Claims
- 1. A system comprising:
(A) an equipment service vehicle including
(1) a power source, (2) a power transmission link, (3) a plurality of input devices, (4) a plurality of output devices, (5) an on-board computer system including a plurality of microprocessor-based interface modules and a communication network, the plurality of interface modules being coupled to the power source by way of the power transmission link, the plurality of interface modules being interconnected to each other by way of the communication network, each of the plurality of interface modules being coupled to respective ones of the plurality of input devices and the plurality of output devices by way of respective dedicated communication links, and the on-board computer system storing I/O status information for the plurality of input devices and the plurality of output devices; (B) an off-board computer system, wherein the on-board computer system transmits at least some of the I/O status information by way of a wireless radio-frequency communication link to the off-board computer system.
- 2. The system according to claim 1, further including a web server and a web browser, the web browser being provided by the off-board computer system, and wherein the I/O status information is posted to a web site maintained by the web server and accessible by the web browser, the information content of the vehicle-based web site being provided at least in part by the plurality of interface modules and including the I/O status information for the plurality of input devices and the plurality of output devices.
- 3. The system according to claim 2, wherein the web browser displays a representation of the equipment service vehicle to an operator of the web browser, and wherein the web server provides the web browser with I/O status information pertaining to specific ones of the input and output devices in response to the web browser receiving inputs from the operator of the web browser clicking on representations of the specific ones of the input and output devices.
- 4. The system according to claim 3, wherein the web server is provided by the on-board computer system.
- 5. The system according to claim 3, wherein the web server is provided by an additional off-board computer system, and wherein the on-board computer system posts information to the additional off-board computer system.
- 6. The system according to claim 1, wherein the on-board computer system stores a vehicle maintenance record, the vehicle maintenance record comprising a descriptive log of maintenance activities performed on the vehicle; and wherein vehicle maintenance record is also provided as information content made available to the web browser by the web server.
- 7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the equipment service vehicle further includes
(1) an engine system, the engine system including an engine and an electronic engine control system that is coupled to the engine and to the communication network, the electronic engine control system controlling the engine and transmitting information pertaining to the health and operation of the engine on the communication network; (2) a transmission system, the transmission system including a transmission and an electronic transmission control system, the electronic transmission control system controlling the transmission and transmitting information pertaining to the health and operation of the transmission on the communication network; and wherein the health and operation information from the engine system and the transmission is also provided as information content made available to the web browser by the web server.
- 8. The system according to claim 1, wherein the on-board computer system is capable of receiving commands from the off-board computer system and adjusting output states of individual ones of the plurality of output devices in response to the commands, thereby allowing the off-board computer system to directly manipulate the output states of the plurality of output devices.
- 9. The system according to claim 1, wherein the wireless RF communication link connects the equipment service vehicle to the Internet, and the I/O status information is transmitted by way of the Internet.
- 10. The system according to claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of interface modules broadcasts I/O status information pertaining to I/O states of the respective input and output devices the interface modules is connected to each of the remaining interface modules; and
wherein each of the plurality of interface modules maintains an I/O status table at each of the interface modules, the I/O status table storing I/O status information for the plurality of input devices and the plurality of output devices.
- 11. The system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of interface modules being distributed throughout the vehicle, and each respective interface module is locally disposed with respect to the respective input and output devices to which the respective interface module is coupled, so as to permit, by way of the respective dedicated communication link, distributed data collection from the respective input devices to the respective interface module and distributed power distribution from the respective interface module to the respective output devices.
- 12. A system comprising:
(A) a fleet of equipment service vehicles, each vehicle in the fleet of vehicles comprising
(1) a power source, (2) a power transmission link, (3) a plurality of input devices, (4) a plurality of output devices, (5) an on-board computer system including a plurality of microprocessor-based interface modules and a communication network, the plurality of interface modules being coupled to the power source by way of the power transmission link, the plurality of interface modules being interconnected to each other by way of the communication network, each of the plurality of interface modules being coupled to respective ones of the plurality of input devices and the plurality of output devices by way of respective dedicated communication links, and the on-board computer system storing I/O status information for the plurality of input devices and the plurality of output devices; (B) an off-board computer system, the off-board computer system being capable of being connected to each vehicle in the fleet of vehicles by way of a wireless radio-frequency communication network, the off-board computer system being capable of generating a report that compares utilization information for each of the plurality of vehicles.
