In existing systems, stolen vehicles can be tracked and recovered by placing a tracking device inside the vehicle but these conventional systems do not provide any such system for tracking and recovery of stolen parts of a vehicle. Almost all parts of an automobile are quite expensive and have no security measures/features against theft. Also, the customized automobile parts are not insured against theft. One such customized part is the vehicle's wheel, which is very expensive. Normally, many SUV (Sports Utility Vehicle), truck or any automobile buyers replace factory wheels with custom wheels. Custom wheel aftermarket is one of the fastest growing segments in automobile industry. Since these custom wheels are quite expensive ($2000-$20000 per set), they are easy targets for theft. In such cases, mechanical protection or even wired electronic protections fails, because of the sophisticated means employed by vehicle thieves. Custom wheels are not covered under general insurance and also the expense of replacing factory wheels is high and at the very least a deductible payment.
The existing prior arts comprise a system which tracks the stolen wheels and sends the signal to the owner of the vehicle. The authentication process and data transmission process involved in the prior art is not secured. Also in the conventional systems, the devices used to transmit and receive the signal are not effective, which leads to reduced efficiency of the whole system.
The U.S. patent Ser. No. 12/954,322, titled “Method of detecting a vehicle tire theft”, discloses about a system and method for detecting a missing vehicle tire and notifying a user of the vehicle about a potential vehicle tire theft. The method carried out by the system involves detecting that a tire is missing from a vehicle using a vehicle tire pressure monitoring (TPM) system and thereafter providing a notification of the missing tire via a wireless communication sent from a telematics unit on the vehicle. However, the secured data transmission is required as valid identification number for each sensor is used as an indicator of a missing tire in the existing art. Further, this prior art discusses about the navigation system and a program to run vehicle system and subsystem diagnostic tests. Based on the speed of the vehicle, ignition status and the movement of the wheels, the vehicle tire theft is detected.
The Chinese patent number 203472438, titled “Tire pressure alarming monitoring system with low-frequency trigger”, discloses the tire pressure alarming monitoring system comprising a tire pressure alarming controller, a tire pressure alarming emitter and a tire pressure alarming receiver. The system includes low-frequency trigger, information sending equipment, information receiving equipment and instruction sending equipment. The information receiving equipment and the instruction sending equipment are connected with the tire pressure alarming controller through the Bluetooth module. According to the tire pressure alarming monitoring system with the low-frequency trigger, a user can switch ON or switch OFF the monitoring system with the instruction sending equipment according to a requirement. The system disclosed in this prior art is used for tire pressure warning system and improving the safety of driving, but it fails to send the alarm to one or more authorized persons during theft or tampering of the vehicles or may be parts of the vehicle.
The Chinese patent number 201998943, titled “Automobile anti-theft device based on GPS”, discloses an automobile anti-theft device based on GPS (global positioning system), which comprises an automobile condition detecting module, a communication module connected with the automobile condition detecting module, an anti-theft controller connected with the communication module and an automobile condition detecting module. The communication module and anti-theft controller are arranged in an engine cover, and the automobile anti-theft device and a GPS navigation system are connected with an automobile relay controller used for locking an engine. In this prior art, the ignition of the vehicle is locked to ensure the security of the vehicle. Also, this system cannot be installed on the existing systems and requires the development of device, which involves high cost. However, this system is restricted to an automobile anti-theft device but not for the parts of the automobile.
The Japanese patent number 2008012977, titled “Tire/Wheel Theft Detecting Device”. The acceleration information from the detecting unit is received by a monitoring unit. The change pattern of the received acceleration in a predetermined time and a change pattern stored in advance in the monitoring unit are compared, and a theft alarm is raised when the change pattern is out of a permissible range. The theft alarm in this prior art is raised based on the acceleration behavior of the automobile.
Hence, looking at the problems in the prior art, there is a need for an anti-theft and tracking device for automobile and automobile wheels, which is configured to track and send alerts to the owner of the automobile during the theft. Moreover, the system must also provide secured authentication and data transmission process.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds