Vehicle locating and communicating method and apparatus
AssigneeHighwayMaster Communications, Inc.
InventorLarry C. Wortham
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and apparatus for locating and communicating with vehicles is provided, including at least one mobile cellular unit connected to at least one microprocessor and installed within a vehicle. The microprocessor interrogates the mobile cellular unit to obtain location information from an overhead message stream transmitted from cellular telephone transmitter sites. The location is displayed on a display located in the vehicle or the microprocessor periodically instructs the mobile cellular unit to initiate a call to a host controller and, upon receipt of transmitting instructions from the host controller, transmits the location information for display on a screen connected to the host controller.
Claims28
A system for communicating with a vehicle using a cellular telephone network, comprising:
- a position locating receiver on the vehicle operable to receive geographic location data from a position locating system, the geographic location data providing a vehicle location;
- a host controller remotely disposed from the vehicle and operable to receive the geographic location data transmitted from the vehicle, the host controller comprising a database containing a roamer number of a particular cellular telephone system in the cellular telephone network serving an area including the vehicle location, the host controller further comprising a communications device coupled to the cellular telephone network and operable to initiate a telephone call to the vehicle using the roamer number;
- and
- a cellular telephone on the vehicle and coupled to the cellular telephone network, the cellular telephone operable to receive the telephone call initiated at the host controller.
An apparatus for communicating with a vehicle equipped with a cellular telephone comprising:
- a first database operable to store a vehicle location received from the vehicle;
- a second database operable to store a plurality of roamer numbers associated with a plurality of cellular telephone systems, each cellular telephone system serving a predetermined area;
- a processor coupled to the first database and the second database, the processor operable to retrieve the vehicle location stored in the first database and to retrieve from the second database a roamer number of a cellular telephone system serving a predetermined area that includes the retrieved vehicle location;
- and
- a communications device coupled to the processor and operable to initiate a telephone call to the vehicle using the retrieved roamer number.
A method for communicating with a vehicle equipped with a cellular telephone comprising:
- receiving a vehicle location report from the vehicle at a remote site, the vehicle location report comprising a vehicle location;
- interrogating a database at the remote site to obtain a roamer number of a particular cellular telephone system serving an area including the vehicle location;
- and
- initiating a telephone call from the remote site to the vehicle using the roamer number.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.