TRACKING A MOBILE DEVICE

• US 20170325065A1
• Filed: 11/19/2014
• Published: 11/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Azam, Syed S., Biggs, Kent E., Popescu, Valentin
• Granted Patent: US 10,225,691 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/88 Detecting or preventing theft or loss
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2143 Clearing memory, e.g. to prevent the data from being stolen
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1427 with transmitter-receiver for distance detection
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0213 System disabling if a separation threshold is exceeded disabling electrical appliances in case of unplugging G08B13/1409
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0227 System arrangements with a plurality of child units
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/025 System arrangements wherein the alarm criteria uses absence of reply signal after an elapsed time
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0269 System arrangements wherein the object is to detect the exact location of child or item using a navigation satellite system, e.g. GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0272 System arrangements wherein the object is to detect exact location of child or item using triangulation other than GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0277 Communication between units on a local network, e.g. Bluetooth, piconet, zigbee, Wireless Personal Area Networks [WPAN]
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/24 Reminder alarms, e.g. anti-loss alarms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• 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 4/026 using orientation information, e.g. compass
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• 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 8/20 Transfer of user or subscriber data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/18 : Service support devices; Network management devices

Abstract

In an example implementation, a method of tracking a mobile device includes determining by a tracked device, that a pairing status between the tracked device and a command device has changed from a paired status to an unpaired status. A timer is started on the tracked device in response to determining the unpaired status, and in response to the timer reaching a threshold time, a distress packet is transmitted from the tracked device that indicates the tracked device is lost.

Claims

1. A method of tracking a mobile device comprising:

determining by a tracked device, that a pairing status between the tracked device and a command device has changed from a paired status to an unpaired status;

starting a timer on the tracked device in response to determining the unpaired status; and

,

in response to the timer reaching a threshold time, transmitting a distress packet from the tracked device that indicates the tracked device is lost.

2. A method as in claim 1, wherein transmitting a distress packet comprises transmitting a distress packet that includes a unique device identifier (UDID) of the tracked device.

3. A method as in claim 2, wherein transmitting a distress packet comprises transmitting a distress packet that includes a GPS location of the tracked device.

4. A method as in claim 1, further comprising:

prior to the timer reaching the threshold time, determining that the pairing status has changed from the unpaired status back to the paired status; and

,

resetting the timer in response to determining the paired status such that there is no transmitting of the distress packet.

5. A method as in claim 1, further comprising persisting the unpaired status within the tracked device across reboots of the tracked device.

6. A method as in claim 1, further comprising entering a locked mode on the tracked device in response to determining the unpaired status.

7. A method as in claim 6, wherein entering the locked mode comprises taking security actions on the tracked device, the security actions selected from the group consisting of preventing a display of user data, preventing a transmission of user data, erasing user data, preventing input to the tracked device, and turning off a display of the tracked device.

8. A method as in claim 1, wherein a paired status is maintained by a periodic exchange of data packets over a wireless radio communication protocol between the tracked device and the command device, and wherein determining that a pairing status has changed from a paired status to an unpaired status comprises detecting that the periodic exchange of data packets has ceased.

9. A method as in claim 8, further comprising determining that the pairing status has changed from the unpaired status back to the paired status by detecting that the periodic exchange of data packets has resumed.

10. A mobile device tracking system comprising:

a list of users stored in a server memory, each user in the list associated with a tracked device through a T-UDID (tracked device unique identifier);

a lost device database (DB) to receive a distress packet forwarded from an anonymous friendly device, the distress packet comprising a lost device'"'"'s unique identifier (L-UDID) and GPS location information; and

,

a finder application to compare the L-UDID with T-UDIDs in the list, and to track the location of the lost device with the GPS location information in response to a match between the L-UDID and a T-UDID in the list.

11. A system as in claim 10, further comprising:

a command device to maintain a pairing with a tracked device via a wireless radio communication protocol while the command device and tracked device are within a radio communication range of one another.

12. A system as in claim 11, further comprising:

the anonymous friendly device to receive the distress packet from the tracked device after the tracked device loses its pairing with the command device and determines that it is a lost device, and to forward the distress packet to the lost device DB.

13. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing instructions for tracking a mobile device, the instructions that when executed by a processor of a system, cause the system to:

receive from an anonymous device, a distress packet that comprises a lost device'"'"'s unique device identifier (L-UDID) and location information;

store the L-UDID and location information in a lost device database;

compare the L-UDID with tracked device unique device identifiers (T-UDIDs); and

,

in response to a match between the L-UDID and a T-UDID, track the location of the lost device with the location information.

14. A medium as in claim 13, the instructions further causing the system to:

send a notification to a user of the lost device indicating a last reported location of the lost device based on the tracked location.

15. A medium as in claim 13, the instructions further causing the system to:

receive from an anonymous device, a subsequent distress packet that comprises the L-UDID and updated location information;

associate the updated location information with the L-UDID in the database in a chronological order; and

,

map the location information and updated location information to a visual representation that illustrates a path of movement of the lost device to a last reported location.