Patent ID: 7853375

Claim:
A system for monitoring a vehicle, the system comprising: a sensor unit connectable to an OBD-II port of the vehicle for continually collecting at least one vehicle statistic by receiving the at least one vehicle statistic from a sensor built into the vehicle, wherein the vehicle statistic is at least one of speed, distance, acceleration, deceleration, or revolutions per minute; and a portable device separate from the sensor unit and comprising: a processor configured to control the portable device and automatically (i) request and receive the at least one vehicle statistic from the sensor unit (ii) wait for a period of time after requesting and receiving the at least one vehicle statistic, and (iii) after waiting, repeat steps (i) and (ii) continuously; a display for continuously displaying the at least one vehicle statistic, wherein the processor is configured to repeatedly update the at least one vehicle statistic that is displayed on the display as the at least one vehicle statistic is repeatedly received by the processor; and a transceiver configured to communicate with the sensor unit; wherein the sensor unit is configured to send the at least one vehicle statistic to the portable device when it receives a request.