Method and system to configure and utilize geographical zones

• US 20060100777A1
• 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: Ashley, James Jr., Mooney, Patrick, Ashley, James Sr., Maggs, Charles, Santos, German, Lang, Edward, Mooney, Frank, Staton, Houston
• Granted Patent: US 7,286,929 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/200
• 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 define a geographical zone is disclosed. The geographical zone can be utilized to regulate a movable entity and the actions within the geographical zone. 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.

Claims

1. A method to define a geographical zone utilized to regulate a movable entity that has an attached transponder, comprising:

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

mapping the coordinates on a pixilated image so as to assign one pixel to each coordinate of the plurality of coordinates, wherein the distance between each assigned pixel is configurable;

connecting the plurality of assigned pixels with lines forming a contiguous and connected line that encloses an area in the pixilated image; and

activating the pixels that lie on the lines in order to form a contiguous array of pixels that enclose a shape in the pixilated image.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein regulating the entity comprises at least one of monitoring, controlling and visualizing the movement the entity.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein regulating the entity comprises at least one of monitoring, controlling and visualizing the non-movement the entity.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein regulating the entity comprises at least one of monitoring, controlling and visualizing the position the entity.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of coordinates are entered by a user of a computer device and transmitted to the transponder.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the user is allowed to enter geographical coordinates by:

allowing a user to select points in a map in a computer by clicking on the map; and

calculating the geographical coordinates of each selected point in the map.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the user is allowed to enter geographical coordinates by typing on the computer the longitude and latitude.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the position of the entity in relation to the geographical zone is determined by the steps of:

locating the transponder within the pixilated image by activating a pixel corresponding to the geographical coordinates where the transponder is located;

extending two vertical lines in opposite direction and originating from the pixel;

extending two horizontal lines in opposite direction and originating from the pixel;

determining the number of times each line crosses the boundary of the geographical zone;

assigning an outside status to each line that crosses the boundary a even number of times;

assigning an inside status to each line that crosses the boundary a odd number of times; and

identifying the transponder as being inside the boundary if the status of three out of four lines indicate an inside status.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the transponder has a ground positioning system receiver that calculates position coordinates, further locating the vehicle position in the pixilated image as one pixel in the computer image.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein each on of the plurality of geographical coordinates are represented by a latitude and longitude.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein each on of the plurality of geographical coordinates are Mercator coordinates.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the shape of the geographical area is a geometrical shape such as a square, rectangle, triangle, circle, oval, or trapezoid.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein shape of the geographical area is the shape of a non-geometrical shape.

14. The method of claim 1, 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.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein said movable entity is controlled and monitored depending on the location of the movable entity relative to said geographical zone.

16. A method to define a geographical zone utilized to regulate a movable entity having an attached transponder, comprising:

allowing a user to enter a plurality of waypoints, each waypoint in the plurality of waypoints being defined by a geographical coordinate and a radius;

wherein the geographical coordinate is represented by a latitude and longitude, and the radius is represented by a distance magnitude; and

loading plurality of waypoints on a transponder.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein regulating the entity comprises at least one of monitoring, controlling and visualizing the movement the entity.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein regulating the entity comprises at least one of monitoring, controlling and visualizing the non-movement the entity.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein regulating the entity comprises at least one of monitoring, controlling and visualizing the position the entity.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the transponder can determine whether the 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.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein the shape of the geographical area is a street route.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein shape of the geographical area is the shape of a non-geometrical shape.

23. The method of claim 16, wherein the all 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.

24. The method of claim 16, wherein said movable entity is controlled and monitored depending on the location of the movable entity relative to said geographical zone.

25. A method to identify a geographical area for regulating an entity, comprising:

allowing a user to identify a geometrical area in a computer map, the geometrical area using two coordinate attributes;

dividing the identified geometrical area into a grid;

allowing a user to select at least one section from within the grid in order to define a geographical area;

associating the at least one section to a pixel in a pixilated computer image such that the pixels selected by the user in the identified geometrical area are identified as being in the geographical area; and

loading the pixilated computer image to a memory in a transponder.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein regulating the entity comprises at least one of monitoring, controlling and visualizing the movement the entity.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein regulating the entity comprises at least one of monitoring, controlling and visualizing the non-movement the entity.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein regulating the entity comprises at least one of monitoring, controlling and visualizing the position the entity.

29. The method of claim 25, further comprising loading the pixilated image on a memory in the transponder.

30. The method of claim 25, wherein the pixilated computer image has a directly proportional number of columns and rows as the identified geometrical area.

31. The method of claim 25, wherein the pixilated computer image has the same number of columns and rows as the identified geometrical area.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the geometrical area is rectangular or circular.

33. The method of claim 25, wherein a second geographical area is defined by a plurality of geographical areas.

34. The method of claim 25, wherein an entity having attached the transponder may be located in the geographical area by obtaining a position of the transponder from a ground positioning unit operably connected to the transponder, correlating the position of the transponder in the geographical area to a representative position of the transponder in the pixilated computer image, and determining whether the representative position of the transponder in the pixilated computer image falls on a pixel that is flagged as being in the geographical area.

35. The method of claim 25, wherein the shape of the geographical area is a geometrical shape such as a square, rectangle, triangle, circle, oval, or trapezoid.

36. The method of claim 25, wherein shape of the geographical area is the shape of a non-geometrical shape.

37. The method of claim 25, 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.

38. The method of claim 25, wherein the shape of the geographical area is a street route.

39. The method of claim 25, wherein said movable entity is controlled and monitoring depending on the location of the movable entity relative to said geographical zone.