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Vehicle locator system

  • US 4,152,693 A
  • Filed: 04/25/1977
  • Issued: 05/01/1979
  • Est. Priority Date: 04/25/1977
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A positional display system of visually indicating a given location such as the location of a motor vehicle such as a plice car or the location of the occurrence of an incident warranting police attention to aid in making command and control decisions, said positional display system comprising:

  • a display board including a row and column matrix of individual lights and a map overlaying said matrix so that each of said individual lights represents a unique locational area of said map;

    means for inputting a sequence of decimal digits of information including a first set of decimal digits indicative of the specific row address of a given locational area of said map, a second set of decimal digits indicative of the specific column address of a given locational area of said map and a third set of at least one command digit for determining the desired status of illumination of the individual light located at said given row and column address on said display board;

    means for converting each of said sets of decimal digits of information into their binary equivalents such that said first set of decimal digits is represented by a first binary number having "m" bit positions, said second set of decimal digits is represented by a second binary number having "n" bit positions and said third set of at least one command digit is represented by a third binary number;

    means for temporarily storing said binary numbers, said storage means including a first set of outputs for outputting said first binary number, a second set of outputs for outputting said second binary number and means responsive to a first value of said command digit for generating a "light on" signal and to a second value of said command digit for generating a "light off" signal;

    scanning means including a 2m+n bit binary up counter having a first set of "m" outputs corresponding to the first "m" bit positions of the counter and a second set of "n" outputs corresponding to the next successive "n" bit positions of the counter;

    row comparator means having a first set of comparator inputs coupled to the first set of outputs of said temporary storage means, a second set of comparator inputs coupled to said first set of "m" outputs of said binary up counter and a comparator output for supplying a "row equal" signal when equivalency exists between said row comparator inputs;

    column comparator means having a first set of comparator inputs coupled to said second set of outputs of said temporary storage means, a second set of comparator inputs coupled to said second set of "n" outputs of said binary up counter and a comparator output for supplying a "column equal" signal when equivalency exists between said column comparator inputs;

    memory means having at least 2m row by 2n column memory locations, input means coupled to said first set of "m" outputs of said binary up counter for scanning said row addresses in said memory and to said second set of "n" outputs of said binary up counter for scanning said column addresses, said memory means further including a write input coupled to said temporary storage means for presenting said "light on" signal and said "light off" signal thereto and a write enable port responsive to the presence of a "write enable" signal for enabling said memory means to write said "light on" and "light off" signals into the memory location then being addressed by said scanning means and a memory output for reading out the "lights on" or "lights off" signal stored in each of said memory locations;

    gating means coupled to the outputs of said row and column comparator means for generating a "write enable" signal when said "row equal" and said "column equal" signals exist simultaneously;

    row decoder means coupled to said first set of "m" outputs of said scanning means for sequentially addressing the rows of said matrix;

    column decoder means coupled to said "n" outputs of said scanning means for sequentially addressing the 2n columns of said matrix; and

    logical gating means responsive to the output of said row decoder means, the output of said column decoder means, and the output of said memory means for sequentially addressing each of said lights in said matrix and for selectively energizing a given light in said row and column matrix when the command digit entered with said given row and column coordinate so dictates thereby visually displaying the location of said motor vehicle or incident on said display board for command and control purposes.

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