Method and apparatus for tracking vehicle location and computer aided dispatch

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system for fleet management. The present invention is illustrated as an example with regard to a method and apparatus for presenting locations of a fleet of vehicles to a fleet manager by way of a display, but it will be recognized that the invention has a wider range of applicability. Merely by way of example, the invention can be applied to other types uses with transportation, mapping, and the like.

In the fleet management business, knowledge of vehicle location is a powerful tool for the manager or dispatcher to efficiently operate the fleet. Assimilating the locations of the fleet as quickly as possible is important for efficient decision making. Various navigational systems, including the LORAN system and the global positioning systems, (GPS), are used to determine vehicle location. Both the LORAN and the GPS navigation systems rely on externally transmitted radio frequency signals to determine the location of a receiving antenna mounted on the vehicle. The vehicle position is defined in terms of a latitude and longitude value.

In order for the latitude and longitude values to be easily utilized by the dispatcher, latitude and longitude information is typically displayed in a map format. The two most common map formats for displaying vehicle position are 1) a raster map and 2) a vector map display. FIG. 1 illustrates a raster map display. A raster map is a digitized version of the type of road maps or paper maps most dispatchers are familiar with. A raster map is formed by digitally scanning a standard road map or paper map. Like the standard road map, raster maps typically contain visual features, such as natural and manmade features of the land, contour lines featuring shape and elevation and specific features such as roads, towns, water areas and vegetation.

One prior art raster display system is the MapStation developed by Spatial Data Sciences. MapStation is capable of displaying an icon representative of vehicle position moving along a raster map as the vehicle changes its latitude and longitude position. Since the latitude and longitudinal position of the icon corresponds to a street location, the icon moves along a particular street on the raster map display. Because the raster map is merely a digitized representation of the street, no interrelationship between different street locations or landmarks exists. Thus, although the MapStation can display latitude and longitude information, it cannot display intelligent street information such as the particular street the vehicle is traveling on or the proximity of the vehicle to a particular street or landmark.

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of a prior art raster map display system 200 which includes a mobile position database 210, a mobile position utility library 212, a raster database 214, a raster map utility library 216, an interface utility library 218, and a raster display 220. The mobile position library 212 contains routines which access the mobile database 210 retrieving vehicle identification, latitude and longitude information. The latitude and longitude values of the vehicle are transmitted to the raster utility 216 via bus 222. In response, the raster utility 216 accesses the raster database 214 and extracts a latitude and longitude value for the particular vehicle. The latitude, longitude and vehicle identification values are passed to the interface utility 218 where they are used for display of an icon on the raster display 220. In addition, the raster utility 216 extracts digitized information for a defined area based on the fleet location and zoom level for display as a raster map on the raster display 220.

FIG. 3 illustrates a vector map display. FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of the display system for implementing the vector map display shown in FIG. 3. Unlike the raster map database shown in FIG. 2, the vector map database 414 contains intelligent street and address information that provides the computer with the capability to identify the address of a vehicle location. The address information could consist of the block number, street name, county information. The vector display is generated in a similar manner to the raster display previously discussed. Streets in the vector map database 414 are defined in terms of segments. Segments are interconnected so that streets are interrelated to each other.

However, although the vector map contains street information, it does not contain visual features. Thus, such as natural features of the land, contour lines featuring shape and elevation and specific features such as towns, water areas and vegetation which are typically displayed on a raster map are not shown on a vector display map.

Because visual features are so important to the dispatcher, one vector map display system created by Etak Corporation has tried to simulate the visual features such as landmarks commonly found in raster type display systems. The Etak system creates a stick-like outline of the landmark. Although the landmark is represented, the quality of the representation is inferior to the representation of the raster display.

Assimilating vehicle location as quickly as possible for efficient decision making is of prime importance. The majority of users are familiar with the road-map type display of raster displays and prefer digitized raster maps for being able to quickly recognize vehicle position. Because raster maps include geographic landmarks and visual features not found in the stick-like interconnection presented by vector maps, it is often easier to find or to designate a vehicle position. Additionally, users are accustomed to describing vehicle location as being a certain distance from a school, building or other landmark. However, although users are often more comfortable determining vehicle position using a raster map, raster maps are incapable of providing intelligent street information valuable in decision making. For example, a dispatcher would not be provided with information related to the distance between the current vehicle position and the vehicle destination using information provided by a raster data display system.

A further limitation with the aforementioned systems is a lack of computer aided dispatching. In fact, conventional computer aided dispatching often relies upon conventional two-way radios to provide communication between a dispatcher and a courier. The conventional two-way radio simply lacks the capability without substantial effort by a driver to continuously relate location, time, pick-up, and delivery information. The conventional two-way radio often causes inefficiencies in voice transfer and lacks data transfer.

An integrated system for providing a raster map display which also provides intelligent address information and computer aided dispatching is needed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention, an integrated system which simultaneously displays a raster map and vectorized street information corresponding to a vehicle position operably coupled to a computer aided dispatch system is provided. The present system provides an easy to view display with easy to use computer aided dispatch system for fleet management and the like applications.

In a specific embodiment, the present invention provides an apparatus for computer aided dispatching. The present apparatus includes a plurality of mobile units, each of the plurality of mobile units having a navigation tracking device. The navigation tracking device includes a radio. The present apparatus also includes a data acquisition device operably coupled to the navigation tracking device. The data acquisition device is adapted to capture a first value and a second value from the navigation tracking device to define a mobile unit position. The mobile position database is operably coupled to the data acquisition device, and the mobile position database has the first value and the second value. The present apparatus further includes a raster database. The raster database includes a digitized representation of a raster map. A vector database having street information and vector text information to define the mobile unit position for each of the plurality of mobile units is also included. The present apparatus uses a display has a first display segment and a second display segment. The first display segment includes a digitized representation of the raster map and a plurality of user locatable marks. Each of the plurality of user locatable marks represents one of the plurality of mobile units at the mobile unit position. The second display segment has the vector text information for each of the plurality of mobile units. A computer aided dispatch system operably coupled to the display is also included. The computer aided dispatch system has order data from customers where a portion of the order data is transferred from the data acquisition device to the radio in one of the plurality of mobile units.

An alternative specific embodiment provides an apparatus for computer aided dispatching. The present apparatus includes a first memory portion which has a first value and a second value. The first value and the second value define a mobile unit location for a mobile unit at a selected time. The present apparatus also includes a second memory portion having raster map data. The raster map data define a digitized representation of a selected geographical area. The present apparatus further includes a third memory portion having street data. The street data define the raster map in vector form. A display having a first display segment where the first display segment includes the digitized representation of the selected geographical area, street data, and user locatable mark is also included. The user locatable mark defines the mobile unit position based upon the first value and the second value. The present apparatus also uses a dispatch system operably coupled to the display, the dispatch system having order data from customers. A portion of the order data is transferred from a data acquisition device to the mobile unit.

A further specific embodiment provides a method for computer aided dispatching. The present method includes a step of providing a first memory portion, a second memory portion, and a third memory portion. The first memory portion has a first value and a second value to define a mobile unit position for a mobile unit at a selected time. The second memory portion includes raster map data to define a digitized representation of a selected geographical area. The third memory portion includes street data to define the digitized representation of the selected geographical area in vector form. The present method also includes steps of retrieving from the second memory portion the raster map data and displaying in a first display segment the digitized representation of the selected geographical area. The present method also includes steps of retrieving from the third memory portion the street data, and superimposing the street data onto the digitized represented of the selected geographical area, and retrieving from the first memory portion the mobile unit data and displaying the mobile unit data as a user locatable mark on a first display portion. The user locatable mark defines the mobile unit position. The present method also includes transmitting a customer order retrieved from a memory of a dispatch system to a mobile unit where the dispatch system is operably coupled to the first display portion.

A further understanding of the nature and advantages of the present invention may be realized by reference to the latter portions of the specification and attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The novel features characteristic of the invention are set forth in the appended claims. The invention, however, as well as other features and advantages thereof, will be best understood by reference to the detailed description which follows, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a raster map display;

FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram of the raster map display system for implementing the raster display shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates a vector map display;

FIG. 4 illustrates a block diagram of the vector map display system for implementing the vector display shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 illustrates a simplified integrated raster map display and vector information display according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates a simplified block diagram of the integrated raster map display and information display shown in FIG. 5 according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a mobile radio of FIG. 6 according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 illustrates a simplified block diagram of the integrated raster map display and information display shown in FIG. 5 according to an alternative embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a simplified flow diagram of a computer aided dispatch system according to the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a simplified order entry screen of the system of FIG. 9 according to the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a simplified dispatch screen of the system of FIG. 9 according to the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a simplified flow diagram of a schedule selection method according to the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a simplified flow diagram of a route selection method according to the present invention; and

FIG. 14 is a simplified flow diagram of an on-line dispatching method according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE SPECIFIC EMBODIMENT

In accordance with the present invention, an integrated system for simultaneously displaying a user locatable mark representative of a vehicle position on a raster map on a first display segment and intelligent street information on a second display segment is provided. The integrated system extracts information from the mobile position, vector and raster databases, interrelates the database information by a common vehicle position information, and displays the information in a format which can be easily utilized by the dispatcher.

FIG. 5 illustrates an integrated raster map display and vector information display according to an embodiment of the present invention. The raster map 510 includes natural features such as marshlands 512, creeks 514, and the like. The raster map 510 also includes manmade features such as the Auto Assembly Plant 516, Agnews Hospital 518, and others. The raster map is, for example, a digitally scanned road map, a digitally scanned automobile road map, a raster image in digital form, a pre-exiting digital map without intelligent information, a digital map in TIFF format, a digitized video image, a digitized satellite image, or the like. Of course, the raster map can also generally be almost any type of digital map with substantially clear features without intelligent street information or the like.

Icons 520 show the position of the vehicles identified in the vector information table 528. But it will be recognized that the icons can also represent any mobile entities such as automobiles, vans, trucks, ambulances, animals, people, boats, ships, motorcycles, bicycles, tractors, moving equipment, trains, courier services, container ships, shipping containers, airplanes, public utility vehicles, telephone company vehicles, taxi cabs, buses, milk delivery vehicles, beverage delivery vehicles, fire trucks and vehicles, hazardous waste transportation vehicles, chemical transportation vehicles, long haul trucks, local haul trucks, emergency vehicles, and the like. The icons can represent any mobile or potentially mobile entity or the like.

The vector information table 528 indicates selected geographic and cartographic information retrieved from, for example, the vector database. The vector information table 528 provides intelligent street information such as block number, address information, nearest cross-section of major streets, and the like with reference to the vehicle position. The vector table can also provide information about vehicle speed, vehicle heading, an activity status, a time status, and the like.

The display shown in FIG. 5 can be divided into at least two regions or segments such as a raster display segment 530, a vector information display segment 532, and others. The raster display segment 530 includes a first and second axis 534, 536 representing the latitudinal and longitudinal position of the vehicle position, respectively. Alternatively, the raster display segment may be in cylindrical or polar coordinates, and may not be limited to two dimensions.

A digitized map of the region through which the vehicle travels is displayed in the first segment of the display 530, adjacent to the first and second axis 534, 536. As noted above, each vehicle is represented as an icon. The icons may be color coded relative to a status chart and the like. Of course, the shape and color of each icon depend upon the particular application.

FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of the fleet tracking system 600 for automatic vehicle location according to the present invention. Each vehicle 610a-610n includes a navigational tracking device hereafter called a fleet mobile data suite (MDS) 611a-611n. The fleet MDS 611 includes a microprocessor-controlled circuit coupled to a GPS navigational sensor, a mobile radio modem, and a specialized mobile radio (SMR) operational in the 800-900 MHz frequency range. The fleet MDS 611 continuously compiles latitude and longitude position data from the GPS sensor. Latitude and longitude position data is periodically transmitted to the data acquisition system 612.

