SATELLITE/RADIO BASED TRACING SYSTEM

Abstract: A satellite and radio based tracing system, by means of which it is possible to localise many kinds of objects (1) to be traced by a supervisor (2), whereby both the object (1) to be traced and the supervisor (2) are moving in the surroundings in relation to each other, and which system comprises one or more GPS receivers (3, 4) which are mounted on the object (1) to be traced and at the supervisor (2), respectively, and which over GPS satellites (5) give information of bearing and distance from the supervisor (2) to the object (1) to be traced, and preferably also the identity of said object (1) to be traced, a radio transmitter (6) mounted on the object (1) to be traced, which is arranged to issue a sound and/or a light signal which can be intercepted by the supervisor (2) and which is activated at a sound level over a certain sound level, and which in other cases can be activated manually.

Description: SATELLITE/RADIO BASED TRACING SYSTEM The present invention generally relates to a satellite/radio based tracing system, and the invention is more particularly directed to such a system, by means of which it is possible to localise many kinds movable objects, like beating dogs, for instance during hunting, persons who have gone lost in woods and fields or have lost their orientation in the mountains, for localising stolen cars or boats, for different types of use in the military field, for localising persons or objects who move in fields like in agricultural activities, for localising persons who trigger an alarm and for many other purposes. The invention is more particularly based on a combination of a GPS tracing system, which is known in the art, and a sound or light system having a transmitter and a receiver, whereby it is possible, using said combination, both to receive an indication when the object or the person which is looked for moves and/or triggers some type of alarm, and also in which the system shows the bearing and the distance to the object or the person who is looked for, and which information can be intercepted by the supervising person. The system preferably can be formed for frequently reading the positions both of the object which is looked for and the supervising person and in which at least the bearing and the distance between the object or person to be traced and the supervising person are emitted. An advantage with the system according to the invention is that the supervising person continuously can see the bearing and the distance to the object or person, even if both the supervising person him/herself and the object or person to be traced move, and the respective positions change continuously. Sole GPS supervising systems are known for instance from the patent GB 2.312.112, which discloses a GPS system by means of which it is possible to see the distance and the direction to a skier who may have been buried in snow after there has been an avalanche. This system does not provide for giving the possibility of creating a supervising both in the case the person to be traced moves in the nature and in the case both the supervising person the person to be traced moves in the nature. The system also has no sound or light signal which gives alarm to the supervising person in case something happens. A similar sole GPS system is shown in the patent US 5,422,816. The patent GB 2.322.248 discloses a similar GPS system which can be used in the case a person which is to be traced moves in the nature, and in which several persons, each having a portable distance terminal, can observe the positions of each other by directing a question into a central tracing system. Also this system has no possibility of supervising in case both the supervising person and the person to be traced moves in the nature, and the system also has no means for giving alarm to the supervising person in case something happens. US patent 5,661 ,652 discloses a GPS system formed with a two-way radio communication system for transmitting information over radio of the positions of several GPS receivers belonging to each respective person to other GPS receivers. Also in this system there is no possibility of giving the supervising person information about bearing and distance to the object looked for in case both the supervising person and the object looked for move in the nature. There is also no means for giving alarm to the supervising person in case something happens. It is also not possible in practice, and is generally also not of interest, to constantly supervise the position of an object or of a person moving in the nature. What is of interest often is to get an indication when something happens. This may be that a dog starts barking thereby marking that said dog has beated or is beating a game, it may be a person giving alarm because he/she has lost his/her way, it may be a person screaming in case being assaulted, it may for instance be a voice alarm in case an accident has happened, etc. Both the supervising person and the object to be traced are connected to a GPS system which frequently, for instance every second updates to positions of the object to be traced and of the supervising person, and in the said case the object to be traced is also equipped with a radio transmitter and the supervising person is equipped with a radio receiver. When a dog starts barking, or a person gives out a sound etc., a pulse is transmitted over the radio transmitter to a receiver giving information that a sound alarm has been given off, and concurrently therewith information of the latest known position of the object which is which is supervised with information of bearing and distance from the supervisor to the supervised object and the time for said latest updated position. The supervisor can observe, by means of a light or a sound signal, that an alarm is being received, and the GPS receiver thereby issues the desired information about bearing and distance to the object from which alarm has been transmitted. For a more close explanation of the invention reference is made to the accompanying drawing which shows an example in which a hunting dog is supervised during hunting. It is, however, to be understood that the described case only relates to one out of many possible examples of use of the invention, and that said example does not restrict the invention in any respect. Thus, the accompanying drawing shows a system for localising a beating dog during hunting. The dog 1 can run beating over long distances in woods and fields, and also the dog driver 2 may move in relation to the dog. It is thereby important that the dog driver 2, and eventually also other hunters in the hunting team, can localise the dog with respect to the position of the dog 1 in relation to the dog driver 2 or any other hunters, respectively, especially by obtaining information of the bearing and the distance from the dog driver 2 and/or the hunter to the dog 1. To this end there is used a GPS system having at least one mobile GPS receiver 3, which is applied to the dog 1 , and one mobile GPS receiver 4 kept at the dog driver 2. As usual it is possible, using the GPS system, to localise the dog 1 by means of several satellites 5. In this case the GPS system is formed so that it is able to localise the dog 1 even in the case the dog moves over a fairly large area, and even in the case that the dog driver moves over a certain area. In combination with the GPS system there is also used a radio system comprising a radio transmitter 8 which is mounted on the dog 1 and a radio receiver 7 kept at the dog driver 2. The radio system can be formed so that the radio transmitter is activated at a sound over a certain sound level, in the illustrated case when the dog barks, what normally happens when the dog has "stopped" an animal. In other applications the transmitter can be activated manually. In still further applications the sound transmitter is activated for instance when an engine is started, at normal speech level in the driver's cabin of a car or a boat, upon screaming in case of an assault or in case of accidents, etc. The sound which is transmitted by the transmitter 6 is received in a receiver available to the dog driver 2, and this transmitted sound can be obtained in the form of a light and/or a sound signal in a receiver unit 8, so that the dog driver 2 (the supervisor) immediately gets an indication that the dog is barking (the car or the boat is started without authorisation, an assault has been made or an accident has occurred etc.). The receiving unit 8 thereby issues a number of information, the most important information of which relate to: - the polar bearing 9 between the dog driver 2 and the dog 1 , - the distance 10 between the position of the dog 1 and the position of the dog driver. Additional information may be: - the time when the sound was received in the receiver, - the original position of the dog driver 2 or the position at the latest received sound, etc. The GPS system is formed so that it is possible to localise the object 1 which is looked for, even if said object 1 and also the supervisor 2 are moving over fairly wide areas. In the accompanying drawing is indicated by dotted lines that both the dog 1 and the dog driver 2 have moved to different positions, whereby the desired information can any time be obtained over the radio system 6 and the GPS system 5. The object 1 which is continuously, or at predetermined intervals, looked for sends, via the GPS system, signals 12 giving information of its position and information of the identity of said object looked for. The information about the identity can be of value in case one and the same supervisor 2, or eventually several supervisors want to obtain the positions of several objects 1 to be traced, for instance several dogs belonging to a hunting team, several skiers who are out on tour or are downhill skiing, whereby the supervisor can immediately identify the dog, the person, the object etc. from which the signal is emitted. In addition thereto signals 13 are sent, in some cases alarm signals, upon activation of some type of an indicator in the radio transmitter 3, for instance a sound and/or light transmitter, an inactivity transmitter, etc. The dot-lines in the drawing are indicating that the dog driver 2 gets information and alarm signals even if he/she has moved in relation to the dog 1 , and the double dot-lines indicate that corresponding information, and also sound and/or light signals are issued even if both the dog 1 and the dog driver 2 have moved in relation to each other. The core of the invention lies in the combination of a) a GPS tracing system and a sound/light system, in which the GPS signals are received over satellites, b) and in which the object 1 which is continuously, or at predetermined intervals looked for, gives out its position and its identity by means of the GPS signals 12, c) and in which signals or alarm signals, respectively, are issued by the radio transmitter 3 upon activation of some type of indicator in the transmitter (sound, light, inactivity etc.), d) a system which frequently and repeatedly reads the positions both of the object 1 which is looked for and the supervisor 2, and which gives at least the bearing and the distance between the object 1 and the supervisor 2, e) a system in which information is received for each separate object 1 looked for by indication of identity, even if the positions of the object 1 looked for and/or the supervisor 2 continuously change. REFERENCE NUMERALS 1 object looked for (to be traced) 2 supervisor 3 satellite receiver (at 1) 4 satellite receiver (at 2) 5 satellite 6 radio transmitter 7 radio receiver 8 receiver unit 9 bearing 0 time 1 time 2 satellite signals 3 radio signals

