Targeted impending arrival notification of a wirelessly connected location device

• US 6,980,131 B1
• Filed: 10/24/2000
• Issued: 12/27/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Trimble Navigation Limited (Trimble Inc.)
• Original Assignee: @Road Incorporated (Trimble Inc.)
• Inventors: Taylor, Sean Dominic
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Hung T.
• Application Number:
  US09/696,722
• Time in Patent Office: 1,890 Days
• Field of Search: 340/994, 340/988, 340/905, 340/441, 340/444, 340/439, 340/990, 340/995.1, 340/995.17, 340/902
• US Class Current: 340/994
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/20 Monitoring the location of vehicles belonging to a group, e.g. fleet of vehicles, countable or determined number of vehicles

Abstract

A rover determines a destination and periodically checks the location of the rover against one or more active alert thresholds. One alert threshold is the boundary of an alert area surrounding a destination. The rover sends an alert to a service center alerts a designated party of an impending arrival of the rover at the destination when the rover is within an alert area surrounding the destination. The service center can also alert a designated party when the rover leaves an alert area surrounding a location. The alerts can be communicated via an automated telephone message, a pager message, an e-mail message, or any other means of communication. The alerts can be used for deliveries by directing an alert to a customer expecting a delivery or to a site expecting a vehicle for loading or unloading. In a private context, the alerts can automatically activate systems such as a home appliances or systems in anticipation of a resident'"'"'s arrival.

Claims

1. An alert generating method, comprising:

providing a server on a wide area network accessible by a user to specify conditions for an alert and an action to be carried out when the conditions for the alert are met, the conditions referencing a position of a mobile unit;

providing to the mobile unit over a wireless network service connection the conditions for the alert, the wireless network service connection linking the mobile unit and a service center over the wide area network;

monitoring in the mobile unit the mobile unit'"'"'s position;

providing the service center a signal indicating that the conditions for the alert are satisfied; and

alerting a designated location by carrying out the specified action from the service center upon receiving the signal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal from the mobile unit is sent via the wireless network service connection.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the specified action comprises telephoning the designated location.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the specified action comprises sending e-mail to the designated location.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein providing the conditions for the alert comprises downloading information from the service center to the mobile unit.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising downloading a destination list, including information that identifies the conditions for the alert, to the mobile unit from a web site corresponding to the service center.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the conditions identify an area around a destination for the mobile unit.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the conditions indicate that the alert should be generated when the mobile unit enters the area around the destination.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the conditions indicate that the alert should be generated when the mobile unit leaves the area around the destination.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the area around the destination is provided to the mobile unit as a location and a threshold radius that respectively correspond to a center and a radius of the area surrounding the destination.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting a destination for the mobile unit, wherein the conditions for the alert require that the selected destination be a destination that is identified in the conditions.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein an operator of the mobile unit selects the selected destination when the mobile unit is proceeding directly to the selected destination.

13. A delivery method comprising:

creating a list of destinations for deliveries at a service center, the list including a threshold distance for one or more destinations for which an alert should be generated;

providing a mechanism accessible over a wide area network for users related to the destinations to specify actions to be carried out when the alert is generated;

downloading a portion of the list of destinations to a mobile unit installed in a delivery vehicle, the downloading being effectuated over a wireless network connection which links the mobile unit to the service center over a wide area network;

selecting a destination from the list as a next destination for a delivery vehicle;

monitoring distance between the delivery vehicle and the selected destination;

generating the alert from the delivery vehicle when the distance is less than a threshold distance;

receiving the alert at the service center; and

carrying out the specified action from the service center to the selected destination in response to the alert received at the service center.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein comprises sending a message from the delivery vehicle to the service center, the message including a tag identifying the destination.

15. A mobile unit comprising:

a location system;

a wireless device linking the mobile unit with a service center over a wireless network connection of a wide area network; and

a control circuit including a user interface, wherein (1) the control circuit receives a destination list from the service center over the wireless connection, (2) the user interface allows a user to edit the destination list received and to select a current destination from the destination list, and (3) the control circuit sends a message to inform the service center of the current destination, automatically activates the location system to determine a current location of the mobile unit, determines whether the mobile unit has crossed a threshold relating to the current destination, and activates the wireless device to send an alert signal if the mobile unit has crossed the threshold.

16. The mobile unit of claim 15, wherein the location system is a GPS receiver.

17. The mobile unit of claim 15, wherein the wireless device is a wireless modem.

18. The mobile unit of claim 15, wherein the wireless device is an attached data-capable cellular telephone.

19. The mobile unit of claim 15, wherein the control circuit determines whether the mobile unit has crossed the threshold by determining whether the current location of the mobile unit is within an alert area.

20. The mobile unit of claim 19, wherein the control circuit calculates a distance between the current location and a central point in the alert area and determines whether the distance is less than a threshold distance associated with the alert area.

21. A system comprising:

a data connection to a wide area network;

an alerting device; and

a service center connected to the data connection to enable receipt of messages from a mobile unit over a wireless network connection and connected to the alerting device to enable the service center to activate the alerting device and send alerts, the service center maintaining contact information for the mobile unit, wherein the service center comprises a server that permits access to the service center over the wide area network for setting the designated location to which the alerting device sends the alert and the conditions for the alert; and

wherein

in response to a signal from the mobile unit, the service center activates the alerting device to send an alert to a designated location identified in the contact information.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the wide area network includes the internet, and wherein the server is accessed by a web browser.