Abstract:
A system and method for tracking a vehicle includes a mobile tracking device that receives GPS data. The mobile tracking device transmits the location data to a tracking system whenever it detects certain events based on the data, such as the vehicle making a stop, resuming motion, changing direction, or exceeding a speed limit. The tracking system can associate received data on vehicle location with service calls and automatically generate an accurate bill reflecting the distance traveled to the service call and the duration of the stop.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims priority to U.S. Patent Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/436,413 to Tristan Sean Putman et al. entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR VEHICLE TRACKING” and filed on Jan. 26, 2011, which application is incorporated by reference herein. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The invention is generally related to vehicle tracking, more specifically for tracking and recording positions of service vehicles. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    An on-site customer service system may send service vehicles to several customers in a given day, and the service schedule for a given vehicle may be altered many times as the day progress. The miles travelled and the time spent on any given service call is charged to the customer requesting the service. Historically, the service technician operating the vehicle would manually record an estimate of miles travelled and time spent on each call, and this record would serve as the basis for billing each customer for the call. 
         [0004]    This method is imprecise. Service technicians may be significantly inaccurate in their time and distance estimates, and may choose not to report time correctly. Miles driven that are uncharged translate into unrecovered expenses, while overcharges can result in a customer service issue. Inaccurate reporting of service call activity is therefore a significant obstacle to efficient, quality service calls. 
         [0005]    Self-reporting also makes it difficult to supervise service technicians, who may arrive late to service requests, use the service vehicle for personal reasons, operate the vehicle impermissibly such as by exceeding the speed limit, and engage in other impermissible activities on company time and with company equipment. On the road and outside the office environment it can be much harder to detect and correct this sort of behavior. 
         [0006]    A system and method is therefore needed that can more accurately track service calls and service vehicle movement. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0007]    The invention addresses these and other drawbacks associated with the prior art by providing an event-driven system and method to track a vehicle by using a mobile tracking device disposed on the vehicle to determine a location of the vehicle at a plurality of times, detect an event for the vehicle from at least one of the determined locations, and transmit a location of the vehicle to a remote device in response to detecting the event. Detecting the event may involve comparing two or more of the locations in order to determine at least one of the speed and direction of movement of the vehicle. The types of events that may be tracked include, for example, a vehicle stopping, resuming motion, changing direction, or exceeding a speed such as a speed limit. In addition, in some embodiments, these steps may be carried out by a mobile communications device. 
         [0008]    Consistent with one aspect of the invention, a method for determining a service cost for a service call includes identifying a vehicle stop or trip event from a plurality of locations, each location associated with a time and generated by an event-driven mobile tracking device disposed on a vehicle used in performing the service call, associating an event duration or distance with the identified event, and automatically determining an amount to charge a customer for the service call based on the identified event and the associated duration or distance. The method may also include associating the identified event with the service call and basing the amount to charge the customer for the service call on the nature of the service call or the identity of the customer. 
         [0009]    These and other advantages and features, which characterize the invention, are set forth in the claims annexed hereto and forming a further part hereof. However, for a better understanding of the invention, and of the advantages and objectives attained through its use, reference should be made to the Drawings, and to the accompanying descriptive matter, in which there is described exemplary embodiments of the invention. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0010]      FIG. 1  is a partial view of a lock box containing a mobile tracking device in accordance with the present invention 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is a block diagram of a mobile tracking device in accordance with the present invention. 
           [0012]      FIG. 3  is a block diagram of a computer tracking system in accordance with the present invention. 
           [0013]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating a billing method in accordance with the present invention. 
           [0014]      FIG. 5  is a display screen showing mobile vehicle tracking reports in accordance with the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0015]    A GPS tracking device is affixed to a service vehicle and reports vehicle movements to a vehicle tracking system. Certain events associated with vehicle movement, including speed and direction changes, trigger the device to report the vehicle&#39;s location to the vehicle tracking system. The vehicle tracking system may store the transmitted data and use it to report on the vehicle&#39;s movements and to automatically generate customer billing on the basis of the vehicle&#39;s activities relative to service calls. 
         [0016]    Turning now to the figures,  FIG. 1  is an exemplary mobile tracking device in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. A mobile communication device  2  is placed within a secure box  4 , which may be a lockbox for which the service technician operating the vehicle is not permitted access. In one embodiment, the mobile communication device  2  may be a mobile phone including a GPS receiver and custom software for receiving and sending GPS location information. It will be appreciated, however, that other mechanical mechanisms for restricting access to device  2  may be used in the alternative. 
