Vehicle tracker, mileage-time monitor and calibrator
First Claim
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1. Apparatus for calibration of at least one of a vehicle odometer and a vehicle speedometer, the apparatus comprising:
- a location determination (LD) unit, transported by a vehicle, that receives and processes LD signals to determine location coordinates of present location L and speed v of the LD unit at one or more selected observation times; and
at least one of;
a distance measuring mechanism that receives signals from the vehicle and estimates and records distance traveled by the vehicle from a selected earlier time t0 to the present time; and
a speed measuring mechanism that receives signals from the vehicle and estimates and records the present speed of the vehicle at a sequence of selected times ti.
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Abstract
A system for monitoring location and speed of a vehicle, using a location determination system such as GPS, GLONASS or LORAN and an optional odometer or speedometer, for determining and recording the locations and times at which vehicle speed is less than a threshold speed for at least a threshold time (called a "vehicle arrest event"). Vehicle arrest event locations, times and time intervals are stored and/or printed to provide trip and mileage records and for efficiency monitoring. A vehicle odometer and/or speedometer can also be calibrated and/or corrected using this approach.
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Citations
24 Claims
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1. Apparatus for calibration of at least one of a vehicle odometer and a vehicle speedometer, the apparatus comprising:
a location determination (LD) unit, transported by a vehicle, that receives and processes LD signals to determine location coordinates of present location L and speed v of the LD unit at one or more selected observation times; and
at least one of;a distance measuring mechanism that receives signals from the vehicle and estimates and records distance traveled by the vehicle from a selected earlier time t0 to the present time; and a speed measuring mechanism that receives signals from the vehicle and estimates and records the present speed of the vehicle at a sequence of selected times ti. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 15)
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12. A method for calibrating at least one of a vehicle odometer and a vehicle speedometer, the method comprising the steps of:
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receiving and processing location determination (LD) signals at an LD unit, transported by a vehicle, to determine location coordinates of present location L and speed v of the LD unit at one or more selected observation times; and receiving and recording at least one of; distance measuring signals from the vehicle that provide an estimate of distance traveled by the vehicle from a selected earlier time t0 to the present time; and speed measuring signals from the vehicle that provide an estimate of the present speed of the vehicle at a sequence of selected times ti. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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Specification