MONITORING SYSTEM

• US 20150221194A1
• Filed: 08/22/2013
• Published: 08/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Connect
• Original Assignee: Connect
• Inventors: Sarkar, Prithviraj
• Granted Patent: US 10,026,287 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/88 Detecting or preventing theft or loss
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 7/10366 the interrogation device being adapted for miscellaneous applications
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1427 with transmitter-receiver for distance detection
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2402 Electronic Article Surveillance [EAS], i.e. systems using tags for detecting removal of a tagged item from a secure area, e.g. tags for detecting shoplifting mechanical aspects of the tags, e.g. related to locking E05B73/0017; RFID readers G06K7/00; RFID tags G06K19/00; access control systems G07C9/00; anti-theft control in point of sale systems G07G3/003; security seals G09F3/03
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2465 Aspects related to the EAS system, e.g. system components other than tags
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0247 System arrangements wherein the alarm criteria uses signal strength

Abstract

A monitoring system for deriving a measurement of a separation distance between a monitor and one or more tags, where each tag is adapted to be attached to or contained within an object to be monitored, comprises a monitor that is operable to trigger an event if the separation distance exceeds a set separation limit. A frequency of packet exchange between a tag and monitor is dynamically altered based on a comparison of one or more monitored parameters with a mode transition threshold.

Claims

1-38. -38. (canceled)

39. A monitoring system comprising:

a monitor including a first radio transmitter/receiver;

at least one tag, each tag being adapted to be attached to or contained within an object to be monitored, each at least one tag including a second radio transmitter/receiver adapted to transmit periodic signals; and

a dedicated power manager module having hardware and software components arranged to keep the monitor and the at least one tag in a power down mode and to move the monitor from the power-down mode to an activity monitor mode upon occurrence of an interrupt event, and to move the at least one tag from the power-down mode to an active mode upon occurrence of an interrupt event.

40. The monitoring system of claim 39, further comprising Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for communication between a monitor and the at least one tag, wherein the interrupt event may be triggered by hardware, software or periodic event(s).

41. The monitoring system of claim 39, wherein the monitor, when connected to the at least one tag, is switchable between an activity monitor mode in which a frequency of packet exchange is set at a first value, and a critical activity monitor mode in which a frequency of packet exchange is set at a second value which is greater than said first value.

42. The monitoring system of claim 39, wherein an event is triggered based on monitored parameters which comprise one or more radio signal strength parameters selected from a group comprising:

received signal strength indication, link quality index; and

any parameters derived from a combination of one or more of these items.

43. The monitoring system of claim 39, wherein an event is triggered based on monitored parameters which comprise one or more non-radio parameters selected from a group comprising:

accelerometer data, positional system data; and

any parameters derived from a combination of one or more of these items.

44. The monitoring system of claim 39, wherein the monitor is configured to make a decision to trigger an event when an event trigger threshold is reached or exceeded, and said decision involves evaluating environmental conditions.

45. The monitoring system of claim 44, wherein the decision to trigger an event is determined by a fuzzy logic component, a neural network, or a neural fuzzy inference engine.

46. The monitoring system of claim 39, in which the monitor comprises one of:

a self-contained, user-portable device in the form of a smartphone or tablet running a suitable software application;

or

a computer running a suitable software application;

or

a computer peripheral running a suitable software application.

47. The monitoring system of claim 44, wherein the triggered event is the locking of an electronic device acting as the monitor/peripheral.

48. The monitoring system of claim 39, wherein the monitor and/or the at least one tag includes an orientation/movements detector, and is arranged to filter out periods of changes in orientation/movement over a given threshold.

49. The monitoring system of claim 39, further comprising a secondary user interface device.

50. The monitoring system of claim 39, wherein the monitor is arranged to communicate details of a lost object via the remote server to other similar monitors in a crowd-sourcing environment and to receive details if the object is located by another monitor.

51. The monitoring system of claim 39, wherein a frequency of packet exchange between the at least one tag and the monitor is dynamically altered based on a comparison of one or more monitored parameters with a mode transition threshold.

52. The monitoring system of claim 39, wherein the interrupt event comprises a button press, other hardware input on the tag device used to trigger corresponding events remotely on the monitor.

53. The monitoring system of claim 43, wherein the monitor, on generation of an event, is to send said geo-location to a database held on a remote server, and in which the monitor can be arranged to communicate details of a lost object via the remote server to other similar monitors in a crowd-sourcing environment and to receive details if the object is located by another monitor.

54. The monitoring system of claim 39, further comprising a computer program product encoded with instructions that when run on a computer/self contained user portable device, enable the computer/device to perform the functions of the monitor and/or the at least one tag.

55. The monitoring system of claim 39, wherein an interrupt generated by one of the monitor and the a least one tag is communicated via radio to the other of the monitor and the at least one tag.

56. A tag for use in a monitoring system, including a radio transmitter/receiver adapted to transmit periodic signals;

and comprising or operable with a dedicated power manager module which moves the tag from a power-down mode to an active mode upon occurrence of an interrupt event.

57. A monitoring system comprising:

a monitor including a radio transmitter/receiver, a geo-location device and mechanism to communicate with a remote server where it is arranged to record geographical coordinates of a location at a time when a specified event is generated;

at least one tag adapted for attachment to, or contained within an object to be monitored, each at least one tag including a radio transmitter/receiver adapted to transmit periodic signals;

wherein the monitor upon, generation of the specified event, is to store geo-location data locally or communicate the geo-location data to a database at a remote server.

58. The monitoring system of claim 57, wherein the monitoring system is to autonomously adjust event trigger parameters including alerts and also able to put itself in a power-down/sleep mode whenever the geo-location device detects that it is at a predetermined “

home”

location.