Patent ID: 7564375

Claim:
A method for automatically determining which of a plurality of predefined routes a vehicle has traveled, comprising the steps of: (a) collecting data at the vehicle in conjunction with operation of the vehicle, wherein the data collected include: (i) data that includes a route identifier specifying which one of the plurality of predefined routes the vehicle has traversed or is to during operation of the vehicle, and data that includes other data comprising vehicle inspection data, the step of collecting data comprising the step of providing vehicle inspection data collected by an operator of the vehicle using a portable data collection device configured to facilitate input of the vehicle inspection data that indicate a status of the vehicle, wherein the vehicle inspection data comprises token data collected by the portable data collection device from a plurality of tokens disposed proximate inspection locations associated with the vehicle, wherein the tokens and the inspection locations are disposed on the vehicle, the token data providing evidence that the operator was proximate the token during the vehicle inspection; and (ii) vehicle geographical position data collected from the vehicle during operation of the vehicle; (b) after completing the predefined route, conveying the data collected at the vehicle to a remote computing device for analysis to determine which one of the plurality of predefined routes the vehicle has traveled; and (c) automatically analyzing the data collected in conjunction with operation of the vehicle to determine along which one of the plurality of predefined routes the vehicle has traveled, and storing the predefined route that is identified, for later retrieval or display to a user, the step of automatically analyzing comprising the steps of: (i) automatically determining if the data collected in conjunction with operation of the vehicle include the route identifier that specifies which one of the plurality of predefined routes the vehicle has traveled, thereby identifying the specific one of the plurality of predefined routes the vehicle has traveled based on the route identifier; and (ii) automatically determining if the data collected in conjunction with operation of the vehicle include vehicle geographical position data, and if so, comparing the vehicle geographical position data with a plurality of route fingerprints, each route fingerprint corresponding to one of the plurality of predefined routes, to determine which one of the route fingerprints corresponds to the vehicle geographical position data, thereby identifying the specific one of the plurality of predefined routes the vehicle has traveled based on the vehicle geographical position data and its corresponding route fingerprint.