Importance

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Abstract

A vehicle locating and navigating system operating in conjunction with a cellular telephone network is provided. A small, hidden device located in a vehicle is activated through DTMF signals transmitted from any telephone station. Upon activation, the device determines the power at which normally transmitted control channels are received from several base stations of the network. Based upon these determinations, the device then calculates the distance between the vehicle and each of the base stations and, using triangulation or arculation, determines the location of the vehicle. The locational information is transmitted through a voice synthesizer back to the telephone station from which the activation signal is received, or to a different telephone station dedicated to receive this information. The locational information also is transmitted digitally to a central station where the position of the vehicle is displayed on a computer screen along with a graphical representation of a map of the region served by the cellular telephone network. An operator at the central station can assist the vehicle's operator with navigational information or provide tracking coordinates to a tracking vehicle equipped with a similar device.

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First Claim