`Dan
`
`(10) Patent N0.:
`(45) Date of Patent:
`
`US 6,771,970 B1
`Aug. 3, 2004
`
`US006771970B1
`
`(54) LOCATION DETERMINATION SYSTEM
`
`(75) Inventor: Meir Dan, Tel Aviv (IL)
`
`EP
`W0
`
`7/1997
`0 785 535 A1
`5/1998
`WO 98/20434
`OTHER PUBLICATIONS
`
`(73) Assignee? Locationet Systems 2000 Ltd»
`Natanya (IL)
`
`International Search Report; International Application No.
`PCT/IL 00/ 00617; Feb. 9, 2001.
`
`( * ) Notice:
`
`Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this
`patent is extended or adjusted under 35
`U.S.C. 154(b) by 534 days.
`
`(21) Appl. No.: 09/677,827
`(22) Filed:
`Oct. 2, 2000
`
`Related US, Application Data
`(60) Provisional application No_ 60/157,643, ?led on Oct 4,
`1999.
`(51) Int Cl 7
`H04Q 7/20
`(52) U Ci """"""""""""""""
`455/456 2_
`455/456.3; 455/456.5; 455/457; 342/357.1;
`342/357.14; 342/357.15
`(58) Field of Search ............................ .. 455/456.1, 457,
`455/456.2, 456.3, 456.5; 340/988, 989,
`990, 991, 993; 701/208, 212, 213, 200,
`207, 342/3571 35714 35715
`’
`’
`’
`References Cited
`
`(56)
`
`U-S- PATENT DOCUMENTS
`5 223 844 A
`6/1993 Mansell et a1. ........... .. 342/357
`SZ848Z373 A 12/1998 DeLOrme et a1_ _________ __ 701/200
`6,087,952 A * 7/2000 Prabhakaran
`6,131,067 A * 10/2000 Girerd et a1_
`6,222,483 B1 * 4/2001 Twitchell et al.
`6,330,454 B1 * 12/2001 Verdonk
`FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
`
`* Cited by examiner
`Primary Examiner—Erika Gary
`Assistant Examiner—Huy Nguyen
`(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Fitch, Even, Tabin &
`Flannery
`(57)
`
`ABSTRACT
`
`A system for location tracking of mobile platforms, each
`mobile platform having a tracking unit is described. The
`system includes a location determination system communi
`cating through a user interface With at least one subscriber;
`said communication including inputs that include the sub
`scriber identity and the identity of the mobile platform to be
`located; a communication system communicating With said
`location determination system for receiving said remote
`-
`-
`_
`.
`.
`.
`platform “lenmy’ and’
`a plurality of remote tracking systems communicating
`With sa1d communication system for determining the
`location of the remote platform;
`The communication system is arranged to determine an
`appropriate one of the plurality of remote tracking systems
`and to communicate said remote platform identity, the
`appropriate remote tracking System receiving Said mobile
`platform identity and returning mobile platform location
`information, said communication system being arranged to
`pass said mobile platform location information to said
`location detention system. The location determination sys
`tem is arranged to receive said mobile platform location
`information and to forward it to said subscriber.
`
`DE
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`44 27 913 A1
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`2/1996
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`19 Claims, 4 Drawing Sheets
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`lntemet BI'OWSGI'
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`Authentication
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`Entities
`registered
`with system
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`Location
`request
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`60
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`Fig. 2
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`62$‘
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`Applications
`I
`131 \ information 8.
`\ Navigation
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`132 __ Management
`Applications
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`/ Billing!
`133 / Advertising
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`134 ____ Emergency J
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`I
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`Fig. 4a
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`200
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`1
`LOCATION DETERMINATION SYSTEM
`
`This application claims the bene?t of US. Provisional
`Application No. 60/157,643, ?led Oct. 4, 1999.
`
`FIELD OF THE INVENTION
`The present invention is in the general ?eld of location
`tracking services and is particularly suitable for vehicle
`tracking.
