System for calculating whether time-crucial shipment is located according to expectation

• US 10,037,508 B1
• Filed: 05/31/2017
• Issued: 07/31/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elliot Klein
• Original Assignee: Airtrace LLC
• Inventors: Rusnak, Ryan, Saez, Miguel Angel, Klein, Elliot
• Primary Examiner(s): Epstein, Brian M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Brown, Alexander D
• Application Number:
  US15/610,166
• Time in Patent Office: 426 Days
• Field of Search: 705333
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063116 Schedule adjustment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0833 Tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08355 Routing methods
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1093 Calendar-based scheduling for persons or groups
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0026 located on the ground
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0034 Assembly of a flight plan
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0043 Traffic management of multiple aircrafts from the ground G08G5/003 takes precedence; data processing specially designed for resource management, e.g. scheduling or allocating time, human or machine resources G06Q10/06
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 5/0069 specially adapted for an unmanned aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A client-server system and method for calculating whether time-crucial shipment is located according to expectation comprising a device and a remote special purpose computer, the device comprising a non-lithium battery; a Wi-Fi receiver; a GSM module; an accelerometer; a Wi-Fi antenna; a GSM antenna; and a microcontroller programmed to store identification data of each Wi-Fi access point within range and time each Wi-Fi access point was accessed, to automatically turn off the GSM module when aircraft engine vibration is detected; and to automatically transmit via GSM protocol the Wi-Fi access point data when aircraft engine vibration is no longer detected.

The remote special purpose computer uses a flight plans database and a Wi-Fi access point database to calculate location of the device based on the Wi-Fi access point data received via GSM and compare the calculated location to an expected location based on a flight plan.

Claims

1. A client-server system for calculating whether a time-crucial shipment is located according to an expectation comprising:

a client device; and

a remote special purpose computer server,

the client device comprising;

a non-lithium battery;

a Wi-Fi receiver adapted to;

receive identification data of one or more nearby Wi-Fi access points; and

measure signal strength data of the one or more nearby Wi-Fi access points;

a Wi-Fi signal receiving antenna;

an accelerometer;

a GSM radio module with antenna which connects to mobile carrier networks; and

a microcontroller programmed to;

automatically turn off the GSM radio module when aircraft engine vibration is detected by the accelerometer; and

automatically transmit via the GSM radio module to the remote special purpose computer server the received identification data and the measured signal strength data when airplane engine vibration is not detected by the accelerometer;

the remote special purpose computer server comprising;

a flight plan schedule database stored in memory;

a Wi-Fi access point location database accessed by an API;

a GSM gateway; and

a processor programmed to;

calculate a location of the client device based on data accessed from the Wi-Fi access point location database, the transmitted identification data, and the transmitted signal strength data; and

compare the calculated location to an expected location based on a flight plan from the flight plan schedule database.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the client device further comprises a Bluetooth module.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the client device is adapted for being adhered to or placed within a time-crucial package.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the GSM radio module is configured to send USSD channel and SMS messages.

5. A method for calculating whether a time-crucial shipment is located according to an expectation comprising:

receiving, by a Wi-Fi receiver of a client device, identification data of one or more nearby Wi-Fi access points,

measuring, by the Wi-Fi receiver, signal strength data of the one or more nearby Wi-Fi access points,

automatically turning off, by a microcontroller of the client device, a GSM radio module when aircraft engine vibration is detected by an accelerometer of the client device;

automatically transmitting, by the microcontroller, via the GSM radio module to a remote special purpose computer server the received identification data and the measured signal strength data when airplane engine vibration is not detected by the accelerometer;

calculating, by the remote special purpose computer server, a location of the client device based on data accessed from a Wi-Fi access point location database, the transmitted identification data, and the transmitted signal strength data; and

comparing, by the remote special purpose computer, the calculated location to an expected location based on a flight plan from a flight plan schedule database.

6. The method of claim 5 comprising issuing an alert signal if a time-crucial package is calculated to be at a location other than the expected location.

7. The method of claim 5 comprising calculating an expected route between a starting point and a destination, the route including predicted time and location based on common carrier schedules for a time-critical package which includes the client device on or inside the package.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the common carrier includes a scheduled airline.

9. The method of claim 5 comprising comparing signal strength data of one or more cell towers and wherein the calculating the location is further based on the signal strength data of the one or more cell towers.