SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR LOCATING A TRACKING DEVICE

• US 20140213301A1
• Filed: 01/29/2014
• Published: 07/31/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TILE, INC. (Life360 Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Reveal Labs, Inc. (Life360 Incorporated)
• Inventors: Evans, Nicholas George, Farley, Michael George
• Granted Patent: US 9,357,348 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.3
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/88 Detecting or preventing theft or loss
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/18 between terminal devices

Abstract

The principles described herein provide methods and systems for locating a tracking device. In particular, one disclosed method includes associating a user with a tracking device, receiving an indication that the tracking device is lost, setting a flag indicating that the tracking device is lost, receiving a location within a proximity of the tracking device from one of a plurality of mobile devices associated with a community of users, and providing the location to the user.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

associating, using at least one processor, a user with a tracking device;

receiving an indication that the tracking device is lost;

setting a flag indicating that the tracking device is lost;

receiving a location within a proximity of the tracking device from one of a plurality of mobile devices associated with a community of users; and

providing the location to the user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving multiple locations from the plurality of mobile devices associated with the community of users and indicating multiple locations within a proximity of the tracking device; and

providing the multiple locations to the device associated with the user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving an indication that the tracking device is lost comprises receiving the indication in a communication from a mobile device associated with the user in response to a user input from the user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the community of users comprises a plurality of users unknown to the user.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the location comprises a location of the one of the plurality of mobile devices at a time that the one of the plurality of mobile devices communicated with the tracking device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein associating the user with the tracking device comprises linking a user profile associated with the user with a unique identifier associated with the tracking device within a database.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising associating multiple tracking devices with the user.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving locations for a plurality of tracking devices associated with multiple users from the plurality of mobile devices.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising monitoring the received locations to identify a location associated with the tracking device that is lost.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending a location request to the plurality of mobile devices associated with the community of users.

11. A method comprising:

providing, by a mobile device, tracking device information and user information to a tracking system for associating a user with a tracking device;

sending a lost indication to the tracking system indicating that the tracking device is lost; and

receiving a response to the lost indication including a location within a proximity of the tracking device based on a location for the tracking device received from one of a plurality of mobile devices associated with a community of users.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising determining that the tracking device is not located within a proximity of the mobile device.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising notifying a user of the mobile device that the tracking device is not located within a proximity of the mobile device.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein sending the lost indication to the tracking system is based on the determination that the tracking device is not located within a proximity of the mobile device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein determining that the tracking device is not located within a proximity of the mobile device comprises detecting a loss in communication with the tracking device.

16. A method comprising:

detecting, by a mobile device, a signal from a tracking device;

detecting a location of the mobile device; and

sending an electronic communication to a tracking system indicating an identification of the tracking device and the location;

wherein detecting the signal and sending the electronic communication are performed without input from a user of the mobile device.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein sending the electronic communication comprises sending an anonymous response to the tracking system without an identification of the user of the mobile device.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising continuously scanning for any tracking device within a proximity of the mobile device.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising receiving, at the mobile device, a location request provided to a plurality of mobile devices associated with a community of users, the location request indicating that a tracking device is lost.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein results of the scanning are discarded for any tracking device that is not associated with the location request from the tracking system.