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`Tracking the location of vehicles in large ?eets is
`complex, expensive and time consuming. Technologies such
`as GPS (Global Positioning System), EOTD (Enhanced
`Observed Time Difference), Cell ID, AMPS (Advanced
`Mobile Phone Service), GSM (Global System for Mobile
`Communication), CDPD (Cellular Digital Packet Data),
`EDACS (Enhanced Digital Access Communication System)
`and MSAT (Mobile Satellite communications) alloW a
`vehicle, mobile telephone or other mobile entity to be
`located. The mobile entity has a communication device from
`Which the location of the entity can be determined. In order
`to locate an entity, a base station communicates With a
`communication system such as a satellite in orbit or an array
`of transmitter/receivers, Which in turn triangulates the posi
`tion of the entity. This is technically complicated process
`requiring expensive equipment and access to expensive
`resources such as satellite time. OrganiZations With a need
`for instantaneous information on the Whereabouts of their
`vehicles normally employ the services of a location tracking
`service provider. Such service providers offer access to the
`equipment and technology necessary to locate the vehicles
`to a number of organisations. An authorised member of an
`organisation subscribing to one of the service providers is
`able to submit a request for a location of one of the
`organisation’s vehicles to the service provider’s system. The
`location of the vehicle is determined and returned to the
`requestor. HoWever, due to the complexity of the underlying
`systems, communication With a service provider’s systems
`is normally made via expensive and complex client soft
`Ware. Each service provider collects data using different
`technologies and stores this data in its oWn proprietary
`format. In addition, many service providers have their oWn
`proprietary communication formats in Which position
`requests must be made and in Which location data is
`received. This results in confusion for customers Who need
`to consider the various advantages, disadvantages and cost
`implications associated With each of the various location
`systems offered by service providers. Furthermore, the soft
`Ware is usually so complex that only a feW trained personnel
`in every organiZation can operate the vehicle tracking soft
`Ware. The softWare is often resource-heavy, expensive and
`not intuitive for the users. Retrieval of data can only be done
`from a feW terminals thereby making the information spe
`cialiZed and highly inaccessible. Furthermore, the differ
`ences in proprietary data and communication formats make
`it extremely dif?cult for an organisation to customise the
`client softWare or to develop systems capable of communi
`cating With the service provider’s systems and accepting the
`location is data.
`There is accordingly a need in the art to simplify the
`process by alloWing inter alia extraction of information from
`multiple tracking service providers. There is a further need
`in the art to provide a relatively simple to operate location
`tracking service adapted for use by common subscribers
`Whilst obviating the need to install and use a cumbersome
`vehicle tracking softWare.
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`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
`According to one aspect of the present invention, there is
`provided a system for location tracking of mobile platforms,
`each mobile platforms having a tracking unit; the system
`including:
`a location determination system communicating through a
`user interface With at least one subscriber; said com
`munication including inputs that include the subscriber
`identity and the identity of the mobile platform to be
`located;
`a communication system communicating With said loca
`tion determination system for receiving said remote
`platform identity; and,
`a plurality of remote tracking systems communicating
`With said communication system for determining the
`location of the remote platform;
`Wherein said communication system is arranged to deter
`mine an appropriate one of the plurality of remote
`tracking systems and to communicate said remote
`platform identity, the appropriate remote tracking sys
`tem receiving said mobile platform identity and return
`ing mobile platform location information, said commu
`nication system being arranged to pass said mobile
`platform location information to said location determi
`nation system;
`said location determination system being arranged to
`receive said mobile platform location information and
`to forWard it to said subscriber.
`The location determination system may communicate
`With a mapping system having at least one map database,
`said mapping system accepting mobile platform location
`information, correlating said location information With a
`location on a map from said at least one map database,
`generating a map on Which said location is marked and
`communicating said map to said location determination
`system, Wherein said location determination system is
`arranged to forWard said map to said subscriber.
`The mapping system may communicate With at least
`location information system, said location information sys
`tem accepting mobile platform location information, obtain
`ing location information and returning said location infor
`mation for association With said map.
`The location information system may obtain location
`information from selected ones of traf?c information
`systems, electronic YelloW Page databases, video databases,
`L-commerce systems and free advertising systems.
`The map database may include maps formatted as at least
`one of the folloWing: Raster Map in various scales, vector
`maps and air photo.
`The user interface may accept multiple mobile platforms
`to be located, the mapping system accepting multiple mobile
`platform location information and generating a map on
`Which each location is marked.
`Data forWarded to said subscriber may comprise at least
`one mobile platform location in a map represented in HTML
`and an image.
`Communication betWeen said subscriber and said location
`determination system may be over the Internet.
`Communication betWeen said communication system and
`the corresponding remote tracking service is over the Inter
`net.
