GB2419995A

GB2419995A - System And Method For Vehicle Tracking And Automatic Theft Notification

Info

Publication number: GB2419995A
Application number: GB0424360A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Richard Harris; Melvin Harris; Jim Tilsley
Original assignee: AUTOALERT Ltd
Current assignee: AUTOALERT Ltd
Priority date: 2004-11-03
Filing date: 2004-11-03
Publication date: 2006-05-10
Also published as: GB0424360D0

Abstract

A system and method for tracking a vehicle is described. A control unit in the vehicle has an intrusion detector which generates an intrusion notification when unauthorised access to, or tampering with, the vehicle is detected. Location detection means, such as GPS, determine the location of the vehicle. A transmitter, such as a mobile phone transmitter, is connected to the intrusion detector. A receiving terminal is configured to receive an intrusion notification and location for the vehicle from the transmitter and display the location graphically. The receiving terminal could be a mobile phone, or a computer connected to the internet. The location can be displayed on a map. The map may be downloaded from a separate mapping server and displayed in response to the user clicking on a link, such as a URL.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR VEHICLE TRACKING

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a system and method for tracking vehicles when vehicle intrusion is detected. In particular, the present invention provides a system and method for alerting the owner of a vehicle to its theft and providing a graphical indication of the vehicle's location to the vehicle owner at a receiving terminal, such as a mobile phone or computing apparatus.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Vehicle theft is a frequent and frustrating problem. Various systems and methods have been developed to deter criminals from committing vehicle crime or to recover the vehicles after they have been stolen.

Conventional car alarms are well known. Such alarms detect when a vehicle is broken into (unauthorised vehicle intrusion) and produce an audible alarm to alert passers-by to the vehicle theft.

Another technique is vehicle tracking. When a vehicle owner discovers that their vehicle has been stolen, a tracking device fitted to the vehicle can be activated to allow its location to be tracked. Law enforcement agencies can then recover the vehicle and the individual(s) who committed the theft.

One well-known system and method of vehicle tracking is provided by TRACKER Network (UK) Limited. The TrackerJystem comprises a transmitter which broadcasts a trigger signal for a particular vehicle at the vehicle owner's request. The vehicle comprises a vehicle transceiver which transmits an identification signal on receipt of the trigger signal. A plurality of transceivers from an array of transceivers receives the identification signal and processing apparatus connected to the plurality of transceivers calculates a position for the vehicle using well-known triangulation or other geometrical techniques.

Law enforcement agencies can connect with the processing apparatus remotely to obtain a location for the vehicle, thereby directing them to the vehicle. ci-tv

A problem with the Trackeystem is that the vehicle's owner may not know when a vehicle has been stolen. Since location detection must be initiated by the vehicle owner, it may be some time before the vehicle is discovered as having been stolen and tracking of the vehicle commences.

In a variation of the Trackeiystem, an intrusion detection device fitted to the vehicle will transmit an alert signal to an operator at a central location when movement of the vehicle is detected. The operator will then contact the vehicle owner to enquire whether the vehicle should be tracked using the method and system described above. 1M

A problem with the variation of the Trackeijystem is that an operator is required to contact the vehicle owner when vehicle intrusion is detected.

A further problem with the variation of the Trackeystem is that custombuilt processing apparatus and transceiver infrastructure is required to implement the system which can be costly.

It is therefore an aim of the present invention to provide a system and method that identifies the location of a vehicle following vehicle intrusion.

It is a further aim of the present invention to provide a system and method that alerts the owner of the vehicle to its theft as soon as vehicle intrusion has occurred.

It is yet a further aim of the present invention to provide a system and method which can be implemented without significant infrastructure and without the vehicle owner andlor law enforcement agencies having to use system-specific devices.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The present invention is defined in the appendant claims.

