Vehicle locating and communicating method and apparatus
First Claim
1. A system for locating and communicating with vehicles by means of a network of cellular telephone communication systems comprising:
- a host controller;
a cellular telephone in at least one vehicle operable to receive location data from a particular cellular telephone system providing service to the vehicle;
at least one microprocessor coupled to the cellular telephone for receiving the location data from the cellular telephone;
a modem coupled to the microprocessor for transmitting the location data from the microprocessor to the host controller over the particular cellular telephone system; and
a display coupled to the host controller for displaying graphically a map location of the vehicle and for displaying textually other data transmitted by the modem.
10 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for locating and communicating with vehicles is provided, including at least one mobile cellular unit connected to at least one microprocessor and installed within a vehicle. The microprocessor interrogates the mobile cellular unit to obtain location information from an overhead message stream transmitted from cellular telephone transmitter sites. The location is displayed on a display located in the vehicle or the microprocessor periodically instructs the mobile cellular unit to initiate a call to a host controller and, upon receipt of transmitting instructions from the host controller, transmits the location information for display on a screen connected to the host controller.
488 Citations
24 Claims
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1. A system for locating and communicating with vehicles by means of a network of cellular telephone communication systems comprising:
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a host controller; a cellular telephone in at least one vehicle operable to receive location data from a particular cellular telephone system providing service to the vehicle; at least one microprocessor coupled to the cellular telephone for receiving the location data from the cellular telephone; a modem coupled to the microprocessor for transmitting the location data from the microprocessor to the host controller over the particular cellular telephone system; and a display coupled to the host controller for displaying graphically a map location of the vehicle and for displaying textually other data transmitted by the modem. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for locating a reporting vehicle equipped with a cellular telephone comprising;
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receiving at the cellular telephone information to determine the location of the reporting vehicle; receiving at the reporting vehicle a system identification number emitted by a serving cellular telephone system; verifying the system identification number to determine whether to initiate a call from the cellular telephone; establishing a data modem communications link between the cellular telephone and a remote host controller upon verifying the system identification number; transmitting over the data modem communications link to the remote host controller the identity of the reporting vehicle and information to determine the location of the reporting vehicle; interrogating a database of the remote host controller in response to information received from the reporting vehicle to determine the geographic location of the reporting vehicle; and graphically displaying on a display of the remote host controller the geographic location of the reporting vehicle. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A system for locating a vehicle using a cellular telephone network comprising:
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a position locating receiver on the vehicle operable to receive geographic location data from a position locating system, the geographic location data providing an approximate location of the vehicle; a cellular transceiver coupled to the position locating receiver operable to transmit over the cellular telephone network via a data modem a vehicle identification number and geographic location data provided by the position locating receiver; and a remote host controller coupled to the cellular telephone network operable to receive geographic location data sent by the data modem upon receiving and validating the vehicle identification number, the remote host controller further operable to process and display graphically on a map the approximate location of the vehicle based on the geographic location data, the remote host controller including; a database containing a roamer number of a particular cellular telephone system serving an area including the approximate location of the vehicle; and a communications device for placing calls from the remote host controller to the vehicle using the roamer number. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20)
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21. A method for locating a vehicle equipped with a cellular transceiver using a cellular telephone system comprising:
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receiving geographic location data of the vehicle from a position locating system; establishing a data modem communication link between the cellular transceiver and a remote host controller; interrogating the cellular transceiver for a vehicle identification number; accepting at the remote host controller the geographic location data upon receipt of a valid vehicle identification number; determining the approximate location of the vehicle by interpreting the geographic location data; interrogating a database to obtain an access number of a particular cellular telephone system serving an area including the approximate location of the vehicle; and placing a call from the remote host controller to the vehicle using the access number. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
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Specification