The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 18, 2001
Filed:
Apr. 20, 2000
Hatim Yousef Amro, Austin, TX (US);
George Kraft, IV, Austin, TX (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A wireless network and an associated communication device are disclosed. The communication device is typically mounted in a first vehicle and includes a location device, such as a global positioning system receiver, suitable for determining the first vehicle's geographic position, a wireless transceiver enabled to communicate with a wireless transceiver of a second vehicle within a wireless range of the first vehicle, and a processor connected to the wireless transceiver and the location device. The processor is able to use the wireless transceiver and the location device to broadcast travel information of the first vehicle and to identify the presence of the second vehicle. The processor may also be enabled to display the position of the second vehicle on a display screen of the communication device or to enable the first vehicle to communicate with the second vehicle. The communication device may be configure to permit a user of the first vehicle, by clicking on an image of the second vehicle on the display screen, to obtain identification information of the second vehicle or to initiate a communication with the second vehicle. The communication with the traveler in the second vehicle may comprise a voice communication or an electronic message such as an email message. The first vehicle may include one or more environmental sensors connected to the processor that permit the communication device to broadcast weather information to other vehicle in the vicinity. The travel information exchanged among the vehicle may be organized into categories enabling the traveler to restrict information exchange based on one or more of the categories. The restriction criteria may include route criteria, transportation class criteria, and identity criteria.