Patent ID: 7113127

Claim:
A wireless appliance for monitoring a vehicle, comprising: (a) a microprocessor configured to select a vehicle-communication protocol used within a host vehicle and communicate with the host vehicle through the vehicle-communication protocol, wherein the vehicle-communication protocol is selected based on a vehicle type of the host vehicle; (b) a vehicle-communication circuit, in electrical communication with the microprocessor, configured to collect diagnostic data from the host vehicle using the vehicle-communication protocol; (c) a GPS module, in electrical communication with the microprocessor, configured to generate location-based data; (d) a first wireless transmitter operating on a terrestrial network and configured to receive and transmit data generated by the GPS module and collected by the vehicle-communication circuit; (e) a second wireless transmitter operating on a satellite network and configured to receive and transmit data generated by the GPS module and collected by the vehicle-communication circuit; and (f) a single chipset that comprises the GPS module and the first and second wireless transmitters, wherein the microprocessor is further configured to determine at least one of coverage associated with the terrestrial network and coverage associated with the satellite network, and wherein the microprocessor is further configured to select the first or second wireless transmitter to transmit the diagnostic and location-based data.