Vehicle tracker conserving codes and related methods
First Claim
1. A vehicle tracking system comprising:
- a vehicle tracking unit and a monitoring station communicating therewith;
said vehicle tracking unit comprising a vehicle position determining device, a wireless communications device, and a controller connected to said wireless communications device and said vehicle position determining device;
said controller having a plurality of different controller states and responding differently to a same message from said monitoring station at different times depending upon the controller state at a given time.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A vehicle tracking system includes a vehicle tracking unit and a monitoring station communicating therewith. The vehicle tracking unit may include a vehicle position determining device, a wireless communications device, and a controller connected to the wireless communications device and the vehicle position determining device. More particularly, the controller may have a plurality of different controller states and respond differently to a same message from the monitoring station at different times depending upon the controller state at a given time. Accordingly, a number of codes or messages used by the system can be conserved.
-
Citations
47 Claims
-
1. A vehicle tracking system comprising:
-
a vehicle tracking unit and a monitoring station communicating therewith;
said vehicle tracking unit comprising a vehicle position determining device, a wireless communications device, and a controller connected to said wireless communications device and said vehicle position determining device;
said controller having a plurality of different controller states and responding differently to a same message from said monitoring station at different times depending upon the controller state at a given time. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
-
-
15. A vehicle tracking unit for communicating with a monitoring station, the vehicle tracking unit comprising:
-
a vehicle position determining device;
a wireless communications device; and
a controller connected to said wireless communications device and said vehicle position determining device;
said controller having a plurality of different controller states and responding differently to a same message from the monitoring station at different times depending upon the controller state at a given time.
-
-
26. A vehicle tracking unit for communicating with a monitoring station, the vehicle tracking unit comprising:
-
a vehicle position determining device;
a wireless communications device; and
a controller connected to said wireless communications device and said vehicle position determining device;
said controller having an alert sent state based upon an alert message being sent from said wireless communications device, wherein receipt of a predetermined message by said wireless communications device when said controller is in the alert sent state confirms receipt of the alert message by the monitoring station, and wherein receipt of the predetermined message by said wireless communications device when said controller is in another state different than said alert sent state causes a different response by said controller.
-
-
32. A vehicle tracking unit for communicating with a monitoring station, the vehicle tracking unit comprising:
-
a vehicle position determining device;
a wireless communications device; and
a controller connected to said wireless communications device and said vehicle position determining device;
said controller having a received first message state being based upon a first message being received by said wireless communications device receiving from the monitoring station, wherein receipt of a second message by said wireless communications device when said controller is in the received first message state causes a different response by said controller than does receipt of the second message when said controller is in another state than received first message state. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47)
-
-
36. A method for operating a vehicle tracking system of a type comprising a vehicle tracking unit and a monitoring station communicating therewith, the vehicle tracking unit comprising a vehicle position determining device, a wireless communications device, and a controller connected to the wireless communications device and the vehicle position determining device, the method comprising:
-
determining which of a plurality of different controller states the controller is in at a given time; and
responding differently to a same message from the monitoring station at different times depending upon the controller state of the controller at the given time.
-
Specification