Anti-theft system for vehicles

• US 6,900,723 B2
• Filed: 08/15/2001
• Issued: 05/31/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 08/15/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Armkel LLC (Church & Dwight Company Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Pioneer Corporation
• Inventors: Sakuma, Koji, Odashima, Masahiro, Yamanaka, Tadamasa
• Primary Examiner(s): La, Anh V.
• Application Number:
  US09/929,286
• Publication Number:
  US 20020027501A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,385 Days
• Field of Search: 340/426, 340/425.5, 340/463, 340/438, 340/426.1, 340/426.11, 340/426.12, 340/539.1, 340/539.16, 340/539.18, 340/539.19, 307/10.2, 307/10.3, 307/10.4, 307/10.5, 180/287, 180/167, 379/39, 379/37
• US Class Current: 340/426.1
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 2325/205 Mobile phones
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/1025 preventing jamming or interference of said signal

Abstract

An object is to provide an anti-theft system for vehicles which is easy to operate and is capable of returning a stolen vehicle to its owner. A stolen vehicle is remote-controlled so as to make it impossible to restart an engine in response to a vehicle-theft report signal.

Claims

1. An anti-theft system for vehicles, comprising:

vehicle registration system having a plurality of communication channels respectively assigned to subscriber IDs;

vehicle-theft notifying devices each for notifying that a vehicle has been stolen;

an anti-theft service center for receiving a notice from one of said vehicle-theft notifying devices and for sending a theft signal through one of the communication channels corresponding to the subscriber ID of said one of the vehicle-theft notifying devices to the stolen vehicle in response to the notice and reporting theft of said stolen vehicle to authorities; and

an anti-theft apparatus, mounted on said vehicle, for inhibiting an engine of said vehicle from restarting in response to reception of said theft signal.

2. The anti-theft system for vehicles according to claim 1, wherein said anti-theft apparatus inhibits said engine of said vehicle from restarting in response to reception of said theft signal only when said vehicle is stopped.

3. The anti-theft system for vehicles according to claim 1, wherein said anti-theft apparatus blinks lights of said vehicle and continually sounds a horn of said vehicle in response to reception of said theft signal when said vehicle is in motion.

4. The anti-theft system for vehicles according to claim 1, wherein said anti-theft apparatus gives an audio-and-visual warning to a driver of said vehicle to stop said vehicle in response to reception of said theft signal when said vehicle is moving.

5. The anti-theft system according to claim 1, wherein said anti-theft apparatus includes present-location detecting means for detecting a present-location of said vehicle and generating vehicle positional information, and sends vehicle positional information to said anti-theft service center in response to reception of said theft signal.

6. The anti-theft system according to claim 1, wherein said vehicle-theft notifying device is a cellular phone which generates a theft report signal and sends said theft report signal to said anti-theft service center in response to an input of a theft occurrence code.