The Knoxville, TN-based IdleAire Technologies Corp. has been awarded a patent by the U.S. Patent Office to protect the company's method of providing conditioned air and convenience services to the cabs of parked big rigs.

The patent grants IdleAire protection for its method of providing heating, cooling, cable television, phone service, Internet connection and electrical power to parked trucks.

IdleAire's system is available to drivers at a truckstop in Knoxville, in Hunts Point, NY, and another in Syracuse, NY. Another system soon will be built in Syracuse, as well as at truckstops in Atlanta; West Memphis, AR, and Lebanon, TX.

The company is looking at eventually expanding its services throughout the United States and Canada, monitoring all systems remotely from the Knoxville homebase.