SELECTION OF LOCATION INFORMATION BASED ON DETECTED MOVEMENT

• US 20160105764A1
• Filed: 08/10/2015
• Published: 04/14/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TILE, INC. (Life360 Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: TILE, INC. (Life360 Incorporated)
• Inventors: Evans, Nicholas George, Farley, Michael George
• Granted Patent: US 9,525,969 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/24 Reminder alarms, e.g. anti-loss alarms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• 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: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A tracking device can securely communicate with a secondary device by generating a hash value based on the identity of the tracking device. If the secondary device cannot resolve the hash value, the hash value can be provided to a tracking server, such as a cloud server, for resolving the hash value. Upon resolving the hash value, the tracking server can store a location of the tracking device in association with the identity of the tracking device. To preserve power, the secondary device can activate location-detection functionality (such as a GPS receive) only in response to the detection of movement of the tracking device, can obtain location information, and can de-activate the location-detection functionality upon providing the location information to the tracking server. The tracking server can associate one or both of a previous location and the current location information based on movement of the tracking device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a mobile device from a tracking device, movement information describing a movement of the tracking device;

determining, by the mobile device, a location associated with the tracking device; and

providing, by the mobile device to a tracking server, an identity of the tracking device, the determined location associated with the tracking device, and the received movement information, the tracking server configured to;

select one or both of the determined location or a previous location of the tracking device stored by the tracking server based on the movement information;

receive a request for location information from a requesting entity; and

provide the selected one or both of the determined location and the previous location to the requesting entity.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the movement information describes a magnitude of movement of the tracking device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the movement information describes a direction of movement of the tracking device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the tracking server is configured to store the determined location in association with the identity of the tracking device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the tracking server is configured to select the previous location in response to a determination that the movement described by the movement information comprises less than a threshold amount of movement.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the tracking server is configured to select the current location in response to a determination that the movement described by the movement information comprises greater than a threshold amount of movement.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the tracking server is configured to select one or both of the determined location or the previous location based additionally on a distance between the tracking device and the mobile device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the distance between the tracking device and the mobile device is determined based on a strength of a signal broadcast by the tracking device.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the tracking server is configured to select the current location in response to a determination that the mobile device and the tracking device are within a threshold distance of each other.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the tracking server is configured to select the previous location in response to a determination that the mobile device and the tracking device are more than a threshold distance of each other.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the tracking server is configured to select both the previous location and the current location in response to a determination that a measure of accuracy describing the previous location and a measure of accuracy describing the current location are within a threshold measure of accuracy of each other.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the requesting entity comprises the mobile device, and wherein the mobile device is configured to present the received selected locations to a user of the mobile device.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is configured to provide to the tracking device a confirmation that the tracking device identity, the determined location, and the movement information were provided to the tracking server.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein tracking device is configured to enter a standby mode in response to receiving the confirmation, and wherein the tracking device is configured to stay in the standby mode until subsequent movement is detected

15. A system comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable computer instructions for;

receiving, from a tracking device, movement information describing a movement of the tracking device;

determining a location associated with the tracking device; and

providing, to a tracking server, an identity of the tracking device, the determined location associated with the tracking device, and the received movement information, the tracking server configured to;

select one or both of the determined location or a previous location of the tracking device stored by the tracking server based on the movement information;

receive a request for location information from a requesting entity; and

provide the selected one or both of the determined location and the previous location to the requesting entity; and

a processor configured to execute the computer instructions.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable computer instructions for:

receiving, from a tracking device, movement information describing a movement of the tracking device;

determining a location associated with the tracking device; and

providing, to a tracking server, an identity of the tracking device, the determined location associated with the tracking device, and the received movement information, the tracking server configured to;

select one or both of the determined location or a previous location of the tracking device stored by the tracking server based on the movement information;

receive a request for location information from a requesting entity; and

provide the selected one or both of the determined location and the previous location to the requesting entity.

17. A method comprising:

determining at a first time, by a mobile device within a threshold distance of a tracking device, a first location associated with the tracking device, the determined location comprising a high-accuracy location;

receiving, at the mobile device from the tracking device after the mobile device has moved to more than a threshold distance from the tracking device, a location request, the location request including a timestamp indicating a second time of most recent movement by the tracking device;

in response to the second time being earlier or equal to the first time, determining that the location of the tracking device is the first location, the first location comprising a high-accuracy location; and

in response to the second time being later than the first time;

determining a second location of the mobile device; and

determining that the location of the tracking device is the second location, the second location comprising a low-accuracy location.

18. A mobile device comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable computer instructions for;

determining at a first time, by the mobile device within a threshold distance of a tracking device, a first location associated with the tracking device, the determined location comprising a high-accuracy location;

receiving, at the mobile device from the tracking device after the mobile device has moved to more than a threshold distance from the tracking device, a location request, the location request including a timestamp indicating a second time of most recent movement by the tracking device;

in response to the second time being earlier or equal to the first time, determining that the location of the tracking device is the first location, the first location comprising a high-accuracy location; and

in response to the second time being later than the first time;

determining a second location of the mobile device; and

determining that the location of the tracking device is the second location, the second location comprising a low-accuracy location; and

a processor configured to execute the computer instructions.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable computer instructions for:

determining at a first time, by a mobile device within a threshold distance of a tracking device, a first location associated with the tracking device, the determined location comprising a high-accuracy location;

receiving, at the mobile device from the tracking device after the mobile device has moved to more than a threshold distance from the tracking device, a location request, the location request including a timestamp indicating a second time of most recent movement by the tracking device;

in response to the second time being earlier or equal to the first time, determining that the location of the tracking device is the first location, the first location comprising a high-accuracy location; and

in response to the second time being later than the first time;

determining a second location of the mobile device; and

determining that the location of the tracking device is the second location, the second location comprising a low-accuracy location.