Vehicle Identification System with Custom Descriptor Mapping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing mobile satellite communications systems lack the ability to systematically input and utilize customer-specific vehicle descriptors, limiting their capacity to track, identify, and communicate with remote vehicles effectively, and resulting in inefficiencies in invoicing and cost allocation.
Innovation Solution
A programmable application for database management of customer-specific vehicle descriptors is integrated into the mobile satellite communications system, allowing for the association of customer-specific descriptors with vehicles, enabling systemic input and use across the entire system.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a vehicle serial number is used to identify vehicles in the mobile satellite communications system, then the system can maintain security and integrity through host manager control, but the system lacks adaptability to customer preferences for using nicknames or custom descriptors
Solution Approach 1:
The system separates the vehicle identification function into two independent components: the original serial number (maintained for security and system integrity) and the customer-specific descriptor (nicknames or custom identifiers). This segmentation allows both the serial number and custom descriptors to coexist without interfering with each other, enabling customers to use preferred identifiers while the system maintains its security architecture through the unchanged serial number backbone.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary mapping mechanism that connects customer-specific descriptors to the underlying serial numbers. This intermediary layer allows customers to interact with the system using familiar nicknames or custom identifiers, while the system internally translates these to serial numbers for secure operation. The intermediary resolves the conflict between customer preference for flexible identifiers and the system's need for structured, secure identification.
2Ease of operation
If the system requires host manager intervention for vehicle identification, then security and integrity are maintained, but the ease of operation is reduced due to additional manual steps
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by automatically maintaining and updating the mapping between serial numbers and customer-specific descriptors in the background. When a customer subscribes to the service or assigns a nickname to a vehicle, the system proactively creates and stores the association between the custom descriptor and the serial number. This preliminary setup eliminates the need for manual host manager intervention during subsequent vehicle identification operations, as the mapping is already established and ready for automatic retrieval.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent enables the system to automatically handle vehicle identification using customer-specific descriptors without requiring host manager intervention. The system self-services by autonomously translating custom descriptors to serial numbers and retrieving vehicle information, thereby reducing operational complexity and response time. This self-service capability maintains security through automated validation while significantly improving ease of operation and eliminating manual steps.
3Measurement precision
If only serial numbers are used for vehicle identification, then the system structure remains simple, but invoicing accuracy and cost allocation are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements a universal database structure that serves multiple functions: it stores the original serial numbers for system security, maintains customer-specific descriptors for accurate identification and billing, and provides the mapping between them. This multi-functional database enables both secure system operation and precise invoicing/cost allocation simultaneously. The universal structure eliminates the need for separate manual tracking systems, thereby improving invoicing accuracy without proportionally increasing complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
The specification and drawing figures describe and show a vehicle identification system that includes a programmable application for database management of a plurality of customer-specific vehicle descriptors. The vehicle identification system also includes a mobile computing platform in a mobile satellite communications system adapted to operatively associate the customer-specific vehicle descriptors with a vehicle.