Electronic system location determination

• US 20080091939A1
• Filed: 09/27/2006
• Published: 04/17/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Golden, Stuart A
• Granted Patent: US 7,942,936 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/156
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/24 Transfer of terminal data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A lost or stolen computing device is recovered. A trusted server is requested to locate the computing device. The trusted server requests coarse location information from the computing device, and the computing device reports its coarse location. The trusted server then requests that the computing device transmit wireless local area networks signal so that it may be recovered.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a request to locate a computing device;

contacting the computing device over a wireless wide area network (WWAN) and requesting coarse location information;

sending to the computing device a request to transmit wireless local area network (WLAN) signals.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving a request to locate a computing device comprises receiving a request to locate a stolen or missing computer.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein contacting the computing device over a wireless wide area network comprises contacting the computing device over a cellular telephone network.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein sending to the computing device comprises sending a presence request frame to the computing device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein sending the presence request frame to the computing device comprises sending the frame over the WWAN.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein sending the presence request frame to the computing device comprises sending the frame over a WLAN.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein requesting coarse location information comprises requesting a media access control (MAC) address of a WLAN access point.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising correlating the MAC address of the WLAN access point with a physical location.

9. A method comprising:

receiving a request from a trusted entity for coarse location information;

obtaining coarse location information;

reporting coarse location information to the trusted entity;

receiving a presence request from the trusted entity; and

transmitting at least one presence response.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the coarse location information is obtained using a global positioning system (GPS) receiver.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein obtaining coarse location information comprises obtaining an identification of a wireless local area network (WLAN) device nearby.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein receiving a request for coarse location information comprises receiving a request over a cellular network.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein receiving a presence request comprises receiving a presence request over a WLAN.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein transmitting at least one presence response comprises periodically transmitting IEEE 802.11v presence response frames.

15. An article having a machine readable medium with instructions stored thereon that when accessed result in a machine performing:

receiving a request from a trusted entity for coarse location information;

obtaining coarse location information;

reporting coarse location information to the trusted entity;

receiving a presence request from the trusted entity; and

transmitting at least one presence response.

16. The article of claim 15 wherein the article comprises a nonvolatile memory.

17. The article of claim 15 wherein the article comprises a basic input output system (BIOS).

18. An electronic system comprising:

a coarse location determination component to determine and report a coarse location of the electronic system over a wireless wide area network (WWAN); and

a presence response component to respond to presence requests and to transmit presence responses over a wireless local area network (WLAN).

19. The electronic system of claim 18 further comprising a cellular telephone interface to be utilized by the coarse location determination component to report the coarse location.

20. The electronic system of claim 18 further comprising a WLAN interface to be utilized by the presence response component to transmit presence responses.

21. The electronic system of claim 18 further comprising a basic input output system (BIOS), wherein the coarse location determination component and presence response component are stored in the BIOS.