The present invention relates generally to the tracking of mobile assets such as cargo containers, and in particular to techniques for reducing power consumption.
The management of mobile assets is a major concern in various transportation businesses such as the trucking, railroad, and rental car industries. As one example, in the trucking industry, an asset manager must keep track of the status and location of both the tractors and the trailers in a fleet. The asset manager should know whether each trailer asset is in service (i.e. being transported by a tractor or other means) or out of service (i.e. not being transported by a tractor). The asset manager should also have similar information with respect to whether each tractor asset is hauling a trailer, or not present hauling anything. It should also be possible to monitor progress of each tractor and trailer so that the asset manager may develop a plan for scheduling purposes.
Systems for tracking and monitoring mobile assets for fleet management are therefore generally known in the art. These systems typically include various electronic sensors connected to monitor the asset, and wireless communication systems, used to report the asset status.
The sensors are typically installed within the tractor or cargo trailers in such as way that they can automatically monitor the status of each asset. One common type of sensor is one that determines the location of a unit, such as a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver. Other sensors provide status on proper operating conditions (such as temperature), detect misuse (such as by detecting an unscheduled “door open” event) and otherwise monitor the progress of each tractor and trailer for scheduling and security purposes.
In the typical arrangement, the electronics package within a cargo trailer, for example, can include various sensors for determining status, a GPS unit for determining a location, and a cellular radio modem for reporting data concerning current position and status to a central location. When the trailer is in a tethered mode (that is, when it is connected to a tractor), the vehicle's electrical system provides ample current for powering these electronics. When a trailer is disconnected from the tractor (that is, in an untethered mode), power consumption can become an issue. A trailer may remain untethered for many hours, or days (even weeks) in a storage yard. Since such electronics are expected to continue to operate, even in the absence of available external power from a tractor, the electronics must typically draw current from a local battery. However, in order to avoid running down that local battery, such units will enter a low power mode until such time as vehicle motion is indicated by a GPS, accelerometer, or other motion sensor, that provide confirmation that the trailer is actually moving.
There are still problems when the battery is controlled by a motion sensor, even if inactivated only periodically. One problem occurs when the trailer sits for an extended period of time, causing the battery to eventually run down. While motion sensors can be used to reduce this problem somewhat, they do not eliminate it entirely.
One such problem occurs with certain types of trailers which have attached refrigeration (“reefer”) units. Such reefer units may be utilized with trailers that are carrying food or other items which must remain refrigerated during transit. However, reefer units create vibrations within the trailer. Such vibrations may in turn trigger the motion sensor which causes the electronics to energize. This then causes the power controller to go into a full power mode, for at least some period of time, unevenly and repeatedly, even when the trailer is not actually moving.
In other words, when trailer refrigeration units are operating, vibrations occur that are capable of triggering commonly used motion sensors. The motion sensor may in turn activate one or more algorithms in the embedded trailer tracking or monitoring system, causing power to be drained from the battery.
Thus, a technique is needed for filtering vibrations that originate from a reefer that would otherwise trigger a motion sensor in a stationary, untethered trailer. This would avoid unnecessarily activating tracking electronics units to take GPS position fixes, operating the cellular mobile telephone, and so forth which otherwise consumes power unnecessarily.
In one preferred embodiment, the present invention is an apparatus for use in controlling the state of a power supply in a mobile asset such as a cargo trailer. The apparatus includes a motion sensor that provides an indication of movement and/or vibration in the trailer. The motion sensor output is subjected to filtering to qualify its output as actually being triggered by motion of the trailer, rather than being cause by vibration from equipment such as a reefer. The filter output indicates the beginning of a drive segment, called the In_Transit mode.
If a further motion test fails (for example, by several successive GPS fixes indicating that the trailer is in the same position) then further processing occurs to attempt to determine whether the trailer is configured for a reefer, or if the reefer unit is operating.
In the event that the trailer is configured for a reefer or the reefer indicates that is operating, then it is assumed that the motion sensor was triggered by the reefer. In this case, the motion sensor will be disabled for further processing, to enable the unit to remain in a low power mode.
If, however, the reefer unit indicates that it is not operating, or a configuration bit indicates that a reefer does not exist, then further processing is allowed to take place to detect consecutive failure events. If multiple failure events occur such that the motion sensor is triggering, but In_Transit mode is not, then a mode is entered in which the motion sensor is disabled from further processing. If, however, there are no further consecutive failures, then the unit returns to a low power mode, but with the motion sensor enabled.
In other words, if a power control monitor is continuously being triggered by a motion sensor, but the end result of a motion filter is not being satisfied, then unnecessary processing (i.e., unnecessary triggering of a GPS unit) is occurring. At that time, the motion sensor can be disabled until a future event occurs to signal that the motion sensor should be re-enabled. This future event can be either elapsed time or an external event, such as detecting that the unit is hooked up to tractor power.
Another way in which the motion sensor can be disabled is to directly monitor a refrigeration unit through an interface if such an interface is provided. If so, while the refrigeration unit is operating and an In_Transit mode is not detected, then the motion sensor can itself be disabled.
The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following more particular description of preferred embodiments of the invention, as illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which like reference characters reefer to the same parts throughout the different views. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention.
A description of preferred embodiments of the invention follows.
