U
`
`_
`o
`
`LAST NAME
`
`INVENTOR(S)/APPLICANT(S)
`FIRST NAME
`
`MIDDLE INITIAL
`
`RESIDENCE (CITY AND
`EITHER STATE OR
`FOREIGN COUNTRY)
`
`1' I
`
`TITLE OF THE INVENTION
`
`LOCATION DETERMINATION DEVICE
`
`
`
`HlllllwfilfllylylgljillllllmlI
`
`CORRESPONDENCE ADDRESS
`
`FITCH, EVEN, TABIN S: FLANNERY
`Suite 1600
`120 south Lasalle street
`Chicago, Illinois
`60603-3406
`Telephone:
`(312)
`5'/7~7ooo
`Facsimile:
`(312)
`577-7007
`
`CUSTOMR NUMER 22242
`
`III III
`
`2
`
`2
`
`|l|l|ll4
`
`2
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`lllllllll
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`2 --
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`sow-we
`ENCLOSED APPLICATION PARTS (check all that ac-I
`
`)
`
`Specification
`
`Number of Pages
`
`Small Entity Statement
`
`§( Drawingls)
`
`Other (specify) General’ PVu.Tl:h7or-
`Number of Sheets
`ization ‘for Petition “ofTExt. of Time; reply postcard
`
`A check or money order is enclosed to cover the Provisional Patent
`I
`ea’ Application filing fees
`r—~ The Conmissioner is hereby authorized to charge any deficiencies in
`filing fees, or credit overpayments,
`to Deposit Account Number: 06-1135
`
`Pro-
`visional
`Filing
`Fee
`Amount ( s)
`
`The invention was made by an agency of the United States Government or under a contract with an agency of the
`United States Government.
`
`F3; No.
`
`Yes,
`
`the name of the U.$. Government agency and the Government contract number are:
`
`Respectfully submitted,
`
`SIGNATURE
`TYPED or PRINTED NAME
`
`ichard A- Kaba
`
`Date October 4’
`REGISTRATION No.‘
`(if appropriate)
`
`1999
`
`30,562
`
`‘ Additional
`
`inventors/applicants are being named on separately numbered sheets attached hereto.
`
`PROVISIONAL PATENT APPLICATION FILING ONLY
`
`Provisional Cover Sheet 6-9.9 p.1/1
`
`GOOGLE 1002
`Page 1
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`

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`PROVISIONAL PATENT APPLICATION TRANSMITTAL
`
`(37 c F.R. §1.53(c>)
`
`Attorney Docket No.
`
`66566
`
`BOX PROVISIONAL PATENT APPLICATION
`Commissioner of Patents and Trademarks
`ATTENTION:
`Assistant Commissioner
`for Patents
`D.C.
`Washington,
`
`20231
`
`E3i_1T:
`
`Transmitted herewith for filing
`under 37 C.F.R.
`§1.53(c)
`is the
`provisional patent application of:
`
`Title:
`
`LOCATION DETERMINATION DEVICE
`
`CERTIFICATE OF MAILING BY "EXPRESS MAIL"
`
`'Tmr%sMMU'miHmlawLNmmw
`EL 373 351 346 US
`
`Date of Deposit 1D[04[99
`I hereby certify that this paper or fee is being
`deposited with the United States Postal Service
`"Express Mail Post Office to Addressee" service
`under 37 CFR §1.10 on the date indicated above
`and is addressed to the Commissioner of Patents
`and Trademarks, Washington, D.C.
`20231.
`Ed Price
`
`TRANSMITTAL LETTER FOR PROVISIONAL PATENT APPLICATION
`
`(signatflhe of person mailing)
`
`Enclosed are:
`
`(X) Cover Sheet for the above—identified provisional patent application
`identifying the application as a provisional application.
`
`Verified Statement Claiming Small Entity Status.
`
`) Formal,
`sheets of Figures ((
`2
`A specification and
`(X)Informal)
`for the provisional patent application,
`totalling 9
`pages.
`
`to cover the filing fee for the
`A check in the amount of $ 150.00
`above~identified provisional patent application without a claim of
`small entity status.
`
`to cover the filing fee for the
`75.00
`A check in the amount of S
`above—identified provisional patent application by an entity
`claiming small entity status.
`
`Charge $
`
`to Deposit Account No. 06-1135.
`
`A separate written request under 37 C.F.R. §l.l36(a)(3) which is
`a general authorization to treat any concurrent or future reply
`requiring a petition for an extension of time under 37 C.F.R.
`§l.136(a) for its timely submission as incorporating a petition
`for an extension of time for the appropriate length of time
`therein.
`
`Provisional 6-99 11. 1/2
`
`GOOGLE 1002
`Page 2
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`