`The location determination system, the mapping system
`and the communication system may be accommodated in the
`same Web site.
`A mobile platform may be a vehicle, a person, a portable
`computer, a mobile telephone or any other mobile entity that
`can be tracked or have a tracking device installed or
`attached.
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`Each remote tracking system may belong to a different
`company and supervises a different group of mobile plat
`forms.
`According to another aspect of the present invention,
`there is provided a method of determining the location of
`remote platforms, said remote platforms betWeen them
`being locatable by a plurality of remote tracking systems, the
`method comprising the steps of:
`(a) accepting inputs from a subscriber identifying one or
`more remote platforms to be located;
`(b) determining for each remote platform one of the remote
`tracking systems that is capable of locating said remote
`platform;
`(c) communicating the identity of the one or more remote
`platforms to be located to the determined remote tracking
`system(s);
`(d) receiving the location of each remote platform from the
`respective remote tracking system; and,
`(e) transmitting the location of each remote platform to said
`subscriber.
`Step (e) may further comprise the step of correlating the
`location of each remote platform With a map database and
`transmitting a map having marked said remote platform
`location(s) to said subscriber.
`
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
`
`For a better understanding, the invention Will noW be
`described, by Way of eXample only, With reference to the
`accompanying draWing, in Which:
`FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a location tracking
`system in accordance With the invention;
`FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the operation of
`the system of FIG. 1;
`FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the system of FIGS. 1
`and 2 illustrating preferred features of the invention; and,
`FIGS. 4a and 4b are schematic diagrams illustrating
`protocol data units used in a preferred embodiment of the
`invention.
`
`DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED
`EMBODIMENT
`
`Turning ?rst to FIG. 1, there is shoWn a schematic
`diagram of a location determination system (1) in accor
`dance With the invention. In the eXample of FIG. 1, there are
`Z location tracking service providers (referred to also as
`service providers), each offering access to a respective
`location tracking system. For the purposes of this eXample
`only 4 location tracking systems are shoWn (designated
`generally as (11), (12), (13) and (14)). One of the location
`tracking systems may be, for eXample, a Motorola tracking
`location system such as systems based around Motorola’s
`MLU (Mobile Logic Unit). Other location tracking systems
`may be based around, for example, the Ituran VLU (Vehicle
`Logic Unit) or PAL (Personal Alarm and Location) or NeXus
`Telocation’s RMU (Remote Monitoring Unit) based system.
`For the purpose of tracking vehicles, each vehicle is
`preferably equipped With an individual tracking unit (not
`shoWn). Most mobile telephones already have appropriate
`functionality to interact With the location tracking systems.
`Other entities such as people, computers, briefcases or other
`valuables to be tracked require a tracking unit to be in-built
`or carried. The tracking unit, or equivalent, transmits data
`via a Wireless data transmission protocol, such as GSM radio
`transmissions to the associated location tracking service
`provider.
`
`4
`BetWeen them, the systems (11—14) are capable of track
`ing the location of one or more vehicles, mobile telephones
`or other entities. These are shoWn in this eXample as a
`mobile telephone (21), a car (22), a laptop computer (23) and
`a briefcase (24).
`The systems (11—14) of the various location tracking
`service providers communicate over the Internet (30) With a
`communication subsystem (3) of the location determination
`system
`Communication is made using, typically, a
`communication protocol speci?c to each location tracking
`system provider.
`The location determination system (1) is linked to a user
`database that cross-references vehicles and other entities to
`be tracked With the location tracking service that is capable
`of tracking them. The location determination system (1) is
`also linked to a map server (4) operating a map engine for
`accessing a map database
`The map server (4) is capable
`of correlating betWeen maps stored in the database (5) and
`positioning information received from the respective loca
`tion tracking system (11—14). The map server (4) may
`support various types of maps, such as, for eXample, Raster
`maps in various scales, vector maps and air photographs.
`In a prefer red non-limiting embodiment of the invention,
`the location determination system (1) hosts a World Wide
`Web site (50) on the Internet (30). The Web site (50)
`includes a home page (51) operating as the entry point to the
`Web site (50) for visitors, information pages (52—53) and a
`service access form (54).
`FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the operation of
`the system of FIG. 1. A subscriber to the location determi
`nation system (1) equipped With a computer (60) running an
`Internet broWser requests the location of a speci?c vehicle
`(22). The subscriber can be a stand-alone user or, for
`eXample, a member of a number of licensed subscribers in
`a given organiZation, all as required and appropriate.