- 13. The system according to claim 12, wherein the report compares distance traveled by each of the vehicles in the fleet of equipment service vehicles.
- 14. The system according to claim 12, wherein the report compares engine utilization time of the vehicles in the fleet of equipment service vehicles.
- 15. The system according to claim 12, wherein the report compares on-site time of the vehicles in the fleet of equipment service vehicles.
- 16. The system according to claim 12, wherein the vehicle comprises a plurality of vehicle subsystems, and groups of output devices are compared to indicate relative usage of particular vehicle subsystems.
- 17. The system according to claim 12, wherein the plurality of interface modules being distributed throughout the vehicle, and each respective interface module is locally disposed with respect to the respective input and output devices to which the respective interface module is coupled, so as to permit, by way of the respective dedicated communication link, distributed data collection from the respective input devices to the respective interface module and distributed power distribution from the respective interface module to the respective output devices.
- 18. A system comprising:
(A) an equipment service vehicle including
(1) a power source, (2) a power transmission link, (3) a plurality of input devices, (4) a plurality of output devices, (5) a communication network, and (6) an on-board computer system including a plurality of microprocessor-based interface modules, the plurality of interface modules being coupled to the power source by way of the power transmission link, the plurality of interface modules being interconnected to each other by way of the communication network, each of the plurality of interface modules being coupled to respective ones of the plurality of input devices and the plurality of output devices by way of respective dedicated communication links; and (B) an off-board computer system; wherein the off-board computer system transmits test commands to the on-board computer system, the test commands being transmitted from the off-board computer system to the on-board computer system by way of a wireless radio-frequency communication link; wherein the on-board computer system performs tests on the vehicle in response to the test commands from the off-board computer system; wherein the on-board computer system receives the health and operation information in response to the tests being performed, the health and operation information indicating that the equipment service vehicle has a part in need of replacing; and wherein the on-board communication transmits the health and operation information to the off-board computer system by way of the wireless radio-frequency communication link.
- 19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the plurality of input devices include a plurality of operator input devices, the plurality of operator input devices.
- 20. The method according to claim 18, wherein vehicle comprises a plurality of vehicle subsystems, and groups of output devices are compared to indicate relative usage of particular vehicle subsystems.
- 21. The system according to claim 18, wherein usage of different variant modules is compared.
- 22. The system according to claim 18, wherein the plurality of interface modules being distributed throughout the vehicle, and each respective interface module is locally disposed with respect to the respective input and output devices to which the respective interface module is coupled, so as to permit, by way of the respective dedicated communication link, distributed data collection from the respective input devices to the respective interface module and distributed power distribution from the respective interface module to the respective output devices.
- 23. A system comprising:
(A) an equipment service vehicle including
(1) a power source, (2) a power transmission link, (3) a plurality of input devices, (4) a plurality of output devices, (5) a communication network, and (6) an on-board computer system including a plurality of microprocessor-based interface modules, the plurality of interface modules being coupled to the power source by way of the power transmission link, the plurality of interface modules being interconnected to each other by way of the communication network, each of the plurality of interface modules being coupled to respective ones of the plurality of input devices and the plurality of output devices by way of respective dedicated communication links; and (B) an off-board computer system, the off-board computer system being capable of being connected to each vehicle in the fleet of vehicles by way of a wireless radio-frequency communication network, and wherein the off-board computer system transmits a firmware upgrade to the on-board computer system.
- 24. The system according to claim 23, wherein the equipment service vehicle periodically accesses an off-board computer and performs the firmware upgrade automatically.
- 25. The system according to claim 23, wherein the firmware upgrade is transmitted to each of the individual interface modules, which then install the firmware upgrade.
- 26. The system according to claim 23, wherein the plurality of interface modules being distributed throughout the vehicle, and each respective interface module is locally disposed with respect to the respective input and output devices to which the respective interface module is coupled, so as to permit, by way of the respective dedicated communication link, distributed data collection from the respective input devices to the respective interface module and distributed power distribution from the respective interface module to the respective output devices.
