Method for digitally transferring information via telephone connections

• US 20020147013A1
• Filed: 04/08/2002
• Published: 10/10/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG
• Original Assignee: Bayerische Motoren Werke AG
• Inventors: De Ruijter, Markus, Vollmuth, Leo
• Granted Patent: US 7,181,226 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/435.1
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles

Abstract

In a method for digitally transferring information via telephone connections, in which a receiver registers the sender'"'"'s telephone number, the receiver is assigned a plurality of callable telephone numbers. Each time a specific sender dials a callable telephone number, the receiver registers this as an individual piece of digital information associated with the called telephone number. A piece of total information is formed from the individual pieces of digital information.

Claims

1. A method for digitally transferring information via telephone connections, in which a receiver registers a sender'"'"'s telephone number, the method comprising the acts of:

allocating to the receiver a plurality of callable telephone numbers;

detecting by the receiver each call to one of the plurality of callable telephone numbers by a certain sender as an individual piece of digital information associated with the one callable telephone number; and

forming a piece of total information from the individual piece of digital information.

2. A receiver for executing the method according to claim 1, wherein the receiver is a computer connected to a telephone connection, said receiver comprising a dialing registration system for registering the sender'"'"'s telephone number and the callable telephone numbers called by the sender, said receiver further comprising an evaluation unit for processing the individual pieces of digital information and displaying the total information.

3. The method according to claim 1 for use in geographic vehicle positioning, wherein the method further comprises the acts of:

associating the sender'"'"'s telephone number with a specific vehicle;

defining a surface grid for a possible location of the specific vehicle with x and y coordinates;

assigning the callable telephone numbers to the x and y coordinates of the surface grid; and

using at least two individual pieces of digital information for the x coordinate and the y coordinate to form the piece of total information regarding an instantaneous position of the specific vehicle.