Tracking device operation in safety-classified zone

• US 10,070,255 B1
• Filed: 12/14/2017
• Issued: 09/04/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/16/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TILE, INC. (Life360 Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: TILE, INC. (Life360 Incorporated)
• Inventors: Puppala, Arunkumar, Cheng, Liuyin, Patterson, Wayne
• Primary Examiner(s): Nealon, William
• Application Number:
  US15/841,841
• Time in Patent Office: 264 Days
• Field of Search: 4554563
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/01 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/05 Anti-theft or abduction
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/01 Determining conditions which influence positioning, e.g. radio environment, state of motion or energy consumption
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02 using radio waves using satellite radio beacon systems for determining position G01S19/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0205 Details
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0294 Trajectory determination or predictive filtering, e.g. target tracking or Kalman filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0295 Proximity-based methods, e.g. position inferred from reception of particular signals
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/24 Reminder alarms, e.g. anti-loss alarms
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/00 Security arrangements; Authentication; Protecting privacy or anonymity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• 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 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/185 by embedding added-value information into content, e.g. geo-tagging
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/23 for mobile advertising
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/30 Services specially adapted for particular environments, situations or purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/38 for collecting sensor information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/42 : for mass transport vehicles, e.g. buses, trains or aircraft
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 : Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• 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 48/04 : based on user or terminal location or mobility data, e.g. moving direction, speed
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0206 : in access points, e.g. base stations access point devices per se H04W88/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0229 : where the received signal is a wanted signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0258 : controlling an operation mode according to history or models of usage information, e.g. activity schedule or time of day
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/00 : Network data management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/10 : between location register and external networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/12 : between location registers or mobility servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/14 : between corresponding nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/16 : selectively restricting mobility data tracking
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Tracking devices can be associated with safe zones, smart zones, and high risk zones. Safe zones correspond to regions where a likelihood that a tracking device is lost within the safe zone is lower than outside the safe zone. High risk zones correspond to regions where a likelihood that a tracking device is lost within the high risk zone is higher than outside the high risk zone. Smart zones correspond to an expected tracking device, mobile device, or user behavior. Home areas are geographic regions in which a user resides, and travel areas are geographic regions in which a user does not reside. A tracking device can be configured to operate in a mode selected based on a presence of the tracking device within a safe zone, a smart zone, a high risk zone, a home area, or a travel area.

Claims

1. A method for locating a tracking device, comprising:

accessing, by a central tracking system, information describing a set of safe zones, each safe zone comprising a geographic boundary such that a probability that a user will lose an object to which the tracking device is coupled while the user is located within the geographic boundary is lower than when the user is located outside the geographic boundary;

receiving, by a central tracking system from a mobile device, a location of the tracking device, the mobile device configured to provide the location of the tracking device to the central tracking system in response to receiving a communication from the tracking device;

determining, by the central tracking system, that the tracking device is located within a safe zone of the set of safe zones in response to the received location being located within the geographic boundary associated with the safe zone; and

in response to determining that the tracking device is located within the safe zone, providing, by the central tracking system, an instruction to the mobile device to configure the tracking device to operate in a safe zone mode, the mobile device configured to configure the tracking device to operate in the safe zone mode in response to receiving the instruction.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a safe zone of the set of safe zones is defined by an owner of the tracking device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a safe zone of the set of safe zones is identified based on historical location data or behavior data of the tracking device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a safe zone of the set of safe zones comprises a home of an owner of the tracking device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a safe zone of the set of safe zones comprises a workplace of an owner of the tracking device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the location of the tracking device comprises a location of the mobile device when the mobile device receives the communication from the tracking device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the frequency of communication transmissions decreases when the tracking device switches from operating in a normal operation mode to a safe zone mode.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the tracking device, when operating in a safe zone mode, uses less power relative to the tracking device operating in a normal operation mode.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the central tracking system is configured to classify the tracking device as safe when the tracking device is located within the safe zone.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the central tracking system, a second location of the tracking device;

determining, by the central tracking system, that the tracking device is located outside of the set of safe zones in response to the received second location being located outside the geographic boundaries associated with the set of safe zones; and

in response to determining that the tracking device is located outside of the set of safe zones, providing, by the central tracking system, a second instruction to the mobile device to configure the tracking device to operate in a normal operating mode, the mobile device configured to configure the tracking device to operate in the normal operating mode in response to receiving the second instruction.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable computer instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform steps for locating a tracking device comprising:

accessing, by a central tracking system, information describing a set of safe zones, each safe zone comprising a geographic boundary such that a probability that a user will lose an object to which the tracking device is coupled while the user is located within the geographic boundary is lower than when the user is located outside the geographic boundary;

receiving, by a central tracking system from a mobile device, a location of the tracking device, the mobile device configured to provide the location of the tracking device to the central tracking system in response to receiving a communication from the tracking device;

determining, by the central tracking system, that the tracking device is located within a safe zone of the set of safe zones in response to the received location being located within the geographic boundary associated with the safe zone; and

in response to determining that the tracking device is located within the safe zone, providing, by the central tracking system, an instruction to the mobile device to configure the tracking device to operate in a safe zone mode, the mobile device configured to configure the tracking device to operate in the safe zone mode in response to receiving the instruction.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the tracking device is configured to operate in the safe zone mode for a threshold amount of time, after which the tracking device is configured to operate in a normal operation mode.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the tracking device is configured to operate in the safe zone mode until a movement sensor of the tracking device detects movement of the tracking device.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the tracking device is configured to operate in the safe zone mode until the central tracking system provides a second instruction to the mobile device to configure the tracking device to operate in a different mode.

15. A method for locating a tracking device, comprising:

receiving, by a mobile device, a communication from a tracking device, the communication identifying the tracking device;

in response to receiving the communication, determining, by the mobile device, the location of the mobile device;

providing, by the mobile device, the determined location and an identity of the tracking device to a central tracking system;

receiving, by the mobile device, an indication that the tracking device is located within a safe zone from the central tracking system, the central tracking system configured to access information describing a set of safe zones each comprising a geographic boundary such that a probability that a user will lose an object of which the tracking device is coupled while the user is located within the geographic boundary is lower than when the user is located outside the geographic boundary, and configured to determine if the determined location is located within a geographic boundary associated with a safe zone; and

in response to receiving the indication that the tracking device is located within the safe zone, configuring, by the mobile device, the tracking device to operate in a safe zone mode.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the mobile device configures the tracking device to operate in the safe zone mode in response to an instruction to configure the tracking device in the safe zone mode from the central tracking system.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the mobile device is configured to provide fewer notifications about the tracking device when the tracking device is configured to operate in the safe zone mode than when the tracking device is configured to operate in a normal operating mode.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the mobile device and the tracking device are associated with a common owner.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the mobile device and the tracking device are associated with different owners.

20. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving, by the mobile device, a second indication that the tracking device is located outside the safe zone from the central tracking system; and

in response to receiving the second indication that the tracking device is located outside the safe zone, configuring, by the mobile device, the tracking device to operate in a different operating mode.