Pet locator
First Claim
1. A method for locating or tracking an animal having attached thereto an object locator operable to communicate via a two-way paging system with a base station, comprising the steps of:
- securing a collar, having the object locator and a GPS antenna coupled thereto integrated with the collar, to the body of the animal;
transmitting a request for location information from the base station over the paging system to a paging receiver integrated with the object locator;
enabling a GPS receiver in the object locator to acquire location coordinates for a position of the animal from a GPS system and store the location coordinates in a memory in the object locator;
disabling the GPS receiver after acquisition of the location coordinates;
loading the location coordinates stored in the memory into a paging transmitter integrated with the object locator and transmitting the location coordinates via the paging system to the base station; and
outputting the location of the animal in human readable form at the base station.
9 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
There is disclosed an object locator system (10) for requesting and obtaining information about the location of an individual animal or moveable object, having a lightweight, attached object locator (42), that is present in a region served by a two-way paging system (12) and a global positioning satellite system (50). The object locator (42) may be selectively activated to conserve power or enabled to respond only when beyond or within a boundary. Further, the object locator system (10) may provide the location information in several forms including rectangular or polar coordinates referred to a base station (18) or origin, position on a map display, etc.
324 Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A method for locating or tracking an animal having attached thereto an object locator operable to communicate via a two-way paging system with a base station, comprising the steps of:
-
securing a collar, having the object locator and a GPS antenna coupled thereto integrated with the collar, to the body of the animal;
transmitting a request for location information from the base station over the paging system to a paging receiver integrated with the object locator;
enabling a GPS receiver in the object locator to acquire location coordinates for a position of the animal from a GPS system and store the location coordinates in a memory in the object locator;
disabling the GPS receiver after acquisition of the location coordinates;
loading the location coordinates stored in the memory into a paging transmitter integrated with the object locator and transmitting the location coordinates via the paging system to the base station; and
outputting the location of the animal in human readable form at the base station. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
dialing a telephone number address assigned to the object locator.
-
-
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of enabling comprises the step of:
generating and coupling a control signal in the object locator, responsive to the request for location coordinates, to an enable input of the GPS receiver to activate the GPS receiver.
-
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of disabling comprises the step of:
removing a control signal, provided in response to the request, for location information from an enable input of the GPS receiver thereby inactivating the GPS receiver.
-
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of loading comprises the steps of:
-
reading the location coordinates from the memory;
converting the location coordinates to a modulating format; and
modulating the paging transmitter.
-
-
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of outputting comprises the steps of:
-
processing the location coordinates to convert the location information into a displayable format; and
displaying the location information.
-
-
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of processing comprises the step of:
converting the location coordinates to degrees of longitude and latitude.
-
9. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of processing comprises the step of:
converting the location coordinates to an indicated position on a map.
-
10. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of processing comprises the step of:
converting the location coordinates to a heading and a range relative to an origin located at the base station.
-
11. Apparatus for locating or tracking an animal having attached to the body thereof an object locator operable to communicate via a two-way paging system with a base station, comprising:
-
means for securing a collar, having said object locator and a GPS antenna coupled thereto integrated with said collar, to said body of said animal;
means for transmitting a request for location information from said base station over said paging system to a paging receiver integrated with said object locator;
means for enabling a GPS receiver in said object locator to acquire location coordinates for a position of said animal from a GPS system and store said location coordinates in a memory in said object locator;
means for disabling said GPS receiver after acquisition of said location coordinates;
means for loading said location coordinates stored in said memory into a paging transmitter integrated with said object locator and transmitting said location coordinates via said paging system to said base station; and
means for outputting said location of said animal in human readable form at said base station. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
means for dialing a telephone number address assigned to said object locator.
-
-
14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein said means for enabling comprises:
means for generating and coupling a control signal in said object locator, responsive to said request for location coordinates, to an enable input of said GPS receiver to activate said GPS receiver.
-
15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein said means for disabling comprises:
means for removing a control signal, provided in response to said request for location information, from an enable input of said GPS receiver thereby inactivating said GPS receiver.
-
16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein said means for loading comprises:
-
means for reading said location coordinates from said memory;
means for converting said location coordinates to a modulating format; and
means for modulating said paging transmitter.
-
-
17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein said means for outputting comprises:
-
means for processing said location coordinates to convert said location information into a displayable format; and
means for displaying said location information.
-
-
18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said means for processing comprises:
means for converting said location coordinates to degrees of longitude and latitude.
-
19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said means for processing comprises:
means for converting said location coordinates to an indicated position on a map.
-
20. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said means for processing comprises:
means for converting said location coordinates to a heading and a range relative to an origin located at said base station.
Specification