ITRM20080670A1 - LOCALIZATION TECHNIQUE OF THE POSITION IN WHICH A VEHICLE WAS PARKED. - Google Patents

Description

Description of the invention entitled:

â € œTECHNICS OF LOCALIZATION OF THE POSITION IN WHICH A VEHICLE HAS BEEN PARKEDâ €

Sector to which the invention pertains

The present invention refers to a system for locating a vehicle and more particularly refers to localization techniques by means of the cellular phone and its graphic display, which shows references on a map of an area of the city, in which may have been parked.

State of the art

LEGEND GPS: Global Positioning System

GSM: Global System for communications in Handover Mobility: Procedure by which a mobile terminal changes the channel / cell it is using during a communication while keeping the communication active.

HLR: Home Location Register is the database used for the permanent storage of subscriber data with the relative profiles of the assigned services.

IMSI: International Mobile Subscriber Identity

MSC: Mobile Switching Center has the function of switching voice and data traffic to the GSM network.

SIM: Subscriber Identification Form (Subscriber / User of the service)

VLR: Visitor Location Register is a database that contains the information of users who are temporarily assigned to the operator thanks to the roaming functions.

Those who drive sometimes forget where they have parked their vehicle, this is the case, for example, when leaving the car in a large parking lot of a shopping center: a driver who cannot identify the site where he left his vehicle he can do nothing but move without a rule, casually, in search of the same. Another situation in which it may be useful to locate the parking of a vehicle is, for example, the case of a large family made up of several people each having the availability of n cars. In this context, it can be difficult in the morning to detect the position of the vehicle parked the night before by another member of the family. But the same problem would arise in the case of a company (a car showroom, a workshop, a medium-sized business) with a fleet of cars and a group of employees who park near the headquarters where they accidentally find a place. It is therefore evident the need for a system and a technique that allows to overcome the problems connected with the aforementioned problems.

Summary of the invention

The purpose of the present invention is to introduce solutions for the precise localization of the position in which a vehicle has been parked. A further purpose is to provide a technique for locating the position in which a vehicle has been parked capable of operating on a manual input of the data relating to the position in which the vehicle is parked and the identification of the vehicle. vehicle itself.

It is still the object of the invention to provide a technique for locating the position in which a vehicle has been parked capable of providing the input data automatically by means of the GPS system which interacts with the cellular telephone detection procedures of the vehicle. € ™ user on the move.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an enrichment of the services offered to the user by the mobile telephone service manager.

Finally, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a technique for locating the position in which a vehicle has been parked, which uses hardware components of the mobile phone, and standard techniques in the field of telephony and satellite communications, in order to make the system itself low in costs, highly reliable and easy to use.

On the basis of these objectives, a method based on the use of the cellular network and a related data processing system is provided for locating a vehicle in a given area that has a plurality of zones, making each of them correspond to a map in graphic format.

On the basis of the aforementioned objectives, a method based on cellular telephony and on GPS satellite detection systems is also provided and a related data processing system for locating a vehicle in a given area that has a plurality of zones by corresponding to each of them. a map in graphic format.

Each zone is therefore associated with a map and is identified by a particular identifier.

Electronic graphic maps are used which are read from the memory and brought to the mobile phone video, shown on the display. The position of the vehicle in the parking lot is indicated on the map and in the case of GPS use the coordinates are recorded. Then the same map coordinates are stored in a database together with the vehicle identification number which is entered from the keyboard together with the parking times, date and time. On the basis of the stored data, an identification procedure searches for the vehicle that satisfies the parking conditions in a specific area, and this information is sent to the screen.

Brief description of the drawings

The invention will be better understood by reading the following description, provided purely as an example and made with reference to the drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a block diagram that shows the phases inherent to the memorization of the parking,

FIGURE 2 is a block diagram showing the steps involved in finding the parked vehicle.

Description

In an implementation that only provides for the use of the GSM network, a series of N identifiers are stored at the service center of the network operator - in relation to the identifiers of each user (SIM enabled for the service). (e.g. license plate numbers). So, for example, a family of five licensed people will presumably have five SIM cards enabled for the graphic query and localization service, through maps, which can be used by providing the representation on the phone display, and the graphic insertion of information relating to the own vehicle, sending / receiving and querying the databases thus established, etc.