`The user logs on to the Web site (50) and selects the
`vehicle (22) for Which the location is sought via the service
`access form (54). The request is passed from the Web site
`(50) to the location determination system (1) Which accesses
`a database (2) to determine the appropriate location tracking
`system (11—14) for the vehicle. The location determination
`system (1) passes the request and details of the appropriate
`location tracking system (11—14) to the communication
`subsystem
`The communication subsystem (3) formats the request for
`transmission to the respective location tracking system
`(11—14) and transmits it via the Internet (30). The location
`tracking system (11—14) receives the request and determines
`the location of the vehicle (22). This information is then
`transmitted back to the communication subsystem (3) via the
`Internet (30). Upon receipt of the information, the commu
`nication subsystem (3) associates the information With the
`request and passes it to the location determination system
`(1). The location determination system (1) passes the loca
`tion of the vehicle (22) to the map server (4) Which obtains
`a map of the area in Which the vehicle (22) is located using
`the map engine, marks the position of the vehicle (22) on the
`
`
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`map and passes it to the location determination system The map is then passed via the Internet (30) to the Web
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`broWser running on the subscriber’s computer (60).
`FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the system of FIGS. 1
`and 2 illustrating preferred features of the invention.
`In addition to the Web site (50), the location determination
`system (1) may host a WML-based Web site (not shoWn) on
`the Internet (30). WAP-enabled mobile telephones (100) and
`other communication devices can communicate via a WAP
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`server (110) to submit location requests and receive location
`maps or coordinates.
`The map server (4) may be linked to map databases (5) in
`formats such as Raster, Vector, Topographic or aerial pho
`tographs. In addition, data related to the determined location
`could also be incorporated in the output. A location data
`server (120) may be linked to a number of location
`databases, examples of Which include traffic information
`databases (121), YelloW Pages databases (122) and data
`bases of video of the location (123). In addition, the location
`data server may accept connections and/or data from exter
`nal data providers via an open content layer (124) that
`establishes a standard data communication protocol. As an
`automatic procedure, or upon request of a subscriber,
`selected or all data on the location determined by the
`location determination system (1) that is available from the
`databases is obtained from the location data server (120) by
`the map server (4) and incorporated in the output map.
`The location data received by a subscriber is normally an
`HTML representation of the information requested. This
`representation may be composed of, for example, HTML
`and a GIF (image) component. Of course the invention is not
`limited to the speci?c user interface data, Which could be
`made up of, or converted to, any appropriate format.
`Preferably, multiple requests for the location of the same
`entity are detected and processed as one request, the location
`data being sent to both parties. Multiple requests from one
`subscriber may be processed so that the locations of the
`entities are superimposed on one map. Alternatively, each
`request may result in a location map being displayed in a
`separate WindoW.
`In addition to supplying map-based location data to
`requesting Web broWsers, the location determination system
`(1) may also be con?gured to communicate With external
`application servers (130) via the Internet, PSTN or other
`communication medium. The application server may run a
`proprietary or commercial softWare system for, for example,
`supplying navigation information (131), managing move
`ment of resources (132), such as for route planning betWeen
`multiple destinations, billing and/or advertising (133) and
`emergency service management (134). The data supplied to
`the application server (130) may include maps or may just
`be location coordinates in a predetermined format. The
`location determination system (1) may also communicate
`location data to non-Internet based clients. For example, it
`may be linked to an SMS (Simple messaging service) server
`(140) and supply locations as coordinates, street names
`derived from map databases or other location data available
`to mobile telephones (141), pagers (142) etc.
`It is preferred that the communication subsystem (3) is an
`XML server. Communication With location tracking systems
`(11—14) is preferably asynchronous. In this manner, as no
`communication channel or session is held open While the
`location is determined (Which may take anyWhere from a
`feW seconds to a number of minutes), the use of system
`resources and communication costs are limited Without any
`negative effect on the response time of the system.
`Communication betWeen the communication subsystem
`(3) and location tracking system (11—14) is preferably made
`using an open format communication protocol. The protocol
`is illustrated in the schematic diagram of FIGS. 4a and 4b.
