초록 ▼

The present disclosure is directed to a computer that receives weather information from a weather service provider (“WSP”) server and automatic vehicle locating system (“AVL”) collected information from an AVL server, accesses a material performance specification for at least one treatment material,

The present disclosure is directed to a computer that receives weather information from a weather service provider (“WSP”) server and automatic vehicle locating system (“AVL”) collected information from an AVL server, accesses a material performance specification for at least one treatment material, and determines, based on the weather information and/or AVL collected information and the material performance specification, a treatment recommendation for a selected roadway segment and/or route.

대표청구항 ▼

1. A method, comprising: receiving, by an on-board computer in a selected maintenance vehicle, at least one of weather information from a weather service provider (“WSP”) server, automatic vehicle locating system (“AVL”)-collected information from an AVL server, and information collected locally by

1. A method, comprising: receiving, by an on-board computer in a selected maintenance vehicle, at least one of weather information from a weather service provider (“WSP”) server, automatic vehicle locating system (“AVL”)-collected information from an AVL server, and information collected locally by the on-board computer;accessing, by the on-board computer, a material performance specification for at least one treatment material on-board the selected maintenance vehicle; anddetermining, based on the at least one of weather information, AVL-collected information, and locally-collected information and the material performance specification, a treatment recommendation to be followed by the selected maintenance vehicle for a selected roadway segment and/or route; and wherein the treatment material is at least one of an anti-icing agent and a de-icing agent, wherein the treatment recommendation comprises at least one of treatment material type, composition, amount, concentration, and application rate, wherein the at least one of weather information, AVL-collected information, and locally-collected information is AVL-collected information, and wherein the AVL-collected information comprises historic maintenance vehicle parameters, wherein said historic maintenance vehicle parameters are taken from a historic maintenance vehicle different from the selected maintenance vehicle and for the selected roadway segment and/or route, and wherein said historic maintenance vehicle parameters include at least one of traffic level, road condition, roadway surface temperature, historic maintenance vehicle speed, historic maintenance vehicle engine revolutions-per-minute, weather condition, historic maintenance vehicle snow plow setting, treatment material type applied, treatment material mixture applied, treatment material application rate, treatment material amount applied, time of treatment application, a video image of the selected roadway segment and/or route, roadway friction measure, thermal imaging information, infrared imaging information, solar energy level, and an earliest dispatch time for a next available maintenance vehicle (other than the selected maintenance vehicle or the historic maintenance vehicle) to treat the selected roadway segment and/or route. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one of weather information, AVL-collected information, and locally-collected information further includes weather information, and wherein the weather information comprises at least one of current and/or predicted future ambient temperature, solar thermal variable, precipitation type, precipitation rate, relative humidity, dew point, wind speed, wind direction, wind chill, and barometric pressure. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one of weather information, AVL-collected information, and locally-collected information further includes locally-collected information, wherein the locally-collected information comprises information collected by the selected maintenance vehicle for the selected roadway segment and/or route, and wherein the locally-collected information comprises at least one of traffic level, road condition, roadway surface temperature, air temperature, selected maintenance vehicle speed, selected maintenance vehicle engine revolutions-per-minute, weather condition, selected maintenance vehicle snow plow setting, an on-board treatment material type, an on-board treatment material mixture, treatment material application rate, treatment material amount applied, roadway friction measure collected by an on-board sensor, thermal imaging information collected by an on-board sensor, infrared imaging information collected by an on-board sensor, and solar energy level. 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected roadway segment and/or route is at a different position than a current position of the selected maintenance vehicle, and wherein an operator of the selected maintenance vehicle can, via a display, select the different position of the selected roadway segment and/or route. 5. The method of claim 1, wherein an operator of the selected maintenance vehicle can edit the at least one of weather information, AVL-collected information, and locally-collected information for use in determining the treatment recommendation. 6. The method of claim 1, wherein an operator of the selected maintenance vehicle can edit the treatment recommendation. 7. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising processor-executable instructions that, when executed, perform the method of claim 1. 8. A method, comprising: receiving, by a computer, at least one of weather information from a weather service provider (“WSP”) server and automatic vehicle locating system (“AVL”)-collected information from an AVL server;accessing, by the computer, a material performance specification for at least one treatment material; andthe computer determining, based on the received information, and the material performance specification, a treatment recommendation for a selected roadway segment and/or route, and wherein the computer is on-board a selected maintenance vehicle and wherein the selected maintenance vehicle is operated by an operator, and wherein the treatment material is at least one of an anti-icing agent and a de-icing agent, wherein the treatment recommendation comprises at least one of treatment material type, composition, amount, concentration, and application rate, wherein the at least one of weather information and AVL-collected information is AVL-collected information, and wherein the AVL-collected information comprises historic maintenance vehicle parameters, wherein said historic maintenance vehicle parameters are taken from a historic maintenance vehicle different from the selected maintenance vehicle and for the selected roadway segment and/or route, and wherein said historic maintenance vehicle parameters include at least one of traffic level, road condition, roadway surface temperature, historic maintenance vehicle speed, historic maintenance vehicle engine revolutions-per-minute, weather condition, historic maintenance vehicle snow plow setting, historic maintenance vehicle treatment material-type applied, historic maintenance vehicle treatment material mixture applied, historic maintenance vehicle treatment material application rate, historic maintenance vehicle treatment material amount applied, historic maintenance vehicle time of treatment application, a video image of the selected roadway segment and/or route, roadway friction measure, thermal imaging information, infrared imaging information, solar energy level, and an earliest dispatch time for a next available maintenance vehicle (other than the selected maintenance vehicle or the historic maintenance vehicle) to treat the selected roadway segment and/or route. 