GB2310251A

GB2310251A - Anti-theft system, eg for motor vehicles

Info

Publication number: GB2310251A
Application number: GB9702902A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Industries Limited Amic; Adrian Howard Wynne Morgan; Alan Keith Wagner; Guido Jaques Henri Pier Landry; Nico Jean Ras; Sean Ronald Backe-Hansen
Original assignee: Amic Industries Ltd
Current assignee: Amic Industries Ltd
Priority date: 1996-02-13
Filing date: 1997-02-13
Publication date: 1997-08-20
Anticipated expiration: 2017-02-13
Also published as: GB9702902D0; GB2310251B; ZA971105B; DE19705534A1

Description

ANTI-THEFT SYSTEM Background to the invention This invention relates to a monitoring system for items of movable property.

The system finds particular application as an anti-theft system for motor vehicles and it will be described with reference to such an application purely by way of example.

Current vehicle anti-theft systems, while attempting to render motor vehicles impossible to steal, often do no more than make it difficult to steal the vehicle. Since the anti-theft system is intended to be switched on and off at the behest of the owner or operator of the vehicle, the driver's cooperation, whether forced (as in a hijack situation) or voluntary (in situations involving fraud), will invariably result in the system being bypassed.

The basic principle underlying this invention lies in the recognition that valuable items of movable property are frequently retained or stored in the same place, notwithstanding the fact that the item may be moved from that place from time to time. Using the example of a motor vehicle, the vehicle is often parked in regular parking places, such as the home and workplace parking areas of the owner and the movements of the owner between the parking places concerned is normally reasonably regular in time. Other items such as video cassette recorders are often kept reasonably permanently in the same place while items such as cameras are moved about but only to be stored in same place.

The monitoring system of the invention utilises this observation to provide a monitoring system that incapacitates the item by rendering the item useless if the item is not returned regularly to its place of storage.

The Applicant is aware of US Patent No. 4,918,425 (Greenberg) - Monitoring and locating svstem for an obiect attached to a transponder monitored bv a base station having an associated ID code. In this patent, there is some discussion of monitoring systems using transponders that respond to signals transmitted by a base station, the latter indicating by an alarm, the absence of a timely appropriate response from the transponder. In the specification, reference is made to US Patent No.

4,023,138 - Ballin - which discloses a vehicle theft prevention system in which a receiver on the vehicle receives a signal from a remote transmitter. The vehicle receiver will disable the vehicle when it detects a predetermined drop in signal strength caused by an increase in distance between the vehicle and the transmitter. The remaining citations deal with "out-ofrange" monitors all of which utilise a drop in signal strength to detect an out-of-range condition. The Greenberg patent itself then goes on to describe a system that utilises an extended network to track an out-of-range transponder.

Summary of the invention The primary feature of this invention is that the part of the system on-board the vehicle or items of property requires no more than a receiver and a time switch that is adapted to disable the item after a predeterminable time.

No network as such is required, the only requirement being a transmitter located at a base station that is adapted to reset the time switch on-board the item to prevent the time switch timing out.

According to this invention, a monitoring system for an item of movable property comprises, on-board the item, a receiver and a time switch in communication therewith and, remotely of the item, a transmitter that is adapted to transmit a reset signal to the time switch when the item is in the proximity of the transmitter, the time switch being automatically actuable on failure to receive reset signal within a predetermined time and adapted, on actuation, to render the item at least partially useless.

The monitoring system is ideally applicable to electrically operable items of movable property, in which case the time switch may be incorporated in the electrical system of the item. If the item is a motor vehicle, the time switch may be incorporated in the electrical engine management system of the vehicle.

In an anti-theft system, the transmitter should preferably be beyond the control of the item operator.

The transmitter may conveniently be a radio frequency transmitter that is installed in a location in which the item is regularly housed, located or stored.

The transmitter could form part of a signal transmission network and the transmitter may be adapted to transmit an alarm signal over a signal transmission network on incapacitation of the item.

The monitoring system can be adapted to render the item useless in stages of decreasing functionality and it could include a warning device adapted to warn the item operator of the impending incapacitation of the item.

In one form of the invention, the time switch and the transmitter may include programmable logic devices in which a plurality of reciprocal reset signals may be generated or stored for selective transmission and receipt of such reset signals at predetermined intervals by the transmitter and the time switch, the time switch being automatically actuable on failure to receive an appropriate reset signal.

The invention includes a method of protecting an item of movable property against unauthorised removal, the method comprising the steps of providing a transmitter remotely of the item and, on-board the item, a receiver and a time switch in communication therewith, the time switch being adapted, on actuation, at least partially to render the item useless, transmitting a reset signal to the time switch when the item is in the proximity of the transmitter and allowing the time switch to actuate automatically on failure of the time switch to receive a reset signal within a predetermined time at least partially to render the time useless.

Description of embodiments of the invention The invention is described by way of a non limiting example of a vehicle disabling system that comprises, onboard the vehicle, an immobiliser and, remotely of the vehicle, a transmitter that is beyond the control of the vehicle operator.

The immobiliser comprises a receiver and a time switch adapted to disable the vehicle at least temporarily after a predeterminable time.

The time switch is incorporated in the electrical system of the vehicle, preferably integrated with the engine management system of the vehicle.

The transmitter is adapted, upon occurrence of a predeterminable event, to reset the time switch by means of the transmission of a timer reset signal to the onboard receiver. The transmitter is a radio frequency transmitter securely installed in a location frequented by the vehicle operator, such as a garage or driveway post at the driver's home or workplace.

Alternatively, the transmitter may be a source of signal via a GSM network, pager network, other radio network signal, remote transponder system or swipe card, smart card, memory card system or the like.