At the operational level, during the memorization phase, the person who has just parked calls up the map of the area in which he is located on the screen of the telephone in his possession and, at the same time, using the keys already provided for moving right, left, up and down ( the so-called darts) with which the mobile phone is equipped goes to position itself with a movable indicator on the screen - or, as in the case of palmtops, using a stylus - on the point on the map corresponding to the position in which it left your vehicle, and here it marks the map used with a click (corresponding for example to the OK button or to the pressure of the aforementioned stylus).

If you press the OK button on the one hand, if you place a mark (for example a flashing colored circle) in the exact point corresponding to the car park, on the other hand, you will simultaneously send an MMS to the service center containing the graphic image departure modified by adding the marking and superimposed the date and time of the parking, as well as the vehicle ID entered manually by the user.

This map will then be made available for reading to users (for example family members) having the right of access when they request it.

Figure 1 shows the typical operational sequence of the detection / transmission phase which begins with the actual parking search activity 10 and, when the latter is found, requires a query 12 to detect whether the map is among the default maps of the mobile phone in which case the map is directly loaded 14, otherwise the same map is requested in 16 at the service center of the network operator, in relation to the parking carried out in which it is left the vehicle. In 16, 16â € ™ will be sent the SMS with the name of the street and the next phase relating to the 16â € reception of the card / map on the mobile phone memory, via MMS. If the mobile phone supports a GPS function itself, the map is detected directly by the navigator.

Once the map has been acquired, the user places the cursor / stylus 18 at the point on the map corresponding to the parking position and then places a marker / tag on the map 20 on the map identifying the parking spot with the identification of the parked vehicle. The identification can be made up of a specific icon or it can be provided by giving a particular color to the circle that marks the position or it can be entered manually as text (for example the last 3 numbers of the plate).

Finally, the transmission and storage 22 in the database, at the service center of the network operator, of the modified map with the relative information is carried out.

The organization 23 of the database provides that a search can be subsequently carried out by the authorized user in real time - considering the most recent date with which a vehicle was associated with a particular map, both on the basis of the vehicle identifier is based on the area in which it was parked. It is undoubtedly essential for the user to know not only which vehicle is parked, but also which vehicles are available in a particular area.

In summary, the procedure described presents the distinct phases of

i- access to the service based on the same IMSI of the caller which allows to implement the entry authentication;

i- acquisition of the vehicle identification;

i- acquisition of the map and its identification, updated with the point where the vehicle was parked,

i- storage of the updated map with the localization point together with the corresponding vehicle identification in a database on which to carry out subsequent queries.

The next phase of vehicle search and related parking is shown in Figure 2. The search algorithm therefore provides for a query in which the vehicle identification can be made up of part of the plate numbers or other alphanumeric entry , for example Panda1, Mercedes etc., (this being the example of a family with several different cars).

The acquisition of access to the service is based on the same IMSI of the caller which allows to implement the entry authentication.

Entering a menu 11 type â € œServices / work functionsâ € the user selects the â € œVehicle locationâ € function.

The interface 15 enables data entry (one or more than one) for the subsequent search by vehicle identification and / or by parking area.

The data input allows the automatic creation 17 on the mobile phone of an SMS which, through the control unit that manages the service, queries

the HLR on the relevant SIM holder who requests information for authentication and verification in real time of the access rights of the applicant,

ii- on positions 17â € where one or more of the related vehicles associated with the service are parked.

Following a successful search, one or more MMS messages are sent 19 to the applicant containing the maps / maps in graphic format for each zone / vehicle found by the vehicle identification / vehicle identification search function stored in the database.

In summary, a series of distinct procedures are envisaged in which

I- in a first phase there is access to the service which is based on the same IMSI of the caller to implement the entry authentication,

II- the request to locate the vehicle parked in the relative area is then acquired, the request includes at least part of the identification of the vehicle and / or the area in which it is possibly parked, III- continues with the retrieval of the vehicle identification of the map in which the vehicle is located by sending the detected map to the user who requested it.

