APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR FINDING AND REPORTING LOST ITEMS

• US 20140327518A1
• Filed: 05/03/2013
• Published: 11/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Consumer Product Recovery and Finance Company, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Consumer Product Recovery and Finance Company, Inc.
• Inventors: Loutit, James F. R.
• Granted Patent: US 9,741,008 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/7.58
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/00 Programme-control systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/048 Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/14 by lifting or attempted removal of hand-portable articles
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 5/22 using electric transmission; using electromagnetic transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication

Abstract

Provided is a system, having: a lost-and-found system, implemented with one or more processors, the lost-and-found system having a server and a data repository, the data repository storing venue records; and a plurality of mobile devices each having a lost-and-found mobile application, the lost-and-found mobile application being operative to report a found or a lost item and associate the found item or the lost item with one of the venue records.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a lost-and-found system, implemented with one or more processors, the lost-and-found system having a server and a data repository, the data repository storing venue records; and

a plurality of mobile devices each having a lost-and-found mobile application, the lost-and-found mobile application being operative to report a found or a lost item and associate the found item or the lost item with one of the venue records.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein

the lost-and-found system is operative to:

receive a request to broadcast a lost-item alert or a found-item alert, the request being associated with a venue in the venue records;

identify agents of the venue; and

send an alert to selected mobile devices, the selected mobile devices being mobile devices of the agents of the venue;

the mobile application is operative to;

receive the alert at the selected mobile devices; and

display the alert with the selected mobile devices.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the lost-and-found system is operative to:

receive a request to broadcast a lost-item alert, the request being associated with a geographic location;

identify mobile devices within a threshold distance of the geographic location; and

send an alert to the identified mobile devices.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile application is operative to:

receive, while a lost mobile device is locked, a lost-item alert relating to the lost mobile device, the lost-item alert including contact information for the owner of the mobile device or location recovery instructions for the owner of the mobile device; and

display, on a lock screen of the lost mobile device, the contact information, the location recovery instructions for the owner of the mobile device, or both.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile application is operative to:

receive a request to signal the location of a lost mobile device with the lost mobile device to those proximate the lost mobile device; and

in response, audibly, haptically, or visually indicate the location of the mobile device with the lost mobile device.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the lost-and-found system is operative to;

receive, from a user device, a request for the location of a lost mobile device;

send a lost item query to mobile device;

determine a street address of the lost mobile device based on a responsive sensed location; and

send the street address to the user device;

the mobile application is operative to;

receive the lost item query with the lost mobile device;

sense a location of the lost mobile device in response to the lost item query; and

send the location of the lost mobile device.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the lost-and-found system is operative to;

receive a request to secure a lost mobile device; and

send a command to secure the lost mobile device;

the mobile application is operative to;

receive the command;

lock the lost mobile device in response to the command; and

terminate all applications on the lost mobile device in response to the command.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the lost-and-found system is operative to:

receive a lost-item location from a user reporting a lost item; and

send to user devices of other users, a map display depicting the lost item location with a pin icon.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile application is operative to:

associate the mobile device with a venue;

receive a command to present an lost-item reporting interface; and

pre-populate the lost lost-item reporting interface with location information of the venue.

11. A computer-implemented method of documenting lost and found items, the method comprising:

finding a found item or losing a lost item;

launching a lost-and-found application on a mobile device, the lost-and-found application being operative to associate a venue at which the found item was found with the found item or associate a venue at which the item was lost with the lost item;

creating a found-item record or a lost-item record with the lost-and-found application on the mobile device to document the found item or lost item by performing steps comprising;

recording a location of the mobile device with a location sensor of the mobile device to identify the location where the found item was found or the lost item was lost;

capturing an image of the found item with a camera of the mobile device or retrieving an image of the lost item from a file in memory; and

receiving a prose description of the lost or found item entered by a user of the mobile device;

sending the found-item record or the lost-item record to a lost-and-found server system over a network, the found-item record or the lost-item record having the location, the image, the prose description, and an identifier of the venue;

receiving the found-item record or the lost-item record at the lost-and-found server system and storing in a database of the lost-and-found server system the found-item record or the lost-item record;

receiving, from another user device, a request at the lost-and-found server system for found items associated with the venue or for lost items associated with the venue; and

sending to the other user device, the found item record or the lost-item record and other found item records or lost-item records responsive to the request.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the mobile device is a smartphone of an employee of the venue;

the venue is an airline, an airport, an amusement park, a rental car, a hotel, a sports venue, a park, a school, or a retail store;

the prose description includes a category of the item selected by the user of the mobile device, the category being selected from among candidate categories including phones, clothing items, pets, and computers;

the location of the mobile device is sensed with a location sensor of the mobile device;

the lost-and-found server system includes a web server hosting a website by which a plurality of found item records are displayed to users; and

the lost-and-found server system hosts found item records for a plurality of venues.

13. The method of claim 11, comprising:

ascertaining that the item was lost;

launching a lost-and-found application on another mobile device, the lost-and-found application on the other mobile device being associated with the venue;

creating a lost-item record with the lost-and-found application on the other mobile device;

sending the lost-item record to the lost-and-found server system;

determining that the lost-item record matches the found-item record; and

displaying the found-item record on the other mobile device.

14. A tangible, machine-readable, non-transitory medium storing instructions that when executed by a data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving, at a mobile computing device having a processor and memory, instructions to report a found item;

presenting an interface by which the user enters a found-item record; and

sending the found-item record to a lost-and-found server system along with data by which the found-item record is associated with a venue at which the item was found.

15. The medium of claim 14, wherein found-item record includes:

a category of found items; and

a sub-category of found items within a selected category, wherein the medium includes instructions to populate a list of candidate sub-categories responsive to the selection of a category.

16. The medium of claim 14, wherein the found-item record includes a color of the found item and a date that the found item was found.

17. The medium of claim 14, wherein the found-item record includes a photograph of the found item.

18. The medium of claim 14, wherein the found-item record includes a geolocation of the found item.

19. A tangible, machine-readable, non-transitory medium storing instructions that when executed by a data processing apparatus cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising:

receiving, at a mobile computing device having a processor and memory, instructions to search for a lost item;

presenting an interface by which the user selects a venue in which the item was potentially lost;

sending a request to a lost-and-found server system for found-item records associated with a selected venue;

receiving responsive found-item records; and

displaying the found-item records to the user of the mobile computing device.

20. The medium of claim 19, wherein the interface by which the user selects a venue includes:

an interface by which the user enters a venue type;

an interface by which the user enters a venue name;

an interface by which the user enters a venue geographic area; and

an interface by which the user enters a venue city.

21. The medium of claim 19, wherein candidate venues specified with the interface by which the user selects a venue are presented to the user, and wherein the user selects among the candidate venues.

22. The medium of claim 19, wherein a plurality of found-item records or lost-item records associated with the selected value are displayed and wherein each found-item record or lost-item record is selectable by a user to display found-item record details or lost-item record details.

23. The medium of claim 22, wherein the listing details include a map of a location associated with a selected found-item record, and wherein the map location is displayed with an icon indicative of whether the icon corresponds to a lost item or a found item.

24. The medium of claim 22, wherein the listing details include an interface by which a user can contact another user associated with the selected found-item record.

25. The medium of claim 24, wherein the medium comprising instructions that cause an email to be sent to the other user upon a user requesting that an email be sent vie the interface by which a user can contact another user associated with the selected found-item record.

26. The medium of claim 19, wherein the interface by which the user selects a venue includes a keyword search interface.