Method and system for finding lost or stolen objects

• US 20060055538A1
• Filed: 08/26/2005
• Published: 03/16/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Swisscom Mobile AG (Government of Switzerland)
• Inventors: Ritter, Rudolf
• Granted Patent: US 7,420,465 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/572.100
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/327 Short range or proximity payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3278 RFID or NFC payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G07G 1/009 the reader being an RFID reader
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1427 with transmitter-receiver for distance detection
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2417 having a radio frequency identification chip
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0275 Electronic Article Surveillance [EAS] tag technology used for parent or child unit, e.g. same transmission technology, magnetic tag, RF tag, RFID
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0283 via a telephone network, e.g. cellular GSM

Abstract

Method for finding a lost or stolen object (1), with the following steps that must be performed before the object is lost:

• • said object (1) is marked with a RFID tag (10) in which an unequivocal tag identification (100) is stored,
  • the owner of the object (1) accesses the RFID tag (10) with a RFID reader device (2) that is built into a mobile radio telephone (3) of the owner or that is connected with this mobile radio telephone (3),
  • said tag identification (100) is paired with an owner identification (300) that is read from the SIM card (30) of said mobile telephone (3),
  • and with the following steps that are performed when said object (1) is found by a third party:
  • said tag identification (100) is read by a second RFID reader device (9),
  • the owner identification (300) that has been paired with the read tag identification (100) is determined,
  • said owner is informed about the finding of said object (1).

Claims

1. Method for finding a lost or stolen object, with the following steps that must be performed before the object is lost:

said object is marked with a RFID tag in which an unequivocal tag identification is stored,

the owner of the object accesses the RFID tag with a RFID reader device that is built into a mobile radio telephone of the owner or that is connected with this mobile radio telephone,

said tag identification is paired with an owner identification that is read from an identification module in said mobile telephone,

and with the following steps that are performed when said object is found by a third party;

said tag identification is read by a second RFID reader device,

the owner identification that has been paired with the read tag identification is determined,

said owner is informed about the finding of said object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the pairing of the tag identification with the owner identification is triggered by said owner.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the pairing of the tag identification with the owner identification is recorded in a central database in which pairings of different owners are recorded.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein an electronic key is requested for pairing the tag identification with the owner identification.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said owner identification is replaced with an alias,

said second RFID reader device determining only said alias,

said alias being replaced with the corresponding owner identification by a module in order to inform said owner about the finding of the object.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a connection is automatically built between said RFID reader device and said tag and wherein the tag is considered lost if the connection cannot be established.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said RFID tag periodically writes a time mark in said tag.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the loss of an object is recorded with the aid of the mobile device of the owner in a central database.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the loss of an object is announced on a Hypertext page corresponding to the tag identification.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a reward for the finder of said object is offered, a finder of the object being able to check the offered reward on the basis of said tag identification.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said tag identification is in the EPC format.

12. System with the following components:

a plurality of objects that are each marked with RFID tags, in which tag identifications are stored,

a plurality of RFID reader devices for reading said RFID tags,

mobile radio devices that are each connected with said RFID reader devices and that log into a mobile radio network, each mobile radio device having an identification module in which a mobile user identification is stored,

a plurality of Hypertext pages, each Hypertext page corresponding to one said tag identification and being capable of being determined on the basis of this said tag identification, and said mobile user identification being stored in said Hypertext pages.