Patents by Inventor Brian HOFMANN

Brian HOFMANN has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Fleet management efficiency visualization
    Patent number: 10794747
    Abstract: A powertrain controller of a vehicle provides a fuel pump actuator signal indicative of fuel flow to a vehicle bus. A processor is configured to receive data from the vehicle bus. The processor performs an integration of the actuator signal to accumulate fuel usage of the vehicle, and periodically sends the accumulated fuel usage, vehicle speed, engine speed, engine status, and vehicle location to a remote server. A subset of accumulated fuel usage is retrieved for a set of the vehicles of a fleet traversing a route during a timeframe, the accumulated fuel usage compiled from fuel pump actuator signals. Fuel waste is computed for identified idle time periods within the accumulated fuel usage. Monetary waste is computed from the fuel waste. A report is generated including the monetary waste.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2020
    Assignee: Ford Motor Company
    Inventors: Brian Hofmann, John William Schmotzer, Richard Gordon, Darcy Salman
  • FLEET MANAGEMENT EFFICIENCY VISUALIZATION
    Publication number: 20190120676
    Abstract: A powertrain controller of a vehicle provides a fuel pump actuator signal indicative of fuel flow to a vehicle bus. A processor is configured to receive data from the vehicle bus. The processor performs an integration of the actuator signal to accumulate fuel usage of the vehicle, and periodically sends the accumulated fuel usage, vehicle speed, engine speed, engine status, and vehicle location to a remote server. A subset of accumulated fuel usage is retrieved for a set of the vehicles of a fleet traversing a route during a timeframe, the accumulated fuel usage compiled from fuel pump actuator signals. Fuel waste is computed for identified idle time periods within the accumulated fuel usage. Monetary waste is computed from the fuel waste. A report is generated including the monetary waste.
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 25, 2017
    Publication date: April 25, 2019
    Inventors: Brian HOFMANN, John William SCHMOTZER, Richard GORDON, Darcy SALMAN