Monitoring of vehicle conditions utilizing cellular broadcasts

• US 7,899,592 B2
• Filed: 05/03/2010
• Issued: 03/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/11/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Four Batons Wireless LLC
• Original Assignee: Telcordia Technologies Incorporated (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson), Toshiba Corporation
• Inventors: Yaqub, Raziq
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Tan Q
• Application Number:
  US12/772,648
• Publication Number:
  US 20100211430A1
• Time in Patent Office: 302 Days
• Field of Search: 701/33, 701/117, 701/201, 701/213, 455/414.1, 455/521, 455/404.2, 340/539.18, 340/993, 340/994
• US Class Current: 701/33
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]

Abstract

This document describes, among other things, a systems and methods for monitoring vehicle conditions via cellular networks.

Claims

1. A system for electronic dispatching of a vehicle for hire, comprising:

a plurality of network information repository servers distributed in a network adapted to support mobile stations having multiple interfaces;

said plurality of network information repository servers are distributed in said network so that each of said network information repository servers support only the mobile stations that are present in a predefined geographical area mapped to an individual network information repository server of said plurality of network information repository servers;

each of said network information repository servers is adapted to receive messages from the mobile stations that are present in the predefined geographical area mapped to the individual network information repository server of a user'"'"'s current location;

each of said plurality of network information repository servers is adapted to search a database for a qualifying vehicle for hire present in the predefined geographical area mapped to the individual network information repository server; and

each of said plurality of network information repository servers is adapted to, upon finding the qualifying vehicle for hire, transmit a message via a cellular network to the operator of the vehicle for hire present in the predefined geographical area mapped to the individual network information repository server.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein qualifying vehicles for hire include at least one taxi cab.

3. The system according to claim 2, wherein said qualifying vehicles for hire include at least one taxi cab that:

is registered in an established database maintained on the network information repository server; and

is sufficiently in the proximity of the geographical coordinates of the user.

4. The system according to claim 3, wherein the at least one taxi cab transmits a message identifying its status as vacant or not-vacant.

5. A method for electronic dispatching of a vehicle for hire, comprising:

distributing a plurality of network information repository servers in a network adapted to support mobile stations having multiple interfaces;

distributing said plurality of network information repository servers in said network so that each of said network information repository servers support only the mobile stations that are present in a predefined geographical area mapped to an individual network information repository server of said plurality of network information repository servers;

wherein each of said network information repository servers;

receiving messages from the mobile stations that are present in the predefined geographical area mapped to the individual network information repository server of a user'"'"'s current location;

searching a database for a qualifying vehicle for hire present in the predefined geographical area mapped to the individual network information repository server; and

finding the qualifying vehicle for hire and transmitting a message via a cellular network to the operator of the vehicle for hire present in the predefined geographical area mapped to the individual network information repository server.

6. The method according to claim 5, further including having said qualifying vehicles for hire include at least one taxi cab.

7. The method according to claim 6, further including have said qualifying vehicles for hire include at least one taxi cab that:

is registered in an established database maintained on the network information repository server; and

is sufficiently in the proximity of the geographical coordinates of the user.

8. The method according to claim 7, further including having the at least one taxi cab transmit a message identifying its status as vacant or not-vacant.