System for providing site-specific, real-time environmental condition information to vehicles and related methods
First Claim
1. A system for providing environmental information to one or more geographically dispersed mobile users comprising:
- a computer system having a memory configured with processor-readable instructions to execute a method comprising the steps of;
assigning indicator data to a plurality of cells of a geographic grid based upon environmental data, said environmental data being at least one of meteorological data, road condition data, road status data, and traffic; and
transmitting said assigned indicator data according to at least one remote system within said plurality of cells via a distribution network; and
wherein said at least one remote system is responsive to said distribution network said at least one remote system comprising;
a receiver for receiving said assigned data;
a navigation system for providing a geographic position; and
a remote computer system having a memory configured with processor-readable instructions to cause said remote computer system to locally determine whether said received assigned indicator data is relevant to said remote system and respond only to relevant indicator data based upon said geographic position.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system for providing environmental condition information to remote users includes a computer system that obtains environmental data from a variety of sources and converts them into data that indicate presence of an environmental condition (including the strength, severity and form of a weather event), a distribution network in communication with the computer system, and one or more remote systems, which further comprise a receiver configured to receive distribution network signals and down convert them, and a remote computer system. The remote computer system is configured to receive the down-converted signals from the receiver and uses the data transmitted in the messages to determine whether the environmental conditions are geo-graphically relevant to the remote system based upon the geographic position of the remote system. The remote systems include a display systems which provide visual or aural alerts relating to weather phenomena, road conditions, road status or traffic.
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Citations
56 Claims
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1. A system for providing environmental information to one or more geographically dispersed mobile users comprising:
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a computer system having a memory configured with processor-readable instructions to execute a method comprising the steps of; assigning indicator data to a plurality of cells of a geographic grid based upon environmental data, said environmental data being at least one of meteorological data, road condition data, road status data, and traffic; and transmitting said assigned indicator data according to at least one remote system within said plurality of cells via a distribution network; and wherein said at least one remote system is responsive to said distribution network said at least one remote system comprising; a receiver for receiving said assigned data; a navigation system for providing a geographic position; and a remote computer system having a memory configured with processor-readable instructions to cause said remote computer system to locally determine whether said received assigned indicator data is relevant to said remote system and respond only to relevant indicator data based upon said geographic position. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A computer system for providing environmental information to one or more geographically dispersed mobile remote users comprising:
a memory configured with processor-readable instructions to execute a method comprising the steps of; receiving environmental data, said environmental data being at least one of meteorological data, road condition data, road status data, and traffic data; determining indicator values representing a characteristic of said environmental data; assigning said indicator data values to a plurality of cells of a geographic grid; outputting said assigned environmental data to one or more remote systems according to said plurality of cells via a distribution network; and locally determining with said remote system if assigned environmental data is relevant to said remote system based upon said remote system'"'"'s geographic position. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A mobile system for receiving and displaying environmental information comprising:
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a receiver for receiving environmental indicator data, said environmental indicator data representing characteristics of at least one of meteorological data, road condition data, road status data and traffic data; a navigation system for providing a geographic position; and a remote computer system having a memory configured with processor-readable instructions to cause said remote computer system to locally determine with said mobile system whether said received environmental indicator data is relevant to said mobile system based upon said geographic position. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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26. A system for distributing environmental information to one or more remote users comprising:
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a computer system having memory configured with processor-readable instructions to populate a geographic grid having a plurality of cells with indicator data representing a characteristic of environmental data, said environmental data being at least one of meteorological data, road condition data, road status data and traffic data, and to output said populated grid to a distribution network; and one or more remote systems responsive to said distribution network and configured to receive said output data, each of said one or more remote systems having a processor with a memory configured with the geographic position of its remote system, and with processor-readable instructions to locally determine with said remote system whether said received output data is relevant to said remote system based upon said geographic position. - View Dependent Claims (27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. An environmental condition notification method comprising the steps of
assigning indicator data to a plurality of cells of a geographic grid based upon environmental data, said environmental data being at least one of meteorological data, road condition data, road status data, and traffic; - and
transmitting said assigned data to one or more remote systems responsive thereto according to said plurality of cells via a distribution network; and locally determining with said remote system if said assigned environmental data is relevant to said remote system based upon said remote system'"'"'s geographic position. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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46. A environmental information distribution method comprising:
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providing a remote user system comprising; a receiver; a navigation system for providing a geographic position and a heading; and
a computer system having a memory configured with processor-readable instructions to cause said remote computer system to determine whether received assigned data is relevant to said remote system based upon said geographic position;transmitting via a communications network to said remote user system said assigned data, said assigned data representing a characteristic of at least one of meteorological data, road condition data, road status data and traffic data; and locally determining with said remote user system if said assigned data is relevant to said remote user system based upon said remote user system'"'"'s geographic position. - View Dependent Claims (47, 48, 49, 50)
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51. A method for providing geographically dispersed remote users with real-time environmental information comprising the steps of:
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providing a remote user receiving and display system comprising; a computer having a memory configured with processor-readable instructions to accept as input indicator data received from a communications link responsive to a distribution network, said indicator data representing a characteristic of at least one of meteorological data, road condition data, road status data and traffic data, and to locally determine with said computer whether said indicator data is relevant to the remote user based upon a geographic position; and aural and visual display means for displaying alerts based on relevant indicator data to said remote user. - View Dependent Claims (52, 53, 54, 55, 56)
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Specification