
                 HZ 
                 0 
                 msec 
                 0 
                 msec 
                 0 
                 2000 
               
               
                   
                 “Cutoff = 1,000 Hz” 
                   
                 3200 
                 Hz 
                 0.2 
                 msec 
                 0.5 
                 msec 
                 1 
                 2000 
               
               
                   
                 “Cutoff = 400 Hz” 
                   
                 3200 
                 Hz 
                 0.8 
                 msec 
                 0.5 
                 msec 
                 2 
                 1000 
               
               
                   
                 “Cutoff = 200 Hz” 
                   
                 800 
                 Hz 
                 1 
                 msec 
                 3 
                 msec 
                 1 
                 500 
               
               
                   
                 “Cutoff = 100 Hz” 
                   
                 800 
                 Hz 
                 3 
                 msec 
                 5 
                 msec 
                 2 
                 250 
               
               
                   
                 “Cutoff = 40 Hz” 
                   
                 200 
                 Hz 
                 7 
                 msec 
                 13 
                 msec 
                 1 
                 100 
               
               
                   
                 “Cutoff = 20 Hz” 
                   
                 200 
                 Hz 
                 15 
                 msec 
                 22 
                 msec 
                 3 
                 50 
               
               
                   
                 “Cutoff = 10 Hz” 
                   
                 50 
                 Hz 
                 28 
                 msec 
                 53 
                 msec 
                 1 
                 25 
               
               
                   
                 “Cutoff = 4 Hz” 
                   
                 50 
                 Hz 
                 78 
                 msec 
                 111 
                 msec 
                 4 
                 10 
               
               
                   
                 “Cutoff = 2 Hz” 
                   
                 25 
                 Hz 
                 162 
                 msec 
                 232 
                 msec 
                 4 
                 5 
               
               
                   
                 “Cutoff = 1 Hz” 
                   
                 25 
                 Hz 
                 330 
                 msec 
                 457 
                 msec 
                 8 
                 5 
               
               
                   
               
             
          
         
       
     