The data processing system on the service server side includes - at the network operator - the database which in turn is associated with a program for managing the SIM archive and the vehicles registered for the location service. During the detection phase, it acquires the identification associated with a localization map with the relative identification corresponding to the point where the vehicle is parked, and stores the identification of the position associated with the identification of the vehicle.

The same data processing system operates on said database to acquire a request for the location of the vehicle parked in the area, - the request includes at least part of the vehicle identification -, the retrieval of the identification of the location map produces a response to said request which includes said map updated in real time.

It is very clear that the implementations of the procedures just listed are extremely immediate for the programming languages usually used for graphics on mobile phones. For example, if you were using a Java-like suite - a standard for graphics on the mobile phone display - some typical implementations could be the following.

To trace a circle at the point where the user clicks it, the application expects the coordinates of the point to draw the circle to be defined as attributes; the listener accesses these attributes to set them with the values relative to the position of the slider or stylus that is pressed on the screen, when the event occurs.

{â € ¦.addMouseListener (new ListenerMouse (this));

setVisible (true) .......

}

public void paint (Graphics g) {

Graphics2D g2 = (Graphics2D) g;

Ellipse 2D.Double circle = new Ellipse2D.Double (x, y, 5, 5); g2.draw (circle);

}

}

A mode of insertion of the vehicle indication on the display can be the indication of a color (the color of the vehicle for example) for the flashing circle that indicates its position. To do this, you can create a listener class for keyboard events that implements a KeyListener () interface. Or, as more usually for keyboard events, the KeyAdapter class is available which implements the KeyListener interface.

A program fragment showing the versatility of the Java suite for the implementation of the procedure is the following.

â € ¦â € ¦

public class WindowDraw extends JFrame implements Keylistener {private Color color = Color.black;

...........

public void keyPressed (KeyEvent e) {

int key = e.getKeyCode ():

switch (key) {

case (KeyEvent.VK_F1):

color = Color.red;

break;

case (KeyEvent.VK_F2):

color = Color.green;

break;

case (KeyEvent.VK_F3):

color = Color.blue;

break;

}

repaint ();

}

Before going into the specifics of the possible interactions between cellular network and satellite network for the description of a further realization of the fundamental principle of the present invention, it is useful to underline that a cellular network operates on the basis of a division into cells of the territory. This subdivision is made necessary since the user of a GSM network is mobile in nature, therefore he needs to have mobile access points. In fact, the idea behind mobile networks is that there is a fixed base station called Base Station (BS) which communicates with the mobile station. To accommodate the mobile nature of the user, the territory to be covered is divided into cells. A cell is a portion of territory served by a BS base station.

An important role is therefore played by the VLR which includes a subset of information taken from the HRL. Basically, this subset is made up of all the data necessary for call control and the services allocated, of each single MS mobile device, currently located in the geographical area controlled by the VLR.

Ultimately, to manage the mobility of users, the MSC component must continuously exchange information with a database, called Visitor Location Register (VLR), which temporarily stores information relating to the MS located in that area (IMSI user identity , MSISDN telephone number, authentication parameters, etc.). The MS in question are simply "visiting" the area served by the VLR. In fact, they can be moved at any time within the area served by another VLR. Although the latter, as a functional entity, can be implemented independently of the MSC.

On the basis of these premises, the technique provides for the implementation of the fundamental principle of the invention in two ways, one manual and one automatic.

A- The manual input of data relating to the position in which the vehicle is parked and the vehicle identification after the vehicle has been parked in one of the zones associated with the identification of the localization zone ; this solution has been previously illustrated in relation to an exclusively GSM area.

B- The other technique is completely automatic in the sense that the data collected is automatically supplied by the GPS system which interacts with the mobile phone survey procedures of the mobile user while the GSM service center is in charge to the storage of the data. On the other hand, cell phones with already integrated GPS service are currently spreading, so it is extremely advantageous to obtain the map on which to introduce the reference directly from the supplied mobile phone / GPS.

The phase of receiving the location identifiers includes in this case the reception of the current latitude and the current longitude from a GPS receiver when the GPS receiver is active to acquire the positioning of the vehicle.

If we then suppose, for example, that in the morning a user enabled for the service would detect that all the vehicles are in the cell that includes his / her starting site, once he has taken possession of a vehicle he, having his mobile phone with him, will that the relevant radio base station detects that the SIM is moving with a certain speed.

