Method and system to monitor movable entities

• US 20060099959A1
• Filed: 04/13/2005
• Published: 05/11/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 11/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WirelessWERX IP LLC (Pueblo Nuevo LLC)
• Original Assignee: Wirelesswerx International, Inc.
• Inventors: Staton, Houston, Ashley, James Jr., Mooney, Patrick, Ashley, James Sr., Maggs, Charles, Santos, German, Lang, Edward, Mooney, Frank
• Granted Patent: US 7,564,348 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2325/101 Bluetooth
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2325/304 Boats
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/00 Fittings or systems for preventing or indicating unauthorised use or theft of vehicles locks for vehicles E05B77/00-E05B85/00
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/04 operating on the propulsion system, e.g. engine or drive motor
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/1004 Alarm systems characterised by the type of sensor, e.g. current sensing means using door lock sensors B60R25/1001
• 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: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/28 the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/14 Central alarm receiver or annunciator arrangements
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/207 with respect to certain areas, e.g. forbidden or allowed areas with possible alerting when inside or outside boundaries
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A method to wirelessly monitor an entity having an attached transponder is disclosed. A geographical zone is defined. The geographical zone can be defined by allowing a user to define and load to a transponder a plurality of waypoints, each waypoint defined by a geographical coordinate and a radius originating from the geographical coordinate. The geographical zone can also be defined by selecting a plurality of coordinates that are loaded to a transponder and mapped on a pixilated image. The microprocessor in the attached transponder is programmed to determine the occurrence of an event associated with the status of the entity in relation to the geographical zone. The microprocessor in the transponder is also configured to transmit the data related to the occurrence of an event from the attached transponder to a user.

Claims

1. A method to wirelessly monitor an entity having an attached transponder, comprising:

loading from a computing device to a memory in an attached transponder a plurality of coordinates;

programming a microprocessor in the attached transponder to define a geographical zone using said plurality of coordinates to create an enclosed area on a pixilated image, wherein said enclosed area is representative of a geographical zone;

programming the microprocessor in the attached transponder to determine the occurrence of an event associated with the status of the entity in relation to the geographical zone; and

configuring the microprocessor in the transponder to transmit the data related to the occurrence of an event from the attached transponder to a user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the status of the entity is based upon movement of the entity.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the status of the entity is based upon position of the entity.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the status of the entity is based upon non-movement of the entity.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the event is leaving a geographical zone, entering a geographical zone, turning on an ignition to the entity, turning off the ignition to the entity, change of speed of the entity, change of temperature of an engine of the entity, change of internal temperature of the entity, change of fuel level in a fuel tank of the entity, locking of a door or latch of the entity, unlocking of the door or latch of the entity, opening a window of the entity, closing a window of the entity, opening a door of the entity, closing of a door of the entity, pushing a button connected to the entity in relation to an emergency, reaching a predetermined distance traveled, reaching a predetermined time traveled, reaching a predetermined time, reaching a predetermined date, reaching a maximum speed threshold, reaching a maximum time permitted to maintain a status of being over the speed threshold, reaching a maximum a acceleration threshold, reaching maximum length of idle of a vehicle, change of the power level of the battery, a bar code scanned by a connected scanner, passenger loading or unloading, cargo loading or unloading, vehicle part malfunction, vehicle diagnostics code received, impact detected, airbag deployed, seatbelts latched, seatbelts unlatched, or change of tire air pressure.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the data transmitted from the attached transponder is the speed of the entity, direction of movement of the entity, state of an electrical input to the entity, state of an electrical output of the entity, or geographical position of the entity.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the data transmitted from the attached transponder is communicated to a control center.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating the occurrence of the event to a portable device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein data communicated to the control center is further communicated to a portable device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said enclosed area on a pixilated image is formed by assigning each pixel is to a coordinate and configuring the distance between each assigned pixel.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said enclosed area is created by connecting a plurality of assigned pixels by lines, wherein a series of contiguous and connected lines enclose an area in the pixilated image and wherein said pixels that lie on the lines are turned on in order to form a contiguous array of pixels that enclose a shape in the pixilated image.

12. A method to wirelessly monitor an entity having an attached transponder, comprising:

defining a geographical zone using a plurality of waypoints, wherein each waypoint is defined by a geographical coordinate and a radius originating from the geographical coordinate;

loading from a computing device to the attached transponder'"'"'s memory a plurality of waypoints;

programming a microprocessor in the attached transponder to determine the occurrence of an event associated with the position of the entity in relation to the geographical zone; and

configuring the microprocessor in the transponder to transmit the data related to the occurrence of an event from the attached transponder to a user.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the status of the entity is based upon movement of the entity.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the status of the entity is based upon position of the entity.

