Patent ID: 6968176

Claim:
A vehicle communication path-tracing system comprising: portable transmitter means for transmitting a command signal intended for and identifying a target vehicle; and a plurality of transceiver/controller means, each transceiver/controller means being located separate from said portable transmitter means, one of said transmitter/controller means being located at the target vehicle, at least one other of said transceiver/controller means being at an intermediate location separate from the target vehicle, the at least one intermediately located transceiver/controller means including means for receiving the command signal intended for the target vehicle and for transmitting a retransmitted command signal, said target vehicle transceiver/controller means including means for receiving the retransmitted command signal and for transmitting an acknowledgement signal in response to receipt of the retransmitted command signal, the acknowledgement signal being intended for reception by the at least one intermediately located transceiver/controller means that previously transmitted the retransmitted command signal which was received by the target vehicle transceiver/controller means, the at least one intermediately located transceiver/controller means including means for receiving the acknowledgement signal and for transmitting a retransmitted acknowledgement signal; wherein the at least one intermediately located transceiver/controller means is located within a vehicle other than the target vehicle and is a target vehicle transceiver/controller means for another vehicle communication system.