DEVICE AND METHOD FOR MONITORING THE PRESENCE OF ITEMS AND ISSUING AN ALERT IF AN ITEM IS NOT DETECTED

• US 20150170496A1
• Filed: 11/08/2013
• Published: 06/18/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 02/04/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: King, Martin T., Mannby, Claes-Fredrik, Smith, Michael J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,489,821 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/24 Reminder alarms, e.g. anti-loss alarms

Abstract

Exemplary methods and systems for monitoring presence of an item or items are disclosed herein. An exemplary method may be carried out by a monitoring device having a processor and a memory, and may involve determining that presence data associated with an item meets one or more criteria associated with automatically adding the item to a list of items whose presence is monitored in a particular context, and based on determining that presence data associated with the item meets the one or more criteria associated with automatically adding the item to the list of items whose presence is monitored in the particular context, adding the item to the list of items whose presence is monitored in the particular context.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. A computer-implemented method comprising:

determining that presence data associated with an item meets one or more criteria associated with automatically adding the item to a list of items whose presence is monitored in a particular context; and

based on determining that presence data associated with the item meets the one or more criteria associated with automatically adding the item to the list of items whose presence is monitored in the particular context, adding the item to the list of items whose presence is monitored in the particular context.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the context comprises a particular time of day.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the context comprises a particular location.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein a monitoring device performs the method, the method further comprising:

determining whether the item is located within a predetermined distance of the monitoring device; and

providing an alert regarding the item based on determining that the item is not within the predetermined distance of the monitoring device.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining whether the monitoring device meets one or more context criteria for the particular context, wherein providing the alert comprises providing the alert when the monitoring device meets the one or more context criteria for the particular context.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

identifying other items that were located within a predetermined distance of the monitoring device when the item was last detected by the monitoring device, wherein the alert comprises information about the other items.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining a most recent location of the monitoring device when the item was last detected by the monitoring device, wherein the alert comprises information about the most recent location when the item was last detected.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining a most recent time when the item was last detected by the monitoring device, wherein the alert comprises information about the time when the item was last detected.

10. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

providing a prompt requesting verification that the item should be added to the list of items whose presence is monitored in the particular context; and

receiving input verifying that the item should be added to the list of items whose presence is monitored in the particular context, wherein adding the item to the list of items whose presence is monitored in the particular context is based on receiving the input.

11. A system comprising:

one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising;

determining that presence data associated with an item meets one or more criteria associated with automatically adding the item to a list of items whose presence is monitored in a particular context; and

based on determining that presence data associated with the item meets the one or more criteria associated with automatically adding the item to the list of items whose presence is monitored in the particular context, adding the item to the list of items whose presence is monitored in the particular context.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the context comprises a particular time of day.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the context comprises a particular location.

14. The system of claim 11, the operations further comprising:

determining whether the item is located within a predetermined distance of the system; and

providing an alert regarding the item based on determining that the item is not within the predetermined distance of the system.

15. The system of claim 14, the operations further comprising:

determining whether the system meets one or more context criteria for the particular context, wherein providing the alert comprises providing the alert when the system meets the one or more context criteria for the particular context.

16. The system of claim 14, the operations further comprising:

determining a most recent location of the system when the item was last detected by the system, wherein the alert comprises information about the most recent location when the item was last detected.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software comprising instructions executable by one or more computers which, upon such execution, cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

determining that presence data associated with an item meets one or more criteria associated with automatically adding the item to a list of items whose presence is monitored in a particular context; and

based on determining that presence data associated with the item meets the one or more criteria associated with automatically adding the item to the list of items whose presence is monitored in the particular context, adding the item to the list of items whose presence is monitored in the particular context.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the context comprises a particular time of day.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the context comprises a particular location.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, the operations further comprising:

determining whether the item is located within a predetermined distance of the one or more computers; and

providing an alert regarding the item based on determining that the item is not within the predetermined distance of the one or more computers.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 20, further comprising:

determining whether the one or more computers meet one or more context criteria for the particular context, wherein providing the alert comprises providing the alert when the one or more computers meet the one or more context criteria for the particular context.