MOBILE DEVICE UTILIZING TIME OF FLIGHT FOR PERSONAL SECURITY AND LOCALIZATION

• US 20150080021A1
• Filed: 09/12/2014
• Published: 03/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Voll, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Voll, Inc.
• Inventors: Bietz, Steven Lee, Acosta-Cazaubon, Jesus
• Granted Patent: US 9,270,319 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3877 Arrangements for enabling portable transceivers to be used in a fixed position, e.g. cradles or boosters
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3888 Arrangements for carrying or protecting transceivers
• 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 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0025 synchronizing potentially movable access points
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A mobile device case for functional connection and physical attachment to a mobile device, the mobile device case comprises an application adapted to run in the mobile device and a cradle configured for removable attachment with the mobile device, the cradle comprising a controller capable of functional connection with the application, where the cradle is adapted to protect the mobile device while attached to the mobile device and the cradle is adapted to functionally pair with the application to create at least a portion of a mesh network.

Claims

1. A mobile device case for functional connection and physical attachment to a mobile device, said mobile device case comprises:

(a) an application adapted to run in the mobile device; and

(b) a cradle configured for removable attachment with the mobile device, said cradle comprising a controller capable of functional connection with said application,

whereby said cradle is configured to protect the mobile device while attached to the mobile device and said cradle is configured to functionally pair with said application to create at least a portion of a mesh network.

2. The mobile device case of claim 1, further comprising at least one sensor.

3. The mobile device case of claim 2, wherein said at least one sensor is selected from the group consisting of an accelerometer and a directional antennae.

4. The mobile device case of claim 1, further comprising at least one socket for receiving at least one sensor.

5. The mobile device case of claim 1, wherein said functional connection is wired.

6. The mobile device case of claim 1, wherein said functional connection is wireless.

7. The mobile device case of claim 6, further comprising a data transmitter and a data receiver.

8. The mobile device case of claim 6, wherein said functional connection is made according to a communication protocol selected from the group consisting of Bluetooth and wireless local area network (Wi-Fi).

9. The mobile device case of claim 6, wherein said functional connection comprises:

(a) communicating a message from said mobile device case to said application;

(b) calculating a time of flight of said message; and

(c) comparing said time of flight to an expected time of flight to yield a discrepancy,

whereby if said discrepancy is greater than a predetermined value, an action is initiated by at least one of said application and said mobile device case.

10. The mobile device case of claim 6, wherein said functional connection comprises:

(a) communicating a message from said application to said mobile device case;

(b) calculating a time of flight of said message; and

(c) comparing said time of flight to an expected time of flight to yield a discrepancy,

whereby if said discrepancy is greater than a predetermined value, an action is initiated by at least one of said application and said mobile device case.

11. A method for determining the location of a frequency receiver device from a frequency originator device of a known location, said method comprising:

(a) synchronizing a clock of said frequency originator device with a clock of the frequency receiver device;

(b) receiving by said frequency receiver device a directional message containing a broadcast time at which said directional message is broadcasted at an orientation from the frequency originator device;

(c) calculating a time of flight of said directional message by calculating the difference between a receive time at which said directional message is received by said frequency receiver device and said broadcast time and determining the distance between the frequency originator device and said frequency receiver device by multiplying said time of flight of said directional message by the speed of said directional message;

(d) determining the frequency of said directional message and determining said orientation by looking up a table containing orientations of messages about the frequency originator device with respect to the frequency of the messages; and

(e) determining the location of said frequency receiver device based on said orientation and the known location of the frequency originator device.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the frequency originator device comprises a device selected from the group consisting of a long range acoustic device (LRAD) and a phased array speaker system.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein at least one of said frequency receiver device and said frequency originator device is a mobile device.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein said frequency receiver device and the frequency originator device are capable of underwater operation.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the known location is movable.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein said synchronizing step is performed via a mechanism selected from the group consisting of a peer-to-peer arrangement and a web server arrangement.

17. A method for determining the location of a frequency receiver device with respect to at least two frequency originator devices, each of a known location, said method comprising:

(a) synchronizing a clock of said frequency receiver device with a clock of one of said at least two frequency originator devices;

(b) receiving by said frequency receiver device, a message containing a broadcast time at which said message is broadcasted from said one of said at least two frequency originator devices;

(c) calculating a time of flight of said message by calculating the difference between a receive time at which said message is received by said frequency receiver device and said broadcast time;

(d) repeating steps (a)-(c) for another one of said at least two frequency receiver devices to result in a first time of flight and a second time of flight;

(e) calculating a ratio of said first time of flight and said second time of flight;

(f) resolving possible locations of said frequency receiver device by looking up a table containing possible locations of said frequency receiver device with respect to the locations of said at least two frequency originator devices; and

(g) applying at least one limit to said possible locations to select one of said possible locations with high certainty.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein at least one of said frequency receiver device and said at least two frequency originator devices is a mobile device.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein said frequency receiver device and said at least two frequency originator devices are capable of underwater operation.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein each of the known locations is movable.