In an alternate embodiment of the invention, the transmitter forms part of a public or private network system such as, for example, transmitting an alarm signal on police emergency radio frequencies.

The system is adapted to disable the vehicle in stages and warn the operator of the vehicle of the impending disablement of the vehicle, for example, by means of a flashing LED.

In use, the operator or owner of the vehicle selects a period ("away time") after which the time switch will "time out" to disable the vehicle. The "away time" is determined at the operator's discretion and could be a day or even a week.

The time switch is reset for another "away time" on receiving a radio frequency signal from the transmitter, and this process is repeated.

If the timer is not reset, the system warns the owner by means of the flashing LED that the vehicle performance will start to deteriorate unless the time is reset.

Consecutive "away time" periods may conveniently be chosen by the owner of the vehicle to proved a grace period thereby to progressively "time out" gradually to disable the vehicle until it becomes undrivable.

In another embodiment of the invention, the transmitter is a memory storage device, a programmable logic device or a token or memory card system. The final control of the transmission device is maintained beyond the control of the vehicle operator.

This form of the invention is particularly applicable to freight carriers or fleet management of hire vehicles. In this form, a number of reset signals or codes or the keys to such codes are conveniently programmed, as a number of reset signals controlled by a plurality of stopping points along a predetermined route to be travelled by the vehicle. Failure to reset the timer by provision of a reset code or by providing a reset code out of sequence, will then disable the vehicle.

The system could also be used to interlock the access to the goods-carrying area of the vehicle in that the goods can only be accessed after arriving at the expected destination.

Unlike the system of US Patent No. 4,918,425 (Greenberg) which relies on an extended network to track a lost transponder, the system of this invention requires very little in the way of network infrastructure. All that is required is a base station. In addition, the vehicle or item is not necessarily tracked or located, the vehicle merely being disabled after a predetermined time after it has received a reset signal from the base station.

Claims

1. A monitoring system for an item of movable property comprising, on-board the item, a receiver and a time switch in communication therewith and, remotely of the item, a transmitter that is adapted to transmit a reset signal to the time switch when the item is in the proximity of the transmitter, the time switch being automatically actuable on failure to receive reset signal within a predetermined time and adapted, on actuation, to render the item at least partially useless.

2. A monitoring system according to claim 1 for an electrically operable item of movable property in which the time switch is incorporated in the electrical system of the item.

3. A monitoring system according to claim 2 in which the item is a motor vehicle, the time switch being incorporated in an electrical engine management system of the vehicle.

4. A monitoring system for an item of movable property according to any on of the preceding claims in which the transmitter is beyond the control of the item operator.

5. A monitoring system for an item of movable property according to any one of the preceding claims in which the transmitter is a radio frequency transmitter.

6. A monitoring system for an item of movable property according to any one of the preceding claims in which the transmitter is installed in a location in which the item is regularly housed, located or stored.

7. A monitoring system for an item of movable property according to any one of the preceding claims in which the transmitter forms part of a signal transmission network.

8. A monitoring system for an item of movable property according to any on of the preceding claims that is adapted to render the item useless in stages of decreasing functionality.

9. A monitoring system for an item of movable property according to any one of the preceding claims that includes a warning device adapted to warn the item operator of the impending incapacitation of the item.

10. A monitoring system for an item of movable property according to any one of the preceding claims in which the transmitter is adapted to transmit an alarm signal over a signal transmission network on incapacitation of the item.

11. A monitoring system for an item of movable property according to any one of the preceding claims in which the time switch and the transmitter include programmable logic devices in which a plurality of reciprocal reset signals may be generated or stored for selective transmission and receipt of such reset signals at predetermined intervals by the transmitter and the time switch, the time switch being automatically actuable on failure to receive an appropriate reset signal.

12. A method of protecting an item of movable property against unauthorised removal comprising the steps of providing a transmitter remotely of the item and, on-board the item, a receiver and a time switch in communication therewith, the time switch being adapted, on actuation, at least partially to render the item useless, transmitting a reset signal to the time switch when the item is in the proximity of the transmitter and allowing the time switch to actuate automatically on failure of the time switch to receive a reset signal within a predetermined time at least partially to render the item useless.

13. A method of protecting an item of movable property against unauthorised removal according to claim 12 comprising the step of installing the transmitter in a location regularly frequented by the item operator.

14. A method of protecting an item of movable property against unauthorised removal according to either of claims 12 or 13 comprising the step of incorporating the transmitter in a signal transmission network.

15. A method of protecting an item of movable property against unauthorised removal according to any one of claims 12 to 14 comprising the step of incapacitating the item in stages of decreasing functionality.

16. A method of protecting an item of movable property against unauthorised removal according to any one of claims 12 to 15 comprising the step of warning the item operator of the impending incapacitation of the item.

17. A method of protecting an item of movable property against unauthorised removal according to any one of claims 12 to 16 comprising the step of transmitting an alarm signal over a signal transmission network on incapacitation of the item.

18. A method of protecting an item of movable property against unauthorised removal according to any one of claims 12 to 17 comprising the steps of incorporating programmable logic devices in which a plurality of reciprocal reset signals may be generated or stored in the time switch and the transmitter, arranging selective transmission and receipt of such signals at predetermined intervals by the transmitter and the time switch and permitting the time switch to actuate automatically on failure to receive an appropriate reset signal.

19. A monitoring system for a motor vehicle according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

20. A motor vehicle incorporating a monitoring system according to claim 19.

21. A method of protecting a motor vehicle against unauthorised removal according to any one of claims 12 to 18.

22. A monitoring system for an item of movable property substantially as described in this specification with reference to the illustrative examples.

23. A method of protecting an item of movable property against unauthorised removal substantially as described in this specification with reference to the illustrative examples.