GPS Tracking for Bicycles Eugene Li Eliot Sun Henry Hsue Justin Woo Team #3 IEOR 190G Patent Engineering Spring 2010

Introduction Consumer pain: o Bike theft o Desire to track progress Solution: o GPS locator inside of bike handles for personal tracking and security

Title of Invention GPS Tracking for Bicycles

Field of Invention The GPS locator device for bikes works similarly to the LoJack system found commonly in cars Hidden securely inside the handlebars, the device works as a homing device in case the bike is stolen In the event the bike moves several away from its locked location, the owner of the bike will be notified on his smartphone through a preinstalled application

Field of Invention Security features o Several beeps will announce that possible theft or tampering has been involved, and the owner is automatically shown a continuously updated position indicator of the bike on Google Maps, making it much easier to recover the bike o An optional feature that may be installed is an 120 decibal alarm that sounds off when the bike is moved more than 3 feet from it's locked location.

Field of Invention Navigation features o During normal rides, the GPS system will also function as a mapping device that sends information to the user’s cell phone app. o Such information includes, but is not limited to the path taken, elevation, distance, time traveled, etc.

What is the problem? Consumer Pain: o Bike Theft  It is incredibly difficult to track down a back once it has been stolen o Progress tracking  People like to keep track of where they’re biking, how long they’ve been biking, and how far they’ve biked

Disadvantage of Existing Solutions No technical solutions exist for the efficient recovery of a stolen bicycle o Existing solutions:  Bicycle locks (with and without alarms)  Once broken and the bike is stolen, there is no way of tracking the bicycle  Prevention technique, but does not aid recovery  Bike registration  Registration number can be scratched off  Thief keeps bike off the market for a long period of time

Disadvantage of Existing Solutions GPS navigation systems for bikes o Large and bulky  Display paths and current location, but are inaccurate for guidance in tight areas or tree-covered pathways o Expensive o Do not help recover stolen bicycles  Having an expensive GPS system on the bike actually increases the likelihood of having the bike stolen  Are only used for navigation, not recovery

Prior Art Existing Patents and Solutions

US Patent o Title: Bicycle Locating System o Date of Patent: September 21st, 1999 o Anti-theft focus  Uses very general descriptions  “Locating system comprises a transponder, power supply, and electrical connection”  “Transponder responds to call signal from call station by transmitting a locator signal to a locator station”  No mention of GPS system

US Patent o Title: Bicycle theft prevention system o Date of Patent: September 19, 1997 o A bicycle theft prevention system 10 for use with bicycles 100 including an alarm unit 11 and a tracking unit 12 disposed within the framework 101 of the bicycle 100 and a time delayed marking unit 14 and temporary physical immobilizing unit 15 disposed on the exterior of the bicycle 100. A hand held tracker unit 19 may be employed to establish the location of the stolen bicycle 100.

Bicycle GPS Navigators

General Features: o Navigation Recording to track bike riding routes o Data recording  Speed, heart rate o Data comparison

Flow diagrams

Device on Bicycle GPS Satellite Cell Tower Cell Phone Electricity provided by pedaling on bike or Owner of bicycle Computer Device lives in bicycle’s handles Bike GPS Design

Possible GPS Locations in Handlebar GPS Device

Insertion of GPS into Handlebars GPS Device

COMMENTS Add comments below

Chen, Der Yu (Dorian) Are you sure you the GPS device can be accurate underneath the metal? And there is still a possibility the theft will take the GPS off. How do you solve the problem under tree-tight area? And how is your product cheaper?

David Pastewka I like the "powered by the pedaling" feature. I'd like to see more of how that would attach/work on the bike. However, this may be a problem with trying to prevent bike theft for two reasons: 1. the thief will have to pedal it for it to send the signal 2. a device attached to a bicycle that draws power from pedaling would signal to a thief that there is a GPS device built in (could deter theft if device is built in properly but also could alert thief to the presence of the device)