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`Attorney Docket No.
`
`66566
`
`The Commissioner is hereby authorized to charge any additional fees
`which may be required in this application under 37 C.F.R. §§1.16~
`1.17 during its entire pendency, or credit any overpayment,
`toDeposit Account No. 06-1135.
`Should no proper payment be
`enclosed herewith, as by a check being in the wrong amount,
`unsigned, post-dated, otherwise improper or informal or even
`entirely missing,
`the Commissioner is authorized to charge the
`unpaid amount to Deposit Account No. 06~1135. This sheet is filed
`in triplicate.
`
`Address all future communications to Customer Number 22242.
`
`Illllllilllljlllljllllllllljllfllllll
`
`October 4, 1999
`
`(Date)
`
`Richard A. Kaba
`
`Registration No.
`
`30 562
`
`FITCH, EVEN, TABIN & FLANNERY
`Suite 1600
`120 South Lasalle Street
`Chicago, Illinois
`60603-3406
`Telephone:
`(312)
`577—7000
`Facsimile:
`(312)
`577—7007
`
`Provisional 6-99 p. 2/2
`
`GOOGLE 1002
`Page 3
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`

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`-1-
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`LOCATION DETERMINATION DEVICE
`
`FIELD OF THE INVENTION
`
`5
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`The present invention is in the general field of location tracking service in
`
`particular for vehicles.
`
`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`
`Tracking down vehicles in large fleets of cars is complex. expensive and
`
`time consuming. Organizations with a need for instantaneous information on the
`
`whereabouts of their vehicles need to rely on expensive and complex software
`
`installed on their premises on a server. The information regarding the location of
`
`the vehicle is presented in map images of varying Scales including arial photos.
`
`The
`
`software
`
`for
`
`reading the data
`
`is provided by various vehicle
`
`location-tacking service providers who gather data on vehicles by using
`
`communication methods such as GSM radio transmission using GPS location
`
`system. Data is collected differently by each provider resulting in. confiision for
`
`customers who need to decide on various methods to retrieve and view the same
`
`type of information . The disadvantages are that only a few, trained personnel in
`
`every organization can operate the vehicle tracking sofiware. The software is
`
`often resource—heavy, expensive and not intuitive for the users. Retrieval of data
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`can only be done from a few terminals thereby making the information
`
`specialized and highly inaccessible.
`
`There is accordingly a need in the art to simplify the process by allowing
`
`inter alia extraction of information from a multiple car tracking service
`providers. There is a fiirther 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 sofiware.
`
`GOOGLE 1002
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`SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
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`_2-
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`The present invention provides for a system for location tracking of mobile
`
`platforms,
`
`the mobile platforms are equipped each with a tracking unit;
`
`the
`
`system comprising:
`
`(a) a location server communicatjn g through user interface with at least one
`
`subscriber equipped with a browser; said communication includes inputs that
`
`includes 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 mobile platform identity and map information that
`
`pertain to mobile platforms associated with the respective mobile platform
`
`location system; each one of said mobile platform location systems is
`
`associated with a map database and map engine for manipulating said map
`database.
`
`(c) at least one remote tracking service communicating with said respective
`
`at least one mobile platform location system for receiving mobile platform
`
`identity and returning mobile platform location information;
`
`the at least one mobile platform location system is adapted to receive said
`
`mobile platform location infonnation 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 correlated location
`
`information and forwarding them to said browser.
`
`GOOGLE 1002
`Page 5
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`

