The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 11, 2007
Filed:
May. 23, 2005
Mark Mcaden, Frisco, TX (US);
Mark McAden, Frisco, TX (US);
General Electric Company, Schenectady, NY (US);
Abstract
Truck tractors in a transportation fleet include a transponder that transmits a unique tractor identifier to a connected trailer using a Power Line Communication (PLC) bus device. The information transmitted typically includes a manufacturing unique ID for the tractor and an optional user defined ID. The user defined ID may include a fleet division code. The tractor ID and/or fleet ID codes determine how the trailer is hooked up. In particular, with detection of a connected state signal from the PLC bus, together with receipt of tractor identification code(s) from the tractor, the trailer tracking device can now communicate the coupling event information to a centralized location, such as via a cellular telephone connection.