In accordance with the foregoing, in a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for tracking a vehicle, comprising: a control unit in the vehicle comprising an intrusion detector for generating an intrusion notification when unauthorised tampering of the vehicle is detected, location detection means for determining the location of the vehicle, and a transmitter; and a receiving terminal configured to receive an intrusion notification and location for the vehicle from the transmitter and display the location graphically in a display.

The intrusion detector may detect any form of unauthorised tampering with the vehicle such as, for example, movement of a person within the vehicle or movement of the vehicle (even if such movement is initiated from outside the vehicle).

Thus, notification of vehicle intrusion can be received directly by a vehicle operator and the location of the vehicle determined easily by the vehicle operator or other third- party without expensive additional infrastructure and other without the need for an operator at an intervening call/service centre.

In a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a terminal comprising: a receiver for receiving an intrusion notification and a location for a vehicle; a display; and a processor configured to display the location graphically in the display when an intrusion notification is received by the receiver or when otherwise required.

In a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of tracking a vehicle, comprising the steps of: receiving an intrusion notification at a receiving terminal; alerting a user of the terminal to vehicle intrusion; displaying an activatable link in a display of the receiving terminal; and displaying the location graphically in the display of the receiving tenninal on activation of the link.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The present invention is now described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:- Fig. I shows the layout of components of the system according to a first embodiment of the invention; Fig. 2 shows a flow diagram of the method steps in the embodiment of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 shows a user interface implemented at a receiving terminal in the system of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 shows the layout of components of the system according to a second embodiment of the invention; Fig. 5 shows a flow diagram of the method steps in the embodiment of Fig. 4; Fig. 6 shows a user interface implemented at a receiving terminal in the system of Fig. 4; Fig. 7 shows the components of a control unit according to one embodiment of the in'ention; and Fig. 8 shows the components of an intrusion detector according to one embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Fig. I shows a block diagram of the system (100) of the present invention according to a first embodiment of the present invention. A control unit (102) is located in a vehicle (not shown). The control unit (102) comprises an intrusion detector (151) and location detection means (152) connected to a coordinator (153). The coordinator is connected to a transceiver (154). The intrusion detector (151) detects when unauthorised access is gained to the vehicle (see below) and sends an intrusion trigger to the coordinator (153).

The coordinator (153) receives the intrusion trigger and sends a location request to the location detection means (152). The location detection means (152) is a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other (i.e., cell ID) which outputs the absolute position of the vehicle to the coordinator (153). The coordinator (153) generates a data packet which is sent to the transceiver (154). The transceiver (154) is a mobile teleconmiunicatjons transceiver, such as a Global System Mobile for Communication (GSM) transceiver. The data packet is transmitted to a mobile telecommunications network (108) with an associated receiver identifier, such as the mobile telephone number of a receiving station.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, the receiving station is a server (114) connected to the Internet. The mobile telecommunications network (108) routes the data packet to the server (114) on the basis of the receiver identifier.

The server (114) connects with a receiving terminal, a computer (112) which is connected to the Internet (110) via connection (120). The connection (120) may be any form of conventional network connection such as Ethernet, Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) dial-up or wireless connection. The server (114) transmits a notification to the computer (112) (previously identified to the server (114) for a particular vehicle as a result of a log-on procedure carried out by a user of the computer (112)). The notification indicates that vehicle intrusion has occurred. In the embodiment described herein, the notification may be in the form of a web page transmitted to the computer (112).

The computer (112) implements a user interface through a web-browser for receiving the notification of vehicle intrusion. The web page includes a message notifying the user of the computer (112) that vehicle intrusion has occurred and also includes a link, such as a Universal Resource Locator (URL) link to a graphical representation of the location of the vehicle. The link contains the location of the vehicle. When a user of the computer (112) activates the link (generated in the web page by the server (114)), for example by clicking on the link, the URL containing the vehicle location is transmitted to mapping server (116).

Mapping server (116) is configured to generate an image of a map of the area identified by the location in the URL and marks the location of the vehicle on the map.

