WIRELESS VEHICLE TRACKING

• US 20110230165A1
• Filed: 03/19/2010
• Published: 09/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Ford Global Technologies, LLC (Ford Motor Company)
• Inventors: Wiemeersch, John Robert Van, Kleve, Robert Bruce
• Granted Patent: US 10,075,806 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/411
• CPC Class Codes: B60R 25/102 a signal being sent to a remote location, e.g. a radio signal being transmitted to a police station, a security company or the owner
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/205 Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 60/06 De-registration or detaching
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A vehicle tracking system includes a remote portable wireless device. The system also includes a wireless transceiving device included in each of a plurality of vehicles, the wireless transceiving device in communication with a GPS device. The system further includes a server, capable of communicating with both the remote portable wireless device and each wireless transceiving device. The at least one server may receive a plurality of vehicle selections from the remote portable wireless device. The server may also determine a vehicle that corresponds to each of the plurality of selections, including a cellular phone number for each determined vehicle. The server may further transmit tracking instructions to each determined vehicle and receive GPS coordinates from each vehicle. The server may compare the received coordinates from each vehicle and report a deviance beyond a predetermined threshold to the remote portable wireless device.

Claims

1. A method of tracking a plurality of vehicles, comprising:

selecting each of a plurality of vehicles for tracking;

transmitting information including at least a selection designation to an intermediary server;

correlating the selection designation of each vehicle with a corresponding vehicle, including identifying a cellular phone number associated with each vehicle;

communicating with each vehicle over a cellular network using the identified corresponding cellular phone for communication with each vehicle;

transmitting a tracking request to each vehicle;

receiving a coordinate set from a cellular transmitter included in each vehicle, at intervals;

comparing the plurality of coordinate sets; and

sending a message to a remote device if there is a deviance beyond a predetermined threshold between any of the plurality of coordinate sets.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the intervals are random.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the intervals are predetermined.

4. The method of claim 1, further including, authenticating the tracking request for each vehicle.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the authenticating comprises receiving a PIN embedded in a received packet and comparing the PIN to a PIN associated with a selected vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprises setting a geo-fence, the geo-fence including a plurality of coordinates defining an interior area;

and

wherein the sending a message further includes sending a message if a received coordinate set is outside the defined interior area.

7. A computer readable storage medium storing a plurality of instructions executable by a microprocessor, wherein execution of the instructions by the microprocessor causes the microprocessor to perform the steps comprising:

receiving a plurality of selection designations of vehicles;

correlating the selection designation of each vehicle with a corresponding vehicle, including identifying a cellular phone number associated with each vehicle;

communicating with each vehicle over a cellular network using the identified corresponding cellular phone for communication with each vehicle;

transmitting a tracking request to each vehicle;

receiving a coordinate set from a cellular transmitter included in each vehicle, at intervals;

comparing the plurality of coordinate sets; and

sending a message to a remote device if there is a deviance beyond a predetermined threshold between any of the plurality of coordinate sets.

8. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the intervals are random.

9. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the intervals are predetermined.

10. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the microprocessor further performs the step of authenticating the tracking request for each vehicle.

11. The computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the authenticating comprises receiving a PIN embedded in a received packet and comparing the PIN to a PIN associated with a selected vehicle.

12. The computer readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the microprocessor further performs the steps of:

setting a geo-fence, the geo-fence including a plurality of coordinates defining an interior area; and

wherein the sending a message further includes sending a message if a received coordinate set is outside the defined interior area.

13. A system comprising:

a portable wireless device;

at least two vehicle-based transceiving devices in different vehicles;

a server, capable of cellular device communication, wherein the server is further operable to;

receive multiple vehicle selections from the wireless device;

cellularly transmit, through the server, tracking instructions to each selected vehicle;

receive GPS coordinates from each vehicle;

compare the received coordinates; and

report an event if a deviance between coordinates from different vehicles passes beyond a threshold.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the at least one remote portable wireless device is a cellular phone.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the at least one wireless transceiving device includes a cellular phone antenna.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the wireless transceiving device communicates with the GPS device through a vehicle system bus.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the server receives the GPS coordinates at predetermined intervals.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the server is further operable to authenticate a packet transmitted by the remote portable wireless device to determine if the remote portable wireless device is permitted to track a selected vehicle.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the authentication consists at least in part of receiving a PIN entered into the remote portable wireless device.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the remote portable wireless device is operable to transmit a PIN, once the PIN has been entered, whenever the PIN is needed, until the remote portable wireless device has been powered down.