Abstract:
An improved system and method for creating and accessing a centralized database containing an assorted variety of information related to a debtor such as physical addresses of the debtor or his friends, associates and relatives, as well as information related to a mobile asset, such as physical description information, collectively referred to as “identifying information.” Methods are also disclosed for lenders and others to send identifying information to the centralized database, and for users such as skip tracers to be able to download and use the information located in the database for asset recovery purposes.

Description:
PRIORITY CLAIM 
       [0001]    This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/412,379 filed on Mar. 5, 2012, entitled “Method and System for Locating a Mobile Asset,” now pending, which is a non-provisional application claiming priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/449,481, filed on Mar. 4, 2011 and entitled “Method and System for Locating a Mobile Asset,” the contents of each are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. 
     
    
     TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention relates generally to a method and system for locating a mobile asset by making use of user operated mobile devices that communicate with a database to download identifying information related to the mobile asset, and determine whether a mobile asset is within proximity of a mobile device/user. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    Currently, an industry exists that is supported by multiple companies, software, databases, and tools known as the “skip tracing” industry. Skip tracing describes the technique wherein one or more individuals use various resources to locate an individual for any number of purposes. Individuals who locate other individuals using such resources are colloquially known as skip tracers; they are quasi-investigators who use communications skills, investigative skills, skip tracing software, public and private databases, and other means to locate an individual. 
         [0004]    One particular use of skip tracing is to locate individuals who allegedly owe a debt to a creditor. Often times, a person is being sought because he/she owes money to a creditor and has defaulted on the obligation. These obligations are usually secured by tangible property, assets or collateral which the lender is seeking to recover. For instance, a debtor may purchase a motor vehicle under a loan from a lender, with the lender taking a security interest in the motor vehicle. Should the debtor default by failing to meet the obligations of the loan terms, the lender may seek to recover the motor vehicle to help satisfy the conditions of the loan. Skip tracing may therefore be used to find the person(s), which may or may not be the debtor, who most likely has access to the vehicle or other mobile asset that secures the loan. Upon locating the vehicle or mobile asset, the lender may choose to recover the asset to help satisfy the outstanding debt. 
         [0005]    However, while skip tracers rely on information provided by lenders in order to facilitate the tracing of tangible assets in the possession of debtors or their associates, there is currently a lack of a complete system to allow skip tracers to conveniently access information regarding assets or collateral sought to be recovered by various lenders. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    It is therefore a general object of the present invention to provide an improved system and method for a centralized database containing an assorted variety of information related to a debtor such as physical addresses of the debtor or his friends, associates and relatives, as well as information related to a mobile asset, such as physical description information, collectively referred to as “identifying information.” It is another object of the present invention to provide methods for lenders and others to send identifying information to the centralized database, and for users such as skip tracers to be able to download and use the information located in the database for asset recovery purposes. 
         [0007]    A method and system for locating a mobile asset by making use of user operated mobile devices that communicate with a database to download identifying information related to the mobile asset, and determine whether a mobile asset is within proximity of a mobile device/user comprises the steps of sending identifying information related to the mobile asset to the database. The information is processed by a server which reverse-geocodes physical address information into coordinate information readable by global positioning system (GPS)-enabled devices. The processed information along with other information is sent to mobile devices such as notebook computers or other hand held devices over a network connection. 
         [0008]    The mobile devices use the information received from the database to determine whether certain conditions or events occur, and may notify a user of the mobile device that the conditions or events have occurred. The mobile devices receive data alerts containing identifying information related to a mobile asset such as the GPS coordinates of relevant addresses. These GPS coordinates and other related identifying information are then stored in the memory of the mobile device. The mobile device continuously compares the user&#39;s present location with the GPS coordinates of relevant addresses downloaded from the database. Upon determining that the mobile device is within a predetermined distance from a mobile asset listed in the memory of the mobile device, the mobile device alerts and directs the user to the specific location of where the mobile asset may be located. The user is also provided with a description of the mobile asset and is directed to visually scan the area for the mobile asset. The mobile device then awaits input from the user indicating whether visual contact with the mobile asset is confirmed. If the user responds that the mobile asset has been visually located, the mobile device then instructs the user on any further action to take. 