The image is generated from mapping data stored in the mapping server (116). The image is transmitted back to the computer (112) and displayed to the user on a display screen of the computer (112). The web page displayed in the user interface at the computer may automatically refresh itself after a predetermined time period to obtain a new location for the vehicle from the server (114) and, following this, obtain a further graphical representation of the vehicle's new location from the mapping server (116). Alternatively, the server (114) may push a new location to the computer (112) when the coordinator (153) requests a new location from the location detection means (152). In both forms of apparatus, the coordinator (153) is configured to obtain periodically the location of the vehicle from the location detection means (152) and transmit this location to the server (114) following detection of vehicle intrusion.

The computer (112) can also be connected directly to the mobile telecommunications network (108) via General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) transceiver (118) or 3G transceiver. The GPRS transceiver (118) is identifiable by a receiver identifier in the same way as the server (114). In this way, the coordinator (153) can be configured to transmit the intrusion notification and subsequent updates of location directly to the computer (112) via the GPRS transceiver (118). Furthermore, the computer (112) can directly access and control the configuration of the control unit (102) across the mobile telecommunications network (108).

Also shown in Fig. 1, is a mobile phone (170) which is likely to be the vehicle owner's mobile phone or other phone according to a predetermined list of phones. When the coordinator (153) receives the intrusion trigger, it sends a notification of vehicle intrusion to the transceiver (154) which is configured to send a text or other message to the mobile phone (170) alerting the vehicle owner to the intrusion.

Fig. 2 shows a flow diagram of the steps implemented by the system of Fig. 1. In a first step (201), the intrusion detector (151) detects unauthorised intrusion into the vehicle.

In a subsidiary step (201 a), the transceiver (154) notifies the owner of the vehicle that vehicle intrusion has taken place by transmitting a message (in one embodiment in the form of an SMS text message) across the mobile telecommunications network (108) to the owner's mobile phone (170). The location detection means (152) determines the location of the vehicle in second step (202). The location of the vehicle is transmitted to the server (114) by the transceiver (154) in a third step (203). In a fourth step (204) a user (probably the vehicle owner) logs in to the server (114) following receipt of a notification at their mobile phone that vehicle intrusion has occurred. At a fifth step (205), a notification that vehicle intrusion has taken place is displayed in the user interface of the mobile (112) along with a link (containing the location) to a map of the vehicle's location.

At a sixth step (206), it is determined whether the user has activated the link, for example by clicking on the link (112).

In a seventh step (207), the link containing the vehicle's location is transmitted to the mapping server (116) where a map image is generated by the mapping server (116) in an eighth step (208). The map image is transmitted in a ninth step (209) to the mobile (112) where it is displayed on a display screen (112). In a tenth step (210), it is determined when a new location is received at the computer (112) (either as a result of an automatic refresh of the web page displayed in the user interface or from the location being pushed to the computer (112) by the server (114)). When a new location is received at the mobile (112), the new location is transmitted as a URL to the mapping server (116) in an eleventh step (211) to obtain a new map image of the vehicle's new location.

Fig. 3 shows screens (301 to 309) that are displayed in the user interface in the display screen of the computer (112). The user interface comprises a web browser which displays web pages received from the server (114). Activatable controls and text input boxes are displayed by the web browser from the content of the web pages.

A first screen (301) is a homepage providing a gateway to the mapping features and customisation of the control unit (102) on a user-by-user basis. The homepage can be accessed by entering its URL address into the address field of the web browser (e.g. "http://www.autoalert-alarmscouk") From the first screen (301), a user can navigate using a pointing device to a second screen (302) though which the user can log onto the server (114) with a username and password thereby identifying the computer (112) with a particular user. Each user can have one or more associated control units in different vehicles. Hence, following user log on, a third screen (303) is displayed which allows a user to select which of their associated control units (modules) are to be located. This screen will display a notification alongside a list (352) of the control units stipulating whether the intrusion detector (153) has detected a vehicle intrusion for the vehicle in which the control unit is located. On selection of a particular control unit, a description (353) of the vehicle is displayed in a fourth screen (304) along with configuration settings for the control unit. The configuration settings can be amended via the user interface which then sends any amended settings to the server (114) which transmits them to the control unit (102) via the mobile telephone network (1Q8).

A fifth screen (305) displays a notification that vehicle intrusion has been detected and provides an activatable link (354) to a map. The activatable link is shown in Fig. 3 as a button. The associated web page data for the button contains a URL of the mapping server (116) including the location of the vehicle received from the server (114). The server generates the web page data with the URL in this way on receipt of the location from the control unit (102).

Activation of the activatable link (354) transmits a request for a map image (355) to the mapping server (116). The mapping server (116) generates a map of the vehicle's location as an image file embedded in web page data and transmits the web page and image to the computer (112). The map image (355) is displayed in a sixth screen (306) of the user interface. From the sixth screen (306), the user can access a seventh screen (307) which has navigation controls (356) for manipulating the scale and displayed area of the map. Each navigation control (356) may itself be an activatable URL link, which, when activated, transmits a request to the mapping server (116) for a different image.

In an eighth screen (308) accessible through the user interface, there is a notification (357) displaying the local telephone number (as determined by server 114) for the police station nearest to the location of the vehicle.

In an ninth screen (309) accessible through the user interface, directions (as determined by server 114) to the location of the vehicle from an inputted location into a directions dialog box (358) are displayed. These directions can assist law enforcement agencies logging on to the system at the user's request in finding the vehicle.

Fig. 4 shows a block diagram of the system (100) of the present invention according to a second embodiment of the present invention. As with Fig. 1, the control unit (102) is located in a vehicle (not shown). The control unit (102) comprises the intrusion detector (151) and location detection means (152) connected to the coordinator (153). The coordinator is connected to the transceiver (154).

The coordinator (153) receives the intrusion trigger and sends a location request to the location detection means (152). The location detection means (152) is a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other which outputs the absolute position of the vehicle to the coordinator (153). The coordinator (153) generates a data packet comprising the location of the vehicle and sends the data packet to the transceiver (154).

In one configuration according to the embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 4, a notification of vehicle intrusion and the vehicle's location is transmitted directly to a mobile phone (412) (which may be the vehicle owner's mobile phone) from the transceiver (154). The coordinator (153) stores the telephone number of the mobile phone (412) and sends this to the transceiver (154) with the data packet. The notification and location are transmitted as a text message comprising a URL link to web pages stored in server (114).

The mobile phone (412) implements a user interface through a wap-browser (Wireless Application Protocol browser). On receipt of the text message notification of vehicle intrusion, the user of the mobile phone can track the vehicle's location by activating the URL link with navigation keys (412). Activation of the URL link sends a request to the server (114) connected to the Internet (110). The server (114) receives the location of the vehicle and generates a web/wap page with an inline image of a map of the vehicle's location. The inline image is generated by sending a request with the vehicle's location to the mapping server (116).

In an alternative configuration according to the embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 4, a notification of vehicle intrusion and the vehicle's location is transmitted to the server (114) connected to mobile communications network (108) via the Internet (110). On receipt of the notification and location, the server (114) sends a message notification of vehicle intrusion to the mobile phone (412). The user of the mobile phone (412) can track the vehicle's location by activating a link in the text message with navigation keys on the mobile phone (412). Activation of the link sends a request back to the server (114). The server (114) generates a web/wap page with an inline image of a map of the vehicle's location. The inline image is generated by sending a request with the vehicle's location to the mapping server (116). Further notifications of the vehicle's location are received from the control unit (102), either by periodically polling the control unit (102) from the server (114) or by the control unit (102) periodically sending a notification of vehicle's location to the server (114). The server (114) then generates a map image of the vehicle's new location and transmits the image to the mobile phone (412) or waits for a request from the mobile phone (412) before sending the map image of the vehicle's location to the mobile phone (412).

