Communications: electrical – External condition vehicle-mounted indicator or alarm
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-27
2002-03-26
Hofsass, Jeffery (Department: 2632)
Communications: electrical
External condition vehicle-mounted indicator or alarm
C340S902000, C340S903000, C340S988000, C340S989000, C342S457000, C701S207000, C701S208000, C701S202000, C701S300000, C455S445000, C455S456500, C455S459000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06362748
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a system for communicating among vehicles and a communications system control center and, in particular, to a communications system among vehicles that enables the vehicles to communicate with each other and can connect with a control center.
2. Description of Related Art
The Global Positioning System (GPS) used in high-class sedans is a well-known technology. It uses a satellite reception module to simultaneously receive and decode signals sent to Earth from six satellites to generate a set of coordinates representing the position of the GPS receiver in the vehicle. These coordinates can be sent to a service center through a communication channel (such as a mobile phone network). Once the service center receives the coordinates, it can provide relevant traffic news, routes or other messages depending on the position of the vehicle and requirements of the user.
In spite of the fact that manufacturers keep emphasizing the superior capabilities of the GPS, actual use and implementation of GPS equipment is not as good as expected. The primary reason is that the GPS available to commercial customers does not have the precision of the system for military purposes. Therefore, the decoded coordinates converted from the satellite signals and received by the GPS reception module on the vehicle are not absolutely correct. The coordinates sent to the service center are thus incorrect. If the original coordinates sent from the vehicle are already incorrect for the reference of providing information from the service center, the vehicle owner can hardly obtain accurate reference messages. This is one of the drawbacks in the existing GPS used in private or commercial vehicles.
Furthermore, existing vehicle communication systems are used for the connection and signal transmission between a vehicle and the service center. With existing vehicle communication systems, there is no effective communications among vehicles. For example, a driver may notice a situation such as oil leakage or a flat tire on a vehicle whose owner has not realized the problem. Currently, it is extremely hard to notify the driver of another car of the situation while driving, even if one wants to.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In view of the foregoing, though the existing vehicle communication system possesses highly technological GPS, the actual effectiveness is not as good as it could be expected, and it does not support the communications among vehicles. Therefore, it is highly desirable to find an effective solution to the current problem.
It is thus a primary objective of the invention to provide a system for communicating among vehicles that enables moving vehicles to communicate with each other and can send accurate coordinates to a control center.
To achieve the foregoing objective, the technique uses a communication reception unit on a vehicle so that each vehicle having the unit can communicate with other vehicles having the unit and can establish connection with the control center. The communication reception unit comprises a processing unit, a signal reception unit and a mobile phone unit. The processing unit has multiple built-in passcodes that associate with different license plate numbers. The signal reception unit connects to the input terminal of the processing unit to receive more than two types of coordinate reference signals. The signal reception unit converts the coordinate reference signals to coordinates representing the position of the vehicle and sends the coordinates to the processing unit. The mobile phone unit connects to the processing unit to establish connectivity with the control center and other vehicles with the same communication devices. The converted coordinates are more accurate than the ones using the conventional GPS satellite signals since the signal reception unit receives at least two sets of coordinate reference signals the vehicle owner only needs to key in the license plate number of another vehicle equipped with the same communication devices into the processing unit and then a communication passcode will be generated to establish communication with the other party through the mobile phone unit. The built-in passcode in the processing unit can be the number of the mobile phone in the communications reception unit.
The processing unit comprises a microprocessor, means for communicating the microprocessor to the mobile phone unit by wires and means for communicating the microprocessor to the mobile phone unit by radio. The microprocessor communicates with the signal reception unit through an appropriate interface. The means of wire communication provides a wire connection between the microprocessor and the mobile phone unit. The means of wireless communication establishes a wireless connection between the processing unit and the mobile phone unit. The means of wire/wireless communication is achieved through a multitask processor and a microprocessor. The means of wireless communication can be a Bluetooth module. The means of wireless communication can be an infrared module.
The signal reception unit comprises a satellite signal reception module, a wireless signal reception module, a coordinate signal conversion module and a broadcasting module. The satellite signal reception module receives the satellite signals from the GPS. The wireless signal reception module receives the radio signals emitted from the RDS (Radio Data System). The coordinate signal conversion module converts the satellite signals and radio signals into a coordinate signal. The broadcasting module connects to the satellite/radio signal reception modules. The coordinate signal conversion module and broadcasting module connect to the satellite/radio signal reception modules through a multitask processor, and the coordinate signal conversion module and broadcasting module further connect to the processing unit through an appropriate interface.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 5515419 (1996-05-01), Sheffer
patent: 5884221 (1999-03-01), Wortham
patent: 6009330 (1999-12-01), Kennedy, III et al.
patent: 6052565 (2000-04-01), Ishikura et al.
patent: 6094618 (2000-07-01), Harada
Hofsass Jeffery
Lite Vision Corporation
Nguyen Tai T.
Thorp Reed & Armstrong LLP
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