FIELD OF THE INVENTION:
[0001] The present invention relates to a theft proofing system for vehicles. More
particularly, the present invention relates to a tracking and immobilization system for
vehicles such as motorbike. However, the same system can be applied to other types of
motorized vehicles as well as to the supporting electronic engine management system.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION:
[0002] Automobile industry is one of the most important economic sectors of the
society in terms of revenue, therefore, growth of this sector plays a crucial role in the
development of any nation. In the past few decades there has been a tremendous growth in
this industry globally. This growth is not limited to any one zone, but has been an all-round
growth, be it tremendous improvements in engine technology or development of lightweight
materials for manufacturing automobile parts. However, one thing that has always posed a
serious challenge for the automobile engineers is auto theft. To deal with auto theft issues
engineers have come up with numerous technologies that include alarms, tracker systems for
locating the stolen automobiles and the like. Moreover, with the advancement of time even
these anti-theft systems have improved a lot.
[0003] Though these anti-theft systems have evolved with time but the conventional
technology has numerous limitations and drawbacks. Most of the conventional anti-theft
systems for automobiles use expensive technology and moreover these systems are mainly
for four wheeler vehicles. For example, conventional technology provides anti-theft system
with features such as tracking using GPS technology and remote immobilization, wherein
these features are available for bigger vehicles such as cars, trucks, buses etc. Moreover,
pocket friendly anti-theft or more precisely theft proofing system for two wheelers such as
motorbikes along with the features such as tracking and immobilization do not exist. The add
on systems available in market seriously suffer from being by passed or made dysfunctional
by thieves.
[0004] Thus, there exists a need for a theft proofing system for vehicles such as
motorbikes. Moreover, there exists a need for cheap and robust theft proofing system for two
wheelers with features such as a tracking and remote immobilization technology for the
owner.
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SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:
[0005] In an aspect, the present invention relates to a theft proofing system for
vehicles. The system comprising a Global Positioning satellite (GPS) unit configured to send
location coordinates of the vehicle, to a handheld device. A communication unit for
communicating with the handheld device, a flash memory for storing authentication details
and a microcontroller coupled to said flash memory, communication unit and GPS unit for
controlling ECU of the vehicle. Said microcontroller is configured to receive an
immobilization message from the handheld device via the communication unit. Further, the
microcontroller is configured to determine authenticity of the immobilization message
received from the handheld device. In an example, in response to confirmation that the
immobilization message is authentic, the microcontroller transmits the immobilization
message to restrict further movement of the vehicle.
[0006] In another aspect, the microcontroller is configured to transmit the
immobilization message to the ECU during ON state and stores the immobilization message
in the flash memory during the OFF state.
[0007] In yet another aspect, the microcontroller is configured to transmit the stored
immobilization message to the ECU when the state changes from OFF to ON.
[0008] In still another aspect, the communication unit comprises a GSM
infrastructure based micro-SIM to communicate with the handheld device.
[0009] In yet another aspect, the system includes a secondary battery for backup
power, in case of failure to receive power from the main batter of the vehicle.
[0010] In still another aspect, the system includes a vibration sensor connected to the
microcontroller and configured to provide alert against any tampering with the system.
[0011] In yet another aspect, the authentication details stored in the flash memory
comprises at least one of engine number, registration number, chassis number and like
information of the vehicle.
[0012] In still another aspect, the microcontroller is further configured to send a
verification message to the handheld device and in return receive a confirmation message
from the handheld device.
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[0013] In still another aspect, the present invention relates to a method of theft
proofing for the vehicles. The method comprising sending, by a Global Positioning Satellite
(GPS) unit, location coordinates of the vehicle to a handheld device. In addition, the method
includes receiving, by a communication unit, an immobilization message from the handheld
device. Determining, by a microcontroller, the authenticity of the immobilization message
received from the handheld device and in response to confirmation that the immobilization
message is authentic, transmitting, by the microcontroller, said immobilization message to an
Electronic Control Unit (ECU), to restrict the further movement of the vehicle.
[0014] In yet another aspect, the method further comprises transmitting, by the
microcontroller the immobilization message to the ECU in ON state. The method further
includes storing, by the microcontroller, the immobilization message in the flash memory in
OFF state.