Mapping server (116) is configured to generate an image of a map of the area identified by the location in the request sent by server (114) and marks the location of the vehicle on the map. The image is generated from mapping data stored in the mapping server (116). The image is transmitted back to the server (114).

Fig. 5 shows a flow diagram of the steps implemented by the system of Fig. 4. In a first step (501), the intrusion detector (151) detects unauthorised intrusion into or movement in the vehicle. The location detection means (152) determines the location of the vehicle in second step (502). The location of the vehicle is transmitted to the mobile phone (412) by the transceiver (154) in a third step (503). At a fourth step (504), a notification that vehicle intrusion or movement has taken place is displayed on the screen of the mobile phone (412) along with a link (containing the location) to a map of the vehicle's location.

At a fifth step (505), it is determined whether the user has activated the link, for example by activating it with navigation keys on the mobile phone (412).

In a sixth step (506), the link containing the vehicle's location is transmitted to the mapping server (116) (via server (114)) where a map image is generated by the mapping server (116) in a seventh step (507). The map image is transmitted in a eighth step (508) to the mobile phone (412) (via server (114)) where it is displayed on the mobile phone's display screen. In a ninth step (509), it is determined when a new location is received at the mobile phone (412) or server (114) (either as a result of the location being pushed to the server (114) or mobile phone (412) by the control unit (102) or as a result of the mobile phone (412) or server (114) requesting the vehicle's location directly from the control unit (102)). When a new location is received at the mobile phone (412) or server (114), the new location is transmitted as a URL to the phone (116) in an tenth step (510) to obtain a new map image of the vehicle's new location.

Fig. 6 shows screens (301 to 307) that are displayed in the user interface in the display screen of the mobile phone (412). The user interface comprises a web/wap browser which displays web/wap pages received from the server (114) and notifications received directly from the control unit (102). Activatable controls and text input boxes are displayed by the web/wap browser from the content of the web pages.

A first screen (601) is a homepage providing a gateway to the mapping features and customisation of the control unit (102) on a user-by-user basis. The homepage can be accessed by entering its URL address into the address field of the wap browser of the mobile phone (412) (e.g. "http:/Iwap. autoalert-alarms. co.uk").

A second screen (602) displays a notification (652) that vehicle intrusion or unauthoriseçj movement has been detected. A third screen (603) provides an activatable link (652) to a map. The activatable link is shown in Fig. 6 as a button. The associated web page data for the button contains a URL of the server (114) including the location of the vehicle received from the control unit (102).

Activation of the activatable link (354) transmits a request for a map image (654) to the server (114). The mapping server (116) generates a map of the vehicle's location as an image file embedded in web page data and transmits the web page and image to the server (114). The map image (654) is displayed in a fourth screen (604) of the user interface.

From the fourth screen (604), the user can access a fifth screen (607) which has navigation controls (655) for manipulating the scale and displayed area of the map. Each navigation control (655) may itself be an activatable URL link, which, when activated, transmits a request to the mapping server (116) (via server (114)) for a different image.

In a sixth screen (606) accessible through the user interface on the mobile phone (412), there is an activatable notification (656) displaying the local telephone number (as determined by server (114)) for the police station nearest to the location of the vehicle or location of the mobile phone (412). The activatable notification (656) can be activated through the user interface of the mobile phone (412) to call the police station.

In an seventh screen (607) accessible through the user interface, directions (as determined by server (114)) to the location of the vehicle from a location inputted into a directions dialog box (657) are displayed. These directions can assist law enforcement agencies logging on to the system at the user's request in finding the vehicle.

Fig. 7 shows the components of the control unit (102).

The intrusion detector (151) is shown connected to the coordinator (153). The location detection means (152) is connected to the coordinator (153) along with the transceiver (154).

