Mobile object locator

• US 20030201931A1
• Filed: 02/10/2003
• Published: 10/30/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pfizer Inc.
• Original Assignee: Jennifer Durst
• Inventors: McAlexander, Joseph C., Fowler, Eugene F., Durst, Jennifer
• Granted Patent: US 6,859,171 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/357.07
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/16 Anti-theft; Abduction
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/17 Emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/34 Power consumption
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/36 relating to the receiver frond end
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/008 using a mobile telephone network
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile

Abstract

There is disclosed a method and apparatus for an object locator system (10) for requesting and obtaining information about the location of a mobile object, having attached thereon a lightweight object locator (42), operable 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.

In alternate embodiments the two-way paging system (12) may be substituted by a direct wireless link or a satellite relay communications link; the location information may be translated into human readable form either before or after transmission from the object locator; the location information may be presented at an output as selectable text; spoken message or graphic display including a map; the location information may have associated therewith other information such as time the location was determined, the status of the object locator, the condition of the battery, position of the object locator relative to a boundary or electronic fence or to indicate an alarm condition; or the location information may be accessed or delivered by dial-up or automatic means.

Claims

1. A method for locating or tracking a mobile object, comprising the steps of:

attaching a mobile communications unit having at least one antenna coupled thereto to the mobile object;

accessing transmissions of a GPS system from the mobile communications unit to obtain location coordinates of the mobile communications unit,

communicating the location coordinates from the mobile communication unit via a wireless link to a base station; and

outputting the location coordinates in human readable form.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of attaching comprises the step of:

coupling a belt having the mobile communication unit mounted thereon around a portion of the body of the mobile object wherein the mobile communication unit and the at least one antenna coupled to the mobile communication unit is disposed on the belt for maximum reception and transmission therewith.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of coupling comprises the steps of:

disposing the mobile communication unit and the first antenna on diametrically opposite sides of the belt so that, when the belt is coupled around the body of the mobile object, the first antenna is oriented skyward and the mobile communication unit is positioned earthward according to its greater mass; and

positioning any other antenna on the belt to maximize its radiation efficiency without unbalancing the belt with respect to the orientation of the first antenna.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile object is an animal and the mobile communication unit is an object locator.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of accessing comprises the steps of:

activating a GPS receiver for receiving a plurality of GPS transmissions in the mobile communication unit; and

processing the plurality of received signals from the GPS transmissions to acquire the location coordinates of the mobile communications unit.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of activating comprises the step of:

receiving an activating instruction transmitted via a wireless link signal.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of activating comprises the step of:

providing an activating instruction from a timing circuit in the mobile communication unit wherein the activating instruction is provided at periodic intervals.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of activating comprises the step of:

receiving the activating instruction relayed from a base station.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of activating comprises the step of:

receiving the activating instruction initiated from a base station and transmitted via a wireless link.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of activating comprises the step of:

receiving the activating instruction transmitted by a monitoring service provider.

11. The method of claim 5, wherein the GPS receiver activated in the step of activating is operable to receive differential GPS signals.

12. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of processing comprises the steps of:

converting the location coordinates to coordinate data for storage;

storing the coordinate data in a memory in the mobile communication unit; and

deactivating the GPS receiver.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of communicating comprises the steps of:

retrieving the coordinate data from the memory in the mobile communication unit;

enabling a paging transmitter in the mobile communication unit coupled to a second antenna to transmit a carrier therefrom to the base station via a paging network; and

modulating the carrier being transmitted from the second antenna with the coordinate data.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of communicating comprises the steps of:

receiving a carrier modulated with the coordinate data, transmitted from the mobile communication unit via a paging network;

demodulating the coordinate data;

translating the coordinate data to location coordinates in human readable form; and

coupling the location coordinates to a readout device at the base station.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of communicating comprises the steps of:

associating other data with the location coordinates being communicated, wherein the other data may be one or more selected from a group including data representing a time stamp, an operational status of the mobile communications unit, strength of transmitted signals, condition of signals, condition of a battery, whether a threshold is traversed, whether an electronic fence is crossed or an alarm signal; and

communicating the other data with the location'"'"'s coordinates.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of associating other data comprises the steps of:

determining the other data by selecting and measuring a parameter to be represented by the other data; and

assembling the other data with the location coordinates.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of receiving occurs in the base station.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of receiving occurs in a paging center of the paging network capable of being accessed by the base station.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of translating comprises the step of:

converting the coordinate data to alpha-numeric characters for output of the location coordinates as a text message.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of translating comprises the step of:

converting the coordinate data to alpha-numeric characters for output of the location coordinates as a spoken message.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of translating comprises the step of:

converting the coordinate data to location coordinates for output to be plotted on a map.

22. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of translating comprises the step of:

selecting a human readable form for translation of coordinate data into location coordinates from the group including alpha-numeric characters for output as a text message, alpha-numeric characters for output as a spoken message or location coordinates for output to be plotted on a map.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of outputting comprises the step of:

coupling the location coordinate information to a readout device.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of outputting comprises the step of:

outputting location coordinate information automatically upon receipt by the base station.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of outputting comprises the step of:

dialing a phone number of the base station from a paging center to report the location coordinate information of the mobile object to a user.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of outputting comprises the step of:

outputting an alarm corresponding to receipt of the location coordinates.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of outputting comprises the step of:

forwarding the location coordinate information via the base station to another remote device.

28. The method of claim 23, wherein the step of coupling comprises the step of:

dialing a telephone number at the paging center for obtaining the location coordinate information.

29. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of converting comprises the step of:

displaying the location coordinates on request as alpha-numeric text.

30. The method of claim 20, wherein the step of converting comprises the step of:

announcing the location coordinates on request as a spoken message.

31. The method of claim 21, wherein the step of converting comprises the step of:

displaying the location coordinates on request by plotting them on a map.

32. The method of claim 29, wherein the step of converting comprises the step of:

determining manually a geographic address corresponding to the location of the mobile object.

33. The method of claim 30, wherein the step of converting comprises the step of:

determining manually a geographic address corresponding to the location of the mobile object.

34. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of communicating comprises the steps of:

retrieving the coordinate data from the memory in the mobile communication unit;

translating the coordinate data to location coordinates in human readable form;

enabling a paging transmitter in the mobile communication unit coupled to the second antenna to transmit a carrier therefrom to the base station via a paging network; and

modulating the carrier being transmitted from the second antenna with the location coordinates.

35. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of communicating comprises the steps of:

receiving a carrier modulated with the location coordinates transmitted from the mobile communication unit via a paging network in the base station;

demodulating the location coordinates; and

outputting the location coordinates for readout in human readable form.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein the step of translating comprises the step of:

converting the coordinate data to alpha-numeric characters for output of the location coordinates as a text message.

37. The method of claim 34, wherein the step of translating comprises the step of:

converting the coordinate data to alpha-numeric characters for output of the location coordinates as a spoken message.

38. The method of claim 34, wherein the step of translating comprises the step of:

converting the coordinate data to location coordinates for output to be plotted on a map.

39. The method of claim 34, wherein the step of translating comprises the step of:

selecting a human readable form for translation of coordinate data into location coordinates from the group including alpha-numeric characters for output as a text message, alpha-numeric characters for output as a spoken message or location coordinates for output to be plotted on a map.

40. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of communicating comprises the steps of:

retrieving the coordinate data from the memory in the mobile communication unit;

enabling a transmitter in the mobile communication unit coupled to the second antenna to transmit a carrier therefrom to the base station; and

modulating the carrier being transmitted from the second antenna with the coordinate data.

41. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of communicating comprises the steps of:

receiving in the base station a carrier modulated with the coordinate data transmitted from the mobile communications unit;

demodulating the coordinate data;

translating the coordinate data to location coordinate in human readable form; and

coupling the location coordinates to a readout device at the base station.

42. The method of claim 40, wherein the step of enabling the transmitter in the mobile communications unit is operable to transmit a carrier from the second antenna via a satellite communications system.

43. The method of claim 41, wherein the step of receiving is performed by a receiver operable in a satellite communications system.

44. The method of claim 41, wherein the step of translating comprises the step of:

converting the coordinate data to alpha-numeric characters for output of the location coordinates as a text message.

45. The method of claim 41, wherein the step of translating comprises the step of:

converting the coordinate data to alpha-numeric characters for output of the location coordinates as a spoken message.

46. The method of claim 41, wherein the step of translating comprises the step of:

converting the coordinate data to location coordinates for output to be plotted on a map.

47. The method of claim 41, wherein the step of translating comprises the step of:

selecting a human readable form for translation of coordinate data into location coordinates from the group including alpha-numeric characters for output as a text message, alpha-numeric characters for output as a spoken message or location coordinates for output to be plotted on a map.

48. The method of claim 40, wherein the step of retrieving further comprises the step of:

translating the coordinate data to location coordinates in human readable form prior to modulating the carrier.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein the step of communicating comprises the steps of:

receiving in the base station a carrier modulated with the coordinate data transmitted from the mobile communications unit;

demodulating the coordinate data; and

coupling the location coordinates to a readout device at the base station.

50. The method of claim 48, wherein the step of translating comprises the step of:

converting the coordinate data to alpha-numeric characters for output of the location coordinates as a text message.

51. The method of claim 48, wherein the step of translating comprises the step of:

converting the coordinate data to alpha-numeric characters for output of the location coordinates as a spoken message.

52. The method of claim 48, wherein the step of translating comprises the step of:

converting the coordinate data to location coordinates for output to be plotted on a map.

53. The method of claim 48, wherein the step of translating comprises the step of:

selecting a human readable form for translation of coordinate data into location coordinates from the group including alpha-numeric characters for output as a text message, alpha-numeric characters for output as a spoken message or location coordinates for output to be plotted on a map.