TRACKING SYSTEMS AND METHODS

• US 20150160328A1
• Filed: 12/05/2014
• Published: 06/11/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: MCP LLC (Duke Energy Corporation)
• Original Assignee: MCP LLC (Duke Energy Corporation)
• Inventors: Peinhardt, Matthew, Bidwell, John
• Granted Patent: US 9,813,992 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0036 of measured values, i.e. measurement on mobile and position calculation on base station
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0252 Radio frequency fingerprinting
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/14 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location
• 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 52/0251 using monitoring of local events, e.g. events related to user activity
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Techniques tracking, monitoring, updating, and displaying location and related information based on telemetry information received from mobile devices carried in the field. Each tracked entity (e.g., person, robot) carries or is associated with a mobile device. When a mobile device enters within range of a checkpoint associated with a known position, the mobile device notifies a central server or other system (e.g., a peer device), which then makes the received information (or information derived therefrom) available to other devices and/or systems. In some cases, the checkpoint devices are wireless network access points, such as Wi-Fi routers, access points, media device, or the like.

Claims

1. A method in a mobile device carried by a tracked person, the method comprising:

tracking movement of the person about a monitored premises that includes multiple checkpoint devices that are configured to communicate wirelessly with the mobile device, by;

wirelessly receiving checkpoint data from a first one of the checkpoint devices;

determining whether or not the checkpoint data can be transmitted to a remote tracking system;

when it is determined that the checkpoint data can be transmitted, transmitting the checkpoint data to the tracking system; and

when it is determined that the checkpoint data cannot be transmitted, locally storing the checkpoint data for later transmission to the tracking system.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving tracking information from the tracking server; and

presented the received tracking information on a display of the mobile device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the monitored premises is a multistory building including multiple levels, and further comprising:

presenting a map that displays a present location and an indication of a current level of the person within the monitored premises.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

wirelessly receiving checkpoint data from a second one of the checkpoint devices;

determining a nearest one of the first and second checkpoint devices; and

transmitting checkpoint data from the nearest one of the checkpoint devices to the tracking system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the wirelessly receiving checkpoint data includes:

receiving the checkpoint data via the Wi-Fi protocol.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the wirelessly receiving checkpoint data includes:

receiving a device identifier associated with the first checkpoint device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether or not the checkpoint data can be transmitted includes:

determining whether a network connection can be established for communicating with the tracking system.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether or not the checkpoint data can be transmitted includes:

determining whether the mobile device is in a power-saving mode.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting the checkpoint data to the tracking system includes:

transmitting multiple checkpoint identifiers along with associated time stamps that each indicate a time at which the mobile device communicated with a one of the multiple checkpoint devices.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the tracking movement of the person includes:

tracking the movement of at least one of;

a guard monitoring the premises, a maintenance worker operating at the premises, a janitorial worker operating at the premises, a family or group member visiting the premises, and a health care worker providing services within the premises.

11. A method in a tracking system in communication with a mobile device carried by a tracked person, the method comprising:

tracking movement of the person about a monitored premises that includes multiple checkpoint devices that are configured to communicate wirelessly with the mobile device, wherein at least some of the checkpoint devices are Wi-Fi network access devices, by;

receiving checkpoint data from the mobile device, the checkpoint data based on a wireless interaction between the mobile device and one or more of the multiple checkpoint devices, the checkpoint data including network identifiers of the Wi-Fi network access devices;

storing checkpoint data received from the mobile device; and

presenting tracking information based on the received checkpoint data.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the tracking movement of the person includes:

receiving from the mobile device checkpoint data corresponding to multiple checkpoint devices, the received checkpoint data identifying each of the checkpoint devices and including a signal strength corresponding to each of the checkpoint devices; and

determining, based on the signal strength corresponding to each of the multiple checkpoint devices, a location of the mobile device.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining that the location of the mobile device is the location of the checkpoint device having the strongest corresponding signal.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining the location of the mobile device by triangulating signal information from the multiple checkpoint devices.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the tracking movement of the person includes:

receiving multiple checkpoint identifiers;

for each of the multiple checkpoint identifiers, receiving a corresponding location indicator; and

associating each of the multiple checkpoint identifiers with its corresponding location indicator.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

presenting on a mobile device identifiers of multiple candidate checkpoint devices, each identifier presented with an associated signal strength;

receiving, based on a selection by a user of the mobile device of one of the presented checkpoint device identifiers, the selected checkpoint device identifier, a zone identifier, and a level identifier; and

associating the selected checkpoint device identifier with the zone identifier and the level identifier.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the method is performed by a tracking server in communication with multiple mobile devices carried by tracked persons.

18. A system for tracking movement of a tracked person about a monitored premises, the system comprising:

a checkpoint device;

a mobile device;

a tracking server;

wherein the mobile device is configured to track movement of the person about the monitored premises, by;

wirelessly receiving checkpoint data from the checkpoint device;

determining whether or not the checkpoint data can be transmitted to the tracking server;

when it is determined that the checkpoint data can be transmitted, transmitting the checkpoint data to the tracking server; and

when it is determined that the checkpoint data cannot be transmitted, locally storing the checkpoint data for later transmission to the tracking system; and

wherein the tracking server is configured to track movement of the person about the monitored premises, by;

receiving the checkpoint data from the mobile device;

storing checkpoint data received from the mobile device; and

presenting tracking information based on the received checkpoint data, the presented information including a map that depicts the location of the tracked person with respect to the premises.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the tracking server is further configured to:

determine the location of the mobile device, based on the received checkpoint data and based on an association between checkpoint identifiers and locations.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the checkpoint device is a Wi-Fi capable device, including one of a router, an access point, or a media device, and wherein the checkpoint device transmits its MAC address and/or SSID to the mobile device.