The intrusion detector (151) comprises internal sensors (761) which may include one or more vehicle tamper sensors, accelerationlmovement sensors, a power supply connection andlor a microphone configured to detect the sound of glass shattering. The intrusion detector (151) outputs an intrusion trigger when one or more of the internal sensors detects intrusion into the vehicle.

The location detection means (152) comprises a GPS receiver (762) or other which is connected to an antenna (763). The location detection means (152) outputs the location of the vehicle as determined by the GPS receiver or other location positioning device (762). The location of the vehicle is output as absolute longitude and latitude to the coordinator (153).

The coordinator (153) comprises microcontroller (764) and connected programme memory (765). The programme memory (765) stores computer executable instructions in non-volatile memory which are executed by the microcontroller (764). The microcontroller (764) receives signals from the location detection means (152) and the transceiver (154). When an intrusion trigger is received from the intrusion detector (151), the microcontroller (764) is configured through execution of the computer executable instrnctions to transmit a request for the vehicle's location to the location detection means (152). On receipt of a location from the location detection means (152), the microcontroller (764) communicates a notification of vehicle intrusion and the vehicle's location to the transceiver (154).

The transceiver (154) comprises an RF transceiver (765) connected to a mobile communications antenna (766) and further connected to the microcontroller (764) via a GPRS modem (767).

The transceiver (154) with the GPRS modem (767) is configured to communicate bidirectionally with the mobile communications network (108) via the mobile communications antenna (766). The notification of vehicle intrusion and vehicle location are transmitted over the mobile communications network (108) to a receiving terminal specified by the microcontroller (764) in configuration settings stored in memory (not shown).

The configuration settings can be configured remotely from the control unit (102) by wireless communication over the mobile telecommunications network (108) to the transceiver (154) and then by interaction with the mircrocontroller (764).

The control unit (102) further comprises power conditioning circuitry (768) connected to a rechargeable battery (769) internal to the control unit (102). A power rail (771) connects the components of the control unit (102) (the power connections are not shown). The power rail is connected to the battery (769). The power conditioning circuitry (768) detects fluctuations in an external power supply (770) to the control unit (102). The power conditioning circuitry (768) is configured to ensure that the reachargeable battery (769) is maintained in a fully charged state when connected to the external supply (770). In addition, if the external power supply (770) is disconnected during intrusion into the vehicle, the power conditioning circuitry (768) detects the disconnection of the external power supply as an indication of vehicle intrusion and signals the internal sensors (761) accordingly. in this situation, the recheargeablebattery (769) still provides power to the components of the control unit (102).

The microcontroller (763) is connected to RFID circuitry (772) and RFID antenna (780) which receives control signals from an RF key or tag (not shown). When an RF key is operated or when an RF tag is present within the range of the RFID antenna (780), the intrusion detectors (151) can be effectively "deactivated" so that, for example, movement of the vehicle does not generate an intrusion notification when a bona fide user of the vehicle is present.

Fig. 8 shows the components of the intrusion detector (151).

A microswitch (801) is located, for example, at doors to the vehicle and determines when intrusion to the vehicle has taken place by opening of the doors.

An accelerometer (802) determines movement of the vehicle.

A microphone (803) detects sound in the vehicle, for example movement of persons or the breaking of glass.

The microswitch (801) is connected directly to an interrupt controller (806) which generates an intrusion trigger when the microswitch (801) is operated and transmits the intrusion trigger to the microcontroller (764).

The accelerometer (802) and microphone (803) are connected to a digital signal processor (DSP) (804) which discriminates between high frequency signals (the microphone (803) generating high frequency signals as a result of glass shattering) and low frequency signals (the accelerometer (802) generating low frequency signals as a result of movement in or by the vehicle). The DSP (804) is programmed from instructions stored in the memory (765).