The mobile position block 616 processes vehicle location information typically on a UNIX based computer. The mobile position block 616 includes a data acquisition system 612, a mobile position database 614, a UNIX process DBFUPDATE 618, a disk database 622, and a UNIX process DBREQSRV 624. The data acquisition system 612 includes a personal computer coupled to both a base data link controller, and a specialized mobile radio (SMR) operational in the 800-900 Mhz frequency range. The data acquisition system 612 receives latitude and longitude position data from the fleet MDS 611, attaches a vehicle identifier to the navigational position data, and transmits the data block 613 (vehicle identification, latitude, longitude) to the mobile position database 614. Vehicle position is defined in terms of a latitude and longitude value during a predetermined time period.

The UNIX process DBFUPDATE 618 scans the mobile position database 614, preferably every 5 seconds, for any new information from the fleet MDS. The new data 620 is permanently stored in the disk database 622 for subsequent retrieval of historical information. Another UNIX process DBREQSRV 624 processes requests by the user from the mobile tracking station 626 for navigational position information. The mobile tracking station 626 can be a high resolution color UNIX workstation. User requests 628 are originated by mobile information data process 630, a UNIX process running on the mobile tracking station 626.

The mobile information data process 630 receives latitude and longitude position data for a particular vehicle. The mobile information data process 630 accesses the vector database 631 using the vector utilities 632. The vector utilities 632 match the latitude and longitude position information 634 to the latitude and longitude of street segment information 636 from the vector database 631. In addition, the vector utilities 632 match the latitude and longitude position information 634 to the latitude and longitude information of the cross-section of major streets 636 in the cross-section vector database 638. The cross-section vector database 638 can be a subsection of the vector database 631.

The nearest matching street segment, its street name and block number range, and the nearest cross-section of major streets, and its street name 640 are transmitted to the mobile information data process 630. The mobile information data process 630 attaches the street text information to the mobile position information and sends this data packet 642 to the fleet process 644.

The fleet process 644, a UNIX based process or the like, is the user interface display process. The fleet process 644 receives mobile position information and street text information from the mobile information data process 630. In addition, the fleet process 644 accesses the raster database 645 through the raster map utilities 646.

The raster map utilities 646 match the latitude and longitude mobile position 648 from the fleet MDS 611 to the various digitized raster maps data 650 in the raster map database 645. By specifying the zoom level option, using as an example, the X22/Motif graphical user interface on the mobile tracking station 626, the digitized raster map is displayed in one display window segment 530 and the corresponding street text information on another display window segment 532. A user locatable mark 520 represents the fleet MDS position for a particular vehicle. The icon 520 is positioned at the corresponding latitude and longitude location on the raster map display 530.

Historical data requests may be made by specifying a particular time period and a particular fleet MDS 611. The data request is sent by the fleet process 644 to the mobile information data process 630. The mobile information data (MID) process 630 in turn sends a request 628 to the DBRQSRV 624 process. The DBRQSRV 624 process accesses the disk database 622 and retrieves reports for the specific time period and fleet MDS 611. For every historical report sent back to the MID process 630, the above described process flow for accessing and displaying the raster map, vector street information, and displaying the user locatable mark representing the position of the navigational system is followed.

The vehicle display system includes at least three databases (a mobile position database 614, a raster database 645 and a vector database 631). The database information is interrelated by common latitude and longitude position data. A mobile tracking station 626 displays the position, raster and vector information in a format easily understood by the dispatcher or fleet manager.

The first database, the mobile position database 614, is a positional information database for storing vehicle position information received from the navigation systems. Navigational data transmitted from systems such as LORAN and GPS (Global Positioning System) is stored into data records indicating the latitude and longitude of a particular vehicle during a predetermined time interval. The DAQ process 612 is used to format position data received from the navigational system into the mobile position database 614. The vehicle identification is used as locator field to access the database for a particular vehicle. Vehicle position data is stored related to the vehicle identifier.