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the computer is in contact with the WSP and AVL servers by a public and untrusted network, wherein the computer is operated by a supervisor of maintenance vehicles, wherein the supervisor is not operating a maintenance vehicle, wherein the supervisor at least one of (i) edits at least one of the weather and AVL-collected information and (ii) edits the treatment recommendation, and wherein the supervisor transmits the treatment recommendation directly to a maintenance vehicle responsible for treating the selected roadway segment and/or route. 10. The method of claim 8, wherein the weather information comprises at least one of current and/or predicted future ambient temperature, solar thermal variable, precipitation type, precipitation rate, relative humidity, dew point, wind speed, wind direction, wind chill, and barometric pressure. 11. The method of claim 8, wherein the on-board computer further receives locally-collected information for the selected road segment and/or route, and wherein the locally-collected information comprises at least one of traffic level, road condition, roadway surface temperature, air temperature, selected maintenance vehicle speed, selected maintenance vehicle engine revolutions-per-minute, weather condition, selected maintenance vehicle snow plow setting, selected maintenance vehicle on-board treatment material type, selected maintenance vehicle on-board treatment material mixture, selected maintenance vehicle treatment material application rate, treatment material amount applied, roadway friction measure collected by an on-board sensor, thermal imaging information collected by an on-board sensor, infrared gang information collected by an on-board sensor, and solar energy level. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the operator of the selected maintenance vehicle edits the at least one of weather information and AVL-collected information for use in determining the treatment recommendation. 13. The method of claim 8, wherein the selected roadway segment and/or route is at a different position than a current position of the selected maintenance vehicle, and wherein the operator can, via a display, select the different position of the selected roadway segment and/or route. 14. The method of claim 8, wherein the operator of the selected maintenance vehicle edits the treatment recommendation. 15. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising processor-executable instructions that, when executed, perform the method of claim 8. 16. A computer, comprising: a processor-executable maintenance decision module operable to:(a) receive at least one of weather information from a weather service provider (“WSP”) server and automatic vehicle locating system (“AVL”)-collected information from an AVL server:(b) access a material performance specification for at least one treatment material; and(c) determine, based on the received information, and the material performance specification, a treatment recommendation for a selected roadway segment and/or route, and wherein the computer is on-board a selected maintenance vehicle and wherein the selected maintenance vehicle is operated by an operator, and wherein the treatment material is at least one of an anti-icing agent and a de-icing agent, wherein the treatment recommendation comprises at least one of treatment material type, composition, amount, concentration, and application rate, wherein the at least one of weather information and AVL-collected information is AVL-collected information, and wherein the AVL-collected information comprises historic maintenance vehicle parameters, wherein said historic maintenance vehicle parameters are taken from a historic maintenance vehicle different from the selected maintenance vehicle and for the selected roadway segment and/or route, and wherein said historic maintenance vehicle parameters include at least one of traffic level, road condition, roadway surface temperature, historic maintenance vehicle speed, historic maintenance vehicle engine revolutions-per-minute, weather condition, historic maintenance vehicle snow plow setting, historic maintenance vehicle treatment material type applied, historic maintenance vehicle treatment material mixture applied, historic maintenance vehicle treatment material application rate, historic maintenance vehicle treatment material amount applied, historic maintenance vehicle time of treatment of application, a video image of the selected roadway segment and/or route, roadway friction measure, thermal imaging information, infrared imaging information, solar energy level, and an earliest dispatch time for a next available maintenance vehicle (other than the selected maintenance vehicle or the historic maintenance vehicle) to treat the selected roadway segment and/or route. 17. The computer of claim 16, wherein the computer is in contact with the WSP and AVL servers by a public network, wherein the computer is operated by a supervisor of maintenance vehicles, wherein the supervisor is not operating a maintenance vehicle, wherein the supervisor at least one of (i) edits at least one of the weather and AVL-collected information and (ii) edits the treatment recommendation, and wherein the supervisor transmits the treatment recommendation directly to a maintenance vehicle responsible for treating the selected roadway segment and/or route. 18. The computer of claim 16, wherein the weather information comprises at least one of current and/or future ambient temperature, solar thermal variable, precipitation type, precipitation rate relative humidity, dew point, wind speed, wind direction, wind chill, and barometric pressure. 19. The computer of claim 16, wherein the on-board computer further receives locally-collected information for the selected roadway segment and/or route, and wherein the locally-collected information comprises at least one of traffic level, road condition, roadway surface temperature, air temperature, selected maintenance vehicle speed, selected maintenance vehicle engine revolutions-per-minute, weather condition, selected maintenance vehicle snow plow setting, selected maintenance vehicle on-board treatment material type, selected maintenance vehicle on-board treatment material mixture, selected maintenance vehicle treatment material application rate, selected maintenance vehicle treatment material amount applied, roadway friction measure collected by an on-board sensor, thermal imaging information collected by an on-board sensor, infrared imaging information collected by an on-board sensor, and solar energy level. 20. The computer of claim 16, wherein the selected roadway segment and/or route is at a different position than a current position of the selected maintenance vehicle, and wherein the operator can, via a display, select the different position of the selected roadway segment and/or route. 21. The computer of claim 19, wherein the operator of the selected maintenance vehicle edits the at least one of weather information and AVL-collected information for use in determining the treatment recommendation. 22. The computer of claim 16, wherein the operator of the selected maintenance vehicle edits the treatment recommendation.