Power preservation through motion-activated location reporting

• US 9,763,038 B2
• Filed: 11/10/2016
• Issued: 09/12/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TILE, INC. (Life360 Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: TILE, INC. (Life360 Incorporated)
• Inventors: Farley, Michael George, Evans, Nicholas George
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, DANH C
• Application Number:
  US15/348,822
• Publication Number:
  US 20170064499A1
• Time in Patent Office: 306 Days
• Field of Search: 4554566, 4554561, 4555501, 455418
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• 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 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 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/245 from a network towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A tracking device can securely communicate with a secondary device by generating a hash value based on the identity of the tracking device. If the secondary device cannot resolve the hash value, the hash value can be provided to a tracking server, such as a cloud server, for resolving the hash value. Upon resolving the hash value, the tracking server can store a location of the tracking device in association with the identity of the tracking device. To preserve power, the secondary device can activate location-detection functionality (such as a GPS receive) only in response to the detection of movement of the tracking device, can obtain location information, and can de-activate the location-detection functionality upon providing the location information to the tracking server. The tracking server can associate one or both of a previous location and the current location information based on movement of the tracking device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a mobile device from a tracking device, a signal indicating a detection of movement of the tracking device by a motion sensor of the tracking device;

determining, by the mobile device via a location-detection component of the mobile device, a location of the mobile device;

after determining the location of the mobile device, disabling, by the mobile device, the location-detection component of the mobile device until

     1) a subsequent signal indicating a detection of movement is received from the tracking device, or

     2) an application of the mobile device requests a location of the mobile device; and

providing, from the mobile device to a tracking server, an identity of the tracking device and the determined location of the mobile device, the tracking server configured to provide to the mobile device a confirmation that the determined location and the identity of the tracking device was received.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the received signal is broadcast as a Bluetooth-format advertisement or connection event.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the motion sensor comprises a gyroscope or an accelerometer.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the location-detection component comprises a Global Positioning System (“

GPS”

) receiver.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined location comprises geographic coordinates.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the tracking device, after transmitting the signal indicating the detection of movement of the tracking device, is configured to disable transmissions until motion is subsequently detected.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein tracking device and the mobile device are associated with a common owner.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the tracking device and the mobile device are associated with different owners.

9. A system comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable computer instructions for;

receiving, at a mobile device from a tracking device, a signal indicating a detection of movement of the tracking device by a motion sensor of the tracking device;

determining, by the mobile device via a location-detection component of the mobile device, a location of the mobile device;

after determining the location of the mobile device, disabling, by the mobile device, the location-detection component of the mobile device until

     1) a subsequent signal indicating a detection of movement is received from the tracking device, or

     2) an application of the mobile device requests a location of the mobile device; and

providing, from the mobile device to a tracking server, an identity of the tracking device and the determined location of the mobile device, the tracking server configured to provide to the mobile device a confirmation that the determined location and the identity of the tracking device was received; and

a processor configured to execute the computer instructions.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the received signal is broadcast as a Bluetooth-format advertisement or connection event.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the motion sensor comprises a gyroscope or an accelerometer.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein the location-detection component comprises a Global Positioning System (“

GPS”

) receiver.

13. The system of claim 9, wherein the determined location comprises geographic coordinates.

14. The system of claim 9, wherein the tracking device, after transmitting the signal indicating the detection of movement of the tracking device, is configured to disable transmissions until motion is subsequently detected.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable computer instructions for:

receiving, at a mobile device from a tracking device, a signal indicating a detection of movement of the tracking device by a motion sensor of the tracking device;

determining, by the mobile device via a location-detection component of the mobile device, a location of the mobile device;

after determining the location of the mobile device, disabling, by the mobile device, the location-detection component of the mobile device until

     1) a subsequent signal indicating a detection of movement is received from the tracking device, or

     2) an application of the mobile device requests a location of the mobile device; and

providing, from the mobile device to a tracking server, an identity of the tracking device and the determined location of the mobile device, the tracking server configured to provide to the mobile device a confirmation that the determined location and the identity of the tracking device was received.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the received signal is broadcast as a Bluetooth-format advertisement or connection event.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the motion sensor comprises a gyroscope or an accelerometer.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the location-detection component comprises a Global Positioning System (“

GPS”

) receiver.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the determined location comprises geographic coordinates.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the tracking device, after transmitting the signal indicating the detection of movement of the tracking device, is configured to disable transmissions until motion is subsequently detected.