System and method for communicating between mobile units

• US 7,092,723 B2
• Filed: 10/06/2003
• Issued: 08/15/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Fleet Connect Solutions LLC (Empire IP LLC)
• Original Assignee: Richard Himmelstein
• Inventors: Himmelstein, Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Feild, Joseph
• Assistant Examiner(s): Afshar, Kamran
• Application Number:
  US10/679,784
• Publication Number:
  US 20040067752A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,044 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561-4566, 455/12.1, 455/78, 455 73- 74, 455/415, 455/404.2, 455/569.1, 455/569.2, 340/426.19, 340/905, 340/907, 342/357.06, 342/352, 342/426.19, 342/438, 375/336, 375/340
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0265 Vehicular advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/00 Finance; Insurance; Tax strategies; Processing of corporate or income taxes
• CPC Class Codes: G07B 15/063 using wireless information transmission between the vehicle and a fixed station identification of vehicles G08G
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 5/008 communicating information to a remotely located station transmission systems for measured values G08C
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3805 with built-in auxiliary receivers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72412 using two-way short-range wireless interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/03 Protecting confidentiality, e.g. by encryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/46 for vehicle-to-vehicle communication [V2V]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 : Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 : Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 : adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A vehicle and system for providing a communication link among a plurality of mobile vehicles comprises a broadband RF transceiver with antenna, a GPS receiver, an audio-visual interface, and a microprocessor with associated memory, whereby said microprocessor generates a communication by constructing data packets from a plurality of data fields, including sender information and receiver information.

Claims

1. A vehicle configured to transmit and receive voice or data communications having a plurality of data packets, the vehicle comprising:

a GPS receiver;

a remote unit, including;

a memory for storing a unique identifier of the vehicle;

an input for receiving a position signal from the GPS receiver, the position signal indicating the position of the vehicle;

a transceiver for receiving a wireless communication from a sending remote unit, the received wireless communication including the unique identifier, said transceiver downconverting the received wireless communication from RF to a received baseband communication;

a microprocessor for receiving the position signal and the received baseband communication;

said microprocessor for generating a transmit baseband communication including data packets with data fields, the data fields including the unique identifier of the sending remote unit, information derived from the position signal, and an address of a desired remote unit; and

said transceiver for upconverting the transmit baseband communication to RF for transmission as a transmit wireless communication to the desired remote unit.

2. The vehicle in claim 1 wherein the received wireless communication includes the unique identifier of the receiving remote unit, and said microprocessor processes only data packets having the unique identifier pertaining to its associated remote unit.

3. The vehicle in claim 1 wherein the unique identifier of the sending remote unit includes a plurality of data subfields used for separate identification of multiple operators of a single vehicle.

4. The vehicle in claim 1 wherein said remote unit further includes means for encrypted point-to-point or point-to-multipoint communication between remote users.

5. The vehicle in claim 1 wherein the received wireless communication includes fields for speed, acceleration, direction, origin and destination.

6. The vehicle in claim 1 wherein the transmit baseband communication further includes a transmission administration data field comprising at least one of the following subfields:

security level information for access control;

priority information based on an urgency level of the communication;

origin of the communication either in vehicle or out of vehicle;

broadcast type of communication based on a number of users intended to receive the communication ranging from point-to-point to point-to-multipoint, voice or data type communication designation; and

communication length based on whether the communication is contained in a single data packet or part of a multi-packet communication.

7. The vehicle in claim 1 wherein said remote unit is configured to receive communications from emergency and law enforcement officials.

8. The vehicle in claim 1 wherein said remote unit is configured to receive communications from non-subscribers.

9. The vehicle in claim 1 wherein said remote unit further includes interface means with the internet.

10. The vehicle in claim 1 wherein said microprocessor performs calculations based on the position signal, including speed, acceleration and direction of vehicle motion.

11. The vehicle in claim 1 wherein data stored in said memory further includes a vehicle activity log comprising data fields for time and date of communication, vehicle position, speed, acceleration/deceleration and direction.

12. The vehicle in claim 1 wherein said memory stores a log of vehicle communications that are continuously compiled by said microprocessor, comprising at least one of the following data fields:

time of communication, date of communication, indication of incoming or outgoing communication, address or addresses of a communicating entity, priority of communication, indication of whether the communication is broadcast or point-to-point;

indication of whether the communicating entity is within the vehicle or outside the vehicle;

security level of the communicating entity;

indication of whether the communication is data or voice;

indication of whether the communication is information or control; and

actual contents of the communication.

13. The vehicle in claim 12 wherein said log is used to store addresses of remote units categorized as unwanted incoming communications to be screened out by said microprocessor.

14. The vehicle in claim 1 further comprising an electro-mechanical interface to control electro mechanical systems of the vehicle.

15. The vehicle in claim 14 wherein said control is limited to authorized operators.

16. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein said memory stores a user log of information pertaining to the user and the user'"'"'s vehicle comprising at least one of the following fields:

vehicle registration number;

vehicle insurance company and policy number;

vehicle make, model and model year;

vehicle color;

vehicle EZpass number;

user garage parking account number;

user garage door access code;

user driving record; and

user credit card information.

17. The vehicle in claim 1 further comprising an audio-visual interface for programming the microprocessor, downloading user specified information into said memory for control of the vehicle, viewing output display, or monitoring audio output.

18. The vehicle of claim 1 wherein said remote unit further includes determining means for calculating the available time duration for communication with other remote units based on a calculated speed and direction of vehicles with respect to one another.

19. A system for transmitting voice or data communications between a plurality of remote units, the system having an input including the voice or data communications and user input, each remote unit comprising:

a unique identifier;

a transceiver configured to receive data by a wireless communication and to down-convert the received data from radio frequency (RF) to baseband, and to up-convert baseband data to RF for transmission as a wireless communication;

a global positioning system receiver configured to receive a position signal;

a microprocessor configured to receive the position signal and the received communication, and to generate the baseband communication by constructing at least one data packet from a plurality of data fields, at least one of the data fields including information derived from the position signal, the unique identifier of a sending remote unit, and the unique identifier of a receiving remote unit; and

a memory configured to store the received data, the user input including information unique to the user, and said unique identifier.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein one of the data fields includes vehicle mobility parameters selected from the group consisting of speed, direction, and acceleration.