Locating system and method
First Claim
1. A system for locating and tracking a mobile rover from a mobile controller said system being operable with a communication network for communication between them and with at least one location technology source for transmitting location related measurement data applicable to computation of the location of the controller and computation of the location of a rover said system comprising;
- a mobile controller having a receiver for receiving location measurement data from a location technology source and a communication module for receiving and sending communications via the communication network and a means for determining the heading of the controller;
a mobile rover having a receiver for receiving location measurement data from the location technology source and a communication module for receiving and sending communications via the communication network;
one or more specially programmed computer elements enabled to receive and process location related measurement data from signals received by the controller and the rover respectively from the location technology source, to determine the most common set of location measurement data sources to be used for further calculations and using said data to determine the relative spatial position of the rover relative to the controller and further using the means to determine the heading of the controller to determine the bearing of the rover relative to the position and heading of the controller and the controller having a display module enabled to display a bearing line to the rover from the controller.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A mobile controller unit has a radio positioning system and a two-way communication system and a rover unit also has a radio positioning system and a two-way radio communication system. The controller unit can query the rover unit to send its location data so that the rover unit can be located and if desired, found, such as in the case of a lost child or items. Relative position between the controller and the rover can be displayed on the controller along with an arrow showing where the rover is, as well as how fast it is moving, a track of its movement and other data.
The system can also operate in conjunction with a network system that has a PDE and an application server that perform some of the communications and calculation functions.
126 Citations
54 Claims
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1. A system for locating and tracking a mobile rover from a mobile controller said system being operable with a communication network for communication between them and with at least one location technology source for transmitting location related measurement data applicable to computation of the location of the controller and computation of the location of a rover said system comprising;
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a mobile controller having a receiver for receiving location measurement data from a location technology source and a communication module for receiving and sending communications via the communication network and a means for determining the heading of the controller; a mobile rover having a receiver for receiving location measurement data from the location technology source and a communication module for receiving and sending communications via the communication network; one or more specially programmed computer elements enabled to receive and process location related measurement data from signals received by the controller and the rover respectively from the location technology source, to determine the most common set of location measurement data sources to be used for further calculations and using said data to determine the relative spatial position of the rover relative to the controller and further using the means to determine the heading of the controller to determine the bearing of the rover relative to the position and heading of the controller and the controller having a display module enabled to display a bearing line to the rover from the controller. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33)
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26. A system for locating and tracking a mobile rover from a mobile controller said system being operable with a wireless communication network operating with an AGPS enabled system comprising;
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a mobile controller comprising; a wireless communication module enabled to communicate via the wireless communication network; a GPS module enabled to function in an AGPS mode to obtain AGPS assistance over the wireless communication network and to receive GPS location measurement data from GPS satellites; a means selected from one of (a) a compass, (a) use of GPS by the controller moving or both (a) and (b) to provide heading of the controller; a mobile rover comprising; a wireless communication module enabled to communicate with the wireless communication network; a GPS module enabled to function in an AGPS mode to obtain AGPS assistance over the wireless communication network and to receive GPS location measurement data from GPS satellites; means for selecting common GPS satellites from which both the controller and the rover are receiving location measurement data; means for calculating the relative spatial position of the rover relative to the controller using at least the common GPS satellites; means for making calculations to enable display of and to display on the controller a map showing the position of the rover or of both the rover and the controller; means to enable determination of and to display on the controller an indicator of bearing from the controller to the rover.
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34. A method for locating and tracking a mobile rover from a mobile controller the rover and the controller being operable with a communication network for communication between them and being operable with at least one location technology source for receiving and transmitting selected location related measurement data applicable to computation of the location of the controller and computation of the location of the rover comprising;
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intiating the procedure for locating and tracking the rover by a signal to the rover from the controller; commencing at the rover and the controller the reception of location related measurement data from a location technology source; sending from the rover via the communication network location related measurement data that will enable computation of its location, to an application server that is associated with the communication network and which is enabled to receive and process such data from many rovers and controllers; sending from the controller via the communication network location related measurement data that will enable computation of its location, to the application server; determining at the application server a set of most common sources of location measurement data from the rover and the controller to be used to determine the relative spatial location of the rover relative to the controller; using the most common set of location measurement data, calculating at a specially programmed computing element the relative spatial location information of the rover relative to the controller and the absolute position of the rover and the controller; determining by use of a means for determining the heading of the controller, in the controller, the heading of the controller; using in the controller the relative spatial location information of the rover relative to the controller to present through a display, bearing of the rover relative to the controller and if absolute positions have been calculated displaying absolute location on a map of the rover or both the rover and the controller and wherein the display of bearing or the map display are alternatively selectable. - View Dependent Claims (35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
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49. A system for locating and tracking a mobile rover from a mobile controller said system being operable with a communication network for communication between them and with at least one location technology source for transmitting location related measurement data applicable to computation of the location of the controller and computation of the location of a rover said system comprising;
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a mobile controller having a receiver for receiving location measurement data from a location technology source and a communication module for receiving and sending communications via the communication network and a means for determining the heading of the controller; a mobile rover having a receiver for receiving location measurement data from the location technology source and a communication module for receiving and sending communications via the communication network; one or more specially programmed computer elements enabled to receive and process location related measurement data from signals received by the controller and the rover respectively from the location technology source, to determine the most common set of location measurement data sources to be used for further calculations and using said data to determine the relative spatial position of the rover relative to the controller and further using the means to determine the heading of the controller to determine the bearing of the rover relative to the position and heading of the controller and the controller having a display module enabled to display a bearing line to the rover from the controller and wherein one of the specially programmed computer elements is an application server that determines the most common set of location measurement data sources of the controller and of the rover sent to it via the communication network and the relative spatial position of the rover relative to the controller are determined using the most common set and wherein the location measurement data of the most common set of location measurement data sources as determined by the application server is sent to a selected one of; a computer element associated with the network that calculates the relative spatial position of the rover relative to the controller and then sends the result via the communications network to the controller;
orto the controller via the communications network and a specially programmed computer element at the controller computes the relative spatial position of the rover relative to the controller. - View Dependent Claims (50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
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Specification