         [0131]    A.2: Data Messages 
         [0132]    Data messages can either read an analog or digital input, or they can be used to write an output. They can also report counter input values and set PWM output information. The following messages are asynchronously transmitted from the SPC  11  to the ND  21  over an XML interface. To minimize the number of messages, and to help with time-stamping, the preferred embodiment will send messages every 100 msec (10 per second) that include all of the data for the previous period, and data will be packaged in a oldest in, first out format. 
         [0133]    Sensor Data in the preferred embodiment is time stamped. The SPC  11  has a Real Time Clock. It is critical that the ND  21  can either set or read these values. The “Black Box Mode” of operation in the preferred embodiment allows the SPC  11  to store information about the vehicle and from its sensor(s) even though the vehicle is being operated when a ND  21  is not connected. Later, a ND  21  could download this information. All timing information in the preferred embodiment, and thus for the Real Time Clock, is in Binary Coded Decimal YY:MM:DD: HH:MM:SS format (WKDY will not be sent or used). 
         [0134]    In one embodiment the Real Time Clock is connected to a back-up power element (which can be any of a battery and capacitor) that when fully charged, stores enough electrical power to keep the Real Time Clock functioning for a week. In an alternative embodiment, the back-up power element when fully charged stores enough electrical power to keep the Real Time Clock, SPC, and host vehicle motion sensors functioning for an extended period of time which can be any of one or more, even ten-plus, days. For analog inputs, in the preferred embodiment values are reported for in volts and the time values are spread evenly across the period of the overall message, which corresponds to 100 msec. Messages will be used for digital and counter input configuration, accelerometer inputs, and Corn Port receiving. 
         [0135]    Some messages in the preferred embodiment are asynchronously transmitted from the ND  21  to the SPC  11  over an XML interface. These messages will generally be infrequent or at random intervals, so they will be transmitted over XML as soon as they are ready. This is as opposed to interfaces which bundle data in messages to reduce the number of transmissions. Among these messages are open collector outputs (messages for Digital Output configuration), PWM (messages for analog output configuration), and Com Port transmitting messages. 
         [0136]    A.3: Alert Messages 
         [0137]    These messages generally comprise error codes or other non-data information between the elements such as sensors  61 ,  62 ,  63 , SPC  11 , and ND  21 . These messages are the means for host communication and control which are not already delineated above as belonging to either the authorization or data communication functions. The SPC  11 , or the contact/communication linkage with an individual ND  21 , may need to be reset; or the pair must detect and respond to failure of that nodal link (or of another nodal link); or the pair must cooperatively coordinate the power management function; or a new host upgrade (as distinguished from a nodal device&#39;s upgrade) must be communicated and coordinated. 
         [0138]    In the preferred embodiment should the SPC  11  reset for some reason, it sends a message to the ND  21  to that effect immediately. The presumes that the USB interface will still be active, and needs to be verified. 
         [0139]    In the preferred embodiment if the SPC  11  detects a short circuit on the 18V supplies, or the 5V external Supply, it sends an alert through the ND  21  to its display and possibly onwards using the set of communication links  21 ,  22 ,  23 . 
         [0140]    A.3.1: System Stability Signal—the ‘Heartbeat’ Message 
         [0141]    Both SPC  11  and ND  21  in the preferred embodiment will send reciprocally and regularly, confirmation of continued systemic connectivity and stability—a ‘Heartbeat Message’—every second. This will be used to maintain the connection  15  and to decide whether any link or element, or the entire set, needs to be restarted. As a secondary function this could also serve as a ‘clocking’ coordination. 
         [0142]    However, while the ‘heartbeat’ message from the SPC  11  will include a timestamp, that from the ND  21  to the SPC  11  will not, to avoid confusing the two elements&#39; internal clocks. If time comparisons need to be done, they should be handled in the ND  21  by its more readily accessible, updateable, and connected software. 
         [0143]    A.3.2: Power Management Messages 
         [0144]    Both SPC  11  and ND  21  have potentially independent, yet cooperating, reasons where they may need to manage their power consumption. In the case of the SPC  11 , it will detect that the vehicle is not on, and will start a time process to put itself and the ND  21  connected to it in standby. In the case of the ND  21 , there will be cases where the user wishes to put the SPC  11  into standby mode. So a ‘standby’ or power-management independence message is part of the preferred embodiment and when sent or received triggers automatically an embedded response. 
         [0145]    A. 3.3: Time Setting Message 
         [0146]    This message is used in the preferred embodiment to set the Real Time Clock which is part of the Sensor Host Main Controller  100 . If the ND  21  wants to get the real time, it is available in the Heartbeat messages. The Sensor Host Main Controller  100  stores an additional WKDY field (i.e. Sunday, Monday, . . . Saturday), but this is not necessarily important for the applications of the ND  21 . Therefore, this will not be set, and will not be sent in Time Stamps. 
         [0147]    Since each ND  21  is presumed to be operative, and operated, outside this invention&#39;s connection and communication, as the individual owner takes it off work, any particular ND  21  may have its time set to a different value between connections. (For example, the user may take a vacation trip into another time zone and have his smartphone or tablet reset its ‘home time’ to that temporary change; then forget to undo that change before returning to work.) Also, the network may have one or more hosts and nodes operating across a time zone boundary. By allowing not just the individual SPC  11  or ND  21 , but the set of host(s) and node(s) to communicate with Time Setting Messages, these differences can be detected and either tracked to a geographically-diverse ‘real time’ definitional distinction, or corrected as to a mutually-shared ‘common time’ for operational functionality. 
       Specific Examples and Variations 
       [0148]    In a first possible scenario, the Employer can purchase a specific ND  21  such as a Tablet computer, and permanently mount it on the vehicle. In this case, the SPC  11  continually charges the Tablet computer while it is being used in operation. This scenario will still require operator log-in through the Tablet computer to indicate who is using that specific vehicle. 
