MONITORING VEHICLE ACTIVITY

• US 20090256690A1
• Filed: 04/13/2009
• Published: 10/15/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Denso Products And Services Americas, Inc. (DENSO Corporation)
• Original Assignee: EASE Diagnostics
• Inventors: Golenski, Stephen S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,330,593 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/425.500
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental

Abstract

A method of monitoring a vehicle. The method includes the steps of establishing a first wireless connection between a first portable wireless device and a vehicle communications system thereby creating a data transfer network between the first portable wireless device and the vehicle communications system, monitoring, by the vehicle communications system, at least one sensor for a specific vehicle activity, and if the specific vehicle activity occurs, sending a notification via the wireless connection from the vehicle communications system to the first portable wireless device via the data transfer network.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring a vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:

establishing a first wireless connection between a first portable wireless device and a vehicle communications system thereby creating a data transfer network between the first portable wireless device and the vehicle communications system;

monitoring, by the vehicle communications system, at least one sensor for a specific vehicle activity; and

if the specific vehicle activity occurs, sending a notification via the wireless connection from the vehicle communications system to the first portable wireless device via the data transfer network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the specific vehicle activity includes at least one of a crash alert, a vehicle performance alert, a vehicle maintenance alert, or a traffic condition alert.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the specific vehicle activity includes a vehicle performance alert that includes at least one of vehicle speed, engine temperature, distance traveled, or geographic location.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the specific vehicle activity includes a vehicle maintenance alert that includes at least one of fuel remaining, tire pressure, oil quality, emissions test results, or brake conditions.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the specific vehicle activity includes a traffic condition alert that includes at least one of road conditions, traffic speed, or traffic volume.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the traffic condition alert is transmitted by the wireless device to a traffic network monitoring system.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first wireless connection is a personal area network connection.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first wireless device is a personal area network enabled wireless device.

9. A method of monitoring a vehicle, the method comprising the steps of:

establishing a first wireless connection between a first wireless device and a vehicle communications system thereby creating a data transfer network between the first portable wireless device and the vehicle communications system;

establishing a second wireless connection between a second wireless device and the first wireless device;

monitoring, by the vehicle communications system, at least one sensor for a specific vehicle activity;

if the specific vehicle activity occurs, sending a notification from the vehicle communications system to the first wireless device; and

transmitting the notification from the first wireless device to the second wireless device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first wireless connection is a personal area network connection.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first wireless device is a personal area network enabled wireless device.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the second wireless connection is a packet-based network connection.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the second wireless device is a cellular telephone.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the second wireless device is a computer.