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`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
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`For a better understanding, the invention will now be described, by way of
`
`example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
`
`Fig, 1 illustrates a generalized block diagram of a location tracking system in
`
`accordance with the invention; and
`
`Fig, 2 is a pictorial representation of a location tracking application in accordance
`with the invention.
`
`DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
`
`Turning at first to Fig. 1, there is shown a generalized block diagram of a
`
`location tracking system (1) in accordance with the invention. By the example of
`
`Fig. 1, there are provided Z car-tracking service providers (referred to also as
`
`company location system) of which only
`
`4 (A, B, C and Z) are shown
`
`(designated generally as (11), (12), (13) and (14)). Each car-tracking service
`
`provider (say. for example Motorola tracking location system) is capable of
`
`tracking the location of a group of, say n vehicles designated schematically as
`
`groups (21), (22), (23) and (24).
`
`Each vehicle is. preferably, equipped with an individual tracking unit
`
`(not shown) that transmits data in known per se wireless data transmission
`
`protocols, such as GSM radio transmission to the specified car-tracking service
`
`providers.
`
`The various car-tracking service providers communicate over
`
`the
`
`Internet (30) with respective vehicle location systems (referred to also as
`
`Company device), designated (41), (42), (43) and (44), using,
`
`typically, a
`
`communication protocol specific to each provider.
`
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`-4-
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`Each of the specified Company Devices ((41) to (44)) is associated with a
`
`map database (not shown) and a known per se map engine for accessing the
`
`map database and is capable of correlating between maps and the positioning
`
`information received horn the vehicle’s tracking unit through the respective
`
`Company Location System ((11) to (14)), all as known per se. The company
`
`device module may support various types of maps, such as for example any of
`
`Raster Map in various scales, vector maps and air photo.
`
`By a non-limiting embodiment of the invention, all the vehicle location
`
`systems are grouped in one Web site (40).
`
`The Web site further accommodates an Internet Location Server
`
`(46)
`
`communicating with the respective Company device modules (41) to (44). The
`
`Internet Location Server
`
`(46) serves also as an interface vis-a-vis the
`
`subscribers who are equipped by this particular embodiment with a conventional
`
`Internet Browser of which only one is shown (50).
`
`In accordance with a typical, yet not exclusive, sequence of operation, a
`
`subscriber equipped with a computer and Internet browser (50) requests
`
`information on a specific vehicle. The subscriber can be a stand alone user or, for
`
`example, a member of n licensed subscribers in a given organization, all as
`
`required and appropriate‘
`
`At the onset, the user provides his identity and the vehicles for which
`
`location is sought through a known per se
`
`authentication process (61). After
`
`receiving the appropriate authorization (62), the subscriber provides a form with
`
`details on the sought map scales and sought cars (63) . This form requests in, say
`
`SQL format the relevant records from the Internet Location Server (46). The
`
`latter sends a request to the company device (i..e. one or more of the specified
`
`(41) to (44)) according to which vehicle belongs to the corresponding company.
`
`For example, i it‘ all the sought vehicles are in the group (21) that is supervised by
`
`company A, the location request (71) will be routed solely to Company Device
`
`(41).
`
`The location request is sent through network (30) to the corresponding
`
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`_5_
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`remote Location System (11) which in turn invokes the well-known protocol
`
`vis-a-vis the end unit in group (21). The location information is transmitted back
`
`through the same channel to unit (11) which in turn returns Location answer (31)
`
`through the Internet (30) to unit (41). The latter correlates the so received
`
`location data with the desired map (as defined in input (63)) as extracted from the
`
`map database using its integrated map engine. The location data incorporated in
`
`the map is forwarded through channel (72) to ILS module (46). The subscriber
`
`receives now (64) an e.g. HTML representation of the information requested.
`
`This representation may composed,
`
`for example, [HTML and a gif (image)
`
`component. Of course the invention is not limited to the specific user interface
`
`data (61 to 64).
`
`The description above exemplifies the simplicity and flexibility of the
`
`system over hitherto known solutions. Thus, a single subscriber can access from
`
`his home computer (equipped with commercially available browser - see 101 in 1
`
`Fig. 2) a web server (40) located in operation center (102) and inquire as to
`
`location of vehicles of interest (e.g. 103). Obviously, the vehicles may be
`
`spread among more than one company (e.g. they may belongs to different groups
`
`(21) to (24), each supervised by a respective different
`
`location company).
`
`Considering that
`
`the operational center communicates with the Company
`
`Location Systems over the Internet, the sought vehicles may be located in
`
`remote locations not necessarily in the same country or even continent.
`
`The application of the present invention is not bound to motor vehicles
`
`and may used for any mobile platform, e.g. for tracking persons (104 in Fig. 2)
`
`The present
`
`invention has been described with a certain degree of
`
`particularity but various alternations and modifications may be carried out
`
`without departing from the spirit and scope of the following claims:
`
`GOOGLE 1002
`Page 8
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`

