Method and apparatus for intermittent location reporting

摘要

A system, apparatus and method are provided for intermittent location reporting. The apparatus includes a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, a transceiver, and a controller. The transceiver is a WiFi or WiMAX transceiver. The controller reads a current geographical location of the apparatus and determines whether communication with a location monitoring application (LMA) is possible. If communication with the LMA is not possible, the controller stores the current geographical location. When communication with the LMA is again possible, the controller sends any stored geographical locations. The controller may store timestamps associated with the geographical locations. The controller may send the geographical locations to the LMA at intervals determined by predefined rules.

主权项

1. A method, comprising:
reading a current geographical location of a location detecting device (LDD), the LDD coupled to an asset that is configured to move along one or more train tracks connecting a plurality of geographically separated processing facilities, the LDD configured to move along the one or more train tracks; determining whether communication with a location monitoring application (LMA) through a wireless node is possible, the wireless node associated with one of the processing facilities and comprising one of: a WiFi node and a WiMAX node; if communication with the LMA is not possible, storing the current geographical location and an associated time that the LDD is located at the current geographical location; repeating the reading, determining, and storing a plurality of times as the asset moves along the one or more train tracks, wherein the plurality of read geographical locations and associated times comprise a time-based route taken by the asset; and if communication with the LMA is possible, sending any stored geographical locations and associated times and the current geographical location and the associated time to the LMA when the LDD has moved a specified distance from a previous geographical location; wherein the reading of the current geographical location is repeated based on a location-based rule if communication with the LMA is not possible and based on a time-based rule if communication with the LMA is possible; wherein the geographical locations and associated times in the route are readable by the LMA in order to determine a location of the asset at a time when the LDD was not in communication with the LMA; and wherein the LMA is configured to transmit the geographical locations of the LDD and an indication that the LDD has entered a predefined area of a specified one of the processing facilities to a process control system that is associated with the specified processing facility and that is configured to perform a process control function in response to the indication.