Mobile device tracking using mobile agent location breadcrumbs

• US 7,860,517 B1
• Filed: 12/22/2006
• Issued: 12/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intellectual Ventures Assets 20 LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Curen Software Enterprises LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Patoskie, John P., Hauser, Robert R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Afshar; Kamran
• Assistant Examiner(s): Fahnert; Marisol
• Application Number:
  US11/645,195
• Time in Patent Office: 1,467 Days
• Field of Search: 455/450.1, 455/404.2, 455/407, 455/414.1, 4554561-457, 705/8, 701207-213, 340989-994, 34042619-42622, 340/539.19, 340/825.49, 370/338
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A method, a computer readable medium and a system for using a mobile agent to track a mobile device using a plurality of location breadcrumbs in an environment where network access may be unreliable, comprising, registering with a tracking server by a tracking client to receive a location of the mobile agent, receiving a location breadcrumb by the tracking server from the mobile agent, and reporting the location of the mobile agent by the tracking server to the tracking client.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon, computer-executable instructions that, responsive to execution by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from a tracking client, a registration to receive a location of a mobile agent;

receiving a location breadcrumb from the mobile agent;

storing, in a database, historical accuracy data that includes tracking accuracy of previous location breadcrumbs of the mobile agent and associated itineraries of the mobile agent; and

reporting the location of the mobile agent to the tracking client.

2. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein receiving the registration includes receiving a network address of the tracking client, an identity of the mobile agent, and a reporting interval.

3. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 2, wherein the computer-executable instructions, responsive to execution by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations further comprising:

reporting the location of the mobile agent to the tracking client by at least one of;

an expiry of the reporting interval;

or

on demand.

4. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 3, wherein the computer-executable instructions, responsive to execution by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations further comprising associating a degree of certainty with the location reported to the tracking client.

5. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 1, wherein receiving the location breadcrumb includes receiving an actual location of the mobile agent, a time the actual location was valid, and an itinerary of the mobile agent.

6. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 5, wherein the computer-executable instructions, responsive to execution by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations further comprising storing, in the database, location breadcrumbs reported by one or more mobile agents.

7. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein the computer-executable instructions, responsive to execution by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations further comprising inspecting the database to predict the location of the mobile agent.

8. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 6, wherein storing the historical accuracy data comprises storing historical accuracy data that correlates the actual location of the mobile agent with the itinerary of the mobile agent.

9. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the computer-executable instructions, responsive to execution by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations further comprising inspecting the database to predict the location of the mobile agent.

10. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon, computer-executable instructions that, responsive to execution by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving a registration from a tracking client to receive a location of a mobile agent;

receiving a location breadcrumb from the mobile agent, wherein the location breadcrumb comprises the location of the mobile agent, a time the location was valid, and an itinerary of the mobile agent;

predicting the location of the mobile agent using at least one of;

a database of one or more location breadcrumbs;

or

a database of historical accuracy;

associating a degree of certainty with a predicted location of the mobile agent by using at least one of;

the database of one or more location breadcrumbs to account for differences between previous location breadcrumbs of the mobile agent and the itinerary of the mobile agent;

or

the database of historical accuracy to account for levels of accuracy between the itinerary of the mobile agent and previous location breadcrumbs of the mobile agent; and

reporting the location of the mobile agent to the tracking client.

11. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the computer-executable instructions, responsive to execution by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations further comprising:

retaining registration data for the tracking client, wherein the registration data comprises a network address, an identity of the mobile agent, and a reporting interval.

12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 11, wherein the computer-executable instructions, responsive to execution by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations further comprising:

causing establishment of a network connection to the tracking client;

reporting, using the network connection, the location of the mobile agent to the tracking client by at least one of;

an expiry of the reporting interval;

or

on demand.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the computer-executable instructions, responsive to execution by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations further comprising:

receiving the location breadcrumb from the mobile agent via a network connection.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the computer-executable instructions, responsive to execution by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations further comprising:

storing the location breadcrumb received from the mobile agent in the database of one or more location breadcrumbs.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 14, wherein the computer-executable instructions, responsive to execution by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations further comprising:

analyzing the database of one or more location breadcrumbs to predict the location of the mobile agent.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the computer-executable instructions, responsive to execution by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations further comprising:

correlating an actual location of the mobile agent with the itinerary of the mobile agent in the database of historical accuracy.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16, wherein the computer-executable instructions, responsive to execution by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations further comprising:

analyzing the database of historical accuracy to predict the location of the mobile agent.

18. A system, comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable memory configured to store a registration of a tracking client and at least one of;

a database of one or more location breadcrumbs associated with at least one mobile agent;

or

a database of historical accuracy;

a processor configured to be communicably coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to;

respond to the tracking client registration;

receive a location breadcrumb;

predict a location of the at least one mobile agent to the tracking client;

associate a degree of certainty with a predicted location of the at least one mobile agent by using at least one of;

the database of one or more location breadcrumbs to account for differences between previous location breadcrumbs of the at least one mobile agent and an itinerary of the at least one mobile agent;

or

the database of historical accuracy to account for levels of accuracy between the itinerary of the at least one mobile agent and previous location breadcrumbs of the at least one mobile agent; and

report the location of the at least one mobile agent to the tracking client.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor is configured to access the memory to query at least one of:

the database of one or more location breadcrumbs;

or

the database of historical accuracy.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor is configured to:

cause establishment of a network connection to the tracking client.