Patents by Inventor Ben Tran

Ben Tran has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Patent number: 11210627
    Abstract: An apparatus for managing information regarding an inventory of vehicles on an automobile dealership lot includes vehicle tracking devices installed in the vehicles. The tracking devices utilize a GPS receiver for generating vehicle location data and an accelerometer for generating vehicle motion data. Data from the vehicle tracking devices are received by a central server that uses the data to determine whether a vehicle is on a test drive, the identity of a salesperson who is with the vehicle, and the estimated time that the vehicle will return to the dealership. Preferred embodiments establish a geofence around the dealership location, detect when vehicles exit and reenter the geofence, and communicate the exit/return events back to the central server. The central server communicates the information to smartphones of dealership personnel to indicate availability of a particular vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 28, 2021
    Assignee: Spireon, Inc.
    Inventors: Sunil B. Marolia, Ben Tran, Bill Stephenson, Dave Withers, Kousar Syed
  • Patent number: 10232823
    Abstract: A vehicle monitoring system prevents vehicle theft and unauthorized tampering by alerting the vehicle's owner of unexpected events. Alerts are provided to the owner within seconds of the occurrence while the owner is away from the vehicle. The vehicle monitoring can be set to automatically start whenever the vehicle is parked and the owner moves away to a specific distance. This allows the owner to set monitoring preferences once, after which the system automatically handles monitoring according to those preferences for future vehicle activities. The monitoring and alerting may be automatically disarmed when the vehicle owner again comes within the predetermined proximity of the vehicle. The monitoring may also be disarmed manually, such as when the owner lends the vehicle to another and does not need to track it. It also may be manually disarmed if the owner left his/her phone in a location far from the vehicle.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 30, 2017
    Date of Patent: March 19, 2019
    Assignee: Spireon, Inc.
    Inventors: Frieda Bobay, Ben Tran, Dru E. Barrios, Aticom Bussarakonsirivit, Naueen K. Kakumani
  • Patent number: 10223744
    Abstract: Disclosed are a device and/or a method of location and event capture circuitry to facilitate remote vehicle location predictive modeling when global positioning is unavailable. In one embodiment, a predictive circuit of a vehicle includes event detection circuitry to initiate a timer circuit of the vehicle when a wheel of the vehicle is in a stationary state beyond threshold amount of time during an event; an event categorization circuitry to monitor a telemetry data of the vehicle to assign a category to the event; a data communication circuitry to communicate the event, the category, and/or a set of other events and categories to a predictive recommendation server on a periodic basis; and a repossession detection circuitry to determine that the vehicle is pending repossession based on the event, the category, the set of other events and categories, and/or a message communicated from the predictive recommendation server to the predictive circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 11, 2016
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2019
    Assignee: Spireon, Inc.
    Inventors: James Brady, Brian Wheeler, David Estes, Thomas Marks, Andy Warner, Ben Tran, Michael Callinan, Chris Collingwood, David Withers, Ilie Ardelean
  • Publication number: 20190061692
    Abstract: A vehicle monitoring system prevents vehicle theft and unauthorized tampering by alerting the vehicle's owner of unexpected events. Alerts are provided to the owner within seconds of the occurrence while the owner is away from the vehicle. The vehicle monitoring can be set to automatically start whenever the vehicle is parked and the owner moves away to a specific distance. This allows the owner to set monitoring preferences once, after which the system automatically handles monitoring according to those preferences for future vehicle activities. The monitoring and alerting may be automatically disarmed when the vehicle owner again comes within the predetermined proximity of the vehicle. The monitoring may also be disarmed manually, such as when the owner lends the vehicle to another and does not need to track it. It also may be manually disarmed if the owner left his/her phone in a location far from the vehicle.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 30, 2017
    Publication date: February 28, 2019
    Applicant: Spireon, Inc.
    Inventors: Frieda Bobay, Ben Tran, Dru E. Barrios, Aticom Bussarakonsirivit, Naueen K. Kakumani
  • Publication number: 20160225072
    Abstract: Disclosed are a device and/or a method of location and event capture circuitry to facilitate remote vehicle location predictive modeling when global positioning is unavailable. In one embodiment, a predictive circuit of a vehicle includes event detection circuitry to initiate a timer circuit of the vehicle when a wheel of the vehicle is in a stationary state beyond threshold amount of time during an event; an event categorization circuitry to monitor a telemetry data of the vehicle to assign a category to the event; a data communication circuitry to communicate the event, the category, and/or a set of other events and categories to a predictive recommendation server on a periodic basis; and a repossession detection circuitry to determine that the vehicle is pending repossession based on the event, the category, the set of other events and categories, and/or a message communicated from the predictive recommendation server to the predictive circuit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 11, 2016
    Publication date: August 4, 2016
    Inventors: James Brady, Brian Wheeler, David Estes, Thomas Marks, Andy Warner, Ben Tran, Michael Callinan, Chris Collingwood, David Withers, Ilie Ardelean