SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MONITORING THE LOCATION OF INDIVIDUALS VIA THE WORLD WIDE WEB USING A WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK

• US 20080146251A1
• Filed: 10/16/2007
• Published: 06/19/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Michael S. Harper, Vernon Meadows
• Original Assignee: Michael S. Harper, Vernon Meadows
• Inventors: Harper, Michael S., Meadows, Vernon
• Granted Patent: US 8,320,935 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.5
• 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 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 60/00 Affiliation to network, e.g. registration; Terminating affiliation with the network, e.g. de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination

Abstract

A system is described for monitoring the geographical location of a subscriber'"'"'s mobile cellular telephone, and for providing the location information to an authorized user through the world wide web. The geographical location of the subscriber'"'"'s mobile cellular telephone is tracked using registration signals transmitted over the control channel by the cellular telephone. This information is supplied to a geographical location coordinator system, which determines the geographical coordinates for the cellular telephone. A database stores the geographical location information along with a subscriber'"'"'s telephone number and account code. The database is updated to track the movement of the cellular telephone user across a geographical area.

Claims

1-25. -25. (canceled)

26. A location processor for monitoring the geographical location of individuals within a geographical region from a remote location, comprising:

means for determining location information corresponding to at least one wireless communications device according to control signals detected by a plurality of receivers in communication with the location processor and the at least one wireless communications device; and

means for transmitting the location information to a geographical location database, the database storing the determined location information and at least one of a telephone number and an account code associated with the at least one wireless communications device, wherein the database communicates the location information to an Internet server for providing the location information to the at least one wireless communications device to only authorized users through the Internet, wherein the location information is provided on an Internet website accessed by an authorized user on a personal computer.

27. The location processor of claim 26, wherein the detected control signals are transmitted continuously by the at least one wireless communications device.

28. The location processor of claim 26, wherein the detected control signals are transmitted in response to receiving an authorized user access code.

29. The location processor of claim 26, wherein the location information is associated with a list of names of persons from who the user is authorized to receive the location information, wherein the list is presented to the authorized user by the Internet server.

30. The location processor of claim 29, wherein the list provided to the authorized user indicates whether a wireless communications device associated with each of the persons is on or off.

31. The location processor of claim 26, wherein the location information transmitted to the database is updated to track the movement of the at least one wireless communications device across the geographical region.

32. The location processor of claim 26, wherein the location information transmitted to the database includes a velocity of movement of the at least one wireless communications device.

33. The location processor of claim 26, wherein the location information transmitted to the database includes a direction of movement of the at least one wireless communications device.

34. The location processor of claim 26, wherein the location information is provided as a mapped display on the personal computer, wherein the mapped display comprises a graphical user interface for receiving commands to re-scale the mapped display to display additional location information, the additional location information comprising a movement history for the wireless communications device during a time period and a duration of time that the at least one wireless communications device has been located at a mapped location.

35. A system for monitoring the geographical location of individuals within a geographical region from a remote location, comprising:

means for determining location information corresponding to at least one wireless communications device according to control signals detected by a plurality of receivers in communication with the at least one wireless communications device; and

means for transmitting the location information to a geographical location database, the database storing the determined location information and at least one of a telephone number and an account code associated with the at least one wireless communications device, wherein the database communicates the location information to an Internet server for providing the location information to the at least one wireless communications device to only authorized users through the Internet, wherein the location information is provided on an Internet website accessed by an authorized user on a personal computer.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein the location information is provided as a mapped display, wherein the mapped display comprises a graphical user interface for receiving commands to re-scale the mapped display to display additional location information, the additional location information comprising a movement history for the individual to be monitored during a time period and a duration of time that the individual to be monitored has been located at a mapped location.

38. The method of claim 36, wherein determining location information corresponding to at least one wireless communications device according to control signals detected by a plurality of receivers comprises determining location information corresponding to at least one wireless communications device according to continuously transmitted control signals from the at least one wireless communications device.

39. The method of claim 36, wherein determining location information corresponding to at least one wireless communications device according to control signals detected by a plurality of receivers comprises determining location information corresponding to at least one wireless communications device according to control signals transmitted in response to the transmission of an authorized user access code.

40. The method of claim 36, wherein transmitting the location information to a geographical location database comprises updating the database to track the movement of the at least one wireless communications device across the geographical region.

41. The method of claim 36, wherein transmitting the location information to a geographical location database comprises transmitting a velocity of movement of the at least one wireless communications device to the database.

42. The method of claim 36, wherein transmitting the location information to a geographical location database comprises transmitting a direction of movement of the at least one wireless communications device.

37. A method for monitoring the geographical location of individuals within a geographical region from a remote location, comprising:

determining location information corresponding to at least one wireless communications device according to control signals detected by a plurality of receivers in communication with the location processor and the at least one wireless communications device; and

transmitting the location information to a geographical location database, the database storing the determined location information and at least one of a telephone number and an account code associated with the at least one wireless communications device, wherein the database communicates the location information to an Internet server for providing the location information to the at least one wireless communications device to only authorized users through the Internet, wherein the location information is provided on an Internet website accessed by an authorized user on a personal computer.