Power management in crowd-sourced lost-and-found service

• US 9,479,920 B1
• Filed: 09/30/2015
• Issued: 10/25/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Mayor, Robert
• Primary Examiner(s): REGO, DOMINIC E
• Application Number:
  US14/871,809
• Time in Patent Office: 391 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0209 in terminal devices terminal devices per se H04W88/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Power management techniques for crowd-sourced lost-and-found service are described. A mobile device participating in the crowd-sourced lost-and-found service can monitor signals from an electronic tag using a first subsystem that has low power consumption. The mobile device can monitor wireless signals from wireless access points (APs) using a second subsystem that has low power consumption. Identifiers of detected tags and APs are stored locally in the respective subsystems. At pre-specified intervals, the subsystems can submit the stored identifiers to an application processor of the mobile device. The application processor can be activated to determine the location of the tags using known location of the APs. The application processor can be deactivated after the location of the tags are determined. The mobile device can then submit the location to a remote server. The remote server can provide the location to an owner of an item attached to the tag.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a first wireless subsystem of a mobile device, first signals from a first wireless signal source, the first wireless subsystem configured to monitor a personal area network (PAN), the first signals indicating a first identifier of the first wireless signal source;

storing the first identifier in association with a first timestamp of receiving the first signals on the first wireless subsystem;

receiving, by a second wireless subsystem of the mobile device, second signals from a second wireless signal source, the second wireless subsystem configured to monitor a wireless local area network (WLAN), the second signals indicating a second identifier of the second wireless signal source;

storing the second identifier in association with a second timestamp of receiving the second signals on the second wireless subsystem;

upon determining, by the first wireless subsystem, that a temporal condition provided by an application processor of the mobile device has been satisfied, submitting the first identifier and the associated first timestamp from the first wireless subsystem to the application processor;

upon determining, by the second wireless subsystem, that the temporal condition has been satisfied, submitting the second identifier and the associated second timestamp from the second wireless subsystem to the application processor, wherein submissions of the first and second identifiers and associated timestamps cause activation of the application processor; and

determining a location of the first wireless signal source by the application processor using a pre-stored location of the second signal source, the pre-stored location being associated with the second identifier, wherein determining the location of the first wireless signal source comprises associating the pre-stored location of the second signal source with the first identifier according to a match between the first timestamp and the second timestamp.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first wireless subsystem includes a Bluetooth™

connectivity microchip, and

the second wireless subsystem includes a Wi-Fi™

processor.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first signal source is a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) tag, and

the second signal source is a wireless access point.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the temporal condition specifies a time period at which the first wireless subsystem and the second wireless subsystem submit stored identifiers and associated timestamps to the application processor.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising submitting the first identifier, the location of the first wireless signal source and the timestamp associated with the first identifier from the mobile device to a server providing a lost-and-found service.

6. A method comprising:

receiving, by an always-on processor (AOP) of a mobile device and from a first wireless subsystem of the mobile device, a first identifier of a first wireless signal source and a first timestamp indicating time the first wireless signal source is observed by the first wireless subsystem;

in response to receiving the first identifier and first timestamp, requesting, by the AOP and to a second wireless subsystem of the mobile device, a second identifier of a second wireless signal source that has been observed by the second wireless subsystem;

upon receiving, by the AOP and from the second wireless subsystem, the second identifier and a timestamp indicating time the second wireless signal source was observed by the second wireless subsystem, storing the first wireless signal source and the first timestamp in association with the second identifier and second timestamp in a cache of the AOP;

upon determining, by the AOP, that a temporal condition provided by an application processor of the mobile device has been satisfied, submitting the first identifier, the associated first timestamp, the second identifier, and the associated second timestamp from the AOP to the application processor; and

determining a location of the first wireless signal source by the application processor using a pre-stored location of the second signal source, the pre-stored location being associated with the second identifier, wherein determining the location of the first wireless signal source comprises associating the pre-stored location of the second signal source with the first identifier according to a match between the first timestamp and the second timestamp.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the AOP is a motion processor of the mobile device,

the first wireless subsystem includes a Bluetooth™

connectivity microchip,

the second wireless subsystem includes a Wi-Fi™

processor,

the first signal source is a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) tag, and

the second signal source is a wireless access point.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the second identifier is among a list identifiers provided by the second wireless subsystem in response to the requesting, the second identifier being an identifier having a timestamp closest to the first timestamp.

