Driver-Centric Fleet Tracking System for Activity Reporting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional vehicle tracking systems are vehicle-centric, leading to incomplete or inaccurate reporting due to driver changes and multiple vehicle usage, and daily activity reports are often cumbersome and time-consuming to interpret.
Innovation Solution
The system allows users to select information by either driver or vehicle, providing flexible account organization, reports, alerts, and dashboard metrics, along with interactive graphic user displays to easily scan activity for multiple vehicles, identify issues, and drill down to details, using GPS event data to associate drivers with vehicles and generate operational metrics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If conventional vehicle-centric tracking systems are used, then vehicle monitoring capability is maintained, but driver activity reporting becomes incomplete or inaccurate due to driver changes and multiple vehicle usage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent inverts the traditional vehicle-centric tracking approach by implementing driver-centric tracking. Instead of following the vehicle and recording which driver is in it, the system follows the driver and records which vehicle they are using. This is achieved by associating GPS event data with driver identifiers rather than solely with vehicle identifiers, allowing accurate tracking of driver activity across multiple vehicles.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a universal tracking framework that can handle both vehicle-centric and driver-centric reporting needs. The GPS event database and processing system are designed to accommodate multiple assignment types (direct and indirect associations between drivers and vehicles), making the system versatile enough to handle various fleet management scenarios including drivers who use multiple vehicles and vehicles that serve multiple drivers.
2Loss of information
If detailed GPS event data is collected for all vehicles and drivers, then comprehensive monitoring capability is achieved, but report generation becomes time-consuming and intensive to interpret
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and separates the essential driver activity information from the comprehensive GPS event data. The system identifies and extracts key metrics such as driver location, time, and vehicle association from the detailed GPS events, presenting only the most relevant information in reports rather than displaying all raw data points. This extraction process maintains information completeness while reducing the time required to interpret reports.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments GPS event data into meaningful groups and categories based on driver-vehicle associations. By organizing data into structured formats that group events by driver or vehicle, the system makes large volumes of GPS data more manageable and easier to interpret. This segmentation allows users to quickly scan and understand driver activity patterns without being overwhelmed by raw data volume.
3Measurement precision
If driver identification devices are implemented to associate drivers with vehicles, then assignment accuracy is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces driver identification devices as intermediary components that facilitate the association between drivers and vehicles without requiring complex direct integration between tracking systems. These devices act as mediators that capture driver identity information and transmit it to the GPS tracking system, simplifying the overall system architecture while maintaining accurate driver-vehicle assignment. The intermediary device handles the complexity of identification and association, leaving the core tracking system relatively simple.
Data Source
AI summary
A computer system and method for storing and processing GPS data for a plurality of drivers and vehicles to provide activity reports for fleets of driver and vehicles.