[0015] In still another aspect, the method includes transmitting the stored
immobilization message to the ECU when the state changes from OFF to ON.
[0016] In yet another aspect, the method further includes the steps of sending, by the
microcontroller, a verification message to the handheld device and in response receiving a
confirmation message from the handheld device.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION:
[0017] The main object, of the present invention is to provide a theft proofing system
for motorbikes. The said system enables the owner to remotely immobilize the motorbike
using a handheld device, in case of various theft scenarios such as:
(a). The bike is forcibly snatched from the owner. In such a case, owner will
remotely immobilize the motorbike using his handheld device, moment he is out of harms
way. The bike would come to dead halt, not able to start by any means. The owner will pass
on the coordinates received, to law enforcement agency and take their help in recovery of
motorbike. This would also prevent crimes committed often using a stolen motorbike.
(b). The motorbike was parked for a short halt and owner finds it stolen upon
return. In such a case, owner will remotely immobilize the motorbike using his handheld
device. The bike would come to dead halt, not able to start by any means. The owner will
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pass on the coordinates received, to law enforcement agency and take their help in recovery
of motorbike.
(c). The motorbike was put on a truck with battery disconnected by thief. Such
stealing takes place for the purpose of dismembering the motorbike and sale of its parts as
spares. Normally this happens in case of newly purchased motorbikes. In that case,
motorbike will have a separate small high durability Li-ion battery attached to the system as
well as to accelerometer that triggers a message carrying location coordinates of the
motorbike to the handheld device of the owner, see figure 1(a)
(d). The motorbike was parked for long halt such as during night and owner
realizes much later about the theft. In such a case, the owner would activate the immobilizing
protocol SMS. Even though motorbike at that moment may not be running, it will get
immobilized moment thief tries to start the bike. Further, through the battery described
above, the system would emit location signals even if there is movement without switching
on the engine and would deactivate the engine from starting.
[0018] Still another object, of the present invention is to provide an owner friendly,
cheap and robust theft proofing system for motorbikes.
[0019] Still another object, of the present invention is to provide a tamper resistant
theft proofing system. Any attempt to temper with the system which is part of ECU shall
make the motorbike in-operative and emit the tracing signal coordinates to the owner via
SMS.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS:
[0020] The features of the present invention are set forth with particularity in the
appended claims. The invention itself, together with further features and attended advantages,
will become apparent from consideration of the following detailed description, taken in
conjunction with the accompanying drawings. One or more embodiments of the present
invention are now described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanied
drawings wherein like reference numerals represent like elements and in which:
[0021] Fig. 1(a) illustrates circuit diagram of a theft proofing system, according to
various embodiments.
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[0022] Fig. 1(b) discloses method for immobilization and tracking a stolen motorbike
using the said system, according to various embodiments.
[0023] Fig. 2 represents a figure of an owner immobilizing motorbike in case of theft,
according to various embodiments.
[0024] Fig. 3 represents exploded view of an electronic control unit casing along with
sealed surface with throttle body of fueling systems, according to various embodiments.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS:
[0025] While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative
forms, specific embodiment thereof has been shown by way of example in the drawings and
will be described in detail below. It should be understood, however that it is not intended to
limit the invention to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the invention is to
cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternative falling within the spirit and the scope of
the invention as defined by the appended claims.
[0026] Before describing in detail embodiments it may be observed that the novelty
and inventive step that are in accordance with the present invention reside in the theft
proofing system accordingly, the drawings are showing only those specific details that are
pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the
disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having
benefit of the description herein.
[0027] The terms “comprises”, “comprising”, or any other variations thereof, are
intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a setup, device that comprises a list of
components does not include only those components but may include other components not
expressly listed or inherent to such setup or device. In other words, one or more elements in a
system or apparatus proceeded by “comprises… a” does not, without more constraints,
preclude the existence of other elements or additional elements in the system or apparatus.