         [0017]      FIG. 2  illustrates a mobile tracking device  10  in accordance with one embodiment of the invention. The device  10  includes a processing unit  12  in communication with memory  14 , a user interface  16 , and mass storage  18 . The device  10  may include an operating system  20  which allows the device to carry out the operations described herein. Although a user interface  16  is shown, the interface  16  may be completely or partially disabled in order to limit a service technician&#39;s ability to tamper with the device  10 . Normal operation of the mobile tracking device  10  may not require any user of the user interface  16  but rather communication may be entirely carried out through the network interface  22  as further described below. 
         [0018]    In one embodiment, the device is a mobile communications device such as a mobile phone. The device includes a network interface  22 , configured to interact with a mobile service network under an agreement with a mobile service provider as known in the art. The mobile device  10  may interface with the mobile service network with any network protocol known in the art—for example, any 2G, EDGE, 3G, LTE or other 4G network protocol may be used. Current mobile devices are often sophisticated and include the ability to use a variety of protocols as available. Many mobile communications devices of the sort represented by a mobile phone use a duplex antenna interface between a large base antenna and an antenna embedded within the chassis of the mobile device  10 . 
         [0019]    In an alternate embodiment, the mobile tracking device  10  may be a mobile device that reports tracking signals through some means other than a mobile service network, such as through radio signals directly to a base station or through some other communications network such as wireless LAN. Wirelessly transmitting signals through a variety of telecommunications techniques is known in the art. 
         [0020]    Signals indicating the location of the mobile tracking device  10  are sent by means of the network interface  22  to the tracking system, which in one embodiment may be responsible for tracking multiple service vehicles at any given time. As shown in  FIG. 2 , a computer  30  capable of storing the status of each vehicle in, for example, a database  24  may receive the signals through its own network interface  22 . The network interface may be configured to receive signals as a web server over the internet, or may be configured to receive signals through a mobile service network, or any other means as known in the art. 
         [0021]    For the purposes of the invention, computer  30  may represent practically any type of computer, computer system, or other suitable programmable electronic device consistent with the invention. Moreover, computer  30  may be implemented using one or more networked computers, e.g., in a cluster or other distributed computing system. 
         [0022]    Computer  30  typically includes a central processing unit  12  including at least one microprocessor coupled to memory  14 , which may represent the random access memory (RAM) devices comprising the main storage of computer  40 , as well as any supplemental levels of memory, e.g., cache memories, non-volatile or backup memories (e.g., programmable or flash memories), read-only memories, etc. In addition, memory  14  may be considered to include memory storage physically located elsewhere in computer  30 , e.g., any cache memory in a processor in CPU  12 , as well as any storage capacity used as a virtual memory, e.g., as stored on a mass storage device  18  or on another computer coupled to computer  30 . Computer  30  also typically receives a number of inputs and outputs for communicating information externally. For interface with a user or operator, computer  30  typically includes a user interface  16  incorporating one or more user input devices (e.g., a keyboard, a mouse, a trackball, a joystick, a touchpad, and/or a microphone, among others) and a display (e.g., a CRT monitor, an LCD display panel, and/or a speaker, among others). Otherwise, user input may be received via another computer or terminal. 
         [0023]    For additional storage, computer  30  may also include one or more mass storage devices  18 , e.g., a floppy or other removable disk drive, a hard disk drive, a direct access storage device (DASD), an optical drive (e.g., a CD drive, a DVD drive, etc.), and/or a tape drive, among others. Furthermore, computer  30  includes an interface  22  with one or more networks (e.g., a LAN, a WAN, a wireless network, and/or the Internet, among others) to permit the communication of information with other computers and electronic devices. It should be appreciated that computer  30  typically includes suitable analog and/or digital interfaces between CPU  12  and each of components  14 ,  16 ,  18 ,  22  as is well known in the art. 
         [0024]    The mobile tracking device  10  includes a GPS receiver  26  which is capable of receiving location information as known in the art. In one embodiment, the GPS receiver receives GPS signals and location information on a regular basis. Each location is associated with a time and stored. In one embodiment, mass storage  18  may be used to store a list of location information with their associated times. 
