Method and apparatus for location-based recovery of stolen mobile devices

• US 20060145839A1
• Filed: 12/17/2004
• Published: 07/06/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Sandage, David A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,501,669 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/539.170
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/88 Detecting or preventing theft or loss

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and system for locating mobile devices. The system includes a location-aware mobile device. The location-aware mobile device includes a location-aware mechanism embedded in a platform firmware layer of the location-aware mobile device. The system also includes a central database to receive location information from the location-aware mobile device over a network. If the location-aware mobile device has been stolen, lost, or misplaced, the central database reports the stolen, lost, or misplaced location-aware mobile device and its location to appropriate persons to enable the location-aware mobile device to be recovered.

Claims

1. An apparatus for locating mobile devices, comprising:

location hardware;

a location service, coupled to the location hardware, to retrieve location information from the location hardware; and

a location reporting module to request the location information from the location service and to report the location information;

wherein the location reporting module, the location service, and the location hardware are embedded in a platform firmware layer of a mobile device to enable the mobile device to be recovered if stolen, lost, or misplaced.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a network stack coupled to network hardware to send and receive network packets over a network, wherein the network stack is coupled to the location reporting module to enable the location reporting module to report the location of the mobile device to a central database, and if the central database indicates that the mobile device has been stolen, lost, or misplaced, the central database to notify appropriate parties to enable the mobile device to be recovered.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the appropriate parties comprise at least one of law enforcement personnel, corporate Information Technology (IT) personnel, service provider personnel, an owner of the location-aware mobile device, or a person listed as being responsible for the location-aware mobile device.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the location hardware comprises at least one of a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, a wireless fidelity (WI-FI) receiver, a cellular receiver, or any other receiver capable of determining the location of the mobile device.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the platform firmware layer is digitally signed.

6. A method for locating a mobile device, the method comprising:

receiving a report that a connection to a network has been made;

accessing a central database to determine if a location-aware computing device should report its location information to the central database;

if it is determined that the central database has requested the location information of the location-aware computing device,

querying a platform location service to obtain the location information; and

sending the location information to the central database to enable the central database to notify the appropriate persons.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein if the location-aware computing device has been stolen, lost, or misplaced, sending the location information to the central database to enable the central database to notify the appropriate persons further comprises sending the location information to the central database to enable the central database to notify the appropriate persons to recover the location-aware computing device.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein querying the platform location service to obtain the location information further comprises querying the platform location service to enable the platform location service to obtain the location information from location hardware embedded in a platform firmware layer of the location-aware mobile device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the location hardware comprises at least one of a global position system (GPS) receiver, a wireless fidelity (WI-FI) receiver, a cellular receiver, or any other receiver capable of determining the location of the location-aware mobile device.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein prior to sending the location information to the central database, packaging the location information into a network packet.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein the location information is used for keeping track of inventory.

12. A method for locating a mobile device, comprising:

receiving identification and location information from a location-aware mobile device; and

notifying the appropriate persons of the location information for the location-aware mobile device to enable the location-aware mobile device to be recovered if stolen, lost, or misplaced.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein notifying the appropriate persons includes notifying one or more of law enforcement personnel, corporate Information Technology (IT) personnel, service provider personnel, an owner of the location-aware mobile device, and a person listed as being responsible for the location-aware mobile device if the location-aware mobile device has been stolen.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein prior to receiving identification and location information from the location-aware mobile device, the method comprising:

receiving a request as to whether location information should be reported from the location-aware mobile device;

determining whether location data should be reported for the location-aware mobile device identified in the request; and

sending a reply to the location-aware mobile device, the reply requesting location information from the location-aware mobile device if determined to be needed.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein determining whether location data should be reported for the location-aware mobile device identified in the request further comprises determining whether the location-aware mobile device has been stolen, lost, or misplaced.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein determining whether location data should be reported for the location-aware mobile device identified in the request further comprises determining if an entity in control of the process needs to know the location of the location-aware mobile device for inventory purposes or some other purpose.

