Method and devices for facilitating the location of a mobile electronic device

• US 8,694,019 B2
• Filed: 07/03/2006
• Issued: 04/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/03/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Vuori, Janne
• Primary Examiner(s): HTUN, SAN A
• Application Number:
  US12/307,353
• Publication Number:
  US 20090325599A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,836 Days
• Field of Search: 455 561-4566, 455/457, 455/41.2, 455/550.1, 455/552.1, 455/553.1, 455/556.1, 455/556.2, 455/569.1, 455/569.2, 455/11.1, 455/13.1, 709/217, 709208-211, 709227-246, 379 41-456, 370/310.2, 370/315, 370/328, 370/338, 370351-356
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: A47B 88/463 self-opening
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 1/1075 for counterbalancing
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 1/16 for sliding wings
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 5/003 for sliding wings Fasteners specially adapted for holding sliding wings open E05D13/04
• CPC Class Codes: E05F 5/027 with closing action
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2201/22 Locks
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2201/232 by automatically acting means
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2201/424 for the final opening movement
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2201/488 Traction springs
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2600/53 Snapping
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2800/11 Manual wing operation
• CPC Class Codes: E05Y 2900/20 for furnitures, e.g. cabinets
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/51 Relative positioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/14 between corresponding nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/18 between terminal devices

Abstract

The invention relates to a user-portable electronic device and in particular one which is capable of establishing transmission connection with one or more mobile electronic devices. A user-portable electronic device comprising transmission connection circuitry arranged to establish transmission connection between the user-portable electronic device and one or more mobile electronic devices; geographic-location determining circuitry arranged to determine a geographic location of the or each mobile electronic device associated with transmission connection of the user-portable electronic device and the or each mobile electronic device; and log circuitry arranged to allow storage of a geographic-location log including at least a last-known geographic location of the or each mobile electronic device.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

transmission connection circuitry configured to be able to establish transmission connection between a user-portable electronic device and one or more mobile electronic devices;

geographic-location determining circuitry configured to determine a last-known geographic location of each of the one or more mobile electronic devices based on where the transmission connection between the user-portable electronic device and each of the one or more mobile electronic devices, as provided by the transmission connection circuitry, was disconnected or lost; and

log circuitry configured to allow storage of at least the last-known geographic location of each of the one or more mobile electronic devices in a user-searchable geographic-location-log to facilitate subsequent location of any of the one or more mobile electronic devices by a user without connection to the one or more mobile electronic devices, the geographic-location-log comprising the name or other identifier of the one or more mobile electronic devices, an indication of the last-known geographic location of the one or more mobile electronic devices as determined by the geographic-location determining circuitry, the time and date of the last-known geographic location of the one or more mobile electronic devices, and the transmission connection media used at the time of the last-known geographic location of the one or more mobile electronic devices, the geographic-location-log configured to allow for display of a user-searched last-known geographic location of the one or more mobile electronic devices,

wherein the geographic-location determining circuitry is configured to determine a geographic location of the user-portable electronic device and to determine a geographic location of each of the one or more mobile electronic devices based on the determined geographic location of the user-portable electronic device and a range of the transmission connection between the user-portable electronic device and each of the one or more mobile electronic devices.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 including:

user-interface circuitry configured to allow a user to access the geographic-location-log.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the user-interface circuitry is configured to allow sorting of entries in the geographic-location-log.

4. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the user-interface circuitry is operable to allow searching of entries in the geographic-location-log.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the geographic-location determining circuitry is configured to receive geographic-location data from each of the one or more mobile electronic devices when said transmission connection is established using the transmission connection circuitry.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the geographic-location determining circuitry is configured to receive geographic location data from each of the one or more mobile electronic devices when said transmission connection is active.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the log circuitry includes storage circuitry configured to store the geographic-location-log in the apparatus.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the log circuitry is configured to communicate with remote storage circuitry which is capable of storing the geographic-location-log remotely from the apparatus.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the log circuitry is configured to communicate with removable storage circuitry which is capable of storing the geographic-location-log.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the log circuitry is configured to allow storage in the geographic-location-log of a history of geographic locations of each of the one or more mobile electronic devices during the transmission connection with the portable electronic device.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the log circuitry is configured to allow storage of a time at which each geographic location of each of the one or more mobile electronic devices was determined.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the user-portable electronic device is a master device or a slave device and each of the one or more mobile electronic devices is a master device or a slave device.

13. The apparatus of claim 1 comprising cartographic circuitry and display circuitry configured to display a map indicating the last-known geographic location of the mobile electronic devices.

14. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the geographic-location determining circuitry is configured to determine the geographic location of each of the one or more mobile electronic devices during transmission connection upon initiation by the user.

15. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the geographic-location determining circuitry is configured to determine the geographic location of each of the one or more mobile electronic devices during transmission connection automatically.

16. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus is a module for a user-portable electronic device or is the user-portable electronic device.

17. A system comprising the apparatus of claim 1;

and

a network apparatus, the network apparatus comprising;

storage circuitry configured to store the geographic-location-log including at least a last-known geographic location of each of the one or more mobile electronic devices, the storage circuitry being configured to provide the last-known geographic location of each of the one or more mobile electronic devices to a user-portable device to facilitate subsequent location of any of the one or more mobile electronic devices by a user without connection to the one or more mobile electronic devices.

18. A method of facilitating location of one or more mobile electronic devices, the method comprising:

establishing transmission connection between a user-portable electronic device and the one or more mobile electronic devices;

determining a geographic location of the user-portable electronic device;

determining a geographic location of each of the one or more mobile electronic devices based on the determined geographic location of the user-portable electronic device and a range of the transmission connection between the user-portable electronic device and each of the one or more mobile electronic devices;

determining a last-known geographic location of each of the one or more mobile electronic devices based on where the transmission connection between the user-portable electronic device and each of the one or more mobile electronic devices was disconnected or lost; and

allowing storage of at least a last-known geographic location of each of the one or more mobile electronic devices in a user-searchable geographic-location-log to facilitate subsequent location of any of the one or more mobile electronic devices by a user without connection to the one or more mobile electronic devices, the geographic-location-log comprising the name or other identifier of the one or more mobile electronic devices, an indication of the determined last-known geographic location of the one or more mobile electronic devices, the time and date of the last-known geographic location of the one or more mobile electronic devices, and the transmission connection media used at the time of the last-known geographic location of the one or more mobile electronic devices, the geographic-location-log configured to allow for display of a user-searched last-known geographic location of the one or more mobile electronic devices.

19. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code,

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following;

establish transmission connection between a user-portable electronic device and one or more mobile electronic devices;

determine a geographic location of the user-portable electronic device;

determine a geographic location of each of the one or more mobile electronic devices based on the determined geographic location of the user-portable electronic device and a range of the transmission connection between the user-portable electronic device and each of the one or more mobile electronic devices;

determine a last-known geographic location of each of the one or more mobile electronic devices based on where the transmission connection between the user-portable electronic device and each of the one or more mobile electronic devices was disconnected or lost; and

allow storage of at least a last-known geographic location of each of the one or more mobile electronic devices in a user-searchable geographic-location-log to facilitate subsequent location of any of the one or more mobile electronic devices by a user without connection to the one or more mobile electronic devices, the geographic-location-log comprising the name or other identifier of the one or more mobile electronic devices, an indication of the determined last-known geographic location of the one or more mobile electronic devices, the time and date of the last-known geographic location of the one or more mobile electronic devices, and the transmission connection media used at the time of the last-known geographic location of the one or more mobile electronic devices, the geographic-location-log configured to allow for display of a user-searched last-known geographic location of the one or more mobile electronic devices.

20. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer program code stored thereon, the computer readable medium and computer program code being configured to, when run on at least one processor perform at least the following:

establish transmission connection between a user-portable electronic device and one or more mobile electronic devices;

determine a geographic location of the user-portable electronic device;

determine a geographic location of each of the one or more mobile electronic devices based on the determined geographic location of the user-portable electronic device and a range of the transmission connection between the user-portable electronic device and each of the one or more mobile electronic devices;

determine a last-known geographic location of each of the one or more mobile electronic devices based on where the transmission connection between the user-portable electronic device and each of the one or more mobile electronic devices was disconnected or lost; and

allow storage of at least a last-known geographic location of each of the one or more mobile electronic devices in a user-searchable geographic-location-log to facilitate subsequent location of any of the one or more mobile electronic devices by a user without connection to the one or more mobile electronic devices, the geographic-location-log comprising the name or other identifier of the one or more mobile electronic devices, an indication of the determined last-known geographic location of the one or more mobile electronic devices, the time and date of the last-known geographic location of the one or more mobile electronic devices, and the transmission connection media used at the time of the last-known geographic location of the one or more mobile electronic devices, the geographic-location-log configured to allow for display of a user-searched last-known geographic location of the one or more mobile electronic devices.