15. The method-of claim 12, wherein the status of the entity is based upon non-movement of the entity.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the event is leaving a geographical zone, entering a geographical zone, turning on an ignition to the entity, turning off the ignition to the entity, change of speed of the entity, change of temperature of an engine of the entity, change of internal temperature of the entity, change of fuel level in a fuel tank of the entity, locking of a door or latch of the entity, unlocking of the door or latch of the entity, opening a window of the entity, closing a window of the entity, opening a door of the entity, closing of a door of the entity, pushing a button connected to the entity in relation to an emergency, reaching a predetermined distance traveled, reaching a predetermined time traveled, reaching a predetermined time, reaching a predetermined date, reaching a maximum speed threshold, reaching a maximum time permitted to maintain a status of being over the speed threshold, reaching a maximum a acceleration threshold, reaching maximum length of idle of a vehicle, change of the power level of the battery, a bar code scanned by a connected scanner, passenger loading or unloading, cargo loading or unloading, vehicle part malfunction, vehicle diagnostics code received, impact detected, airbag deployed, seatbelts latched, seatbelts unlatched, or change of tire air pressure.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the data transmitted from the attached transponder is the speed of the entity, direction of movement of the entity, state of an electrical input to the entity, state of an electrical output of the entity, or geographical position of the entity.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the data transmitted from the attached transponder is communicated to a control center.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the data communicated to the control center is further communicated to a portable device.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the geographical coordinate is represented by a latitude and longitude, and the radius is represented by a distance magnitude.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the attached transponder can determine whether the attached transponder is inside or outside the geographical zone by obtaining global positioning coordinates, and calculating whether or not the global positioning coordinates are inside at least one waypoint of the plurality of waypoints.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the shape of the geographical area is the shape of the border delimiting a street route, a state, a city, a county, or a country.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein shape of the geographical area is the shape of a non-geometrical shape.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein the waypoints in the plurality of waypoints have the same coordinate but different radii, such that all the waypoints in the plurality of waypoints are concentric.

25. A method to wirelessly monitor an entity having an attached transponder, comprising:

using a computing device to identify a geometrical area using at least two coordinate attributes, wherein said geometrical area is divided into a grid having at least one section;

defining a geographical zone by selecting within the grid the at least one section representative of a desired area and correlating at least one section into a pixilated computer image by associating at least one section to a pixel;

loading said pixilated computer image into the attached transponder'"'"'s memory;

programming a microprocessor in the attached transponder to determine the occurrence of an event associated with the position of the entity in relation to the geographical zone; and

configuring the microprocessor in the transponder to transmit the data related to the occurrence of an event from the attached transponder to a user.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the status of the entity is based upon movement of the entity.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the status of the entity is based upon position of the entity.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein the status of the entity is based upon non-movement of the entity.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein the event is leaving a geographical zone, entering a geographical zone, turning on an ignition to the entity, turning off the ignition to the entity, change of speed of the entity, change of temperature of an engine of the entity, change of internal temperature of the entity, change of fuel level in a fuel tank of the entity, locking of a door or latch of the entity, unlocking of the door or latch of the entity, opening a window of the entity, closing a window of the entity, opening a door of the entity, closing of a door of the entity, pushing a button connected to the entity in relation to an emergency, reaching a predetermined distance traveled, reaching a predetermined time traveled, reaching a predetermined time, reaching a predetermined date, reaching a maximum speed threshold, reaching a maximum time permitted to maintain a status of being over the speed threshold, reaching a maximum a acceleration threshold, reaching maximum length of idle of a vehicle, change of the power level of the battery, a bar code scanned by a connected scanner, passenger loading or unloading, cargo loading or unloading, vehicle part malfunction, vehicle diagnostics code received, impact detected, airbag deployed, seatbelts latched, seatbelts unlatched, or change of tire air pressure.

30. The method of claim 25, wherein the data transmitted from the attached transponder is the speed of the entity, direction of movement of the entity, state of an electrical input to the entity, state of an electrical output of the entity, or geographical position of the entity.

31. The method of claim 25, wherein the data transmitted from the attached transponder is communicated to a control center.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the data communicated to the control center is further communicated to a portable device.

33. The method of claim 25, wherein said geometrical area is rectangular and is divided into a plurality of rectangles.

34. The method of claim 25, wherein said geometrical area is circular and is divided into a plurality of sections.

35. A method to wirelessly control an entity having an attached transponder, comprising:

loading from a computing device to the transponder'"'"'s memory a plurality of coordinates;

programming a microprocessor of a transponder to define a geographical zone by creating an enclosed area on a pixilated image using said plurality of coordinates, wherein said enclosed area is representative of a geographical zone; and

programming the microprocessor in the transponder to transmit data to a control center upon receiving a command from the control center, the data being associated with the status of the entity in relation to the geographical zone.

36. A method to wirelessly control an entity having an attached transponder, comprising:

defining a geographical zone using a plurality of waypoints, wherein each waypoint is defined by a geographical coordinate and a radius originating from the geographical coordinate;

loading from a computing device to the transponder'"'"'s memory a plurality of waypoints; and

programming a microprocessor in the transponder to transmit data to a control center upon receiving a command from the control center, the data being associated with the status of the entity in relation to the geographical zone.

37. A method to wirelessly control an entity having an attached transponder, comprising:

using a computing device to identify a geometrical area using at least two coordinate attributes, wherein said geometrical area is divided into a grid having at least one section;

defining a geographical zone by selecting within the grid the at least one section representative of a desired area and correlating at least one section into a pixilated computer image by associating at least one section to a pixel;

loading said pixilated computer image into the transponder'"'"'s memory; and

programming a microprocessor in the transponder to transmit data to a control center upon receiving a command from the control center, the data being associated with the status of the entity in relation to the geographical zone.

39. A method to wirelessly monitor an entity utilizing a transponder, comprising:

storing in a memory of a transponder data representative of a geographical zone; and

measuring data utilizing a plurality of peripheral devices connected to the entity, the data being representative of the status of the entity in relation the geographical zone.