- 27. A system comprising:
(A) a fleet of vehicles, each vehicle in the fleet of vehicles comprising
(1) a power source, (2) a power transmission link, (3) a plurality of input devices, (4) a plurality of output devices, (5) an on-board computer system including a plurality of microprocessor-based interface modules and a communication network, the plurality of interface modules being coupled to the power source by way of the power transmission link, the plurality of interface modules being interconnected to each other by way of the communication network, each of the plurality of interface modules being coupled to respective ones of the plurality of input devices and the plurality of output devices by way of respective dedicated communication links, the plurality of interface modules being distributed throughout the vehicle; (B) an off-board computer system, the off-board computer system being capable of being connected to each vehicle in the fleet of vehicles by way of a wireless radio-frequency communication network, the off-board computer system being capable of sending commands to the on-board computer system of each of the vehicles to test output devices of the equipment service vehicle by manipulating the output devices on the equipment service vehicle.
- 28. The system according to claim 27, wherein the off-board computer system is capable of sending commands to test output devices on a variant module.
- 29. A system comprising:
(A) a fleet of vehicles, each vehicle in the fleet of vehicles comprising
(1) a power source, (2) a power transmission link, (3) a plurality of input devices, (4) a plurality of output devices, (5) an on-board computer system including a plurality of microprocessor-based interface modules and a communication network, the plurality of interface modules being coupled to the power source by way of the power transmission link, the plurality of interface modules being interconnected to each other by way of the communication network, each of the plurality of interface modules being coupled to respective ones of the plurality of input devices and the plurality of output devices by way of respective dedicated communication links, the plurality of interface modules being distributed throughout the vehicle, and each respective interface module being locally disposed with respect to the respective input and output devices to which the respective interface module is coupled so as to permit, by way of the respective dedicated communication link, distributed data collection from the respective input devices to the respective interface module and distributed power distribution from the respective interface module to the respective output devices, and the on-board computer system storing I/O status information for the plurality of input devices and the plurality of output devices; (B) an off-board computer system, the off-board computer system being capable of being connected to each vehicle in the fleet of vehicles by way of a wireless radio-frequency communication network, the off-board computer system being capable of sending commands to the on-board computer system of each of the vehicles to test output devices of the equipment service vehicle by manipulating output devices on the equipment service vehicle.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 09/927,946, filed Aug. 10, 2001, entitled “Military Vehicle Having Cooperative Control Network With Distributed I/O Interfacing,” pending, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 09/384,393, filed Aug. 27, 1999, entitled “Military Vehicle Having Cooperative Control Network With Distributed I/O Interfacing,” now U.S. Pat. No. 6,421,593, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 09/364,690, filed Jul. 30, 1999, entitled “Firefighting Vehicle Having Cooperative Control Network With Distributed I/O Interfacing,” abandoned, each of which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference. This application is also a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 09/500,506, filed Feb. 9, 2000, entitled “Equipment Service Vehicle Having On-Board Diagnostic System,” allowed, also expressly incorporated by reference. This application also claims priority to U.S. Prov. No. 60/342,292, filed Dec. 21, 2001, entitled “Vehicle Control and Monitoring System and Method,” U.S. Prov. No. 60/360,479, filed Feb. 28, 2002, entitled “Turret Control System and Method for a Fire Fighting Vehicle,” and U.S. Prov. No. 60/388,451, filed Jun. 13, 2002, entitled “Control System and Method for an Equipment Service Vehicle,” each of which is also hereby expressly incorporated by reference.
Provisional Applications (3)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60342292 |
Dec 2001 |
US |
|
60360479 |
Feb 2002 |
US |
|
60388451 |
Jun 2002 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (4)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09927946 |
Aug 2001 |
US |
Child |
10325496 |
Dec 2002 |
US |
Parent |
09384393 |
Aug 1999 |
US |
Child |
09927946 |
Aug 2001 |
US |
Parent |
09364690 |
Jul 1999 |
US |
Child |
09384393 |
Aug 1999 |
US |
Parent |
09500506 |
Feb 2000 |
US |
Child |
10325496 |
Dec 2002 |
US |