[0028] Figure 1(a) represents circuit diagram of a theft proofing system 100 for
vehicles. As shown in figure 1(a) the system 100 comprises a microcontroller 102, wherein
the microcontroller 102 is programmed to control the electronic control unit (not shown) of
motorbike (not shown). To supply continuous power to the system 100, the microcontroller
102 is connected to a battery (not shown) of the motorbike. In an embodiment, when the
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motorbike is not in “on” state then the said microcontroller 102 is powered through a
secondary battery 104 placed inside the circuit 100. Specifically, in an embodiment, the said
battery 104 provides backup power to the microcontroller 102, in case a burglar removes the
main battery or does not switch on the motorbike. The said battery 104 is a miniature battery
placed inside the system 100, which would have a life of 2-3 years. The circuit 100 further
comprises a Global Positioning satellite (GPS) unit 106, wherein, the said GPS unit 106 is
configured to be connected to the microcontroller 102. The said GPS unit 106 uses global
positioning satellite network to send location coordinates of the motorbike, in case of theft, to
a handheld device (not shown) of the owner. Moreover, the circuit 100 further comprises a
communication unit 108, wherein said communication unit 108 comprises a GSM
infrastructure based micro-SIM 110 and a PCB antenna 112. The said micro-SIM 110 is
configured to allow the microcontroller 102 to communicate with the handheld device (not
shown) of the owner. In an embodiment, if the motorbike is stolen, the owner would send an
SMS to the system 100. Specifically, in an embodiment, the SMS sent by the handheld
device of the owner is received by the communication unit 108 of the system 100 and is then
transferred to the microcontroller 102, wherein the said SMS relates to immobilization
message. The microcontroller then determines the authenticity of immobilization message.
To confirm the authenticity of the message the owner is required to go through password
verifications which could be at least one of vehicle registration number, engine number,
chasse number and the like features. Once, the authenticity of said message is confirmed by
the microcontroller there could be two possible scenarios, explained clearly by way of figure
1(b). In an embodiment, term SMS and message may be used interchangeably in the
specification.
[0029] Scenario one, where SMS is received by the system 100 with engine “on” in
that case, the SMS or immobilization message is transmitted to the ECU to restrict further
movement of the motorbike. In other words, in ON state the immobilization message will
stop the engine of the motorbike immediately and bring the motorbike to halt. In other case,
the SMS is received by the system 100 with engine “off”. In that case, the SMS or
immobilization message will be stored inside a flash memory 114 of the system 100.
However, once the engine is turned from OFF to ON state, said microcontroller 102 transmits
the stored immobilization message to the ECU to stop the engine of the motorbike.
Particularly, in both the cases the GPS unit 106 placed inside the system 100 will send the
location coordinates of the vehicle to the handheld device of the owner. The owner can use
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these location coordinates to trace the motorbike or may take the help of any law enforcement
agency by sharing coordinates with them.
[0030] The said immobilization message from the handheld device (not shown) to
the GPS unit 106 may be sent using a software application available in the handheld device
(not shown). In an embodiment, the handheld device may comprise of at least one of ; smart
phone, tablet, PDA and like devices. Further, in order to avoid any type of tampering or
mishandling, the circuit 100 is housed inside the electronic control unit in a sealed manner.
In another embodiment, to avoid any tampering the micro-SIM 110 may be designed as an
electronic SIM that forms an integral part of the circuit 100. Further, the system 100 includes
a vibration sensor 116 attached to the microcontroller 102 such that if there is any tampering
with the system 100, while main battery is disconnected or if the engine is off, then the same
is detected and notified to the microcontroller 102. In other words, the vibration sensor 116
is connected to the microcontroller 102 to provide alert against any tempering with the
system 100. In an embodiment, the microcontroller 102 remain operatively coupled to the
flash memory 114, communication unit 108 and GPS unit 106 for controlling the ECU of the
vehicle.
[0031] Figure 2 represents a figure of an owner 202 immobilizing a motorbike 204.
Figure 2 highlights all the possible scenarios of theft and the methods used in conjunction
with the above system to overcome such scenarios. In an example, the motorbike 204 may
be forcibly snatched from the owner 202. In that case, the owner 202 can remotely
immobilize the motorbike 204 using a handheld device 206. In particular, the
immobilization signal from the handheld device 206 is passed to the electronic control unit
(not shown) using the communication unit 108 and the microcontroller 102. Further, the
owner 202 can also track the location of the motorbike 204 using GPS coordinates received
from GPS unit 106 installed in the system 100. In another example, the motorbike may be
stolen from parking area and the owner 202 gets to know this after some time. In this case,
the owner 202 can immediately immobilize the motorbike 204 using the handheld device
206. Further, the owner 202 can also track the location of the motorbike 204 using location
coordinates received from GPS unit 106 installed in the system 100.
