Tracking a mobile device

• US 10,225,691 B2
• Filed: 11/19/2014
• Issued: 03/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Azam, Syed S., Biggs, Kent E., Popescu, Valentin
• Primary Examiner(s): Neyzari, Ali
• Application Number:
  US15/520,259
• Publication Number:
  US 20170325065A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,567 Days
• Field of Search: 340 81, 4554566
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/88 Detecting or preventing theft or loss
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2143 Clearing memory, e.g. to prevent the data from being stolen
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1427 with transmitter-receiver for distance detection
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0213 System disabling if a separation threshold is exceeded disabling electrical appliances in case of unplugging G08B13/1409
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0227 System arrangements with a plurality of child units
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/025 System arrangements wherein the alarm criteria uses absence of reply signal after an elapsed time
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0269 System arrangements wherein the object is to detect the exact location of child or item using a navigation satellite system, e.g. GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0272 System arrangements wherein the object is to detect exact location of child or item using triangulation other than GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0277 Communication between units on a local network, e.g. Bluetooth, piconet, zigbee, Wireless Personal Area Networks [WPAN]
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/24 Reminder alarms, e.g. anti-loss alarms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• 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 4/026 using orientation information, e.g. compass
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• 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 8/20 Transfer of user or subscriber data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/18 : Service support devices; Network management devices

Abstract

In an example implementation, a method of tracking a mobile device includes determining by a tracked device, that a pairing status between the tracked device and a command device has changed from a paired status to an unpaired status. A timer is started on the tracked device in response to determining the unpaired status, and in response to the timer reaching a threshold time, a distress packet is transmitted from the tracked device that indicates the tracked device is lost.

Claims

1. A mobile device tracking system comprising:

a list of users stored in a server memory, each user in the list associated with a tracked device through a T-UDID (tracked device unique identifier);

a lost device database (DB) to receive a distress packet forwarded from an anonymous friendly device, the distress packet comprising a lost device'"'"'s unique identifier (L-UDID) and GPS location information; and

,

a finder application to compare the L-UDID with T-UDIDs in the list, and to track the location of the lost device with the GPS location information in response to a match between the L-UDID and a T-UDID in the list.

2. A system as in claim 1, further comprising:

a command device to maintain a pairing with a tracked device via a wireless radio communication protocol while the command device and tracked device are within a radio communication range of one another.

3. A system as in claim 2, further comprising:

the anonymous friendly device to receive the distress packet from the tracked device after the tracked device loses its pairing with the command device and determines that it is a lost device, and to forward the distress packet to the lost device DB.

4. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing instructions for tracking a mobile device, the instructions that when executed by a processor of a system, cause the system to:

receive from an anonymous device, a distress packet that comprises a lost device'"'"'s unique device identifier (L-UDID) and location information;

store the L-UDID and location information in a lost device database;

compare the L-UDID with tracked device unique device identifiers (T-UDIDs); and

,

in response to a match between the L-UDID and a T-UDID, track the location of the lost device with the location information.

5. A medium as in claim 4, the instructions further causing the system to:

send a notification to a user of the lost device indicating a last reported location of the lost device based on the tracked location.

6. A medium as in claim 4, the instructions further causing the system to:

receive from an anonymous device, a subsequent distress packet that comprises the L-UDID and updated location information;

associate the updated location information with the L-UDID in the database in a chronological order; and

,

map the location information and updated location information to a visual representation that illustrates a path of movement of the lost device to a last reported location.