17. An article comprising:

a storage medium having a plurality of machine accessible instructions, wherein when the instructions are executed by a processor, the instructions provide for;

receiving a report that a connection to a network has been made;

accessing a central database to determine if a location-aware computing device should report its location information to the central database;

if it is determined that the central database has requested the location information of the location-aware computing device,

querying a platform location service to obtain the location information; and

sending the location information to the central database to enable the central database to notify the appropriate persons.

18. The article of claim 17, wherein if the location-aware computing device has been stolen, lost, or misplaced, instructions for sending the location information to the central database to enable the central database to notify the appropriate persons further comprises instructions for sending the location information to the central database to enable the central database to notify the appropriate persons to recover the location-aware computing device.

19. The article of claim 17, wherein instructions for querying the platform location service to obtain the location information further comprises instructions for querying the platform location service to enable the platform location service to obtain the location information from location hardware embedded in a platform firmware layer of the location-aware mobile device.

20. The article of claim 19, wherein the location hardware comprises at least one of a global position system (GPS) receiver, a wireless fidelity (WI-FI) receiver, a cellular receiver, or any other receiver capable of determining the location of the location-aware mobile device.

21. The article of claim 17, wherein prior to providing instructions for sending the location information to the central database, providing instructions for packaging the location information into a network packet.

22. The article of claim 17, wherein the location information is used for keeping track of inventory.

23. An article comprising:

a storage medium having a plurality of machine accessible instructions, wherein when the instructions are executed by a processor, the instructions provide for;

receiving identification and location information from a location-aware mobile device; and

notifying the appropriate persons of the location information for the location-aware mobile device to enable the location-aware mobile device to be recovered if stolen, lost, or misplaced.

24. The article of claim 23, wherein instructions for notifying the appropriate persons includes instructions for notifying one or more of law enforcement personnel, corporate Information Technology (IT) personnel, service provider personnel, an owner of the location-aware mobile device, and a person listed as being responsible for the location-aware mobile device if the location-aware mobile device has been stolen.

25. The article of claim 23, wherein prior to providing instructions for receiving identification and location information from the location-aware mobile device, providing instructions for:

receiving a request as to whether location information should be reported from the location-aware mobile device;

determining whether location data should be reported for the location-aware mobile device identified in the request; and

sending a reply to the location-aware mobile device, the reply requesting location information from the location-aware mobile device if determined to be needed.

26. The article of claim 23, wherein instructions for determining whether location data should be reported for the location-aware mobile device identified in the request further comprises instructions for determining whether the location-aware mobile device has been stolen, lost, or misplaced.

27. The article of claim 23, wherein instructions for determining whether location data should be reported for the location-aware mobile device identified in the request further comprises instructions for determining if an entity in control of the process needs to know the location of the location-aware mobile device for inventory purposes or some other purpose.

28. A system for locating mobile devices, comprising:

a location-aware mobile device, the location-aware mobile device including an operating system coupled to a location-aware mechanism, the location-aware mechanism embedded in a platform firmware layer of the location-aware mobile device; and

a central database to receive location information from the location-aware mobile device over a network and, if the location-aware mobile device has been stolen, lost, or misplaced, to report the stolen, lost, or misplaced location-aware mobile device to appropriate persons to enable the location-aware mobile device to be recovered.

29. The system of claim 28, wherein the location-aware mechanism includes location hardware to determine the location of the location-aware mobile device, wherein the location hardware comprises a GPS receiver.

30. The system of claim 28, wherein the platform firmware layer is digitally signed.

31. The system of claim 28, wherein the location-aware mechanism includes a location reporting module coupled to a platform location service, the platform location service to provide the location information to the location reporting module, the location reporting module to package the location information and to send the location information to the central database.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the location information is determined by location hardware embedded in the platform firmware layer, the location hardware comprising one of a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, a wireless fidelity (WI-FI) receiver, a cellular receiver, or another receiver capable of determining the location information for the location-aware mobile device.