Method and apparatus for locating mobile units tracking another or within a prescribed geographic boundary

• US 6,441,752 B1
• Filed: 12/30/2000
• Issued: 08/27/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: ENOVSYS LLC
• Original Assignee: Mundi Fomukong
• Inventors: Fomukong, Mundi
• Primary Examiner(s): TRIEU, VAN THANH
• Application Number:
  US09/753,178
• Time in Patent Office: 605 Days
• Field of Search: 340/988, 340/989, 340/993, 340/573.1, 340/573.3, 340/573.4, 340/573.7, 340/7.27, 340/7.28, 340/992, 342/357.07, 342/465, 342/357.1, 455/429, 455/440, 455/441
• US Class Current: 340/988
• 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: B60R 25/33 of global position, e.g. by providing GPS coordinates
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 2556/50 of positioning data, e.g. GPS [Global Positioning System] data
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/207 with respect to certain areas, e.g. forbidden or allowed areas with possible alerting when inside or outside boundaries

Abstract

A mobile location reporting communication system consists of a network of communication sources and targets managed by one or more control stations. In the system, a communication source may request for the location of a mobile communication target from the network. The target conveys its location to the network and that information is provided to the source. In the invention a mobile communication source request for the location of mobile communication targets that are present in a prescribed geographic boundary. The network provides to the source only remote targets that are present in the prescribed boundary. Also in the invention, a concealed or clandestine mobile portable target, close to the mobile portable source, may be tracking the source. The source may invoke a method that may result in the disclosure of mobile targets that have traveled a pre-specified distance with the source while maintaining proximity to the source.

Claims

1. A method for providing the location of a portable mobile remote unit in a geographic region of a wireless network to a wireless consumer requesting the location of portable mobile remote units that are maintaining close proximity to the wireless consumer in the geographic region comprising:

i) obtaining the location of the wireless consumer at intervals over a period of time;

ii) requesting at each interval, at the network, that all mobile remote units within close proximity of the wireless consumer disclose their location to the network;

iii) maintaining a list of mobile remote units that provided their location at each interval after the request of (ii);

iv) from the list of (iii), forwarding the location of at least a mobile remote unit to the mobile consumer upon determination that the remote unit maintained close proximity to the mobile consumer over the period of time of (i).

2. A technique according to claim 1, utilized to determine if a mobile remote unit is within a prescribed geographic boundary or within close proximity of a wireless consumer comprising:

obtaining radii information of the geographic boundary from the network;

obtaining geographic information describing the origin of the geographic boundary;

calculating the angle of inclination of the remote unit to the geographic boundary origin;

calculating from the angle of inclination the distance between the remote unit and the geographic boundary origin;

comparing the radii of the geographic boundary to the calculated distance to establish if the remote unit lies in the geographic boundary.

3. A technique employed by the method according to claim 1 to determine if a remote unit is within a specified geographic boundary or close proximity to a wireless consumer comprising:

obtaining from the network geographic information describing the geographic boundary;

estimating at the remote unit if the current location of the remote unit is within the geographic boundary obtained at the network.

4. A method according to claim 1 utilized to further limit the provision of remote unit location to the network comprising:

obtaining at the network, exclusion region information within which the remote unit should not provide its location the network;

determining that the remote unit is not in the exclusion region before providing the location of the remote unit to the network.

5. A technique utilized in the method according to claim 1, to terminate requesting at each interval, for the location of mobile remote units within close proximity of the wireless consumer comprising;

i) keeping track of the time since the first request for tracking units within proximity of the wireless consumer was enacted by the system;

ii) validating that the elapsed time at each interval when a request is to be made does not exceed the total time set for establishing tracking in the system;

iii) requesting that all mobile remote units within close proximity of the wireless consumer divulge their location if the result of the validation of (ii) is true.

