Patent ID: 8463488

Claim:
A vehicle control and monitoring system, comprising: a vehicle device comprising a processing subsystem, a communication subsystem that communicates over a wireless network, and a memory subsystem that stores: a plurality of user profiles, each user profile specifying a profile parameters for the user profile, the profile parameters defining operational limits for an automotive vehicle; an administrator profile, the administrator profile storing contact information for wirelessly providing data to an administrator device; and processing instructions that are executable by the processing subsystem and upon such execution cause the processing subsystem to perform operations comprising: determine a profile of a user that is in an operator role of a vehicle in which the vehicle device is installed; if the profile of the user in one of the user profiles, then: obtain vehicle parameters that describe the current operation of the vehicle; determine whether the vehicle parameters are within the operational limits defined by the profile parameters of the user profile of the user that is in the operator role of the vehicle; in response to determining that a vehicle parameter is not within the operational limits defined by the profile parameters, perform an out of profile parameter process that includes wirelessly sending a violation report to the administrator device by use of the communication subsystem; wherein: the contact information for wirelessly providing data to an administrator device comprises short messaging service (SMS) communication contact information; and wirelessly sending a violation report to the administrator device by use of the communication subsystem comprises sending a SMS message to the administrator device, the SMS message including location data and the data describing the vehicle parameters that are not within the operational limits; the violation report further comprises voice call data that facilitates establishing a voice call with the user that is in the operator role of the vehicle by use of the administrator device; the voice call data comprises a first cellular telephone number for the vehicle control and monitoring system; and further comprising software stored in a computer readable storage device, the software being executable by the administrator device and upon such execution cause the administrator device to perform operations comprising: in response to receiving the violation report by an SMS message: retrieve the location data from the violation report; render a map on a display device of the administrator device, the map including the location specified by the latitude and longitude coordinates; render an icon identifying the location of the vehicle; render on the map a message that describes the vehicle parameters that are not within the operational limits; and rendering on the map a voice call initiation prompt, the voice call initiation prompt being selectable and upon such selection causes the administrator device to initiate a voice call to the vehicle device.