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Description  |
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to object locating systems and,
more specifically, to systems for locating vehicles and other mobile
objects from a central location utilizing global positioning signals.
2. Description of the Art
Global positioning systems (GPS) are used to obtain position information of
an object anywhere in the world. A GPS receiver receives data signals from
multiple GPS or GLONASS satellites and triangulates the data signals to
obtain the measured position or location of the receiver. Such GPS
receivers generate output signals, typically containing the longitude and
latitude of the particular GPS receiver antenna.
GPS receivers have been employed in vehicle navigation or locating systems.
Typically, a conventional GPS receiver is mounted as a mobile unit in a
vehicle. Each mobile unit also includes a wireless transmitter which is
capable of transmitting the GPS data from a particular mobile unit GPS
receiver to a base station via wireless and/or land line communication
networks.
The base station will include signal receiving equipment to receive and
decode the particular mobile unit ID as well as the reported longitude and
latitude of the mobile unit at specific time intervals, such as every few
seconds, every minute, etc.
The base station also contains a map database in which maps of a particular
geographic region are digitally stored. Landmarks, buildings and other
points of interest within the particular geographic region may be also
coded with specific latitude and longitude.
It is also known to connect the base station via a communications network,
such as the Internet, with a plurality of monitoring units, such as a
police dispatcher, ambulance dispatcher, delivery truck dispatcher, etc.,
to enable the operators of the monitoring units to request location
information of the vehicles under their control, such as police cars,
ambulances, fire trucks, delivery trucks, busses, etc. The base station,
in response to a vehicle location request or on a periodic basis, will
transmit a map which contains embedded vehicle location markers to the
requesting monitoring unit. The periodic transmission of such data enables
the operators to maintain a constant visual awareness, through the
monitoring units, of the location of all of the vehicles under their
control.
However, considerable data storage is required to store each map having
embedded vehicle location markers for transmission to a plurality of
monitoring units. This results in relatively large, complex and expensive
vehicle locating systems which require a significant investment in terms
of time, money and people in order to implement and operate.
Further, the large amount of data required to transmit both map and vehicle
location information results in infrequent transmission of the data and,
thus, a relatively static vehicle location display. Although the location
and movement of a vehicle containing a mobile receiver and transmitter can
be monitored by previously devised GPS based vehicle locating systems,
only vehicle location is typically available from such systems. Other
information which could be of great importance to the central monitoring
operator could include the current velocity of the vehicle, a historic
record of the path of movement of the vehicle, the velocity of the vehicle
throughout such path of movement, etc.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a vehicle locating system which
addresses the deficiencies found in previously devised GPS based vehicle
locating systems. It would also be desirable to provide a GPS based
vehicle locating system which provides multiple bits of information
concerning each monitored vehicle at a low cost in terms of use, system
equipment, installation, etc. It would also be desirable to provide a GPS
based vehicle locating system which has the ability to separately monitor
multiple groups of vehicles from different monitoring stations. It would
also be desirable to provide a GPS based vehicle locating system which can
make use of readily available GPS receiver and transmitter equipment,
monitoring terminal equipment, GPS system improvements, and different
wireless and land line networks without significant modification to the
vehicle locating system.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is an automatic mobile object locator apparatus and
method capable of locating the geographic position of mobile objects and
displaying the geographic position of such objects on a display at a user
terminal.
In one aspect of the invention, the mobile object locator apparatus
includes a datacenter, a mobile object including a receiver for receiving
global positioning system signals from a global positioning system and
calculating the position of the mobile object, a transmitter in
communication with the mobile object for transmitting the position
information of the mobile object to a network, including a wireless
communication portion, for receiving the position information from the
transmitter and for transmitting the position information to the
datacenter. The datacenter stores the position information in a user
specific mobile object location database for all mobile objects of one
user. Map data for at least one geographic region is stored in a map
database. A data network couples the datacenter and user terminal
equipment in data communication to enable access to the mobile object
location database and the map database by the user terminal equipment to
selectively obtain the position information from the mobile object
location database and the map data from the map database. The position
information and map data are transmitted separately through the data
network in response to a user request.
