Mobile Telephone Dog Training Tool and Method

Abstract

A mobile telephone adapts to use as a gundog training tool by interfacing with a dog collar using a wireless communication device, such as a WWAN text or IP interface, a WLAN interface or a radio transceiver that couples to the mobile telephone and is accessible to a training application running on the mobile telephone. The dog collar includes a GPS receiver to provide position information to the mobile telephone and a shock device to provide training stimulus to the dog. A wireless headset interfaces with the mobile telephone to provide audible indications of position to an end user, such as a dog point and tone indicators of directions to the dog. A wireless handset interfaces with the mobile telephone to accept inputs for application to the collar, such as training stimulus.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A position tracking system comprising:
 plural portable computing devices, each portable computing device having an application operable to accept position tracking device GPS positions and to present the GPS positions at a display; and   plural position tracking devices, each position tracking device having a GPS receiver operable to determine the GPS positions and a radio operable to communicate the GPS positions with wireless signals;   wherein the plural portable computing devices share a configuration file defining one or more position tracking device communication parameters, each portable computing device applying the one or more position tracking device communication parameters to coordinate communication of wireless signals by the plural position tracking devices.   
     
     
         22 . The position tracking system of  claim 21  wherein the one or more position tracking device communication parameters comprises a time slot to send the wireless signal. 
     
     
         23 . The position tracking system of  claim 21  wherein the one or more position tracking device communication parameters comprises a radio frequency to send the wireless signal. 
     
     
         24 . The position tracking system of  claim 21  wherein the one or more position tracking device communication parameters comprises map coordinates. 
     
     
         25 . The position tracking system of  claim 24  wherein the plural portable computing devices share the configuration file through a website. 
     
     
         26 . The position tracking system of  claim 21  wherein the one or more position tracking device communication parameters comprises an identifier of each position tracking device. 
     
     
         27 . The position tracking system of  claim 21  wherein the plural portable computing devices share the configuration file through an ad hoc peer-to-peer WiFi communication. 
     
     
         28 . The position tracking system of  claim 27  wherein the position tracking device is configured as a dog collar. 
     
     
         29 . The position tracking system of  claim 28  wherein the plural portable computing devices are mobile telephones. 
     
     
         30 . A method for communicating position information from position tracking devices to plural mobile telephones, the method comprising:
 determining position information with a GPS receiver at each position tracking device;   sharing a configuration file between the plural mobile telephones, the configuration file including at least an identifier of each position tracking device;   sending position information from each tracking device with a wireless signal selected from a first or second frequency; and   presenting the position information at each of the plural mobile telephones by reference to the identifier of each position tracking device.   
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 30  wherein:
 sending position information further comprises sending position information from a first of the plural tracking devices with Bluetooth to a first of the mobile telephones; and 
 presenting the position information further comprises sending the position information of the first of the plural tracking devices further comprises sending the position information from the first of the mobile telephones to a second of the plural mobile telephones with an ad hoc peer-to-peer WiFi communication. 
 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31  wherein the plural position tracking devices are configured as dog collars. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 30  wherein sharing a configuration file further comprises interfacing each of the plural mobile telephones with a website to download the configuration file. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 30  wherein the first and second wireless signal frequencies comprise a 900 MHz band and a MURS band. 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 30  wherein sharing a configuration file further comprises communicating the configuration file between the plural mobile telephones with an ad hoc peer-to-peer WiFi network. 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 30  wherein the configuration file further comprises map coordinates. 
     
     
         37 . A position tracking system comprising:
 a mobile telephone having an application that presents GPS positions at a display;   a tracking device operable to report GPS positions to the mobile telephone with a wireless signal; and   a speaker associated with the mobile telephone, the speaker issuing an audible spoken report related to the GPS positions.   
     
     
         38 . The position tracking system of  claim 37  wherein the audible spoken report comprises a relative direction from the mobile telephone to one of the GPS positions. 
     
     
         39 . The position tracking system of  claim 38  wherein the wireless signal comprises a MURS band signal sent to a gateway device, the gateway device receiving the GPS positions with the MURS band signal and forwarding the GPS positions to the mobile telephone with a different frequency wireless signal. 
     
     
         40 . The position tracking system of  claim 39  wherein the wireless signal further comprises a 900 MHz band frequency wireless signal.