Turning attention now to
The controller 12 is generally responsible for collecting location, status and other information from sensors located on the trailer 10. It also uses the cellular modem 30 for reporting such information to a central asset manager system (not shown in
The controller 12 may also receive inputs from other sensors such as door sensors, wheel sensors, temperature sensors and the like indicating the status of other aspects of the trailer 10. Only a few exemplary sensors are shown in
The controller 12 has other functions such as entering a low power mode when the trailer 10 enters a certain state, such as when the trailer 10 is not moving. The low power mode is intended to allow the controller 12 to continue to operate off the power provided only by local battery 20. This mode is needed at certain times, such as when the trailer 10 is parked in a storage yard or otherwise not tethered to a tractor. In this instance, the controller 12 uses stored software or firmware procedures for logic circuits such as power logic 14, motion filter 16, and In_Transit logic 18 to control whether it will continue to operate in a high power mode or enter a low power mode.
While it was mentioned that GPS 28 could be used to determine location, it should be understood that other navigation systems can be used in lieu of a GPS 28. For example, Loran or other radio navigation sensors, or wireless systems such as third generation cellular systems that provide location information can be used. Similarly, although the data communication system was described as using a cellular modem 30, it should be understood that other wireless data communication systems that are satellite or terrestrial based may also be used.
Turning attention to
Beginning in a first state 40, the unit is placed in a low power mode with the motion sensor 26 enabled. The unit may then be caused to leave the low power mode upon any one of a number of events. The first such event occurring could be event 44 when a tractor is hooked up to the trailer 10. Such an event may be detected by a hook-up sensor 22 shown in
However another event can cause the system to enter an In_Motion state 46. Such an event can be caused by receiving a trigger from a motion sensor 26 or in other ways. In the case of being trigger by the motion sensor 26, the raw motion sensor outputs will be first subjected to filtering 16.
A preferred embodiment of motion filtering 16 is shown in more detail in
In this case, the unit then enters a state 48 called the In_Transit mode. In this state, shown in
Once the In_Motion state transitions to false (for example, when the motion sensor has not generated any motion triggers for 10 minutes), then the GPS unit is operated again to obtain a new stationary location. If the GPS fix attempt is unsuccessful, no retries are performed since the probability of success following a failure is low unless there is movement. So if an In_Transit state is determined, such as by GPS validation of at least ½ of a mile travel, then a full power mode will be entered in state 45, however if GPS validation fails, then another state 50 will be entered.
Returning attention to
Returning attention to state 50, if a reefer status output signal is not available, a configuration data bit may instead indicate that a reefer is attached to the trailer. If this is the case, an assumption is made that it was the reefer unit that was triggering the motion sensor. In this case state 52 will also be entered.
If however, neither a reefer status signal nor configuration data bit are available, further processing can take place to derive whether the reefer caused the In_Transit failure. For example, a state 54 is entered, in which consecutive failures to enter In_Transit are evaluated. As one example, if there have been fewer than, for example, three consecutive failures, processing returns to state 40 where low power mode is entered with the motion sensor still enabled. However, if three or more consecutive failures of an In_Transit detection have occurred, processing continues to state 52 where low power mode is entered with the motion sensor disabled. At this point, it is assumed that some other external event (which is not the reefer) is causing repeated triggering of the motion sensor without an actual distance movement of the trailer. Therefore, the motion sensor should be disabled to prevent entering full power mode and/or further triggering of the GPS unit to take position fixes. Thus once state 52 is entered (low power mode and motion sensor disabled) processing will stop until a future event occurs such as the expiration of a predetermined amount of time or the application of tractor power.
While this invention has been particularly shown and described with references to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention encompassed by the appended claims.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
1075472 | Hadaway, Jr. | Oct 1913 | A |
3894773 | Cleveland et al. | Jul 1975 | A |
4554607 | Mora | Nov 1985 | A |
5491486 | Welles, II et al. | Feb 1996 | A |
5578877 | Tiemann | Nov 1996 | A |
5719771 | Buck et al. | Feb 1998 | A |
5721540 | Ellis | Feb 1998 | A |
5917433 | Keillor et al. | Jun 1999 | A |
6067044 | Whelan et al. | May 2000 | A |
6069570 | Herring | May 2000 | A |
6104978 | Harrison et al. | Aug 2000 | A |
6281797 | Forster et al. | Aug 2001 | B1 |
6336593 | Bhatnagar | Jan 2002 | B1 |
6553336 | Johnson et al. | Apr 2003 | B1 |
6611755 | Coffee et al. | Aug 2003 | B1 |
6919803 | Breed | Jul 2005 | B2 |
6975308 | Bitetto et al. | Dec 2005 | B1 |
6982656 | Coppinger et al. | Jan 2006 | B1 |
7455225 | Hadfield et al. | Nov 2008 | B1 |
20030014256 | Pine et al. | Jan 2003 | A1 |
20030227382 | Breed | Dec 2003 | A1 |
20030233189 | Hsiao et al. | Dec 2003 | A1 |
20040034470 | Workman | Feb 2004 | A1 |
20040125014 | Sun | Jul 2004 | A1 |
20040246124 | Reilly et al. | Dec 2004 | A1 |
20040257276 | Huston et al. | Dec 2004 | A1 |
20060187026 | Kochis | Aug 2006 | A1 |
20060202809 | Lane et al. | Sep 2006 | A1 |
20070057779 | Battista et al. | Mar 2007 | A1 |
20070143207 | Breen | Jun 2007 | A1 |
20070155404 | Yamane et al. | Jul 2007 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
WO 9529410 | Nov 1995 | WO |
WO 0175472 | Dec 2001 | WO |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20070239321 A1 | Oct 2007 | US |