Monitoring of Vehicle Conditions Utilizing Cellular Broadcasts

• US 20070093247A1
• Filed: 07/11/2006
• Published: 04/26/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Four Batons Wireless LLC
• Original Assignee: Telcordia Technologies Incorporated (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson), Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation), Toshiba Corporation
• Inventors: Yaqub, Raziq
• Granted Patent: US 7,720,581 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/436
• 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: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]

Abstract

This document describes, among other things, a systems and methods for monitoring vehicle conditions via cellular networks.

Claims

1. A system for monitoring vehicle conditions, comprising:

at least one network information repository server having at least one database containing information related to vehicle conditions;

said at least one network information repository server being configured to receive updates from mobile stations that perform a comparison of vehicle conditions based on actual information sensed by the mobile stations as compared to expected vehicle conditions and that upon identifying an inconsistency send an update to the network information repository server; and

the network information repository server being configured to transmit updated information to a cellular network for broadcasting or multicasting to mobile stations or to send information via a cellular interface or wirelessly to mobile stations.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the network information repository server transmits information via a cellular interface or wirelessly to mobile stations.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the network information repository server transmits information to mobile stations using SMS or another messaging service.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the monitored vehicle conditions include road congestion, and said system is adapted to inform users, on a substantially real time basis, about sections on a road or highway facing congestion at a particular time.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the system is configured to inform users on a real time basis about sections on a road or highway that is facing congestion at a particular time via the network information repository server.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein said network information repository server is configured to store information mapped with geographical location coordinates.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein said network information repository server is configured to store information mapped with time.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile station is configured to compare its own speed and a specified speed limit, and, if there is an inconsistency, the mobile station sends a message to the network information repository server to report the inconsistency.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the network information server depicts an intensity of traffic congestion for display within a vehicle using visual representations on the vehicle'"'"'s navigation device.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein said visual representations include color coding.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle conditions involve road congestion, vehicle speeding, accident detection, unsafe or reckless driving, or unsafe road conditions.

12. A system for electronic dispatching of a vehicle for hire, comprising:

a) a network information repository server adapted to receive a message from a user mobile station of a user'"'"'s current location;

b) the network information repository server being adapted to search a database for a qualifying vehicle for hire; and

c) the network information repository server being adapted to, upon finding a qualifying vehicle for hire, send a message via a cellular network to the operator of the vehicle for hire.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein qualifying vehicles for hire include at least one taxi cab.

14. A system according to claim 13, wherein said qualifying vehicles for hire include at least one taxi cab that:

is registered in an established database maintained on the network information repository server; and

is sufficiently in the proximity of the geographical coordinates of the user.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein the at least one taxi cab transmits a message identifying its status as vacant or not-vacant.