9. The method of claim 6, comprising:

upon receiving the first identifier, requesting, by the AOP and to a location subsystem of the mobile device that includes a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver, a location of the mobile device, wherein the AOP submits the location to the application processor in association with the first identifier, and wherein determining the location of the first wireless signal source is based at least in part on the location provided by the location subsystem.

10. The method of claim 6, comprising submitting the location of the first wireless signal source to a server that provides a lost-and-found service that is programmed to locate a lost item to which the first wireless signal source is attached or to locate a lost person carrying the first wireless signal source.

11. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprises;

receiving, by a first wireless subsystem of a mobile device, first signals from a first wireless signal source, the first wireless subsystem configured to monitor a personal area network (PAN), the first signals indicating a first identifier of the first wireless signal source;

storing the first identifier in association with a first timestamp of receiving the first signals on the first wireless subsystem;

receiving, by a second wireless subsystem of the mobile device, second signals from a second wireless signal source, the second wireless subsystem configured to monitor a wireless local area network (WLAN), the second signals indicating a second identifier of the second wireless signal source;

storing the second identifier in association with a second timestamp of receiving the second signals on the second wireless subsystem;

upon determining, by the first wireless subsystem, that a temporal condition provided by an application processor of the mobile device has been satisfied, submitting the first identifier and the associated first timestamp from the first wireless subsystem to the application processor;

upon determining, by the second wireless subsystem, that the temporal condition has been satisfied, submitting the second identifier and the associated second timestamp from the second wireless subsystem to the application processor, wherein submissions of the first and second identifiers and associated timestamps cause activation of the application processor; and

determining a location of the first wireless signal source by the application processor using a pre-stored location of the second signal source, the pre-stored location being associated with the second identifier, wherein determining the location of the first wireless signal source comprises associating the pre-stored location of the second signal source with the first identifier according to a match between the first timestamp and the second timestamp.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein:

the first wireless subsystem includes a Bluetooth™

connectivity microchip, and

the second wireless subsystem includes a Wi-Fi™

processor.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein:

the first signal source is a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) tag, and

the second signal source is a wireless access point.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the temporal condition specifies a time period at which the first wireless subsystem and the second wireless subsystem submit stored identifiers and associated timestamps to the application processor.

15. The system of claim 11, the operations comprising submitting the first identifier, the location of the first wireless signal source and the timestamp associated with the first identifier from the mobile device to a server providing a lost-and-found service.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by an always-on processor (AOP) of a mobile device and from a first wireless subsystem of the mobile device, a first identifier of a first wireless signal source and a first timestamp indicating time the first wireless signal source is observed by the first wireless subsystem;

in response to receiving the first identifier and first timestamp, requesting, by the AOP and to a second wireless subsystem of the mobile device, a second identifier of a second wireless signal source that has been observed by the second wireless subsystem;

upon receiving, by the AOP and from the second wireless subsystem, the second identifier and a timestamp indicating time the second wireless signal source was observed by the second wireless subsystem, storing the first wireless signal source and the first timestamp in association with the second identifier and second timestamp in a cache of the AOP;

upon determining, by the AOP, that a temporal condition provided by an application processor of the mobile device has been satisfied, submitting the first identifier, the associated first timestamp, the second identifier, and the associated second timestamp from the AOP to the application processor; and

determining a location of the first wireless signal source by the application processor using a pre-stored location of the second signal source, the pre-stored location being associated with the second identifier, wherein determining the location of the first wireless signal source comprises associating the pre-stored location of the second signal source with the first identifier according to a match between the first timestamp and the second timestamp.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein:

the AOP is a motion processor of the mobile device,

the first wireless subsystem includes a Bluetooth™

connectivity microchip,

the second wireless subsystem includes a Wi-Fi™

processor,

the first signal source is a Bluetooth low energy (BLE) tag, and

the second signal source is a wireless access point.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the second identifier is among a list identifiers provided by the second wireless subsystem in response to the requesting, the second identifier being an identifier having a timestamp closest to the first timestamp.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, the operations comprising:

upon receiving the first identifier, requesting, by the AOP and to a location subsystem of the mobile device that includes a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver, a location of the mobile device, wherein the AOP submits the location to the application processor in association with the first identifier, and wherein determining the location of the first wireless signal source is based at least in part on the location provided by the location subsystem.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, the operations comprising submitting the location of the first wireless signal source to a server that provides a lost-and-found service that is programmed to locate a lost item to which the first wireless signal source is attached or to locate a lost person carrying the first wireless signal source.