APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR INTERFERING WITH WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS DEVICES POSITIONED IN A VOLUME OCCUPIED BY A HUMAN DRIVER
First Claim
1. An apparatus operable to disable operation of wireless communications devices, for use within a vehicle having a driver'"'"'s seat from which a human driver controls the vehicle, the apparatus comprising:
- a directional antenna including at least one active antenna element, the directional antenna mounted in one of a seat back or a head rest of the driver'"'"'s seat or in a visor that is positioned above and directly in front of the driver'"'"'s seat, the directional antenna having a principal axis of emission directed toward a portion of the driver'"'"'s seat to be occupied by the human driver while controlling the vehicle; and
a drive circuit coupled to drive the at least one active antenna element to produce interference within at least one wireless communications band of frequencies in response to movement of the vehicle above a defined threshold, and at sufficiently high power to effectively interfere with communication between a destination device and a wireless communications device positioned in a volume to be occupied by the human driver when the human driver controls the vehicle where the interference disables the communication, and at sufficiently low power to not effectively interfere with communications between the destination device and a wireless communications device positioned relatively behind the driver'"'"'s seat.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An apparatus operable to disable operation of driver side wireless communications devices, for use within a vehicle, includes a drive circuit coupled to at least one active antenna element to produce interference within at least one wireless communications band of frequencies in response to movement of a vehicle above a defined threshold. The active antenna element being mounted proximate a driver side seatback and/or visor. The interference may take the form of a bare carrier wave, or may take the form of noise, and is transmitted at sufficient power to interfere with communication between the driver side wireless communications device and a destination device.
34 Citations
43 Claims
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1. An apparatus operable to disable operation of wireless communications devices, for use within a vehicle having a driver'"'"'s seat from which a human driver controls the vehicle, the apparatus comprising:
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a directional antenna including at least one active antenna element, the directional antenna mounted in one of a seat back or a head rest of the driver'"'"'s seat or in a visor that is positioned above and directly in front of the driver'"'"'s seat, the directional antenna having a principal axis of emission directed toward a portion of the driver'"'"'s seat to be occupied by the human driver while controlling the vehicle; and a drive circuit coupled to drive the at least one active antenna element to produce interference within at least one wireless communications band of frequencies in response to movement of the vehicle above a defined threshold, and at sufficiently high power to effectively interfere with communication between a destination device and a wireless communications device positioned in a volume to be occupied by the human driver when the human driver controls the vehicle where the interference disables the communication, and at sufficiently low power to not effectively interfere with communications between the destination device and a wireless communications device positioned relatively behind the driver'"'"'s seat. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A method to disable operation of wireless communications devices within vehicles having a driver'"'"'s seat to be occupied by a human driver when controlling the vehicle, the method comprising:
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locating a directional antenna having at least one active antenna element in one of a seatback or headrest of a driver'"'"'s seat to be occupied by a human driver when controlling a vehicle, or in a visor positioned relatively above and in front of a portion of the driver'"'"'s seat to be occupied by the human driver when controlling the vehicle; determining whether the vehicle is moving above a defined threshold; and in response to determining that the vehicle is moving above the defined threshold, driving the at least one active antenna element at a power level that is sufficiently high to produce communications disabling interference within at least one wireless communications band of frequencies in a volume that would be occupied by the human driver when controlling the vehicle and that is sufficiently low to not produce communications disabling interference in a volume to be occupied by passengers who are not the driver. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. An apparatus operable to disable operation of wireless communications devices, for use within a vehicle having a driver'"'"'s seat to be occupied by a human driver while controlling the vehicle, the apparatus comprising:
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a directional antenna including at least one active antenna element located in one of a seatback or a headrest of a driver'"'"'s seat or a visor positioned relatively above and in front of the driver'"'"'s seat and having a principal axis of emission directed toward a portion of the driver'"'"'s seat to be occupied by the human driver when controlling the vehicle; and means for driving the at least one active antenna element to produce interference within at least one wireless communications band of frequencies in response to movement of the vehicle above a defined threshold, and at sufficient power to disablingly interfere with communication between a destination device and a wireless communications device positioned in a volume extending approximately perpendicularly upward from a portion of the driver'"'"'s seat upon which the human driver sits when the human driver controls the vehicle while not disablingly interfering with wireless communications devices positioned in a volume to be occupied by human passengers that are not the human driver. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43)
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Specification