         [0009]    In one embodiment of the present invention, the mobile asset to be recovered is a motor vehicle. In this embodiment, identifying information regarding the mobile asset may be characteristics such as color, make model, vehicle identification number (VIN) and year of the motor vehicle. 
         [0010]    In another embodiment of the present invention, the wireless internet connection is a wifi or a wireless broadband internet connection. 
         [0011]    In still another embodiment of the present invention, the identifying information sent to the database may be from a lender or creditor of the debtor. In other embodiments of the present invention, the identifying information sent to the database may be from other public or private databases. 
         [0012]    A method related to locating a mobile asset, the method comprising the steps of maintaining a database of a plurality of mobile assets, the database including identifying information, associated information and location information for each mobile asset; maintaining a database of users, each user having a type designation; the identifying information for the mobile asset includes at least one of: a physical description of the mobile asset, a license plate number, a VIN, a name of individuals associated with the Mobile Asset, information identifying a make, model, or color, a photograph of the mobile asset, information identifying a type of the mobile asset such as automobile, boat, plane, trailer, RV, or motorcycle, or other information that facilitates identifying the mobile asset; the associated information related to the mobile asset includes at least one of: lender information, public records information, public safety criminal history information, an identity of an authorized agent, a preauthorized payment amount for verifying the location of the mobile asset, a basis upon which the mobile asset is of interest, a type of action to be performed with respect to the mobile asset, or a financial indicator related to the type of action to be performed with respect to the mobile asset or other previously entered associated information with the mobile asset other than identifying information or location information; the location information includes at least one of: a residence location associated with an owner of the mobile asset, a work location associated with an owner of the mobile asset, a location where the mobile asset has been, or a location of a different mobile asset associated with the mobile asset of interest; establishing a communication between a mobile device and the database; receiving from the mobile device information identifying the current location of the mobile device; comparing the current location of the mobile device to at least one item of location information for at least one mobile asset; and sending to the mobile device at least one item of identifying information and at least one item of location information based on the results of the comparison. 
         [0013]    In one embodiment, at least some of the identifying information and at least some of the location information is transmitted to the mobile device for storage. 
         [0014]    In a further embodiment, at least some of the associated information is transmitted to the mobile device for storage in addition to identifying and/or location information. 
         [0015]    The invention is not limited to any particular mobile device. The mobile device referred to herein may be a smart phone, a tablet computer, a laptop computer or other GPS enabled device capable of wirelessly connecting to the database. 
         [0016]    The invention may also maintain information regarding the age of the location information in the database. For example, for location information comprising coordinates of a residence, the age of the information may be the date when the record owner of the mobile asset obtained financing for the mobile asset and provided information regarding their residence address. For location information comprising information extracted from a photograph of the license plate of the mobile asset, the age of the information would be based on the time when the scan occurred. Other information in the database may be time stamped and such time stamp may be used as a criteria within the system. 
         [0017]    In one embodiment of the invention, the database receives verification that the mobile asset has been located. 
         [0018]    In one embodiment of the invention, the database validates the type of user associated with a particular mobile device and transmits information related to the mobile asset selected based in part on the type of user receiving the information. For example, the user type may indicate that the user is associated with a commercial vehicle recovery service and the database would selectively transmit information regarding mobile assets to be recovered. Alternatively, the user type may be associated with law enforcement and the database would selectively transmit information regarding stolen vehicles. In the case of vehicle recovery service, the database may also transmit information related to the financial terms associated with the recovery of the vehicle to the mobile device. 