Preferably, the data network is the Internet.
In another aspect of the invention, the position information from the
mobile object is stored by the datacenter in the mobile object location
database at successive time intervals. The datacenter is capable of
accessing the stored position information and calculating and transmitting
a data description of a historic path of movement of the mobile object
over a predetermined time interval, optionally along with the speed of
movement of the mobile object at selected locations along such path of
movement.
In another aspect of the invention, a method of automatically locating a
mobile object comprises the steps of:
mounting a receiver on a mobile object for receiving global positioning
system signals from a global positioning system;
calculating the position of the mobile object from the global positioning
system signals;
providing a wireless transmitter in data communication with the receiver
for transmitting the position information of the mobile object;
communicating the position information to a datacenter;
storing the position information in a user specific mobile object location
database;
storing map data of at least one geographic area in a map database;
providing data communication between the datacenter and at least one remote
user terminal;
providing the user terminal with a selection of one of the map data and the
position information and transmitting the user terminal selection to the
datacenter; and
transmitting the selected one of the map data and the position information
from the datacenter to the user terminal.
The mobile object locator apparatus and method of the present invention
provide significant advantages and improvements over previously devised
vehicle locating systems. By storing position information from each
vehicle containing a mobile object in a specific customer database for all
like vehicles associated with a particular customer, the mobile object
locator apparatus of the present invention is capable of monitoring
different groups of vehicles and maintaining the position information for
such vehicles separate from position information for other customer's
vehicles.
The mobile object locator apparatus and method of the present invention, by
transmitting map data and mobile object position information separately
from the central station to the user terminal equipment, provides more
efficient data communication with the user terminal equipment since
updated mobile object position information or different maps may be
transmitted independent of each other through the data communication
network to the user terminal equipment.
The storage of the mobile object position information at time intervals in
a database also enables the present apparatus and method to provide a
history of a particular vehicle's path of movement and speed.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The various features, advantages and other uses of the present invention
will become more apparent by referring to the following detailed
description of the drawing in which:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an automatic mobile object locator apparatus
according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a pictorial representation of the mobile equipment data
communication arrangement according to the present invention;
FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the construction and data flow of the
mobile equipment;
FIG. 4 is a block diagram of the sequence of operation of the mobile
equipment;
FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the major components of the datacenter
according to the present invention;
FIG. 6 is a pictorial representation of the database construction of the
datacenter shown in FIG. 5;
FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing the interaction of the vehicle database
and map server in the datacenter shown in FIGS. 5 and 6;
FIG. 8 is a block diagram of the data flow sequence of the datacenter in
accessing vehicle position information;
FIG. 9 is a block diagram depicting the information flow in the datacenter
for a map request;
FIG. 10 is a pictorial representation of a map display with marked vehicle
locations generated by the apparatus of the present invention;
FIG. 11 is a pictorial representation of a drop down system menu generated
by the apparatus of the present invention;
FIG. 12 is a drop down MapMaker toolbar generated by the apparatus of the
present invention;
FIG. 13 is a pictorial representation of a vehicle locator interface menu
generated by the apparatus of the present invention;
FIG. 14 is a pictorial representation of a geocode interface;
FIG. 15 is a pictorial representation illustrating the "drag and drop"
feature of the present invention;
FIG. 16 is a block diagram of the geographic referencing operation
according to the present invention; and
FIGS. 17 and 18 are screen displays depicting the "drag and drop" sequence
of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
Referring now to the drawing, and to FIGS. 1 and 2 in particular, there is
depicted an automatic mobile object locator apparatus 10 constructed in
accordance with the teachings of the present invention.
