CAR FINDER BY CELL PHONE

• US 20100073201A1
• Filed: 03/30/2009
• Published: 03/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Denso International America Incorporated (DENSO Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Denso International America Incorporated (DENSO Corporation)
• Inventors: Sasaki, Minoru, Sakashita, Akira, Holcomb, Stephen, Wakamatsu, Toshihiro, McBride, Justin
• Granted Patent: US 8,242,884 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/990
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/005 including pedestrian guidance indicator
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0969 having a display in the form of a map
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/38 Displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/40 using speech recognition
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/1016 Telecontrol
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42348 Location-based services which utilize the location information of a target
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/493 Interactive information services, e.g. directory enquiries ; Arrangements therefor, e.g. interactive voice response [IVR] systems or voice portals

Abstract

A system for locating a vehicle may include a hand-held device and a communication device on-board the vehicle. The hand-held device may include a screen, and may be adapted to import a map and display a present location of the hand-held device on the map. The communication device on-board the vehicle may be adapted to communicate a present location of the vehicle to the hand-held device. The hand-held device may be capable of displaying the location of the vehicle and the location of the hand-held device on the map at the same time.

Claims

1. A system for locating a vehicle comprising:

a hand-held device having a screen, the hand-held device adapted to import a map and display a present location of the hand-held device on the map; and

a communication device on-board the vehicle adapted to communicate a present location of the vehicle to the hand-held device, the hand-held device capable of displaying the location of the vehicle and the location of the hand-held device on the map at the same time.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the hand-held device is operable to prompt the communication device to determine and communicate the present location of the vehicle to a server.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the hand-held device is adapted to determine an updated location of the hand-held device and update the map to indicate the updated location of the hand-held device.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the hand-held device is adapted to at least intermittently update the map to track movement of the hand-held device relative to the vehicle.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the hand-held device includes a user input device operable to actuate at least one of a horn and a light of the vehicle.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the map includes a first icon associated with the location of the hand-held device and a second icon associated with the location of the vehicle.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the map includes a satellite image of the locations of the vehicle and hand-held device.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the hand-held device is a mobile phone.

9. A system for locating a vehicle comprising:

a server;

a first global positioning device in remote communication with the server, the first global positioning device being adapted to determine a location of the vehicle and communicate the location of the vehicle to the server; and

a hand-held device including a processor, a screen, and a second global positioning device integrated therein, the second global positioning device is adapted to determine a location of the hand-held device, the hand-held device is adapted for remote communication with the server, and the screen is adapted to display a map,

wherein the location of the vehicle and the location of the hand-held device are displayed on the map together.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the first global positioning device is operable to communicate the location of the vehicle to the server.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the second global positioning device is adapted to determine an updated location of the hand-held device and the hand-held device is adapted to update the map to indicate the updated location of the hand-held device.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the hand-held device is adapted to at least intermittently update the map to track movement of the hand-held device relative to the vehicle.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the hand-held device includes a user input device operable to actuate at least one of a horn and a light of the vehicle.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the map includes a first icon associated with the location of the hand-held device and a second icon associated with the location of the vehicle.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the hand-held device is a mobile phone.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the hand-held device is an iphone®

.

17. A method for locating a vehicle comprising:

receiving a location of the vehicle into a hand-held device;

determining a location of the hand-held device; and

displaying a map on the hand-held device, the map including indicia of the location of the vehicle and the location of the hand-held device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein receiving the location of the vehicle includes communicating the location of the vehicle from a global positioning device on-board the vehicle to the hand-held device.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising updating the map to indicate an updated location of the hand-held device.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising actuating at least one of a horn and a light of the vehicle via the hand-held device.