         [0019]    If the user type is associated with law enforcement, the database may selectively transmit information regarding stolen vehicles or other categories of crime related to national, state or local public safety vehicle hot-lists such as “missing person”, “gang/terrorist member”, “wanted person”, “felony warrant”, “sex offender”, “stolen license plate” and “protection order”. 
         [0020]    As referred to hereinabove and throughout, the “present invention” refers to one or more exemplary embodiments of the present invention, which may or may not be claimed, and such references are not intended to limit the language of the claims, or to be used to construe the claims in a limiting manner. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0021]    The objects and features of the invention will become more readily understood from the following detailed description and appended claims when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which like numerals represent like elements. 
           [0022]    The drawings constitute a part of this specification and include exemplary embodiments to the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. It is to be understood that in some instances various aspects of the invention may be shown exaggerated or enlarged to facilitate an understanding of the invention. 
           [0023]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a system for locating a Mobile Asset. 
           [0024]      FIG. 2  is a flow chart illustrating a process of entering identifying information into a database, generating relevant GPS coordinates from the information, and storing the GPS coordinates correlated with identifying information. 
           [0025]      FIG. 3  is a flow chart illustrating a process for a mobile device to receive debtor/mobile asset identifying information from the database, determine proximity of the mobile device with at least one mobile asset, and providing further information for verifying the identity of the mobile asset. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0026]    The following description is presented to enable any person skilled in the art to make and use the invention, and is provided in the context of a particular application and its requirements. Various modifications to the disclosed embodiments will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein. As used herein, “substantially” is to be construed as a term of approximation. 
         [0027]      FIG. 1  shows a block diagram of a system  11  for locating a Mobile Asset  123 . System  11  may comprise a database  115  which stores information related to a debtor or other person associated with the Mobile Asset  123 . Information related to the Mobile Asset  123  or related person may be received by database  115  from various sources such as information provided by a lender  111 , or from other public or privately available databases  113 , such as the internet. In the case of a stolen vehicle, associated persons may be the thief or thieves, if known or other individuals associated with the crime. 
         [0028]    Location information supplied to database  115  related to the debtor or record title holder may be physical addresses associated with the debtor and/or the debtor&#39;s associates, friends, and relatives, referred to herein as “location information.” Location information regarding a thief may include their residence location, if known, the location from which the mobile asset was stolen or the location where the mobile asset was observed after the theft occurred, if any. Location information may also include GPS coordinates associated with a scan of a license plate of the Mobile Asset. Such location information may have a timestamp indicating when the information was received, collected or validated. Location information may also include GPS coordinates or other indicia of location entered into the database from sources other than license plate scans or information about the record title holder or others associated with them. 
         [0029]    The identifying information supplied to the database may also include information related to the characteristics of the Mobile Asset  123  itself, such as the make, model, color, and vehicle identification number (VIN) of an automobile. Additional sources of information may be utilized in order to further supply pertinent information regarding a debtor or Mobile Asset  123 . Such additional sources of information may be publicly available records or databases such as government records or other information available on the internet. Additionally, private databases may also be utilized in order to gather as much pertinent information related to a debtor or Mobile Asset  123 . 
         [0030]    Database  115  may also include information regarding a type of user associated with a particular mobile device. For example whether a particular mobile device is associate with law enforcement or asset recovery services may be maintained by Database  115 . 
         [0031]    Database  115  may also include additional information associated with a particular Mobile Asset such as lender information, an identify of an authorized agent, a preauthorized payment amount for verifying the location of the mobile asset, a basis upon which the mobile asset is of interest, a type of action to be performed with respect to the mobile asset, or a financial indicator related to the type of action to be performed with respect to the mobile asset or other previously entered associated with the mobile asset other than identifying information. The basis upon which the mobile asset is of interest may include that the Mobile Asset is subject to a repossession order or that the Mobile Asset is a stolen vehicle. The financial indicator may be a specific pre-authorized amount that will be paid by a lender upon successful repossession of the Mobile Asset or may be an indicator of which actions must be taken to obtain authorization to recover the Mobile Asset. 