         [0025]    Through processing by the CPU  12  of executables in memory  14 , using data collected by the GPS receiver  26  and stored in memory  14  or mass storage  16 , the mobile device can perform any number of calculations on a set of recent location data. For example, known calculations in the art use GPS locations, along with their timestamps, to calculate the speed and direction of travel of a vehicle. Typically, if these GPS locations are reported to a remote location, they are reported on a periodic or time basis, e.g., every N seconds or minutes. In the illustrated embodiments, on the other hand, these calculations can be used to detect an event of interest, so that the reporting of GPS locations is performed on an event-driven basis. 
         [0026]    Events of interest may include the following: 
         [0027]    Vehicle stops. The vehicle&#39;s speed is below a threshold, for instance below 2 mph, for at least an established interval of time. 
         [0028]    Vehicle resumes. The vehicle&#39;s speed increases from below a “stopped” threshold to above another threshold, for instance above 10 mph. 
         [0029]    Vehicle turns. The vehicle&#39;s heading changes more than an established angle, for instance more than 45 degrees, from a previously established heading. 
         [0030]    Vehicle speeds. The vehicle&#39;s speed increases to above a set threshold, for example above 65 miles an hour. The threshold may be location-dependent. For example, the mobile tracking device may include a map which has speed limits associated with various routes, and the threshold may be set to the speed limit when known. 
         [0031]    The mobile tracking device  10  may be set to transmit location data to the tracking system  30  in response to the detection of an event. Additionally, the mobile tracking device  10  may continue to transmit location data during an ongoing event and cease transmitting once the event has lapsed. For example, the mobile tracking device may continue to transmit location data as long as the vehicle is speeding but cease transmission once the vehicle&#39;s speed returns below the speed threshold, or to report another event to report that the vehicle is no longer speeding. 
         [0032]    In addition to above event-based transmissions, the mobile tracking device may also transmit its location after a set interval where no events were detected. For example, after four hours in which the device did not transmit a location, the device may transmit a location. 
         [0033]    The tracking system records data from each tracking device, associating the received data with the appropriate vehicle. The data may be stored in any appropriate memory location, including a database  24  in mass storage  18  or as any part of memory  14 . Once the data is received, the tracking system can then making accurate billing decisions in accordance with the actual data, as illustrated in the flowchart of  FIG. 4 . Stops reported by the tracking device (block  102 ) can be matched to service calls on the basis of proximity to the known location of the customer, or on the basis of the time of the call compared with the known schedule of the service technician (block  104 ). Time stamps on transmitted data associated with stop events and resume events allows the system to calculate the duration of the stop (block  106 ). When a stop is successfully associated with a given call, miles driven before and after that stop can also be associated with the call (block  108 ). By associating the stop with a listed service call and therefore a listed customer, the system can access the mileage and hourly rate associated with that customer (block  110 ). In another embodiment, the mileage and hourly rates for a given service call are universal and discounts are applied later in the billing process, so no customized rate information is accessed. Using mileage and hourly rates along with the mileage and time of the service call, a bill can be automatically generated on the basis of the tracking data (block  112 ). 
         [0034]    The tracking system may be able to report data in a variety of ways. A daily summary may list all vehicles, giving total mileage, driving time, and number of stops for each vehicle. A trips report may list each driving event separately with start and stop times, duration and mileage. A stops report may list the time, address, and duration of each stop. An after-hours report may list vehicles that ran outside of an established time window, with the time and mileage that each vehicle ran. 
         [0035]    The tracking system may also allow for GPS navigation functionality, allowing a user of the tracking system to determine suggested routes between stops, comparing the suggested routes to the routes taken by drivers, and estimating required miles and duration on the basis of the suggested routes. This allows for billing estimates and also benchmarks against which a driver&#39;s actual performance can be evaluated. 
         [0036]    The tracking system can also alert the user on the basis of criteria such as speeding, stops exceeding a given duration, unauthorized stops, unauthorized trips, and deviations from suggested route, and other unauthorized activities. 
         [0037]    For maintenance purposes, the system can maintain a running total of miles for each vehicle, adding to the cumulative mileage each time it creates a report that includes additional vehicle miles. In one embodiment, the running total accrues following vehicle maintenance and can be reset to zero each time maintenance is performed. 
         [0038]    Other modifications will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art, as will other potential applications of the techniques described herein. Therefore, the invention lies in the claims hereinafter appended.