6. A method for providing the location of portable remote units that exist within a prescribed geographic boundary to a wireless consumer requesting that information comprising:

i) receiving at the network a wider than normal prescribed geographic boundary to query for mobile remote units from the wireless consumer;

ii) splitting the geographic boundary of (i) into sub geographic regions to constitute the prescribed geographic boundary;

iii) requesting in the sub geographic region(s), the location of remote units that are present in each sub region;

iv) verifying after each request of (iii) in a sub region whether at least a portable remote unit disclosed a global location in the region;

v) maintaining a list of all remote units that disclosed their location after each request from the verification of step (iv);

vi) providing to the network and from the list of (v) the location of at least a remote unit that revealed its location in the sub region.

7. A technique according to claim 6, utilized to terminate a request for the location information of remote units in the prescribed geographic boundary comprising:

checking to establish that a request for remote unit location information was undertaken in all re-defined or sub regions of the prescribed boundary or a portable remote unit in a defined or sub region responded with location information.

8. A method utilized to provide to a source of request, the location of a mobile remote units that exist in a geographic region from the list according to claim 6 comprising:

(i) estimating and obtaining from the list, the location mobile remote units that are closer to the source of request;

(ii) providing the information obtained in (i) to the source of request before releasing the location of other mobile remote units that are further from the source of request.

9. A method for determining that a first portable remote unit associated with a network is being tracked by at least a second portable remote unit over a tracking period comprising;

obtaining the location of the first portable remote unit or tracked unit;

obtaining the location of the at least a second communication unit or tracking unit that is within proximity or a pre-specified radius of the tracked unit;

verifying whether the tracking and tracked unit(s) have traveled a minimum pre-specified distance over the tracking period;

forwarding the result of the verification to the network at the end of the tracking period.

10. The verification technique employed in the method of claim 9 comprising:

retaining a tracking list of all tracking units that are within a pre-specified radius or region of the tracked unit at the first tracking interval;

eliminating or removing at subsequent tracking intervals, all tracking units in the tracking list that do not report their location during a subsequent tracking interval;

validating at the end of the tracking period that at least a tracking unit exist in the tracking list and a minimum distance was traveled by the tracked unit.

11. Another verification technique employed in the method of claim 9 comprising:

maintaining a list of all tracking units that are maintaining a close distance to the tracked unit over the period of time;

searching the tracking list at the end of the tracking period to obtain racking units that traveled a minimum pre-specified distance with the tracked unit.

12. A communication system comprising:

a network of communication units;

at least a first communication unit and at least a second communication unit able to provide their location information to the network;

the system able to determine and report that the at least second communication unit maintained close proximity to the at least first communication unit over a period of time.

13. The system of claim 12, the at least first communication unit able to invoke a tracking mode at the at least first communication unit in order to determine if a clandestine unit is tracking it.

14. A communication system comprising:

a portable mobile remote unit;

a network of communication units;

means to obtain the location of the portable mobile remote unit;

means to obtain geographic boundary information in order to disclose a global location at the network;

means to provide the location of the portable mobile remote unit to the network upon determination that the portable mobile remote unit is within the geographic boundary obtained at the network;

means to determine and report to the system upon request that, another mobile remote unit of the network has tracked the portable mobile remote over a period of time.

15. The portable mobile remote according to claim 14, having means to further determine if location disclosure for the remote unit is prohibited at a specific geographic boundary before sending its location to the network.

16. The portable remote unit of claim 15 having means to establish its velocity at the network and having means to further determine that, its velocity is within the network'"'"'s prescribed velocity before divulging its location to the network.

17. A method for providing the location of portable remote units that exist within a prescribed geographic boundary to a wireless network comprising:

i) providing geographic boundary information to mobile remote units in a geographic region to disclose their location;

ii) further providing exclusion region information associated with said geographic boundary of (i) to mobile remote units in the geographic region;

iii) determining that a mobile remote unit is in the geographic boundary of (i) and not in the exclusion region of (ii) before providing the location of the mobile remote unit to the network.

18. A method for providing the location of a portable remote unit that exist within a prescribed geographic boundary to a wireless network comprising:

i) providing to remote units in the geographic boundary velocity information required in order to divulge location information;

ii) estimating at the remote unit or network, the velocity at which the remote unit is moving;

iii) validating that the estimated velocity of the remote unit meets the velocity requirement provided by the network (i), if yes, forwarding the location of the remote unit to the network.