Claims: C L A I M S 1. A satellite and radio based tracing system, by means of which it is possible to localise many kinds of objects (1) to be traced by a supervisor (2), in which both the object (1) to be traced and the supervisor (2) can move in the surroundings in relation to each other, characterized in that the system comprises - one or more GPS receivers (3, 4) mounted on the object (1) to be traced, or on each object (1) to be traced and at the supervisor (2), respectively, and which over GPS satellites (5) give at least the position of the object (1) to be traced, - a radio transmitter means (6) mounted on the object (1) to be traced, which is arranged to give off a sound and/or a light signal which can be intercepted by the supervisor (2). 2. A system according to claim 1 , characterized in that in that the satellite receiver (3) which is mounted on the object to be traced is arranged to issue both a unique signal indicating the position of the object (1) to be traced, and also the identity of said object (1) to be traced. 3. System according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the satellite receivers (3, 4), both of the object (1) to be traced and of the supervisor (2), update their positions at predetermined intervals. 4. System according to claim 3, characterized in that the receiver unit (8) of the supervisor (2) is arranged to give the bearing (9) and the distance (10) from the supervisor (2) to the object (1) to be traced. 5. System according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that the receiver unit (8) of the supervisor (2) is arranged to also give the time of the latest registered position of the object (1) to be traced. 6. System according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the radio transmitter (3) of the object (1) to be traced is arranged to issue a signal (13), or an alarm signal, respectively, when subjected to a sound level of the object (1) to be traced which exceeds a predetermined lowest sound level, for instance a sound from a barking dog, of human speech or human screaming, of starting an engine, etc. 7. System according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the object (1) to be traced can also be brought to manually issue an alarm signal, or is arranged so that an alarm is issued when no change of position of the object (1) to be traced has been registered after a predetermined interval of time. 8. System according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the signal (13) from the object (1) to be traced is received in the form of a light signal and/or a sound signal and/or a vibration in the receiver unit (8) of the supervisor (2).

Inventors: FURMARK JAN-ERIK, FURMARK, JAN-ERIK
Applicants: FURMARK JAN ERIK, TRACER AB, FURMARK, JAN-ERIK
Application year: 2001
Main classification: G01S5
IPC codes: B60R25, G01S1, G01S5, G08B21