Vehicle location system

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Turning now descriptively to the drawings, in which similar reference characters denote similar elements throughout the several views, FIGS.
1 through 5 illustrate the vehicle locator system of the present invention indicated generally by the numeral 10.
The vehicle locator system 10 is illustrated in FIG.
1 for use by a person 12 to locate a particular vehicle 13 within a parking lot 14.
This figure illustrates the parking lot 14 including a plurality of vehicles 18 parked therein.
When parking a vehicle in such a parking lot 14 it is easy to forget where the vehicle was parked.
When the parking lot is full, the person 12 who parked the vehicle 13 will have a very difficult time locating the vehicle 13 if the location of the vehicle is forgotten.
The vehicle locator system 10 of the present invention utilizes the Global Positioning Satellite Network, illustrated by the satellite 16 orbiting the earth for aiding the person 12 in determining the location of the vehicle 13.
The vehicle locator system 10 includes a remote unit 20 and a vehicle locator unit 22, see FIGS.
3-5 for an illustration and description of the vehicle locator unit 22.
The remote unit 20 is retained by the user 12 and can be in the form of a key ring or other unobtrusive form which is not burdensome to the user 12.
The vehicle locator unit 22 is positioned within the vehicle 13.
The remote unit 20 communicates with the GPS satellite 16 when activated to determine a location thereof in terms of longitude, latitude and altitude.
Upon activation of a location key, the remote unit 20 transmits a request signal to the GPS satellite 16 as indicated by the arrow labeled with the numeral 24.
The GPS satellite 16 receives this signal 24 and determines the longitude, latitude and altitude of the remote unit 20.
The GPS satellite 16 then transmits a signal indicative of the determined longitude, latitude and altitude of the remote unit 20 to the remote unit 20 as indicated by the arrow labeled with the numeral 26