The apparatus 10 includes a number of different components which include
mobile or onboard equipment 11 in the form of an integrated GPS receiver
and transmitter 12, and optional mobile data terminal equipment 14, a
wireless data network 16, a land communication network 18, a datacenter
20, a data communication network 22 and user terminal equipment 24.
The mobile equipment 11 is based around a global positioning system
receiver 12 which is capable of receiving global positioning system (GPS)
signals from multiple GPS satellites 30 forming part of the United States
Global Positioning System. The satellites 30 could also be satellites from
the Russian Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS). The conventional
GPS receiver 12, which can be any commercially available GPS receiver,
such as GPS receivers sold by Trimble, Rockwell, Garmin and Motorola,
calculates the mobile object or vehicle position once per second based on
a triangulation of signals received from three or more GPS satellites 30.
The data transmitted by the GPS receiver 12 is automatically transmitted
on a periodic basis, such as once every 3 seconds to once every few
minutes, based on the particular application, the mobility of the
vehicles, the customer's preference, etc.
A software control program installed in the mobile equipment 11 enables the
GPS receiver and transmitter 12 and/or the optional mobile data terminal
equipment 14, such as mobile data terminal equipment sold by RIM, WinCE
and Palm, for example, to support communications with the datacenter 20
and the Internet browser software, described hereafter, and allows the
datacenter 20 to communicate with the operators or drivers of the
vehicles. This program also allows the drivers to see maps displayed on
the mobile data terminal equipment 14 with their own location marked, the
location(s) of other vehicles in the fleet marked and addresses displayed
for locations to which the driver is to proceed.
The transmitter 12 may be any wireless transmitter device which is capable
of transmitting the position information, typically in the form of
longitude and latitude, to the wireless data network 16. Modems such as
those sold by Novatel, Sierra, Uniden and RAM may be used for the mobile
transmitter 12.
In a preferred embodiment, the GPS receiver and data transmitter 12 is
preferably formed of an integrated GPS receiver and CDPD transmitter, such
as the unit sold by Ancor Engineering, model number GPS10-8/CDPD, for
example. This device has an 8 channel GPS receiver which is differential
capable and supports a GPS antenna. Eight optically-isolated digital
inputs and five relay-driven outputs are provided on the integrated GPS
receiver and data transmitter for receiving input signals from various
devices within the vehicle, such as the opening of a door, movement of the
vehicle, etc., as well as to display inputs to the driver, or even take
action, such as locking the doors, sounding the horn, etc.
It will be understood, however, that the GPS receiver and data transmitter
12 may be separate units coupled in data communication, with the GPS
receiver functioning only to receive GPS position information and the data
transmitter functioning only to transmit the position information to the
wireless data network 16.
A GPS antenna and a cellular antenna are mounted on the integrated GPS
receiver and data transmitter 12 to receive and transmit the GPS position
information provided by the GPS receiver 12 to the wireless data network
16.
FIG. 2 also depicts other location systems, such as a land based system
utilizing geographically spaced transmitters 29 which transmit position
information to the GPS receiver 12 on the mobile object. The position of
the mobile object or vehicle can be determined by triangulation from a
number of land based towers 29 in the same manner as described above for
GPS signals from the GPS satellites 30.
A more detailed depiction of the components of the mobile equipment 11 is
shown in FIG. 3. In this embodiment, the GPS receiver 12A is depicted as
being separate from the data radio modem 12B. However, as described above,
the GPS receiver 12A and the data radio modem 12B can be separate elements
as shown or integrated into a combined GPS receiver and data transmitter.
The mobile computer 17 which forms the focal point of the mobile equipment
11 communicates with the GPS receiver 12A, the data radio modem 12B, the
equipment sensors and controls 13, as described above and shown in FIG. 2,
as well as with a driver console 15 which can include a display, input
keypad, card reader, scanner, etc.
In general operation, the GPS receiver 12A receives GPS navigation messages
from several satellites 30. The receiver 12A calculates the current
location, speed, bearing and other information and transmits the data to
the mobile computer 17 each second. The mobile computer 17 sends a
location message along with input sensor data from the equipment sensors
and controls 13 and driver console messages from the driver console 15 to
the data radio modem 12B. These messages are timed stamped with the GPS
time and sent to the datacenter 20 on a preprogrammed reporting frequency.
The frequency can be based on the time since the last report, the distance
traveled since the last report, a request from the datacenter 20, a change
in the status of a sensor 13 or input from the driver console 15.
If there is no wireless data network service, the messages from the mobile
computer 17 are stored in memory until the vehicle is in the range of a
wireless tower 31. At this time, all of the stored messages are
transmitted to the datacenter 20. All messages are identified with a
unique identifier of the data radio modem 12B.
The mobile equipment 11 is also capable of receiving messages from the
datacenter 20 via the wireless data network 16. These messages are sent to
the radio data modem 12B based on the unique identifier of the modem.
These messages can, for example, request an immediate location message,
change the status of an output sensor, change the reporting frequency,
update the driver console 15, etc.
The mobile computer 17 can be any programmable general purpose mobile
computer with a real-time operating system, such as WinCE, except where
certain functions are provided in an integrated GPS/CDPD modem from the
hardware manufacturer.
FIG. 4 depicts the information flow of the mobile equipment 11. The mobile
computer or CPU 17 cycles through the sequence shown in FIG. 4
approximately once per second. In general, the CPU or processor unit 17
reads the GPS signal each time the signal is received. The processor unit
17 then checks for reporting conditions, such as if the time from the last
report has expired, if the distance from the last report is greater than
the distance time interval, if there has been a change in the I/O status,
or if there has been change in the driver console outputs. If any of these
conditions are met, the processor unit 17 reads the I/O status, reads the
driver console 15, assembles the appropriate message and then transmits
the message through the radio data modem 12B to the datacenter 20.
The processor unit 17 is also capable of receiving messages from the
datacenter 20. An incoming message sets a flag which the processor unit 17
acknowledges and takes action according to the content of the message,
such as updating equipment status and the driver console 15.
Although the following description illustrates the use of a vehicle as the
mobile object, it will be understood that the mobile or onboard equipment
11 can be placed on any mobile object, such as people, etc.
Referring back to FIGS. 1 and 2, the wireless data network 16 may take many
forms thereby enhancing the easy implementation, updating and operation of
the automatic mobile object locator apparatus 10. One example of a
wireless data network is a CDPD network provided by Ameritech. The
location data or position information from a vehicle is transmitted by the
transmitter 12 to a wireless database station 32 having base towers 31 in
the case of land based wireless systems, or to a satellite 33 in systems
such as M-Sat or Orbcom. Other wireless networks available for use in the
present invention include networks sold under the trade names Mobitex,
Ardis Cellular, GMS, 3G and Ricochet.
The base station 32 re-transmits the vehicle location or position data to a
mobile data intermediary system 34 for addressing and routing to one of
the telephone companies wide area land networks 18.
FIG. 2 shows both a land based location system 31 and a satellite data
network 33. This illustrates the flexibility of the present invention in
that the locator apparatus 10 can use different data transmission networks
and location technologies, but with the end result being the same map
display of the positions of the mobile objects. A single mobile object or
vehicle can have both wireless data transmission capabilities and
satellite modems for operating efficiently in different geographical
areas.
From the wide area land network 18, the location or position data is
transmitted to the datacenter 20. The datacenter 20, as shown in FIGS. 5
and 6, includes a processing station 80 which includes multiple processor
based servers, such as one or more Internet servers 82 and 84, a load
balancer 86, a map server 88, and a vehicle database server 90. The
processing station 80 is connected to the wide area land network 18 by a
router 92. A different connection and router is provided for each wireless
data network interface connected to the processing station 80, such as
CPCD, MSAT satellite, Mobitex and others.