If the cell is large (such as a small town or countryside area), the signal strengths are detected and are put into play starting from the cell phone antenna (Handover).

If you are in a large city where the cells are very numerous, it is sufficient to change the indication on the cell to which you belong to detect where the vehicle passes and where it is actually located.

In any case, the result will be the same, having detected that the person is moving with his vehicle, then the control system queries the GPS service center to update it in real time on the precise position - latitude, longitude - of the vehicle.

The interworking established by the service center between GSM and GPS will define the new correspondence as:

a) the radio base station detects that one of the n mobile phones enabled for the service is now moving at the speed typical of a vehicle b) the GPS asks which of the cars in the fleet is also moving in the same way in the detected direction from the passage from one cell to another.

c) the detection is updated in real time so as to allow each of the users of the service to know where the vehicle is and whether it is stationary or moving.

When on the other hand, the satellite navigator is switched on, the device relating to the detection of latitude / longitude indicates the current position through satellite detection and reads the information relating to the road, the name of the place, etc. from a map database. In this way it displays a map which includes the current positioning of the vehicle on the monitor; according to the present invention it is then sufficient to memorize the last positioning of the vehicle before it has stopped (parked) in order to be able to mark the parking position.

In correspondence with these typical functions of the satellite navigator, the activation of the survey first of all provided for the definition of a one-to-one correspondence between mobile phone and vehicle (GSM / GPS) based on the signal strength received from the mobile phone, and / or based on changes of cell.

Starting from this detection that is recorded by the GSM and GPS networks, once the correspondence is established, when the mobile phone stops (detection power constant over time in the same cell), it is as if it were established that the vehicle is It is stopped and parked so that the current position of the vehicle is acquired and recorded, the time and date of the vehicle stop is also stored as well as the IMSI ID of the SIM in the driver's possession at the time of the detention. In fact, a storage matrix is provided with a structure of the type (GPS vehicle number / mobile phone / map cell) updated in real time.

If it happens that another user of the same user group, therefore with another mobile phone, comes into possession of the vehicle, it will be recorded that the relative GPS navigator is always the same but the mobile phone, the SIM and the relative IMSI have instead changed.

Beyond the standard functions already typical of GPS, even when the satellite navigator is turned off, the system is able to keep memory of the data relating to the positioning of the vehicle and the relative times in which parking took place, the parking map and positioning data showing the point where the vehicle was parked, all this through continuous storage in the GSM service center which is responsible for sending and managing the maps where the vehicle is located. vehicle.

It is also evident the possibility of a predictive indication in the sense that already from the indications of how the vehicle is moving it can be deduced that between a ∠† t, it will certainly be in a particular parking lot and it can be detected there.

In this further embodiment that uses the predictive aspect of satellite detection, in real time, it is possible to know where and when the vehicle will be available in a predefined time interval. For example, if a family lives in Portuense and the satellite detector sees the vehicle moving first to Trastevere, then to Lungotevere, then again to Muro Torto and it is known that whoever owns the vehicle must go to the university, it is likely that between a few minutes the vehicle will be parked in this area.

To implement this provision, the service center manages a data base and for each person virtually capable of being in possession of a vehicle (from the set of cars available and remotely controlled) will have reference places in which he will presumably park the vehicle.

Advantages and industriality

With the present invention, a user can know the point in which he has implemented his parking lot at any time, for example even when he forgets to record the relative positioning.

An obviously advantageous use is that which refers to an elderly person, whether he lives with his family or lives alone: the cases of elderly people - and not - who forget where they parked the vehicle and even report the theft are well known. .

The high integrability of the service described with the typical functions of mobile phone use should be noted; for example, it should be noted that if the map is not provided by a GPS system integrated with the mobile phone, a series of maps is prepared by the service provider (the network operator) and can be managed with only the usual arrows that are available on a cell phone keypad. As well as the possible graphic implementations with extremely versatile programming languages, specifically dedicated to the management of interactive graphics on mobile video, have already been highlighted.