The DSP (804) generates a binary signal when it determines that glass has been shattered or sufficient movement of the vehicle has occurred and supplies the binary signal to the interrupt controller (806) which transmits an intrusion trigger to the microcontroller (764).

It will of course be understood that the present invention has been described above purely by way of example, and that modifications of detail can be made within the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A system for tracking a vehicle, comprising: a control unit in the vehicle comprising an intrusion detector for generating an intrusion notification when unauthorised tampering of the vehicle is detected, location detection means for determining the location of the vehicle, and a transmitter; and a receiving terminal configured to receive an intrusion notification and location for the vehicle from the transmitter and display the location graphically in a display.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the transmitter is a mobile telecommunications transmitter.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the receiving terminal is a mobile phone.

4. The system of any one of claims I to 3, wherein the intrusion notification and location are transmitted directly to the mobile phone over a mobile telecommunications network.

5. The system of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the receiving terminal is computer apparatus.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the computer apparatus is connected to the Internet ançl receives the intrusion notification and location from a first server.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the first server is coupled to a mobile telecommunications network and receives the intrusion notification and location from the receiving terminal over the mobile telecommunications network.

8. The system of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the location is displayed graphically in a map in the display.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the map is generated from mapping data received from a second server.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the mapping data comprises an image and the receiving terminal displays the image.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the second server receives the location of the vehicle from the receiving terminal and generates the image with the vehicle location marked in the image.

12. The system of any one of claims 8 to 11, wherein the receiving terminal comprises a processor configured to display a notification of vehicle intrusion on the display and provide an activatable link in the display, which, when activated, triggers the processor to display the map.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the link is displayed in the form of an activatable button.

14. The system of claim 12 or claim 13, wherein the link comprises a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the URL comprises the location received from the control unit.

16. The system of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the mobile telecommunications transmitter is configured to transmit the location of the vehicle periodically.

17. The system of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the intrusion detector comprises a pressure transducer configured to detect pressure waves resulting from shattering glass.

18. A terminal comprising a receiver for receiving an intrusion notification and a location for a vehicle; a display; and a processor configured to display the location graphically in the display when an intrusion notification is received by the receiver or when otherwise required.

19. The terminal of claim 18, wherein the terminal is a mobile phone.

20. The terminal of claim 19, wherein the intrusion notification and location are transmitted directly to the mobile phone over a mobile telecommunications network.

21. The terminal of claim 18, wherein the terminal is computer apparatus.

22. The terminal of claim 21, wherein the computer apparatus is connected to the Internet and receives the intrusion notification and location from a first server.

23. The terminal of any one of claims 18 to 22, wherein the location is displayed graphically in a map in the display.

24. The terminal of claim 23, wherein the processor is configured to provide an activatable link in the display on receipt of an intrusion notification or when otherwise required, which, when activated, triggers the processor to display the map.

25. The terminal of claim 24, wherein the link is displayed in the form of an activatable button.

26. The terminal of claim 25, wherein the link comprises a Uniform Resource Locator (URL).

27. The terminal of claim 26, wherein the URL comprises the location received from the control unit.

28. A method of tracking a vehicle, comprising the steps of: receiving an intrusion notification at a receiving terminal; alerting a user of the terminal to vehicle intrusion; displaying an activatable link in a display of the receiving terminal; displaying the location graphically in the display of the receiving terminal on activation of the link.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising the step of receiving a location for the vehicle before the step of displaying the location graphically.

30. The method of claim 28 or claim 29, further comprising the step of the receiving terminal requesting a location for the vehicle from a server.

31. The method of claim 28 or claim 29, further comprising the step of the receiving terminal requesting a location for the vehicle from the vehicle

32. The method of any one of claims 28 to 31, further comprising the steps of activating the activatable link and obtaining the graphical representation of the vehicle's location as an image of a map from a mapping server.

33. A computer program comprising computer executable instructions for carrying out the method of any one of claims 28 to 32.