Methods, devices and systems for tracking vehicles

• US 10,017,154 B2
• Filed: 02/23/2015
• Issued: 07/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: FoxTrac Inc.
• Original Assignee: FoxTrac Inc.
• Inventors: Lisi, Marco
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Dalena
• Application Number:
  US15/125,004
• Publication Number:
  US 20170015277A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,233 Days
• Field of Search: 701519, 3405724, 705 28, 705 1449
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/102 a signal being sent to a remote location, e.g. a radio signal being transmitted to a police station, a security company or the owner
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/33 of global position, e.g. by providing GPS coordinates
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/75 using transponders powered from received waves, e.g. using passive transponders , or using passive reflectors
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders

Abstract

An identification kit includes a first tag member and a second tag member. The first tag member is for mounting onto a rearview mirror of a vehicle and has at least one first visual identifier displaying a unique identification code and a first passive RFID tag. The second tag member for mounting onto a vehicle key and has at least one second visual identifier displaying the unique identification code and a second passive RFID tag.

Claims

1. A system for tracking a vehicle, the system comprising:

a memory for storing a plurality of instructions;

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured for;

receiving a new vehicle tracking request for a given vehicle being associated with a given unique identification code;

initializing a vehicle tracking operation, the operation associating at least a first remotely readable tag and a second remotely readable tag to the given unique identification code;

intermittently reading at a plurality of reading devices a plurality of remotely readable tags each being associated with a respective unique identification code;

updating a current location of the given vehicle if the first remotely readable tag associated to the given unique identification code is read by a first of the plurality of reading devices, the current location being a location of the first reading device; and

updating a current location of a key of the given vehicle if the second remotely readable tag associated to the given unique identification code is read by a second of the plurality of reading devices, the current location being a location of the second reading device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured for transmitting at least one alert to a user device associated to the vehicle tracking operation, the alert providing access to information pertaining to the tracking operation.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein a first of the at least one alert is transmitted upon initializing the vehicle tracking operation.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the vehicle tracking operation further defines at least one milestone location, and wherein if the current location of the given vehicle corresponds to one of the at least one milestone location, transmitting one of the at least one alert indicating the current location.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein one of the at least one alert is transmitted upon completing the vehicle tracking operation.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein receiving a new vehicle tracking request comprises receiving a vehicle identifier of the given vehicle and receiving the unique identification code.

7. A system for tracking a location of a vehicle, the system comprising:

a memory for storing a plurality of instructions;

a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured for;

receiving a new vehicle tracking request for a given vehicle being associated with a given unique identification code and setting an absence permission for the unique identification code to disallowed;

intermittently reading at a plurality of reading devices a plurality of remotely readable tags each being associated with a respective unique identification code, at least one of the plurality reading devices being a boundary reading device and one of the remotely readable tags being associated with the given unique identification code;

transmitting an alert if one of the at least one boundary reading devices reads the remotely readable tag associated to the given unique identification code while the absence permission for the given unique identification code is set to disallowed;

setting the absence permission for the given unique identification code to temporarily allowed for a predetermined amount of time in response to receiving an event command;

reading at one of the at least one boundary reading devices a first instance of the remotely readable tag associated to the given unique identification code;

in response to the reading of the first instance, trigger a timer associated to the given unique identifier; and

transmitting an alert if the timer exceeds the predetermined amount of time.

8. The system of claim 7, the processor being further configured for:

reading at one of the at least one boundary reading devices a second instance of the remotely readable tag associated to the given unique identifier;

in response to the reading of the second instance, terminating the timer.

9. The system of claim 8, the processor being further configured for:

in response to the reading of the second instance, setting the absence permission for the given unique identification code to disallowed.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the event command comprises an event type and wherein the predetermined amount of time of the timer is selected based on the event type.

11. The system of 10, wherein the even type is chosen from a client test drive, a maintenance test drive, an off-site servicing, and a courtesy rental.