Detecting interaction among entities via proximity

• US 9,265,015 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Issued: 02/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mars Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Whistle Labs, Inc. (Mars Incorporated)
• Inventors: Aiuto, Chris, Lloyd, Kevin, Krikorian, Jason
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran, Tuan A
• Application Number:
  US13/843,484
• Publication Number:
  US 20140302783A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,068 Days
• Field of Search: 455/41.1, 455/41.2, 455/456.1, 455/456.3, 455/456.5, 455/456.6, 455/67.11, 455/67.13, 342/118, 342/126, 342/450, 342/458
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 11/06 using intensity measurements
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0284 Relative positioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/72 for local intradevice communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 5/79 for data transfer in combination with power transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/16 Deriving transmission power values from another channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/245 taking into account received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/367 Power values between minimum and maximum limits, e.g. dynamic range
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

Approaches, techniques, and mechanisms are disclosed for determining interaction among animals via proximity relationships. An interaction between two or more animals may generally refer to any action by an animal that influences one or more other animals and that may be inferred based on a detected physical proximity relationship between the animals. According to various embodiments, proximity relationships between animals may be detected based on determining an approximate physical distance between computing devices associated with the animals. In other embodiments, proximity relationships between animals may be detected based on detecting the co-location of computing devices associated with the animals.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for determining an approximate physical distance between a first device and a second device, the method comprising:

receiving, at a first device, a first wireless signal transmission from a second device;

determining a first signal strength value of the first wireless signal transmission, wherein the first signal strength value is associated with a first approximate distance value;

wherein the first approximate distance value represents an approximate physical distance of the first device from the second device;

receiving, at the first device, a second wireless signal transmission from the second device;

determining a second signal strength value of the second wireless signal transmission;

determining, based on a difference between the first signal strength value and the second signal strength value, a second approximate distance value representing a distance relative to the first approximate distance value;

storing the second approximate distance value and an associated timestamp in a data repository, wherein the data repository comprises a plurality of approximate distance values and associated timestamps;

determining, for a specified timeframe using the plurality of approximate distance values and associated timestamps, an amount of time in which the first device is within a specified distance of the second device;

wherein the steps are performed by one or more computing devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device or the second device is configured to maintain a constant wireless signal transmit power level.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the second device is configured to maintain a constant transmit power level by assigning a particular transmit power level value to two or more rows in a transmit power table stored on the second device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless connection is a Bluetooth connection and the first wireless signal transmission is part of a device pairing process.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the second approximate distance value indicates a particular activity between a first user of the first device and a second user of the second device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device is a tracking device attached to a non-human animal and the second device is a mobile device.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing one or more sequences of instructions, which when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to carry out the steps of:

receiving, at a first device, a first wireless signal transmission from a second device;

determining a first signal strength value of the first wireless signal transmission, wherein the first signal strength value is associated with a first approximate distance value;

wherein the first approximate distance value represents an approximate physical distance of the first device from the second device;

receiving, at the first device, a second wireless signal transmission from the second device;

determining a second signal strength value of the second wireless signal transmission;

determining, based on a difference between the first signal strength value and the second signal strength value, a second approximate distance value representing a distance relative to the first approximate distance value;

storing the second approximate distance value and an associated timestamp in a data repository, wherein the data repository comprises a plurality of approximate distance values and associated timestamps;

determining, for a specified timeframe using the plurality of approximate distance values and associated timestamps, an amount of time in which the first device is within a specified distance of the second device.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the second device is configured to maintain a constant wireless signal transmit power level.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the second device is configured to maintain a constant transmit power level by assigning a particular transmit power level value to two or more rows in a transmit power table stored on the second device.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the wireless connection is a Bluetooth connection and the first wireless signal transmission is part of a device pairing process.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the second approximate distance value indicates a particular activity between a first user of the first device and a second user of the second device.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the first device is a tracking device attached to a non-human animal and the second device is a mobile device.

13. A computer-implemented method for determining an approximate physical distance between a first device and a second device, the method comprising:

receiving, at a first device, a first wireless connection strength value from a second device, wherein the first wireless connection strength value is associated with a first approximate distance value;

wherein the first approximate distance value represents an approximate physical distance of the first device from the second device;

receiving, at the first device, a second wireless connection strength value from the second device;

determining, based on a difference between the first wireless connection strength value and the second wireless connection strength value, a second approximate distance value representing a distance relative to the first approximate distance value;

storing the second approximate distance value and an associated timestamp in a data repository, wherein the data repository comprises a plurality of approximate distance values and associated timestamps;

determining, for a specified timeframe using the plurality of approximate distance values and associated timestamps, an amount of time in which the first device is within a specified distance of the second device;

wherein the steps are performed by one or more computing devices.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first wireless connection strength value is a transmit power value or a receive power value.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the second approximate distance value indicates a particular activity between a first use of the first device and a second user of the second device.

16. A computer-implemented method for determining an approximate physical distance between a first device and a second device, the method comprising:

receiving, at a first device, a first wireless signal transmission from a second device;

determining a first signal strength value of the first wireless signal transmission, wherein the first signal strength value is associated with a first approximate distance value;

wherein the first approximate distance value represents an approximate physical distance of the first device from the second device;

receiving, at the first device, a second wireless signal transmission from the second device;

determining a second signal strength value of the second wireless signal transmission, wherein the second signal strength value is associated with a second approximate distance value;

storing the first approximate distance value and a first associated timestamp and the second approximate distance value and a second associated timestamp in a data repository, wherein the data repository comprises a plurality of approximate distance values and associated timestamps;

determining, for a specified timeframe using the plurality of approximate distance values and associated timestamps, an amount of time in which the first device is within a specified distance of the second device;

wherein the steps are performed by one or more computing devices.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the first device or the second device is configured to maintain a constant wireless signal transmit power level.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the wireless connection is a Bluetooth connection and the first wireless signal transmission is part of a device pairing process.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the first device is a tracking device attached to a non-human animal and the second device is a mobile device.

20. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, at a first device, a first wireless signal transmission from a second device;

storing a first record of the first wireless signal transmission and a first associated timestamp in a data repository, wherein the data repository comprises a plurality of records and associated timestamps;

receiving, at the first device, a second wireless signal transmission from the second device;

storing a second record of the second wireless signal transmission and a second associated timestamp in the data repository;

determining, for a specified timeframe using the plurality of records and associated timestamps, an amount of time in which the first device is within a specified distance of the second device;

wherein the steps are performed by one or more computing devices.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the first device or the second device is configured to maintain a constant wireless signal transmit power level.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the wireless connection is a Bluetooth connection and the first wireless signal transmission is part of a device pairing process.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the first device is a tracking device attached to a non-human animal and the second device is a mobile device.