Real time vehicle alert system

• US 20030034882A1
• Filed: 08/02/2001
• Published: 02/20/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 08/02/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dutta, Rabindranath, Banerjee, Dwip N.
• Application Number:
  US09/920,407
• Publication Number:
  US 20030034882A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/425.5
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold

Abstract

A method, system and program product are provided for enabling a third party to instantly notify a remotely located vehicle owner by sending a message to an IP addressable onboard vehicle computer, which in conjunction with a vehicle alert server, retrieves owner supplied contact information, which may be an IP address and/or telephone number, and forwards the third party message to a device with the IP address or telephone number previously supplied by the owner.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of instantly alerting a remotely located vehicle owner of a situation requiring owner intervention comprising the steps of:

detecting receipt of an external message to an IP address of an onboard vehicle client;

in response to said detecting, causing said onboard vehicle client to locate an IP address supplied by said owner; and

forwarding said external message to said owner IP address.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein said causing step includes:

retrieving from a storage location in said onboard vehicle client a most recently supplied owner IP address.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein said forwarding step includes:

sending an instant message to a device having said owner IP address.

4. An information handling system for instantly alerting a remotely located vehicle owner of a situation requiring owner intervention comprising:

means for detecting receipt of an external message to an IP address of an onboard vehicle client;

means, active in response to said means for detecting, for causing said onboard vehicle client to locate an IP address supplied by said owner; and

means for forwarding said external message to said owner IP address.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein said means for causing includes:

means for retrieving from a storage location in said onboard vehicle client a most recently supplied owner address.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein said means for forwarding includes:

means for determining whether said owner address is an IP address or a telephone number;

means, responsive to said owner address being an IP address, for sending an instant message to a device having said owner IP address; and

means, responsive to said owner address being a telephone number, for calling said number.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein said device is a cell phone.

8. The system of claim 6 wherein said device is a personal digital assistant.

9. A computer program product for instantly alerting a remotely located vehicle owner of a situation requiring owner intervention comprising:

means for detecting receipt of an external message to an IP address of an onboard vehicle client;

means, active in response to said means for detecting, for causing said onboard vehicle client to locate an address supplied by said owner; and

means for forwarding said external message to said owner address.

10. The computer program product of claim 9 wherein said means for causing includes:

means for retrieving from a storage location in said onboard vehicle client a most recently supplied owner address.

11. The computer program product of claim 10 wherein said means for forwarding includes:

means for determining whether said owner address is an IP address or a telephone number;

means, responsive to said owner address being an IP address, for sending an instant message to a device having said owner IP address; and

means, responsive to said owner address being a telephone number, for calling said telephone number.

12. An information handling system including a plurality of Internet enabled clients and a vehicle alert server, said server comprising:

means for detecting transmission of a message from a first client addressed to a second client;

means for determining from said second client an address for a third client; and

means for sending said message to said third client.

13. The information handling system of claim 12 additionally including:

means for verifying receipt of said message by said third client.

14. The information handling system of claim 13 additionally comprising:

means responsive to said means for verifying for iteratively activating said means for determining, means for sending and means for verifying until said means for verifying indicate affirmative receipt.

15. The system of claim 12 wherein said second client is an onboard vehicle computer in a vehicle.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein said first client is a third party external to said vehicle.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein said third client is remote from said vehicle and accessible to an owner of said vehicle.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein said means for detecting includes:

means for interpreting whether said message is addressed to an IP address containing a license plate number matching that of said vehicle.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein said means for determining comprises:

means for mapping said address into a list of previously supplied owner addresses for finding a forwarding address for use by said means for sending.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein said means for sending comprises:

means for sending said message over the Internet if said forwarding address is an IP address; and

means for sending said message using a wireless application protocol if said forwarding address is a telephone number.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein said means for sending additionally comprises a Push mechanism.

22. A method implemented in an information handling system including a plurality of Internet enabled clients and a vehicle alert server, comprising:

detecting transmission of a message from a first client addressed to a second client;

determining from said second client an address for a third client; and

sending said message to said third client.

23. The method of claim 22 additionally including:

verifying receipt of said message by said third client.

24. The method of claim 23 additionally comprising:

means for iteratively repeating said determining, sending and verifying steps until an affirmative response is obtained.