`In FIG. 4a, a request protocol data unit is shoWn. The data
`unit is transmitted by the communication subsystem (3) to
`the respective location tracking system (11—14) and includes
`the ?eld ItemID (200), Which contains the location tracking
`system’s identi?er of the item to be located. The data unit
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`may also contain a timeslot ?eld (210) designating a point in
`time for Which the location of the item is requested. In FIG.
`2b, a location data unit is shoWn. The data unit is transmitted
`from the respective tracking system (11—14) to the commu
`nication subsystem (3) and includes the ?elds ItemID (300)
`and Coord (310). The Coord ?eld (310) may be in Latitude/
`Longditude format or in UTM formal The data unit may
`include the optional ?elds of Accuracy (320) indicating the
`location accuracy in Meters and Date (330) and Time (340)
`?elds indicating the date and time at Which the item Was at
`the speci?ed location.
`If necessary, a translation system may be installed at
`location tracking systems that are not compatible With the
`open format communication protocol in order to intercept
`requests from the communication subsystem (3), convert the
`request to the location tracking system’s proprietary format
`and to convert the location data from the location tracking
`service back into the open format for transmission to the
`communication subsystem
`The description above exempli?es the simplicity and
`?exibility of the system over hitherto knoWn solutions.
`Thus, a single subscriber can access from his home com
`puter (equipped With commercially available broWser) a Web
`site (50) and inquire as to location of vehicles or other
`entities of interest Obviously, the vehicles or entities may be
`spread among more than one company (eg they may
`belongs to different groups (21) to (24), each supervised by
`a respective different location company). Consider that the
`operational center communicates With the Company Loca
`tion Systems over the Internet; the sought vehicles may be
`located in remote locations not necessarily in the same
`country or to even continent.
`The application of the present invention is not bound to
`motor vehicles and may used for any mobile platform, eg
`for tracking persons.
`Whilst the examples described have separated the func
`tionality of the location determination system into a number
`of computer servers, databases and is modules, it Will be
`apparent that the functionality of the system could be
`provided by a single appropriately programmed computer
`server. Alternatively, the functionality could be further
`divided across a number of computer servers that may be in
`remote locations.
`The present invention has been described With a certain
`degree of particularity but various alternations and modi?
`cations may be carried out Without departing from the spirit
`and scope of the folloWing claims.
`What is claimed is:
`1. A system for location tracking of mobile platforms,
`each mobile platform having a tracking unit; the system
`including:
`a location determination system communicating through a
`user interface With at least one subscriber; said com
`munication including inputs that include the subscriber
`identity and the identity of the mobile platform to be
`located;
`a communication system communicating With said loca
`tion determination system for receiving said mobile
`platform identity; and,
`a plurality of remote tracking systems communicating
`With said communication system each of the remote
`tracking systems being adapted to determine the loca
`tion of a respective mobile platform according to a
`property that is predetermined for each mobile platform
`for determining the location of the mobile platform;
`Wherein said location determination system is arranged to
`determine an appropriate one of the plurality of remote
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`tracking systems, the appropriate remote tracking sys
`tem receiving said mobile platform identity from said
`communication system and returning mobile platform
`location information, said communication system
`being arranged to pass said mobile platform location
`information to said location determination system;
`said location determination system being arranged to
`receive said mobile platform location information and
`to forWard it to said subscriber.
`2. A system according to claim 1, Wherein said location
`determination system communicates With a mapping system
`having at least one map database, said mapping system
`accepting mobile platform location information, correlating
`said location information With a location on a map from said
`at least one map database, generating a map on Which said
`location is marked and communicating said map to said
`location determination system, Wherein said location deter
`mination system is arranged to forWard said map to said
`subscriber.
`3. A system according to claim 2, Wherein said mapping
`system communicates With at least one location information
`system, said location information system accepting mobile
`platform location information, obtaining location informa
`tion and returning said location information for association
`With said map.
`4. A system according to claim 3, Wherein said location
`information system obtains location information from
`selected ones of traffic information systems, electronic Yel
`loW Page databases, video databases, L-commerce systems
`and free advertising systems.
`5. A system according to claim 2, Wherein said map
`database includes maps formatted as at least one of the
`folloWing: Raster Map in various scales, vector maps and air
`photo.
`6. A system according to claim 2, Wherein said user
`interface accepts multiple mobile platforms to be located,
`the mapping system accepting multiple mobile platform
`location information and generating a map on Which each
`location is marked.