         [0149]    In a second scenario, the employer purchases a particular ND  21  such as a Tablet computer for each employee who may operate equipment. The employee-specific ND  21  will have embedded in it that employee&#39;s specific, automatic, login, which will preclude the need for login screens and procedures; whenever a specific employee physically connects his ND  21  to a SPC-equipped vehicle, that triggers the automatic login and registration of the employee with that vehicle. Employees always take their own ND  21  to each vehicle they will be operating. 
         [0150]    In a third scenario, the employer shares the employee&#39;s ND  21  (tablet or phone) while at work. The employee is authenticated and logged into the system automatically when they connect their ND  21  to the SPC  11 . The vehicle-specific application for that SPC will automatically launch on the employee&#39;s tablet or phone-based on the type of vehicle that is being operated (and, in a further embodiment, on the employee&#39;s registered task skills and qualifications). The SPC  11  is permanently attached to a specific vehicle and it knows what it is attached to. When any ND  21  is attached, this information is communicated up through to the USB connection. 
         [0151]    In certain applications, the operator of the SPC  11  and ND  21  may wish to monitor many additional sensors. In a further embodiment the means for detecting and operating a subset of devices (‘Controlled Functions’) of the vehicle through the SPC  11  comprise a Vehicle Controller Area Network (‘CAN’) Interface  31 , or a Controller Area Network Transceiver  140 , to be able to monitor the main vehicle operation bus, connected with the main vehicle operation bus and the main processor of the SPC  11 . In addition, many external sensors for temperature, distance, pressure, latches and other in-vehicle controls or state-setting devices can be supported. 
         [0152]    In yet a further embodiment the SPC  11  supports external Serial RS-232 devices (and USB devices in coming revisions) that could include external GPS, WLAN or Cellular interfaces, or devices such as bar code scanners, with a RS-232 Transceiver Interface  180  connected with both the Sensor Host Main Controller  100  and the Sensor and Output Power Generation  170 , and the external interfaces or devices (collectively,  171 ). 
         [0153]    In yet a further embodiment the USBCDPI  13  will alternatively comprise any set of physical wire, or wireless (e.g. inductive) charging and communication linkages. 
         [0154]    In yet a further embodiment, the SPC  11  further comprises an authentication subsystem for authenticating an external nodal device when connected with the SPC  11  as one authorized to access and use the vehicle to which the SPC  11  is fixably mounted; and means for constraining the operational control of the vehicle including any combination of a set of alarm signaling, vehicle function shutdown, locational signaling, and vehicle operational shutdown, to be effected for any non-authenticated-user interaction, when a connected external nodal device does not satisfy the authentication subsystem. 
         [0155]    In yet a further embodiment the SPC  11  (‘SPC’)&#39;s authentication subsystem further incorporates and interacts with user-selected encryption from the external nodal device (ND  21 ). 
         [0156]    In yet a further embodiment means for constraining the operational control of the vehicle embodied in the SPC  11  further comprise issuing, or communicating commands from or through the ND  21 , which effect a constraining the operational activities of the vehicle by an set of activities, locations, time limits, or combination thereof, as determined by the existence or lack of appropriate authentication of the external nodal device (ND  21 ) attached to the SPC&#39;s vehicle, as established within the SPC  11  prior to the external nodal device being attached for authentication. 
         [0157]    It is possible for the invention as herein described to be used, in an alternative embodiment, as a production control device wherein for each fixed-point station a Production Control Coordinator  500  (‘PCC’ which other than the name, analogous to the SPC  11 ) is affixed, and to which any of a set of tools, sensors, and moveable, replaceable, and interoperative nodal devices (analogous to the ND  21 ) may be connected. 
         [0158]    The PCC  500  has built in Ethernet connectivity for a reliable high speed connection alternative that is always connected if desired. The PCC  500  allows a totally new paradigm for operator tracking. One of many possible setups allows an operator to plug their own ND  21  (&#39;phone or tablet computer) into the PCC  500  when they move to a new work station on the production floor. This would automatically log the user into the network, and would automatically launch the software application on the ND  21  (&#39;phone/tablet computer) that is appropriate for the specific work station. When sensor inputs and work instructions are then passed to the ND  21  (&#39;phone/tablet), they are automatically tagged and customized for that specific user. 
         [0159]    While this invention has been described in reference to illustrative embodiments, this description is not to be construed in a limiting sense. Various modifications and combinations of the illustrative embodiments as well as other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon referencing this disclosure. It is therefore intended this disclosure encompass any such modifications or embodiments. 
         [0160]    The scope of this invention includes any combination of the elements from the different embodiments disclosed in this specification, and is not limited to the specifics of the preferred embodiment or any of the alternative embodiments. Individual configurations and embodiments of this invention may contain all, or less than all, of the elements disclosed in the specification according to the needs and desires of a user. The claims stated herein should also be read as including those elements which are not necessary to the invention yet are in the prior art and are necessary to the overall function of that particular claim, and should be read as including, to the maximum extent permissible by law, known functional equivalents to the elements disclosed in the specification, even though those specific functional equivalents are not exhaustively detailed herein. 
         [0161]    The tables and messages herein are not limiting but instructive of the embodiment of the invention, and variations which are readily derived through transformations which are standard or known to the appropriate art are not excluded by omission. Accordingly, it is intended that the appended claims be interpreted to cover all alterations and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention in light of the prior art. 
         [0162]    Additionally, although claims have been formulated in this application to particular combinations of elements, it should be understood that the scope of the disclosure of the present application also includes any single novel element or any novel combination of elements disclosed herein, either explicitly or implicitly, whether or not it relates to the same invention as presently claimed in any claim and whether or not it mitigates any or all of the same technical problems as does the present invention. The applicant hereby give notices that new claims may be formulated to such features and/or combinations of such features during the prosecution of the present application or of any further application derived therefrom.