Abstract: An electronic control unit has a cover that also serves as a ground plane for an antenna, such as a GPS antenna or other type of antenna. The antenna may be fastened directly to the cover, or mounted internally to the electronic control unit, printed circuit board, and protrude through an opening in the cover serving as the ground plane.

Abstract: A microchip monitoring system that monitors the status and/or location of a person, animal or asset carrying a small, discrete microchip. The microchip monitoring system generally includes a microchip and a portable communications device both attached to the object being monitored, a communications device coupled to the portable communications device via a local area link, a wide area network and a system back-end. The portable communications device acquires electronic information from the microchip and then conveys that information to the system back-end via the local area link and the wide area network. This allows the system back-end to monitor the status and/or location of one or more microchips without the monitored objects having to carry cumbersome communications hardware.

Abstract: A vehicle-based communications device acquires identification information, such as a phone number, from a cellular phone located within the vehicle and transmits that information to a call center where it is processed and stored so that the call center can subsequently establish a voice link with the cellular phone. The communications device generally includes a control circuit, an acquisition device for acquiring the identification information according to one of several methods, and a data transceiver for transmitting a data signal to the call center via a satellite network. The communications device can acquire identification information from a plurality of cellular phones so that those phones may be prioritized and called back in a particular order.