Mobile object locator

• US 6,236,358 B1
• Filed: 07/28/1999
• Issued: 05/22/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/1999
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Pfizer Inc.
• Original Assignee: Jennifer Durst
• Inventors: Durst, Jennifer, McAlexander, Joseph C., Fowler, Eugene F.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarcza, Thomas H.
• Assistant Examiner(s): PHAN, DAO LINDA
• Application Number:
  US09/362,789
• Time in Patent Office: 664 Days
• Field of Search: 342/357.01, 342/357.06, 342/325.07, 342/357.09, 342/357.13, 342/457, 701/213
• US Class Current: 342/357.55
• 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 an animal carrying a miniature mobile communication unit, the mobile communication unit including a GPS receiver coupled with a paging transceiver, comprising the steps of:

providing a collar for attaching the mobile communication unit having at least a satellite antenna coupled thereto to the animal wherein the satellite antenna is disposed on the collar in a skyward orientation for reception of GPS signals;

accessing transmissions of a GPS system from the mobile communications unit at select intervals to obtain location coordinates of the mobile communication unit;

communicating the location coordinates from the mobile communication unit via a paging network to a base station; and

outputting the location coordinates in human readable form.

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

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

positioning a paging antenna coupled to the paging transceiver on the collar to maximize its radiation efficiency without unbalancing the collar with respect to the orientation of the satellite antenna.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of providing comprises the step of providing a mechanism for adapting the mobile communication unit to a mobile object.

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

activating the 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.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of activating comprises the step of:

receiving an activating instruction transmitted via a paging network signal.

6. The method of claim 4, 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.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of activating comprises the step of:

receiving the activating instruction relayed from the base station.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of activating comprises the step of:

receiving the activating instruction initiated from the base station and transmitted via the paging network.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of activating comprises the step of:

receiving the activating instruction transmitted by a monitoring service provider.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein the GPS receiver activated in the step of activating is operable to receive differential GPS signals.

11. The method of claim 4, 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.

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

retrieving the location coordinates from a memory in the mobile communication unit;

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

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

13. 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 the paging network;

demodulating the location coordinates;

translating the location coordinates to human readable form; and

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

14. 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.

15. The method of claim 14, 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.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of receiving occurs in the base station.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of receiving occurs in a paging center of the paging network capable of being accessed by the base station.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of translating comprises the step of:

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

19. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of translating comprises the step of:

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

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of translating comprises the step of:

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

21. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of translating comprises the step of:

selecting a human readable form for translation of 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.

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

coupling the location coordinates to a readout device.

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

outputting the location coordinates automatically upon receipt by the base station.

24. 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 coordinates of the mobile object to a user.

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

outputting an alarm corresponding to receipt of the location coordinates.

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

forwarding the location coordinates via the base station to another remote device.

27. The method of claim 22, wherein the step of coupling comprises the step of:

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

28. The method of claim 18, wherein the step of converting comprises the step of:

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

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

announcing the location coordinates on request as a spoken message.

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

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

31. The method of claim 28, wherein the step of converting comprises the step of:

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

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 1, wherein the step of communicating comprises the steps of:

retrieving the location coordinates from the memory in the mobile communication unit;

translating the location coordinates to 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.

34. 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.

35. The method of claim 33, wherein the step of translating comprises the step of:

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

36. The method of claim 33, wherein the step of translating comprises the step of:

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

37. The method of claim 33, wherein the step of translating comprises the step of:

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

38. The method of claim 33, wherein the step of translating comprises the step of:

selecting a human readable form for translation of 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.

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

retrieving the location coordinates 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 location coordinates.

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

receiving in the base station a carrier modulated with the location coordinates transmitted from the mobile communications unit;

demodulating the location coordinates;

translating the location coordinates to human readable form; and

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

41. The method of claim 39, 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.

42. The method of claim 40, wherein the step of receiving is performed by a receiver operable in a satellite communications system.

43. The method of claim 40, wherein the step of translating comprises the step of:

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

44. The method of claim 40, wherein the step of translating comprises the step of:

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

45. The method of claim 40, wherein the step of translating comprises the step of:

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

46. The method of claim 40, wherein the step of translating comprises the step of:

selecting a human readable form for translation of 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.

47. The method of claim 39, wherein the step of retrieving further comprises the step of:

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

48. The method of claim 47, wherein the step of communicating comprises the steps of:

receiving in the base station a carrier modulated with the location coordinates transmitted from the mobile communications unit;

demodulating the location coordinates; and

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

selecting a human readable form for translation of 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.

53. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of communicating the location coordinates comprises the step of:

transmitting the location coordinates via the wireless link responsive to receiving activation instructions via the wireless link.

54. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of associating other data comprises the step of:

retrieving the other data from the memory in the mobile communication unit; and

including the other data in a message with the location coordinates being communicated.

55. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of associating other data comprises the step of:

retrieving the data representing the condition of a battery from the memory in the mobile communication unit; and

including the data representing the condition of the battery in a message with the location coordinates being communicated.

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

communicating data representing the condition of a battery in the mobile communications unit via the wireless link to the base station.

57. The method of claim 56, wherein the step of communicating comprises the step of:

outputting an alarm byte corresponding to a low-battery condition.

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

communicating data representing the condition of signals received by the mobile communication unit with respect to a threshold via the wireless link to the base station.

59. The method of claim 58, wherein the step of communicating comprises the step of:

outputting an alarm byte corresponding to an out-of-range condition.