METHOD AND DEVICES FOR FACILITATING THE LOCATION OF A MOBILE ELECTRONIC DEVICE

• US 20090325599A1
• Filed: 07/03/2006
• Published: 12/31/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/03/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Vuori, Janne
• Granted Patent: US 8,694,019 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: A47B 88/463 self-opening
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 1/1075 for counterbalancing
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 1/16 for sliding wings
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 5/003 for sliding wings Fasteners specially adapted for holding sliding wings open E05D13/04
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 5/027 with closing action
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2201/22 Locks
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2201/232 by automatically acting means
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2201/424 for the final opening movement
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2201/488 Traction springs
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2600/53 Snapping
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2800/11 Manual wing operation
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2900/20 for furnitures, e.g. cabinets
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/51 Relative positioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• 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 8/14 between corresponding nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/18 between terminal devices

Abstract

The invention relates to a user-portable electronic device and in particular one which is capable of establishing transmission connection with one or more mobile electronic devices. A user-portable electronic device comprising transmission connection circuitry arranged to establish transmission connection between the user-portable electronic device and one or more mobile electronic devices; geographic-location determining circuitry arranged to determine a geographic location of the or each mobile electronic device associated with transmission connection of the user-portable electronic device and the or each mobile electronic device; and log circuitry arranged to allow storage of a geographic-location log including at least a last-known geographic location of the or each mobile electronic device.

Claims

1. A user-portable electronic device comprising

transmission connection circuitry arranged to establish transmission connection between the user-portable electronic device and one or more mobile electronic devices;

geographic-location determining circuitry arranged to determine a geographic location of the or each mobile electronic device associated with transmission connection of the user-portable electronic device and the or each mobile electronic device; and

log circuitry arranged to allow storage of a geographic-location log including at least a last-known geographic location of the or each mobile electronic device.

2. The user-portable electronic device of claim 1 including

user-interface circuitry arranged to allow a user to access the geographic-location log in order to facilitate location of the or each mobile electronic device.

3. The user-portable electronic device of claim 1 wherein the geographic-location determining circuitry is arranged to receive geographic-location data from the or each mobile electronic device when said transmission connection is established.

4. The user-portable electronic device of claim 1 wherein the geographic-location determining circuitry is arranged to receive geographic-location data from the or each mobile electronic device when said transmission connection is active.

5. The user-portable electronic device of claim 1 wherein the geographic-location determining circuitry is arranged to receive geographic-location data from the or each mobile electronic device based on the disconnection between the user-portable electronic device and the or mobile electronic device.

7. The user-portable electronic device of claim 1 wherein the log circuitry includes storage circuitry arranged to store the geographic-location log.

8. The user-portable electronic device of claim 1 wherein the log circuitry is arranged to communicate with remote storage circuitry which is capable of storing the geographic-location log.

9. The user-portable electronic device of claim 1 wherein the log circuitry is arranged to communicate with removable storage circuitry which is capable of storing the geographic-location log.

10. The user-portable electronic device of claim 1 wherein the log circuitry is arranged to allow storage in the geographic-location log of a history of geographic locations of the or each mobile electronic device.

11. The user-portable electronic device of claim 1 wherein the log circuitry is arranged to allow storage of a time at which the or each geographic location of the or each mobile electronic device was determined.

12. The user-portable electronic device of claim 1 wherein the user-portable electronic device is a master device or a slave device and the or each mobile electronic device is a master device or a slave device.

13. The user-portable electronic device of claim 2 wherein the user-interface circuitry is arranged to allow sorting of entries in the geographic-location log.

14. The user-portable electronic device of claim 2 wherein the user-interface circuitry is operable to allow searching of entries in the geographic-location log.

15. The user-portable electronic device of claim 1 comprising cartographic circuitry and display circuitry arranged to display a map indicating the last-known geographic location of the mobile electronic device.

16. The user-portable electronic device of claim 1 wherein the geographic-location determining circuitry is arranged to determine the geographic location of the or each mobile electronic device during transmission connection upon initiation by the user.

17. The user-portable electronic device of claim 1 wherein the geographic-location determining circuitry is arranged to determine the geographic location of the or each mobile electronic device during transmission connection automatically.

6. The user-portable electronic device of claim I wherein the geographic-location determining circuitry is arranged to determine a geographic location of the user-portable device and to determine the geographic-location of the or each mobile electronic device based on the determined geographic location of the user-portable device and a range of the transmission connection between the user-portable electronic device and the or each mobile electronic device.

18. A user-portable electronic device comprising

means for establishing transmission connection between the user-portable electronic device and one or more mobile electronic devices;

means for determining a geographic location of the or each mobile electronic device associated with transmission connection of the user-portable electronic device and the or each mobile electronic device; and

means for allowing storage of a geographic-location log including at least a last-known geographic location of the or each mobile electronic device.

19. A module for a user-portable electronic device, the module comprising

transmission connection circuitry arranged to establish transmission connection between the user-portable electronic device and one or more mobile electronic devices;

geographic-location determining circuitry arranged to determine a geographic location of the or each mobile electronic device associated with transmission connection of the user-portable electronic device and the or each mobile electronic device; and

log circuitry arranged to allow storage of a geographic-location log including at least a last-known geographic location of the or each mobile electronic device.

20. A module for a user-portable electronic device, the module comprising

means for establishing transmission connection between the user-portable electronic device and one or more mobile electronic devices;

means for determining a geographic location of the or each mobile electronic device associated with transmission connection of the user-portable electronic device and the or each mobile electronic device; and

means for allowing storage of a geographic-location log including at least a last-known geographic location of the or each mobile electronic device.

21. Network apparatus comprising

storage circuitry arranged to store a geographic-location log including at least a last-known geographic location of one or more mobile electronic devices.

22. A method of facilitating location of a mobile electronic device, the method comprising

establishing transmission connection between a user-portable electronic device and the mobile electronic device;

determining a geographic location of the mobile electronic device associated with transmission connection of the user-portable electronic device and the mobile electronic device; and

allowing storage of a geographic-location log including at least a last-known geographic location of the mobile electronic device.