Map data is obtained from various data suppliers, customers, etc., as
described hereafter. Vector map data and raster map data are stored in the
map server 88. The HTTP servers 82 and 84 process requests from the data
communication network or Internet users 24 and generate web pages or other
formatted information for transmission over the data communication network
22. Internet users 24 access the HTTP servers 82 and 84 via a connection
to an Internet service provider (ISP) or dial-up through a remote access
service modem 94.
The map data is stored in a separate map database controlled by the map
server 88. System information, geographically referenced object
information and other information is also stored in a separate database as
shown in FIG. 6.
An important feature of the present invention is the provision of a
separate database for each customer using the locator apparatus 10. A
number of mobile objects, such as vehicles or geographically referenced
objects, may be monitored or controlled by each customer. Each mobile
object or vehicle has a unique ID and each customer who accesses a group
of related vehicles is provided with a unique ID, with the vehicle ID for
a particular customer being associated with a customer ID. This allows a
specific database in the vehicle database server 90 to be maintained for
all of the vehicles of one customer (customer A, customer B, or customer C
as shown in FIG. 6), with all of the vehicle location data for multiple
customers (i.e., customers A, B and C) being stored in the vehicle
database server 90 without corruption. This also enables each customer to
access only their own specific set of vehicle location data while
preventing that customer from accessing the vehicle location data of
another customer. This also significantly improves system performance as a
customer's query to the vehicle database server 90 does not involve the
vehicle location data of another customer.
In addition, the datacenter 20 stores a customer's log-in information,
vehicle identification, map access, usage data for billing and onboard
equipment information.
The datacenter 20 also includes communication equipment for connection to
the data network 22. The data network 22 may be any data communication
network, such as a wide area data network, a telephone network including
wired or wireless communications, or both. However, in a preferred
embodiment of the present invention, the data network 22 is the Internet.
Software associated with the Internet servers 82 and 84 provides access to
the data in the vehicle database server 90 based on an input request from
a user to report status and other information, updates browser displays
with new vehicle location data through the Internet 22 and uploads files
to the user terminal equipment 24. The server software also geographically
references both urban street and rural addresses and sends the address
coordinates to the user's browser for display on the browser as well as
processes messages between mobile and office workers.
Another important function of the datacenter 20 is to receive or generate
and supply map data in pixel format for the geographic region identified
in a user request.
As shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, all map data 40 is stored in the map database
server 88. This enables the map data 40 to be stored in a separate
database from the vehicle location data 38 which is stored in the vehicle
database server 90.
Requests for vehicle location data 38 from the user or customer terminal
equipment 24 are processed by the HTTP servers 82 or 84. The servers 82
and 84 query the vehicle location data 38 from the vehicle database server
90 and create an appropriate vehicle location information data package
that is sent over the Internet 22 to the user terminal equipment 24.
The HTTP servers 82 and 84 also process requests for map data 40. The
servers 82 and 84 send a map data request to the map server 88 which
processes the request. The map server 88 uses either stored vector data or
stored raster map data. The map server 88 generates an image file based on
the map request and sends the image file to one of the HTTP servers 82 or
84. The server 82 or 84 then generates a data package (including file
name, file location, and maximum and minimum latitudes and longitudes as
represented by the image file) relating to the image file and transmits
the data package to the requesting user terminal equipment 24 via the data
communication network or Internet 22. This sequence is shown in FIG. 9.
The user terminal equipment 24 then acts on the data package by loading
the image file into a predetermined position on the display of the user
terminal equipment 24 and repositioning other relevant objects on the
display according to the geographic boundaries of the image file.
Requests for vehicle location data 38 from user terminal equipment 24 is
also processed by the processing station 80. Such vehicle data may include
longitude and latitude, speed, bearing, time, and the status of digital
and analog input/output signals. The data is retrieved from the vehicle
database server 90 and transmitted via the data communications network or
Internet 22 to the requesting user terminal equipment 24. Alternatively,
the user may also request vehicle information for a past period of time
instead of the current report. The vehicle location data 38 sent to the
user terminal equipment 24, including vehicle display icons, is processed
by browser software at the user terminal equipment 24 for display on a
monitor which forms part of the user terminal equipment 24.
As described above, the map data requests are processed separately from
vehicle data requests. The map data 40 is converted into an image file
having the requested size and zoom level. The image file is sent to the
user terminal equipment 24, with the user's browser software displaying
the image file as a map. The user may request a new map without requesting
new vehicle location data or the user may request new vehicle location
data without requesting a new map. Maps can be supplied by any source on
the data network 22 (including images, server based map software or user
terminal based map software from other parties) provided the map can be
displayed on the user terminal equipment 24 and the geographic coordinates
of the comers of the image can be determined.
The user terminal equipment 24 may be a personal computer with keyboard,
display monitor, mouse, etc. User software runs on standard Internet
Explorer and Netscape browsers. This enables maps and vehicle locations to
be displayed on the user terminal equipment 24 and allows a user to select
specific vehicles for tracking on the map display, select maps, set the
map to follow a vehicle, change the status of a vehicle, pan the map,
display addresses of locations or landmarks on the map, control the
vehicle location refresh rate, and display the status changes from other
users, such as displaying an address location on the maps of all the user
terminal equipment 24 when one user geographically references an address.
Referring now to FIGS. 10 and 15, there are depicted map displays viewable
at the user terminal equipment 24 which are useful in allowing an
operator, such as a dispatcher for the police, delivery company, ambulance
company, etc., to track the location of vehicles under their control as
well as providing two-way communication between the dispatcher and the
individual mobile objects along with other features described in greater
detail hereafter.
FIG. 10 depicts a static map display 44 which shows a geographic region of
a selected city, state, or province, etc., as selected by the user through
the user terminal equipment 24. A variety of different vehicles from
different customers, such as delivery trucks 46, a police car 48, and
ambulances 50, are displayed on the map display 44.
It will be understood that although the following description and
illustration of the maps and vehicle positions therein are illustrated as
being displayed in an overlapping relationship, the actual map data 40 and
the vehicle location data 38 are stored separately in the datacenter 20
and transmitted by the datacenter 20 separately through the data network
22 to the requesting user terminal equipment 24. This enables the user of
the user terminal equipment 24 to change map displays, zoom-in and out,
and track a particular vehicle without requiring new or updated vehicle
location data 38 from the datacenter 20.
The map 44 utilizes grid coordinates to select the map data 40 from the map
database server 88 in the datacenter 20 and display the map 44 at one of
the user terminal equipment 24. Normally, one user terminal equipment 24
will be able to access only one type of vehicle, such as only police cars
48, only ambulances 50, or only delivery trucks 46, etc.
The underlying map data 40 can come from any source, such as map data
supplied by a map development company, such as Telus. Static maps from any
source are prepared in advance using a geographic information system, such
as Mapinfo and Intergraph's Microstation, scanned images or manually hand
plotted drawings that are scanned to create digital images. Certain
coordinate references are registered by registering certain specific
pixels in a map display with true earth coordinate projections, for
example, longitude and latitude. This enables the vehicle locations as
generated from the GPS data received by the datacenter 20 from each mobile
equipment 11 to be properly placed on a particular map display, such as
the map display 44 shown in FIG. 10.
Dynamic maps can also be used and are created on-the-fly. Dynamic maps,
like static maps, can also be based on aerial or satellite photographs
including radar images and combinations of vector maps and image maps.
Finally, a hand drawn sketch or pictorial representation of key landmarks
or cities within a particular geographic region may also be used to form a
map.
The process of displaying the position of vehicles and/or other
geographically referenc | | |
