Recording and reporting of driving characteristics using wireless mobile device
First Claim
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1. A method of monitoring a vehicle including the steps of:
- a) determining that a mobile device is near the vehicle, said mobile device including a cell phone including a GPS receiver;
b) determining a location of the mobile device by determining the location of the cell phone via the GPS receiver;
c) determining a location of the vehicle based upon said steps a-b);
d) storing the vehicle location from said step c) on the mobile device as a last vehicle location;
e) comparing the last vehicle location to a new vehicle location where the vehicle reestablishes communication with the mobile device; and
f) determining whether the vehicle has been moved without the mobile device based upon said step e).
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Abstract
A system and method for monitoring a vehicle uses a wireless mobile device. The wireless mobile device, such as a cell phone, smart phone, PDA, etc., includes some of the hardware that could be utilized to monitor and analyze data and transmit the data (or summaries, statistics or analyses of the data) to a central server. This can greatly reduce the overall cost of the system. The data can be used to determine an insurance rate or as a speed probe for creating traffic maps, for example.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method of monitoring a vehicle including the steps of:
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a) determining that a mobile device is near the vehicle, said mobile device including a cell phone including a GPS receiver; b) determining a location of the mobile device by determining the location of the cell phone via the GPS receiver; c) determining a location of the vehicle based upon said steps a-b); d) storing the vehicle location from said step c) on the mobile device as a last vehicle location; e) comparing the last vehicle location to a new vehicle location where the vehicle reestablishes communication with the mobile device; and f) determining whether the vehicle has been moved without the mobile device based upon said step e). - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method of monitoring a vehicle including the steps of:
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a) determining that a mobile device is near the vehicle, said mobile device including a cell phone including a GPS receiver; b) determining a location of the mobile device by determining the location of the cell phone via the GPS receiver; c) determining a location of the vehicle based upon said steps a-b); d) storing the location of the vehicle on the mobile device; e) determining that the mobile device is no longer near the vehicle; and f) after said step e), indicating the stored location of the vehicle to a user on the mobile device.
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11. A vehicle monitoring device comprising:
a vehicle unit for installation in a vehicle, the vehicle unit programmed to be associated with at least one mobile device and to transmit vehicle operating data via the mobile device, wherein the vehicle unit stores a last location received from the mobile device after a connection with the mobile device is lost. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A mobile device for monitoring a vehicle, wherein the mobile device is programmed to:
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determine that the mobile device is near a vehicle, wherein the mobile device includes a cell phone and a GPS receiver; determine a location of the mobile device; and monitor operation of the vehicle based upon a determination that the mobile device is near the vehicle and based upon the location of the mobile device. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A method of monitoring a vehicle including the steps of:
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a. determining that a cell phone carried by a user is near the vehicle; b. determining a location of the cell phone via a GPS receiver in the cell phone; and c. determining a location of the vehicle based upon said steps a-b). - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification