US Patent 7672756 Vehicle communications using the internet

Vehicle including a data generating system which obtains or generates information about the vehicle and a communications system coupled to the data generating system for communicating directly with a wireless Internet service provider (ISP) to enable the information obtained or generated by the data generating system to be transmitted via the Internet. The data generating system may be a diagnostic system which diagnoses the state of the vehicle or the state of a component of the vehicle and generates an output indicative or representative thereof. The data generating system may be arranged to obtain or generate information about the operation of the vehicle. Additionally or alternatively, the data generating system may be arranged to obtain or generate information about the presence of contents in the compartment and/or when contents are present, information about contents in the compartment.