The second database, the raster database 645, is generated by digitally scanning a standard road map or paper map. The raster database 645 contains a digitized version of the visual features of the land for a specified region. Digitized raster information is stored in the raster database 645 in data records. Each data record corresponds to a digitized region having a particular latitude and longitude value. The latitude and longitude values are used as a locator field for accessing the raster database 645.

Data from both the raster database 645 and the mobile position database 614 are used in displaying the raster map and icon 520 in the first segment 530 of the display shown in FIG. 5. The fleet process 644 in combination with the raster map utilities 646, MID process 630, and vector map utilities 632 contains routines to access the mobile position database 614 and the raster map database 612. Both the mobile position database 614 and the raster map database 645 include a latitude and longitude field identifier. The raster map utility 646 in combination with the fleet process 644 and MID 630 matches the longitude and latitude values from the mobile position database 614 and the raster map database 645 and displays an icon 520 (representative of a particular vehicle) moving along the raster map as it changes its latitude and longitude position. The icon 520 moves according to the navigational data extracted from the mobile position database 614 for a particular vehicle. The icon 520 is also displayed in the first display segment 530. Since the latitude and longitudinal position of the icon 520 corresponds to a street location, the icon 520 moves along a particular street on the raster map display 530.

However, because the raster map is merely a digitized representation of the street, no interrelationship between different street locations or landmarks exists and intelligent street information is not displayed. A third database, the vector database 631, is needed to provide intelligent street information.

Vector address data and street information is publicly available from the US Census Bureau. The US Census provides GBF/DIME (Geographic Base Files/Dual Independent Map Encoding) files which are a common source of address data for dispatching applications. These files contain information describing the street network and other features. Each field record contains the segment name, address range and ZIP code. Node numbers for intersections are referenced to the vehicle latitude and longitude coordinate position.

A third database the vector database 631, contains vector information provided from GBF/DIME files. Vector information is displayed in the second display segment 532. The vector information displayed in segment 532 is typically displayed as text and relates intelligent street information corresponding to the latitude and longitude of a particular vehicle. Display segment 532 of FIG. 5 represents the vector text information.

The MID process 630 contains routines to access the mobile position database 614. Both the mobile position database 614 and the vector map database include a latitude and longitude field identifier. The vector utility 632 in combination with the MID process 630 contains routines to extract block number, street name, cross-section of major streets and other address related information and to match the longitude and latitude values from the mobile position database 614 to the vector map database 632. The mobile tracking station 626 displays the vehicle position on a raster map and corresponding address information simultaneously.

The steps for display of the integrated system include defining a coordinate system having a first axis representing the latitude of the vehicle position and a second axis representing the longitude of the vehicle position. Digitized information representative of a raster map is extracted from the raster database 645 and displayed adjacent to the first and second axes to form a raster map of a first predefined area.

Mobile position data from the GPS navigation system corresponding to vehicle latitude and longitude position during a predetermined time interval is extracted from the mobile position database 614. A user locatable mark 520 in the first display segment 530 corresponding to the latitude and longitude of the vehicle position is displayed. Intelligent street information is extracted from a third database, the vector database 631. Vector text information is displayed in a second segment 532 of the display. The vector text information corresponds to the latitude and longitude of the user locatable mark 520.

FIG. 8 illustrates a simplified block diagram 800 of an integrated raster map display and information display according to an alternative embodiment of the present invention. The block diagram is merely a simplified illustration and should not limit the scope of the claims as defined herein. The block diagram provides functions for accessing mobile information center (MIC) databases and servers to handle sub-systems such as an automatic vehicle location (AVL) system, a two-way messaging (TWM) system, a computer aided dispatch (CAD) system, and others. The simplified block diagram includes fleet mobile units 610, a mobile information center (MIC) 802, a mobile tracking system-mobile information center link (MTS-MIC LINK) 804, a mobile tracking system 806, among other features.

The mobile tracking system 806 includes system elements such as a mobile tracking station 626, a fleet process 644, a co