[0032] In another example, the burglar steals the motorbike 204 in a big carrier (not
shown) without switching it on and tries to dismantle the motorbike 204. In this case, the
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system 100 remains powered through the secondary battery 104 and therefore the owner 202
will receive location coordinates of the motorbike 204 from the GPS unit 106 on the
handheld device 206. Specifically, in an embodiment, the system 100 comprises an
accelerometer (not shown) powered by the secondary battery 104 and triggers a message
carrying location coordinates of the motorbike to the handheld device of the owner. In yet
another example, the motorbike 204 is stolen and the owner 202 realizes it after long hours.
In this case, the owner 202 may send immobilization signal from the handheld device 206 to
the communication unit 108. The communication unit 108 further transfers this signal to the
microcontroller 102, if the motorbike 204 is not in “on” state then the said message is stored
in the flash memory 114 of the system 100. Now, whenever the motorbike 204 is turned
from OFF to ON state, then the said message is passed to the electronic control unit to
immobilize the motorbike (204). In an embodiment, the microcontroller described here
may be a special purpose processor, a digital signal processor or an ASIC. Further, various
units, modules, programs disclosed herein may be software, hardware or a combination
thereof.
[0033] Figure 3 represents exploded view of an electronic control unit casing along
with sealed surface with throttle body of fueling system. In an embodiment, the entire system
100 along with electronic control unit is mounted inside the said casing. Specifically, in an
embodiment the said casing is made of hard material to avoid any tampering with the system
100.
[0034] Although the present invention has been described in considerable detail with
reference to figures and certain preferred embodiments thereof, other versions are possible.
Therefore, the spirit and scope of the present invention should not be limited to the
description of the preferred versions contained herein.

We claim:
1. A theft proofing system for vehicles, the system comprising:
a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) unit configured to send location
coordinates of the vehicle, to a handheld device;
a communication unit for communicating with the handheld device;
a flash memory for storing authentication details; and
a microcontroller coupled to said flash memory, communication unit and GPS
unit for controlling ECU of the vehicle, said microcontroller configured to:
receive an immobilization message from the handheld device via the
communication unit;
determine authenticity of the immobilization message received from
the handheld device; and
responsive to confirmation that the immobilization message is
authentic, transmit the immobilization message to the ECU to restrict further
movement of the vehicle.
2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the microcontroller is configured to:
transmit the immobilization message to the ECU during ON state; and
stores the immobilization message in the flash memory during OFF state,
3. The system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the microcontroller is configured to
transmit the stored immobilization message to the ECU when the state changes from
OFF to ON.
4. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the communication unit comprises a GSM
infrastructure based micro-SIM to communicate with the handheld device.
5. The system as claimed in claim 1, further includes a secondary battery for providing
backup power, in case of failure to receive power from main battery of the vehicle.
6. The system as claimed in claim 1, further includes a vibration sensor connected to the
microcontroller and configured to provide alert against any tempering with the
system.
7. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the authentication details stored in the
flash memory comprises at least one of engine no, registration no, chassis no and like
information of the vehicle.
8. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the microcontroller, is further configured
to:
send a verification message to the handheld device; and
receive a confirmation message from the handheld device.
9. A method of theft proofing for vehicles, the method comprising;
sending, by a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) unit, location coordinates of
the vehicle, to a handheld device;
receiving, by a communication unit, an immobilization message from the
handheld device;
determining, by a microcontroller, authenticity of the immobilization message;
and
responsive to confirmation that the immobilization message is authentic,
transmitting, by the microcontroller, the immobilization message to an electronic
control unit (ECU), to restrict the further movement of the vehicle.
10. The method as claimed in claim 9, further comprises:
transmitting, by the microcontroller, the immobilization message to the ECU in ON
state; and
storing, by the microcontroller, the immobilization message in the flash memory in
OFF state.
11. The method as claimed in claim 10, further comprising, transmitting the stored
immobilization message to the ECU when the state changes from OFF to ON.
12. The method as claimed in claim 10, further comprises the step of:
sending, by the microcontroller, a verification message to the handheld device; and
receiving, by the microcontroller, a confirmation message from the handheld device.