         [0032]    Database  115  is communicably coupled to a server  117  which may process information received and stored in database  115 . Information processed by server  117  may include location information such as physical address locations which may be reverse geocoded by server  117  in order to obtain coordinate information readable by GPS enabled devices. This coordinate information is sent to database  115  where it is stored. Once database  115  has stored processed information related to Mobile Asset  123 , it may send the location information, along with asset or debtor or other identifying information to a number of Mobile Devices  121  through a network  119 . The server may also send information regarding the age of the location information to the mobile device. 
         [0033]    In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, Mobile Device  121  may be a GPS-enabled cellular phone or smart phone, a notebook or laptop computer with an attached GPS device, or any other portable device with a GPS transceiver and the capability to send or receive information from the network  119 . In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the network  119  used by database  115  for communicating with Mobile Devices  121  is the internet. However, other network types may also be suitably used. For instance, an intranet, or local area network may be used by Mobile Device  121  to communicate and transfer information with database  115 . 
         [0034]    Using an available GPS transceiver, Mobile Device  121  continuously monitors and compares the present location of Mobile Device  121  with the location information sent by database  115 . Alternatively, the Server  117  may compare the location information associated with a particular Mobile Asset with GPS information received from the Mobile Device  121  indicating the Mobile Device  121 ′s current location. Preferably, Mobile Device  121  has an integrated GPS transceiver. If Mobile Device  121  or Server  117  detects correlation with location information associated with an asset within a certain set proximity (e.g., one mile from a known debtor address) during this continuous monitoring and comparing of location information, Mobile Device  121  will alert a user operating Mobile Device  121  by visual, audible or vibratory means. Alternatively, Server  117  may transmit an alert to the mobile device. For a further alternative, Server  117  may transmit to Mobile Device  121  a plurality of records related to Mobile Assets of interest selected for proximity to the current GPS coordinates of the mobile device. Server  117  may, periodically, upon receipt of a request from Mobile Device  121  or based on some other predetermined criteria, transmit a revised plurality of records based on, among other things, an updated set of GPS coordinates for the Mobile Device  121 . 
         [0035]    Mobile Device  121  may include a software application that performs additional filtering on the records received from Server  117  and provide alerts based on continuously updated proximity between Mobile Device  121  and a set of locations associated with a plurality of Mobile Assets  123 . The software running on Mobile Device  121  may apply additional filtering criteria in addition to the current proximity. For example, the software running on Mobile Device  121  may only provide an alert based on proximity to Mobile Asset locations which have an age less than a week. Alerts may be filtered based on any criteria selected by the user. 
         [0036]    Either mobile device or Server  117  may process additional information in determining whether to issue an alert. For example, the user type may also be used by Mobile Device  121  or Server  117  to determine whether to issue an alert. For example, a law enforcement user would not be issued an alert if they were close to a Mobile Asset being sought for repossession. Likewise, an asset recovery service would not necessarily be issued an alert when they were close to a stolen vehicle. 
         [0037]    The user may then be provided with further information related to Mobile Asset  123  in order to more accurately identify the asset. If the identity of Mobile Asset  123  is confirmed, for example by visual sighting, the user may notify database  115  of a match through an interface on Mobile Device  121 . Database  115  may then relay additional information or instructions to user through Mobile Device  121 . Alternatively, the identifying information may already have been stored on Mobile Device  121  and may be supplied to the user of the Mobile Device  121  directly. 
         [0038]    Turning now to  FIG. 2 , a flow chart of the methods steps for a preferred embodiment of the present invention is shown. In step  211 , identifying information related to a Mobile Asset  123  or associated individual is supplied to a database  115 . Generally, a lender will supply this information to database  115 , however, persons or parties other than a lender that seek to recover a Mobile Asset  123  may also submit information to the database  115 . Mobile Asset  123  may be any type of physical property that may normally move to different locations. Common examples of such mobile assets include motor vehicles such as cars, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, RVs, trailers and other transportation devices. Other types of mobile assets may include boats, planes, and other items. The information contained in the database includes location information associated with the asset or debtor, as well as other identifying information associated with the asset or debtor. 
