Mobile phone locator

• US 9,510,128 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2013
• Issued: 11/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Ron, Uri, Bychkov, Eyal, Sherman, Itay, Kremer, Nataly
• Primary Examiner(s): Cumming, William D
• Application Number:
  US13/778,155
• Publication Number:
  US 20130183955A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,371 Days
• Field of Search: 455/41, 455/418, 455/456.1, 455/524, 455/567, 455/41.1, 340/10.1, 340/539.13, 340/901, 370/328
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 19/04 the ringing-current being generated at the substations
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring

Abstract

A mobile phone, including a protocol sniffer for capturing a beacon from a wireless access point, a beacon parser, coupled with the protocol sniffer, for identifying an alert request within the captured beacon, and at least one speaker, coupled with the beacon parser, for sounding an audible alert in response to the beacon parser identifying the alert request.

Claims

1. A mobile phone, comprising:

a Wi-Fi receiver configured to capture a beacon from a wireless access point over a local network;

a parser, coupled with said Wi-Fi receiver, configured to identify a misplaced phone alert request within the captured beacon, the misplaced phone alert request including at least one user-defined parameter value that specifies a setting for an audible alert; and

circuitry coupled with said parser, the circuitry configured to generate the audible the misplaced phone alert in response to identification of the misplaced phone alert request and based on the setting specified by the at least one user-defined parameter value.

2. The mobile phone of claim 1, wherein said parser is configured to search for a vendor-specific element within the captured beacon, and identify the misplaced phone alert request within the vendor-specific element.

3. The mobile phone of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to generate the audible alert for an amount of time specified by the at least one user-defined parameter value.

4. The mobile phone of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to generate the audible alert at a volume specified by the at least one user-defined parameter value.

5. The mobile phone of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to generate the audible alert according to a sound pattern specified by the at least one user-defined parameter value.

6. The mobile phone of claim 1, further comprising a display, coupled with said parser, configured to display a pre-designated image in response to the identification of the misplaced phone alert request.

7. The mobile phone of claim 1, further comprising a light emitter, coupled with said parser, configured to emit light in response to the identification of the misplaced phone alert request.

8. The mobile phone of claim 1, wherein the audible alert includes a vibration of the mobile phone.

9. The mobile phone of claim 1, further comprising an audio player configured to play a pre-designated audio recording in response to the identification of the misplaced phone alert request.

10. The mobile phone of claim 1, further comprising a video player configured to play a pre-designated video recording in response to the identification of the misplaced phone alert request.

20. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to generate the audible alert by using at least one of a speaker or a vibrator.

11. A method for locating a misplaced mobile phone, comprising:

capturing, by a mobile phone and via a local network, a beacon from a wireless access point;

identifying, by the mobile phone, a request within the captured beacon for a misplace phone alert, the request including at least one user-defined parameter value specifying a setting for the misplaced phone alert; and

in response to said identifying, generating, by the mobile phone, the misplaced phone alert using the setting specified by the at least one user-defined parameter value.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising searching for a vendor-specific element within the captured beacon, and wherein said identifying identifies the request within the vendor-specific element.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein said generating comprises sounding the misplaced phone alert for an amount of time specified by the at least one user-defined parameter value.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein said generating comprises sounding the misplaced phone alert at a volume specified by the at least one user-defined parameter value.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein said generating comprises sounding the misplaced phone alert according to a sound pattern specified by the at least one user-defined parameter value.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein said generating the misplaced phone alert comprises emitting light.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein said generating the misplaced phone alert comprises vibrating the mobile phone.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising, in response to said identifying, displaying, by the mobile phone, a pre-designated image.

19. The method of claim 11, further comprising, in response to said identifying, playing, by the mobile phone, at least one of a pre-designated audio recording or a pre-designated video recording.