Selection of location information based on detected movement

• US 10,187,750 B2
• Filed: 04/12/2018
• Issued: 01/22/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TILE, INC. (Life360 Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: TILE, INC. (Life360 Incorporated)
• Inventors: Evans, Nicholas George, Farley, Michael George
• Primary Examiner(s): Dsouza, Adolf
• Application Number:
  US15/952,103
• Publication Number:
  US 20180234799A1
• Time in Patent Office: 285 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/24 Reminder alarms, e.g. anti-loss alarms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• 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: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A tracking server receives, from a first mobile device in response to a tracking signal, a first location associated with a tracking device and a first measurement of accuracy of the first location. The tracking server receives, from a second mobile device in response to a tracking signal, a second location associated with the tracking device and a second measurement of accuracy of the second location transmitted from a second mobile device. In response to determining that two locations associated with the tracking device have been received, the tracking server determines whether the first measurement of accuracy and the second measurement of accuracy are within a threshold measurement of accuracy. In response to determining that the first and second measurements of accuracy are within the threshold, the first location and the second location are transmitted to the second mobile device for presentation by the second mobile device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a tracking server, a first location associated with a tracking device and a first measurement of accuracy of the first location, the first location and the first measurement of accuracy transmitted from a first mobile device to the tracking server in response to the first mobile device receiving a first signal from the tracking device;

receiving, at the tracking server, a second location associated with the tracking device and a second measurement of accuracy of the second location, the second location and the second measurement of accuracy transmitted from a second mobile device in response to the second mobile device receiving a second signal from the tracking device;

in response to determining that two locations associated with the tracking device have been received, determining whether the first measurement of accuracy and the second measurement of accuracy are within a threshold measurement of accuracy; and

in response to determining that the first measurement of accuracy and the second measurement of accuracy are within the threshold measurement of accuracy, transmitting the first location and the second location to the second mobile device for presentation to a user of the second mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first mobile device and the second mobile device are different mobile devices.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the second mobile device is the first mobile device.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first mobile device is configured to determine, based on the first signal from the tracking device and the second signal from the tracking device, a magnitude of relative movement between the tracking device and the first mobile device, and wherein determining that the first measurement of accuracy and the second measurement of accuracy are within a threshold measurement of accuracy comprises determining that the magnitude of relative movement between the tracking device and the first mobile device is below a threshold magnitude of relative movement.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the second signal comprises a magnitude of movement detected by the tracking device, and the second measurement of accuracy is based at least in part on the detected magnitude of movement.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the second mobile device determines a signal strength associated with the second signal, and the second measurement of accuracy is based at least in part on the determined signal strength.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to receiving the first location and the first measurement of accuracy, storing, at the tracking server, the first location and the first measurement of accuracy; and

in response to determining that the first measurement of accuracy and the second measurement of accuracy are within the threshold measurement of accuracy, storing, at the tracking server, the second location and the second measurement of accuracy.

8. A tracking system comprising:

a non-transitory data store configured to store a received first location associated with a tracking device and a received first measurement of accuracy of the first location, the first location and the first measurement of accuracy transmitted from a first mobile device to the tracking server in response to the first mobile device receiving a first signal from the tracking device; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable computer instructions for;

receiving a second location associated with the tracking device and a second measurement of accuracy of the second location, the second location and the second measurement of accuracy transmitted from a second mobile device in response to the second mobile device receiving a second signal from the tracking device;

in response to determining that two locations associated with the tracking device have been received, retrieving the first measurement of accuracy of the first location associated with the tracking device from the data store;

determining whether the first measurement of accuracy and the second measurement of accuracy are within a threshold measurement of accuracy; and

in response to determining that the first measurement of accuracy and the second measurement of accuracy are within the threshold measurement of accuracy, transmitting the first location and the second location to the second mobile device for presentation to a user of the second mobile device.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the first mobile device and the second mobile device are different mobile devices.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the second mobile device is the first mobile device.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the first mobile device is configured to determine, based on the first signal from the tracking device and the second signal from the tracking device, a magnitude of relative movement between the tracking device and the first mobile device, and wherein determining that the first measurement of accuracy and the second measurement of accuracy are within a threshold measurement of accuracy comprises determining that the magnitude of relative movement between the tracking device and the first mobile device is below a threshold magnitude of relative movement.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the second signal comprises a magnitude of movement detected by the tracking device, and the second measurement of accuracy is based at least in part on the detected magnitude of movement.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the second mobile device determines a signal strength associated with the second signal, and the second measurement of accuracy is based at least in part on the determined signal strength.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the executable computer instructions further comprise an instruction to store the second location associated with the tracking device and the second measurement of accuracy of the second location in the data store in response to determining that the first measurement of accuracy and the second measurement of accuracy are within the threshold measurement of accuracy.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable computer instructions for:

receiving, at a tracking server, a first location associated with a tracking device and a first measurement of accuracy of the first location, the first location and the first measurement of accuracy transmitted from a first mobile device to the tracking server in response to the first mobile device receiving a first signal from the tracking device;

receiving, at the tracking server, a second location associated with the tracking device and a second measurement of accuracy of the second location, the second location and the second measurement of accuracy transmitted from a second mobile device in response to the second mobile device receiving a second signal from the tracking device;

in response to determining that two locations associated with the tracking device have been received, determining whether the first measurement of accuracy and the second measurement of accuracy are within a threshold measurement of accuracy; and

in response to determining that the first measurement of accuracy and the second measurement of accuracy are within the threshold measurement of accuracy, transmitting the first location and the second location to the second mobile device for presentation to a user of the second mobile device.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the first mobile device and the second mobile device are different mobile devices.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the second mobile device is the first mobile device.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the first mobile device is configured to determine, based on the first signal from the tracking device and the second signal from the tracking device, a magnitude of relative movement between the tracking device and the first mobile device, and wherein determining that the first measurement of accuracy and the second measurement of accuracy are within a threshold measurement of accuracy comprises determining that the magnitude of relative movement between the tracking device and the first mobile device is below a threshold magnitude of relative movement.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the second measurement of accuracy is based on at least one of a magnitude of movement detected by the tracking device and a signal strength associated with the second signal determined by the second mobile device.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising instructions for:

in response to receiving the first location and the first measurement of accuracy, storing the first location and the first measurement of accuracy; and

in response to determining that the first measurement of accuracy and the second measurement of accuracy are within the threshold measurement of accuracy, storing the second location and the second measurement of accuracy.