         [0039]    Once all pertinent and available information related to a Mobile Asset  123  or associated individuals has been supplied to the database, the identifying information is entered and stored in the database at step  213 . At step  215 , database  115  sends location information, such as physical addresses, to a server  117 , and server  117  compiles a list of relevant locations based on the location information stored in the database. Next, at step  217 , server  117  reverse-geocodes the location information relevant to a particular debtor or Mobile Asset  123 . During the reverse-geocoding process, the location information is translated into specific latitude and longitude coordinates understandable by devices which utilize a global positioning system (GPS). Server  117  then transfers these GPS coordinates back to database  115  for storage at step  219 . During this step, the database  115  links the appropriate location information to the identifying information for a particular mobile asset being sought. 
         [0040]    Next, in  FIG. 3 , database  115  sends identifying information relevant to Mobile Assets  123  that may be located in the region of Mobile Device  121  at step  311 . The relevant information is sent to Mobile Device  121  via a network connection. As previously disclosed, Mobile Device  121  may be any electronic device capable of sending and receiving information from the database with GPS functionality. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the network used to send information to Mobile Device  121  is a wireless internet connection. 
         [0041]    Next, at step  313 , Mobile Device  121  receives the information sent from database  115  and stores the information in local memory located on the Mobile Device  121 . The received information may be GPS coordinate information. The information may also be asset information related to the Mobile Asset  123  or associated individual. After receiving and storing information related to the debtor or Mobile Asset  123 , Mobile Device  121  constantly monitors and compares the current location of Mobile Device  121  with the location information stored in the local memory of Mobile Device  121  at step  315 . If Mobile Device  121  determines that it has come within a predetermined proximity of a Mobile Asset listed in its local memory (e.g., one mile of a known debtor address), Mobile Device  121  alerts a user of the Mobile Device of this occurrence at step  317 . The alert may contain a message to the user that he/she may be in the vicinity of an asset which is wanted for recovery. Each of the data analysis steps described herein as occurring on the Mobile Device  121  may alternatively be performed on Server  117  and the results transmitted to Mobile Device  121  as they are relevant. 
         [0042]    Subsequently, at step  319 , Mobile Device  121  displays identifying information related to the Mobile Asset  123 . The displayed information may include a description of Mobile Asset  123 , an instruction to the user to visually scan the area for Mobile Asset  123 , and a request that the user indicate to the Mobile Device  121  whether visual sighting or contact with the Mobile Asset  123  has been confirmed. If the user inputs a response to the Mobile Device  121  that visual contact with Mobile Asset  123  has been confirmed, then at step  321 , Mobile Device  121  then displays additional information for the user to either recover Mobile Asset  123  if the user is legally able to do so, or await further instructions. In an embodiment of the present invention, the additional information displayed for the user comprises contact information for the lender or creditor (e.g., lender&#39;s name, email address, phone number). 
         [0043]    However, if visual contact of Mobile Asset  123  is not confirmed by the user, Mobile Device  121  returns to continuously monitoring and comparing the present location with GPS addresses stored on Mobile Device  121  at step  315 . 
         [0044]    It will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that the general principles defined herein may be applied to other embodiments and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention. 
         [0045]    Having thus described the exemplary embodiments, it is noted that the embodiments disclosed are illustrative rather than limiting in nature and that a wide range of variations, modifications, changes, and substitutions are contemplated in the foregoing disclosure and, in some instances, some features of the present invention may be employed without a corresponding use of the other features. Many such variations and modifications may be considered desirable by those skilled in the art based upon a review of the foregoing description of preferred embodiments. Accordingly, it is contemplated that the appended claims will cover any such modifications or embodiments that fall within the true scope of the invention.