`7. Asystem according to claim 2, Wherein data forWarded
`to said subscriber comprises at least one mobile platform
`location in a map represented in HTML and an image.
`8. A system according to claim 1, Wherein the commu
`nication betWeen said subscriber and said location determi
`nation system is over the Internet.
`9. A system according to claim 1, Wherein the commu
`nication betWeen said communication system and the cor
`responding remote tracking service is over the Internet.
`10. A system according to claim 1, Wherein said location
`determination system, said mapping system and said com
`munication system are accommodated in the same Web site.
`11. A system according to claim 1, Wherein said mobile
`platform is a vehicle.
`12. A system according to claim 1, Wherein said mobile
`platform is a person.
`13. A system according to claim 1, Wherein each remote
`tracking system belongs to a different company and super
`vises a different group of mobile platforms.
`14. A method of determining the location of mobile
`platforms, said mobile platforms betWeen them being locat
`able by a plurality of remote tracking systems, each Which
`is adapted to determine the location of a respective mobile
`platform according to a property that is predetermined for
`each mobile platform, the method comprising:
`(a) accepting inputs from a subscriber identifying one or
`more mobile platforms to be located;
`(b) determining for each mobile platform one of the
`remote tracking systems that is capable of locating said
`mobile platform;
`
`10
`
`15
`
`25
`
`35
`
`40
`
`45
`
`55
`
`65
`
`8
`(c) communicating the identity of the one or more mobile
`platforms to be located to the determined remote track
`ing system(s);
`(d) receiving the location of each mobile platform from
`the respective remote tracking system; and
`(e) transmitting the location of each mobile platform to
`said subscriber.
`15. A method according to claim 14, Wherein transmitting
`the location of each mobile platform further comprises
`correlating the location of each mobile platform With a map
`database and transmitting a map having marked said mobile
`platform location(s) to said subscriber.
`16. A computer program product comprising a computer
`useable medium having computer readable program code
`embodied therein to enable determination of the location of
`mobile platforms, said mobile platforms betWeen them
`being locatable by a plurality of remote tracking systems,
`each Which is adapted to determine the location of a respec
`tive mobile platform according to a property that is prede
`termined for each mobile platform, the computer readable
`program product comprising:
`computer readable program code for causing a computer
`to accept inputs from a subscriber identifying one or
`more mobile platforms to be located;
`computer readable program code for causing the com
`puter to determine for each mobile platform one of the
`remote tracking systems that is capable of locating said
`remote platform;
`computer readable program code for causing the com
`puter to communicate the identity of the one or more
`mobile platforms to be located to the determined
`remote tracking system(s);
`computer readable program code for causing the com
`puter to receive the location of each mobile platform
`from the respective remote tracking system; and
`computer readable program code for causing the com
`puter to transmit the location of each mobile platform
`to said subscriber.
`17. A computer program product according to claim 16,
`further comprising computer readable code for causing the
`computer to correlate the location of each mobile platform
`With a map database and to transmit a map having marked
`said mobile platform location(s) to said subscriber.
`18. A system for location tracking of mobile platforms,
`each of Which is equipped each With a tracking unit, each
`being adapted to determine the location of a respective
`mobile platform according to a property that is predeter
`mined for each mobile platform; the system comprising:
`(a) a location server communicating through a user inter
`face With at least one subscriber equipped With a
`broWser; said communication having inputs that
`include at least the subscriber identity, the mobile
`platform identity and map information;
`(b) at least one mobile platform location system coupled
`to said location server for receiving the mobile platform
`identity and map information that pertain to mobile
`platforms associated With the respective mobile plat
`form location system; each one of said mobile platform
`location systems being associated With a map database
`and map engine for manipulating said map database;
`(c) at least one remote tracking service communicating
`With said respective mobile platform location system
`for receiving mobile platform identity and returning
`mobile platform location information;
`the at least one mobile platform location system being
`adapted to receive said mobile platform location infor
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`mation and access said map database for correlating
`map to said location information, so as to obtain
`correlated location information;
`said location server being adapted to receive the corre
`lated location information and forWard them to said
`broWser.
`19. A program storage device readable by a machine,
`tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by
`the machine to perform a method of determining the location
`of mobile platforms, said mobile platforms betWeen them
`being locatable by a plurality of remote tracking systems,
`each of Which is adapted to determine the location of a
`respective mobile platform accord