Systems, Methods, and Computer Program Products for Determining a Location of a Tracked Device After a Device or Network Failure

• US 20120009904A1
• Filed: 07/07/2010
• Published: 01/12/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Beattie, James Gordon Jr., Griesmer, Stephen J., Stewart, Harold, Modi, Milap, Sharp, Robert K.
• Granted Patent: US 8,700,052 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/413
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer program products are for receiving a tracking failure notification including a device identifier of a tracked device that is unavailable because of a failure condition, determining the failure condition as being one of a network failure and a tracked device failure, retrieving known location data of the tracked device including a last known location of the tracked device, determining a potential location of the tracked device, and notifying an entity of the failure condition, the device identifier, and the potential location.

Claims

1. A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform steps of a method, comprising:

receiving a tracking failure notification, the tracking failure notification comprising a device identifier of a tracked device that is unavailable because of a failure condition;

determining the failure condition, the failure condition being one of a network failure and a tracked device failure;

retrieving known location data of the tracked device, the known location data comprising a last known location of the tracked device;

determining a potential location of the tracked device; and

notifying an entity of the failure condition, the device identifier, and the potential location.

2. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the tracking failure notification is received in one of a call, a short messaging service (SMS) message, a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message, an email, an interactive voice response (IVR) message, an emergency services message, and a direct input message.

3. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the device identifier is one of a mobile station international integrated services digital network number (MSISDN), an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI), and an international mobile equipment identity (IMEI).

4. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the method, further comprising retrieving for the tracked device a device track history;

and wherein determining the potential location of the tracked device comprises determining the potential location of the tracked device based upon the device track history of the tracked device.

5. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 4, wherein the instructions for determining the potential location of the tracked device based upon the device track history of the tracked device comprise instructions for:

determining that a pattern exists within the device track history; and

determining the potential location of the tracked device from the pattern.

6. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein the instructions for determining the potential location from the pattern comprise instructions for:

determining a set of potential locations, wherein each potential location in the set of potential locations is associated with a specific time at which the tracked device was at the corresponding potential location;

comparing the specific time of each corresponding potential location in the set of potential locations to a particular time; and

determining the potential location based upon the comparison step.

7. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the method, further comprising:

determining whether the last known location of the tracked device is within a predetermined distance of a second last known location of a second tracked device for which a second tracking failure notification comprising the second last known location has been received; and

if the last known location of the tracked device is within the predetermined distance of the second last known location of the second tracked device, determining the potential location of the tracked device based upon one of second known location data of the second tracked device and a second device track history of the second tracked device.

8. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the method, further comprising:

retrieving a communications history of the tracked device, the communications history comprising at least one of a call history, a message history, and a data history for communications that occur during a particular time period; and

wherein determining the potential location of the tracked device comprises determining the potential location of the tracked device based upon the communications history of the tracked device.

9. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions for retrieving the known location data of the tracked device further comprise instructions for retrieving the known location data from a location database comprising location information for location-based services subscribers.

10. A method for ascertaining a potential location of a tracked device that is unavailable because of a failure condition, the method comprising:

at a location assessment system;

receiving a tracking failure notification, the tracking failure notification comprising a device identifier of the tracked device;

determining the failure condition, the failure condition being one of a network failure and a tracked device failure;

retrieving known location data of the tracked device, the known location data comprising a last known location of the tracked device;

determining a potential location of the tracked device; and

notifying an entity of the failure condition, the device identifier, and the potential location.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising retrieving for the tracked device a device track history;

and wherein determining the potential location of the tracked device comprises determining the potential location of the tracked device based upon the device track history of the tracked device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein determining the potential location of the tracked device based upon the device track history of the tracked device comprises:

determining that a pattern exists within the device track history; and

determining the potential location of the tracked device from the pattern.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein determining the potential location from the pattern comprises:

determining a set of potential locations, wherein each potential location in the set of potential locations is associated with a specific time at which the tracked device was at the corresponding potential location;

comparing the specific time of each corresponding potential location in the set of potential locations to a particular time; and

determining the potential location based upon the comparison step.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining whether the last known location of the tracked device is within a predetermined distance of a second last known location of a second tracked device for which a second tracking failure notification comprising the second last known location has been received; and

if the last known location of the tracked device is within the predetermined distance of the second last known location of the second tracked device, determining the potential location of the tracked device based upon one of second known location data of the second tracked device and a second device track history of the second tracked device.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

retrieving a communications history of the tracked device, the communications history comprising at least one of a call history, a message history, and a data history for communications that occur during a particular time period; and

wherein determining the potential location of the tracked device comprises determining the potential location of the tracked device based upon the communications history of the tracked device.

16. A location assessment system comprising:

an input/output component;

a processor in communication with the input/output component;

a memory in communication with the processor, the memory comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

receive a tracking failure notification, the tracking failure notification comprising a device identifier of a tracked device that is unavailable because of a failure condition;

determine the failure condition, the failure condition being one of a network failure and a tracked device failure;

retrieve known location data of the tracked device, the known location data comprising a last known location of the tracked device;

determine a potential location of the tracked device; and

notify an entity of the failure condition, the device identifier, and the potential location.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the memory further comprises instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

retrieve for the tracked device a device track history; and

wherein the instructions that, when executed by the processor cause the processor to determine the potential location of the tracked device comprise instructions that, when executed by the processor cause the processor to determine the potential location of the tracked device based upon the device track history of the tracked device.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to determine the potential location of the tracked device based upon the device track history of the tracked device comprise instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

determine that a pattern exists within the device track history; and

determine the potential location of the tracked device from the pattern.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to determine the potential location from the pattern comprise instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

determine a set of potential locations, wherein each potential location in the set of potential locations is associated with a specific time at which the tracked device was at the corresponding potential location;

compare the specific time of each corresponding potential location in the set of potential locations to a particular time; and

determine the potential location based upon the comparison.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the memory further comprises instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

determine whether the last known location of the tracked device is within a predetermined distance of a second last known location of a second tracked device for which a second tracking failure notification comprising the second last known location has been received; and

if the last known location of the tracked device is within the predetermined distance of the second last known location of the second tracked device, determine the potential location of the tracked device based upon one of second known location data of the second tracked device and a second device track history of the second tracked device.