`
`CLAIMS:
`
`1 . A system for location tracking of mobile platforms, the mobile platforms
`
`are equipped each with a tracking unit; the system comprising:
`
`(a) a location server communicating through user interface with at least one
`
`subscriber equipped with a browser; said communication includes inputs that
`
`includes 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 mobile platform identity and map information that
`
`pertain to mobile platforms associated with the respective mobile platform
`
`location system; each one of said mobile platform location systems is
`
`associated with a map database and map engine for manipulating said map
`database.
`
`(c) at least one remote tracking service communicating with said respective
`
`at least one mobile platfomi location system for receiving mobile platform
`
`identity and returning mobile platform location information;
`
`the at least one mobile platform location system is adapted to receive said
`mobile platform location information and access said map database for
`correlating map to said location information, so as to obtain correlated location
`
`infonnation;
`
`said location server being adapted to receive the correlated location
`
`information and forwarding them to said browser.
`
`2 .
`
`The system according to Claim 1, wherein the communication between
`
`said subscriber and said location server being over the Internet.
`
`25 3.
`
`The system according to Claims I or 2, wherein the communication
`
`between said mobile platform location system and the corresponding remote
`
`tracking service being over the Internet.
`
`4.
`
`The system according to anyone of the preceding Claims, wherein said
`
`location server and the at least mobile platfrm location system are accommodated
`
`GOOGLE 1002
`Page 9
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`

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`in the same Web site.
`
`5.
`
`The system according to anyone of the preceding Claims, wherein said
`
`mobile platform being a vehicle.
`
`6 .
`
`The system according to anyone of the Claims I to 4-, wherein said mobile
`
`platform being a person.
`
`7 .
`
`The system according to anyone of the preceding Claims, wherein said
`
`map information includes at least one of the following: Raster Map in various
`
`scales, Vector maps and air photo.
`
`8.
`
`The system according to anyone of the preceding Claims, wherein said
`
`mobile platform location system belongs each to a different company and
`
`supervise a difierent group of mobile platforms.
`
`9 .
`
`The system according to anyone of Claims 2 to 8, wherein said correlated
`
`location information being representative of mobile platform location in a map
`
`represented in HTML and a gif (image).
`
`10. The system according to anyone of the preceding Claims, as herein
`
`described in Fig. 1.
`
`11 . For use in a system according to anyone of the preceding Claims, a mobile
`
`pl atfonn location system.
`
`12. For use in a system according to anyone of Claims 1
`server.
`
`to 10, a location
`
`13.
`
`For use in a system according to anyone of Claims 1 to I0, a location server
`
`and at least one mobile platform location system accommodated in a web site.
`
`GOOGLE 1002
`Page 10
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`

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`‘:3 L
`
`Multi Systems Internet Location Server
`
`Internet Location Servér
`
`”“ III « Ill
`
`Company
`B
`Device .
`
`Company
`C
`‘ Device
`
`“”’
`
`W,»
`
`o
`
`Location Localion
`
`Company Z
`Location
`
`GOOGLE 1002
`Page 11
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`GOOGLE 1002
`Page 12