Low energy Wi-Fi device for location

• US 10,401,502 B2
• Filed: 06/07/2017
• Issued: 09/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kenneth L. Tomaro Jr, Timothy B. Morford
• Original Assignee: Kenneth L. Tomaro Jr, Timothy B. Morford
• Inventors: Morford, Timothy B., Tomaro, Jr., Kenneth L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Danh C
• Application Number:
  US15/616,094
• Publication Number:
  US 20170350987A1
• Time in Patent Office: 818 Days
• Field of Search: 4555501, 455418, 4554561, 4554566
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/09 providing processing capability normally carried out by the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/34 Power consumption
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/35 Constructional details or hardware or software details of the signal processing chain
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/421 by combining or switching between position solutions or signals derived from different satellite radio beacon positioning systems; by combining or switching between position solutions or signals derived from different modes of operation in a single system
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/45 by combining measurements of signals from the satellite radio beacon positioning system with a supplementary measurement
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/51 Relative positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/01 Determining conditions which influence positioning, e.g. radio environment, state of motion or energy consumption
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/0704 the battery being rechargeable, e.g. solar batteries
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 50/10 using inductive coupling
• CPC Class Codes: H02J 7/35 with light sensitive cells
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information

Abstract

A wireless device includes a wireless antenna, a power supply, and a movement sensor, the wireless device configured for triggered sending of wireless signals to one or more receiving devices to determine location of the wireless device, and the wireless device comprising a connection for external power, a connection for programming, and a connection for self-charging.

Claims

1. A wireless device comprising a wireless antenna, a power supply, and a movement sensor, the wireless device configured for triggered sending of wireless signals to one or more receiving devices to determine location of the wireless device, configured to send, at a pre-specified time, a wireless signal to a receiving device to determine location of the wireless device, and further configured to trigger, based on detecting movement by way of the movement sensor, sending a wireless signal to a receiving device to determine location of the wireless device, and the wireless device comprising a connection for external power, a connection for programming, and a connection for self-charging.

2. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the wireless device is configured to consume between 0.5 milliampere hour and 135 milliampere hour.

3. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the movement sensor comprises one or more of an accelerometer, a vibration sensor, or a Global Positioning System sensor.

4. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the wireless device is initially in a sleep mode and wherein detecting movement wakes the wireless device from sleep mode into a wake mode for sending the wireless signal.

5. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the wireless device is configured to send, on a time-based interval, a wireless signal to a receiving device to determine location of the wireless device.

6. The wireless device of claim 5, wherein detecting the movement wakes the wireless device from a sleep mode into a wake mode, and wherein the wireless device commences sending of the wireless signal to the receiving device according to the time-based interval based on entering the wake mode.

7. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein a receiving device of the one or more receiving devices is a wireless access point to which the wireless device is in wireless communication.

8. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the power supply comprises a battery configured for charging by a solar power source, universal serial bus power source, or induction power source.

9. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the wireless device is configured to derive power from a five-volt power source.

10. The wireless device of claim 9, wherein the five-volt power source comprises a USB connection for both powering and programming the wireless device.

11. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the wireless signals comprises 802.11 signals in a range of 350 meters to 400 meters.

12. The wireless device of claim 1, further comprising a Global Positioning System (GPS) device, wherein the wireless device is configured to perform, based on no Wi-Fi connection being available to the wireless device, storing location data from the GPS device, and, based on the wireless device establishing a Wi-Fi connection, uploading the stored location data to a remote device.

13. The wireless device of claim 1, further comprising an induction power source for wireless self-charging.

14. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the wireless device is a mobile device.

15. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the wireless device is a Wi-Fi device, the wireless antenna is a Wi-Fi antenna, and the wireless signals are Wi-Fi signals.

16. The wireless device of claim 1, further comprising a solar power source for the self-charging.