# US 10,504,373 B2 · Vehicular zone locating system > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,504,373 B2 - Document ID: US10504373B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/834,758 - Filed: 2017-12-07 - Published: 2018-07-05 - Granted: 2019-12-10 - Earliest claimed: 2016-12-29 - Assignees: Bosch Automotive Service Solutions Inc.; Robert Bosch GmbH - Applicants: Bosch Automotive Service Solutions, Inc.; Robert Bosch GmbH - Inventors: Vijai Thoppae; Sujith Nair; Jeremy Lynn Hargis; Sharath Kommera - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10504373B2 ## CPC - G08G 1/207: {with respect to certain areas, e.g. forbidden or allowed areas with possible alerting when inside or outside boundaries} - B60C 23/0435: {Vehicle body mounted circuits, e.g. transceiver or antenna fixed to central console, door, roof, mirror or fender} - B60C 23/0461: {externally triggered, e.g. by wireless request signal, magnet or manual switch} - B60C 23/0479: {Communicating with external units being not part of the vehicle, e.g. tools for diagnostic, mobile phones, electronic keys or service stations} - G07C 5/008: {communicating information to a remotely located station (transmission systems for measured values G08C)} - G08G 1/205: {Indicating the location of the monitored vehicles as destination, e.g. accidents, stolen, rental} - H04L 67/00: Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications (user-to-user messaging H04L51/00; network arrangements, protocols or services for supporting real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/00) - H04L 67/52: specially adapted for the location of the user terminal - H04L 67/12: specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks - H04M 1/72406: by software upgrading or downloading - H04W 64/00: Locating users or terminals {or network equipment} for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management - G08G: TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEMS (guiding railway traffic, ensuring the safety of railway traffic B61L; arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00; radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for traffic control G01S13/91, G01S15/88, G01S17/88; {radar or analogous systems, sonar systems, lidar systems specially adapted for anti-collision purposes G01S13/93, G01S15/93, G01S17/93}) - B60C: VEHICLE TYRES; TYRE INFLATION; TYRE CHANGING; CONNECTING VALVES TO INFLATABLE ELASTIC BODIES IN GENERAL; DEVICES OR ARRANGEMENTS RELATED TO TYRES - G07C: TIME OR ATTENDANCE REGISTERS; REGISTERING OR INDICATING THE WORKING OF MACHINES; GENERATING RANDOM NUMBERS; VOTING OR LOTTERY APPARATUS; ARRANGEMENTS, SYSTEMS OR APPARATUS FOR CHECKING NOT PROVIDED FOR ELSEWHERE - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) - H04M: TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION (circuits for controlling other apparatus via a telephone cable and not involving telephone switching apparatus G08) - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) ## Abstract A system for locating a vehicle utilizing a zone posts in known locations that when the vehicle comes within a proximity of the zone post receives an identification signal from the vehicle and sends that identification signal on to a central command center. The identification signal may be provided by a dongle or a tire pressure monitoring system tire pressure sensor. The central command center may be queried with vehicle identifying information, and the location of the zone post that last sent the identification signal is provided as an indication of the location of the vehicle. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A system for locating a vehicle, comprising: zone posts, each zone post configured to be spaced apart from adjacent zone posts in known locations and each zone post configured to, upon a vehicle passing into a proximity of the zone post, emit a Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) tire pressure sensor excitation signal to activate a TPMS sensor of the vehicle, and further configured to receive an identification signal emitted from the activated TPMS sensor in response to the excitation signal, and broadcast a vehicle identification signal based on the received TPMS sensor identification signal; and a central command center configured to communicate with the zone posts, the central command center further configured to receive the vehicle identification signal from at least one of the zone posts and provide the known location of the zone post as an indication of the location of the vehicle. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the central command center is configured to provide the indication of the location of the vehicle as the known location of the zone post that last in-time broadcasted the identification signal. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the excitation signal emitted from the zone post is substantially 125 Kilohertz. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the identification signal emitted from an activated TPMS sensor is substantially 315 or 433 Megahertz. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle identification signal emitted from the zone post is substantially 2.4 or 5 Gigahertz. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the vehicle identification signal is the TPMS sensor identification number. ### Claim 7 A system for locating a vehicle, comprising: a dongle configured to be plugged in to an OBDII port of a vehicle and emit a vehicle identification signal; zone posts configured to be spaced apart from adjacent zone posts in known locations and configured to communicate with a central command center, each zone post configured to receive the vehicle identification signal emitted from the dongle when it comes in proximity to the zone post, and further configured to send the vehicle identification signal to the central command center; and the central command center configured to receive the vehicle identification signal from at least one of the zone posts and provide a location of the zone post as an indication of the location of the vehicle. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The system of claim 7, wherein the central command center is configured to communicate with a hand held electronic device, the hand held electronic device configured to aid a user of the a hand held electronic device in locating a vehicle based on the location of the zone post that provided the last in time identification signal. ### Claim 9 (depends on 7) The system of claim 7, wherein the dongle connects with the vehicle to access vehicle identification information. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The system of claim 9, wherein the vehicle identification information includes the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) of the vehicle. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The system of claim 10, wherein the VIN contains make and model information of a vehicle, and the central command center is configured to, upon receipt of at least one make and model query from a user, display zone posts with vehicles having differing VIN numbers but fitting the at least one make and model query. ### Claim 12 (depends on 7) The system of claim 7, wherein the dongle is further configured to access trouble code information of the vehicle and relay the trouble code information on to the central command center. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The system of claim 12, wherein the central command center is configured to, upon receipt of at least one trouble code query from a user, display zone posts with vehicles having the at least one trouble code query. ### Claim 14 A system for locating a vehicle, comprising: a zone post configured to generate an excitation signal in response to detection of a vehicle entering a proximity oval around the zone post and to receive an identification signal from the vehicle in response to the excitation signal and, upon receipt of identification signal, send a notification signal indicating receipt of the identification signal, the notification signal including within data to identify the vehicle. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, further comprising: a dongle configured to be plugged in to an OBDII port of the vehicle, wherein the dongle sends the identification signal. ### Claim 16 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the identification signal is sent by a tire pressure monitoring sensor of the vehicle. ### Claim 17 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, further comprising: a downloadable application for hand held electronic device provided to a user, the downloadable application configured to, upon receipt of a data to identify a vehicle query, provide the location of the zone post that sent the notification signal with the data to identify the vehicle. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The system of claim 17, wherein the zone post is a number of zone posts spaced apart from adjacent zone posts in known locations. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The system of claim 18, further comprising: a central command center configured to receive the notification signals from the number of zone posts, and the central command center further configured to, upon receiving the notification signal, chronologically log data related to the known location of the zone post and the data to identify the vehicle. ### Claim 20 (depends on 14) The system of claim 14, wherein the proximity oval has a radial distance of 3 feet or less around the zone post.