I.D. Systems Awarded Patent for Mobile Asset Management

I.D. Systems Inc. has been awarded two U.S. States patents: No. 8,676,670 for a mobile asset data management system, primarily for industrial vehicles, and No. 8,671,063 for a wireless vehicle rental system with remotely controlled vehicle access. I.D. Systems now holds more than 60 patents related to its wireless M2M asset management systems.

Patent No. 8,676,670 covers a broad range of essential processes utilized by wireless vehicle management systems (VMS) for industrial trucks, such as forklifts and tow tractors. Some of these now-patented processes include:

• The basic network architecture for a wireless VMS that utilizes an intermediary wireless device between the system database and system's vehicle-mounted wireless devices;
• Vehicle access control authorizations by operator group;
• Impact sensing that incorporates the axes, time, level, and angle of an impact to a vehicle;
• Vehicle inspection checklists that are stored autonomously on vehicle-mounted devices, so the devices do not need to actively communicate over the wireless network to deliver the checklists;
• programmable, event-triggered checklists that are stored autonomously on vehicle-mounted devices;
• vehicle location tracking by radio frequency signals that are generated by an intermediary wireless device between the system database and the system's vehicle-mounted wireless devices;
• text messaging on vehicle-mounted wireless devices that does not require a constant, active communication link to the wireless network;
• reminder messages about scheduled maintenance that are transmitted automatically to vehicle-mounted wireless devices;
• the linkage of battery voltage data to other vehicle data, and automatically guiding the process of changing vehicle batteries;
• aggregation of data on vehicle-mounted devices into compact, low-bandwidth usage records;
• preservation and wireless communication of the most recent, relevant data, avoiding redundant wireless data traffic and eliminating unnecessary network bandwidth usage;
• wireless updates of system configuration parameters; and
• wireless communication between vehicle-mounted devices which avoids the need to transmit certain system configuration data through any intermediary wireless devices.

Patent 8,671,063 covers essential processes in managing a car rental remotely and wirelessly. These processes include monitoring vehicle mileage and fuel levels, tracking the location of vehicles while they are on a rental lot, automatically updating vehicle readiness in the rental system, and enabling remote rental check-outs. The patent also covers a method to avoid radio frequency interference from multiple vehicles communicating wirelessly in the same area.