It will be understood that the above description and the accompanying drawings are intended only to illustrate the present invention. It is obvious to those who are well versed in the art that the invention can be varied and modified in other ways as well without departing from the fundamental purpose of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims (9)

CLAIMS 1. Technique for locating the position in which a vehicle has been parked by means of the mobile phone characterized by the fact of including two distinct phases relating to: A- memorization of the position in which the vehicle is parked including in turn i- access to the service based on the caller's IMSI as an access key with which authentication is performed directly from the mobile phone; ii- the acquisition of the vehicle identification; iii- the acquisition of the map and its identification, updated with the point where the vehicle was parked, iv - the registration and management of information in a database, on which to subsequently query, said information including at least the updated map with the location point together with the relative map identifier, associated with the corresponding vehicle identifier and the date and parking time, B- search for the position in which the vehicle is parked including in turn the phases relating to I - authenticated access to the service based on the same IMSI relating to the SIM of the caller's mobile phone used as an access key, II - the acquisition of the request for location of the vehicle parked in the relative area, including at least part of the identification of the vehicle and / or the area in which it is possibly parked, III - by means of a search based on the comparison between input data and matching input vehicle identification / identification stored in the database, the retrieval of an identification of the map in which said vehicle is located by sending the map detected with the information relating to the position and the time and date of the parking is superimposed on the mobile phone of the user who requested it. 2. Technique for locating the position in which a vehicle has been parked according to claim 1, characterized by the fact of operating on a manual input of the data relating to the position in which the vehicle is parked and to the identification of the vehicle, after the vehicle has been parked in one of the zones identified by the identification of the localization zone. 3. Technique for locating the position in which a vehicle has been parked according to each of the preceding claims characterized by the fact that at the time of parking registration (A-ii) just implemented it is detected whether the location map is among the default of the mobile phone in which case the map is directly loaded (14), otherwise the same map is requested from the service center of the network operator, in relation to the parking site where the vehicle is left. 4. Technique for locating the position in which a vehicle has been parked according to claim 1 characterized by the fact that the data to be acquired are automatically detected by the GPS system which interacts with the user's cellular telephone detection procedures in mobility being the service center at the cellular network operator in charge of storing the data, the acquisition phase (A-ii) of the location identifiers including the reception of the current latitude and the current longitude from a satellite receiver. 5. Technique for locating the position in which a vehicle has been parked according to claim 4 characterized by the fact that, in relation to the typical functions of the satellite navigator, the activation of the detection requires that a one-to-one correspondence is established between mobile phone and vehicle (GSM / GPS) based on the signal strength received by the mobile phone, and / or based on cell changes. 6. Technique for locating the position in which a vehicle has been parked according to each of the preceding claims characterized by the fact that the interworking between the cellular network and the satellite network is based i- on the detection by the radio base station that one of the n SIMs enabled for the service is moving at the speed typical of a vehicle, ii- on the request to the GPS which of the cars in the registered fleet is also moving with the same mode in the direction detected by the variations in the handover signal strength or by the passage from one cell to another, iii- on the updating of information accessible in real time so as to allow each of the users enabled to the service to know by means of their mobile phone where each vehicle is, if it is stationary or in motion and in this case which one is ̈ the driver, identified through the SIM, currently in possession of the aforementioned vehicle. 7. Technique for locating the position in which a vehicle has been parked according to each of the preceding claims characterized by the fact of implementing a predictive function which, starting from the indications on the direction in which the currently moving vehicle is moving, deduces that between a † t, it will certainly be in a particular parking lot and can be detected there. 8. Technique for locating the position in which a vehicle has been parked according to each of the preceding claims characterized by the fact of using only the mobile phone supporting a GPS function, to reuse the information and maps provided by the GPS itself in order to memorize time at a time in the memory of the mobile phone the map and the information relating to the last parking carried out, so that they can then be recalled directly when retrieving the parked vehicle. 9. Telematic network apparatus for locating the position in which a vehicle has been parked according to each of the preceding claims, characterized by the fact of using the mobile phone and the mobile network that provides the relative service, and a processing system at a service server which includes a database for managing the archive of vehicles registered in the location service, e - detection means that acquire at least one localization map with relative reference of the point where the vehicle is parked in order to memorize the identifier of the position associated with the identifier of the vehicle, - means of acquisition and fulfillment of a request for location of the vehicle parked within the area, by means of location maps updated in real time able to provide the required location.