Systems and methods for monitoring a proximity of a personal item and automatically assigning safe and unsafe zones

• US 9,824,568 B2
• Filed: 03/13/2013
• Issued: 11/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Hall, Eric M., Grokop, Leonard Henry
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu, Zhen Y
• Application Number:
  US13/799,486
• Publication Number:
  US 20140266698A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,714 Days
• Field of Search: 34053913
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0269 System arrangements wherein the object is to detect the exact location of child or item using a navigation satellite system, e.g. GPS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/126 Anti-theft arrangements, e.g. protection against subscriber identity module [SIM] cloning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/64 using geofenced areas
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• 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 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Systems and methods for monitoring the proximity of a personal item are provided. Systems and methods as provided herein allow a computing device to monitor the proximity of a personal item by generating an alert when wireless communications between the computing device and the personal item are lost in an unsafe zone to remind a user of the computing device about the personal item in an attempt to prevent leaving the personal item in the unsafe zone, where it may be susceptible to theft or loss. The provided systems and methods also automatically assign safe zones by analyzing clusters of location data points obtained by the computing device over time to determine a home location and an office location, assigning the home location and the office location as safe zones, and assigning all other locations as unsafe. A user may further manually designate locations as safe zones.

Claims

1. A device for monitoring a proximity of a personal item, comprising:

one or more wireless transceivers configured to communicate wirelessly with the personal item;

a location sensor configured to determine a location of the device;

a memory, the memory configured to store a plurality of locations determined by the location sensor; and

one or more processors configured to;

cluster the plurality of determined locations stored in the memory into location clusters;

automatically assign one or more safe zones based on the clustering, including;

(1) automatically determining a macro location cluster including some of the plurality of locations at which the device is located for a first amount of time during a time period;

(2) automatically determining a micro location cluster including at least one of the locations within the macro location cluster at which the device is located for a second amount of time during the time period, the second amount of time being greater than the first amount of time; and

(3) automatically assigning one of the one or more safe zones to the micro location cluster;

(4) determining a home location cluster including some of the plurality of locations;

(5) determining a work location cluster including some of the plurality of locations;

(6) determining an office location cluster including some of the plurality of locations, wherein determining a work location cluster comprises determining a latitude and longitude data point cluster in which the computing device spends a second greatest amount of time during a day; and

(7) assigning the home location cluster and the office location cluster as respective ones of the one or more safe zones;

determine if wireless communications between the device and the personal item are lost and if the device is not in one of the one or more safe zones; and

generate an alert based on wireless communications between the device and the personal item being lost while the device is not in one of the one or more safe zones.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the one or more wireless transceivers are configured to:

communicate wirelessly with the personal item using a wireless communications protocol that has a predetermined range such that when the personal item and the device are separated by a distance greater than the predetermined range the wireless communications between the personal item and the device are lost.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein the location sensor comprises at least one of a global positioning systems (GPS) sensor and a wireless network fingerprint sensor.

4. The device of claim 3, wherein the macro location cluster is a cluster of GPS sensor readings or wireless network fingerprint readings and the micro location cluster is a cluster of wireless network fingerprint readings.

5. The device of claim 4, wherein the one or more processors are configured to generate an alert based on wireless communications between the device and the personal item being lost while the device is located at a second micro location cluster within the macro location cluster, the second micro location cluster including at least one of the locations within the macro location cluster.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

store in the memory a determined location of the device at a time the wireless communications between the device and the personal item is lost; and

associate the determined location of the device at the time the wireless communications between the device and the personal item is lost with the alert.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the alert allows a user of the device to enter a response to the alert, the one or more processors being further configured to take action based on the response.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the action comprise at least one of:

generate a reminder after a predetermined amount of time;

generate a reminder when the device leaves a geofenced area;

ignore the alert;

or

assign the zone as being a safe zone of the one or more safe zones.

9. A method for monitoring proximity of a personal item, comprising:

establishing, by wireless transceivers of a computing device, wireless communications with the personal item;

automatically assigning, by one or more processors of the computing device, safe zones based on a plurality of locations at which the computing device has been, including;

(1) automatically determining a macro location cluster including some of the plurality of locations at which the device is located for a first amount of time during a time period;

(2) automatically determining a micro location cluster including at least one of the locations within the macro location cluster at which the device is located for a second amount of time during the time period, the second amount of time being greater than the first amount of time;

(3) automatically assigning one of the one or more safe zones to the micro location cluster;

(4) determining a home location cluster including some of the plurality of locations;

(5) determining a work location cluster including some of the plurality of locations;

(6) determining an office location cluster including some of the plurality of locations, wherein determining a work location cluster comprises determining a latitude and longitude data point cluster in which the computing device spends a second greatest amount of time during a day; and

(7) assigning the home location cluster and the office location cluster as respective ones of the one or more safe zones;

monitoring the wireless communications with the personal item;

based on wireless communications between the device and the personal item being lost, determining a location and generating an alert when the determined location is not within a safe zone of the assigned one or more safe zones; and

associating the determined location with the alert.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein establishing wireless communications with the personal item comprises establishing wireless communications using a wireless communications protocol that has a predetermined range such that when the personal item and the computing device are separated by a distance greater than the predetermined range the wireless communications between the personal item and the computing device are lost.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein determining a home location cluster comprises determining a latitude and longitude data point cluster in which the computing device is located at for a greatest amount of time during a day.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein determining an office location cluster comprises determining a wireless network fingerprint data cluster within the determined work location cluster in which the computing device is spends a greatest amount of time during a day.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein generating the alert includes options for allowing a user of the computing device to schedule a reminder alert to be generated after a predetermined amount of time or when the computing device is determined to have left a geofenced area.

14. A method, comprising:

determining, by one or more processors of a computing device, a home location cluster;

determining, by the one or more processors, a work location cluster;

automatically determining, by the one or more processors, an office location cluster within the work location cluster, the office location cluster being a cluster of locations within the work location cluster that the device is in, from among the locations within the work location, for a greatest amount of time during a time period;

assigning the home location cluster and the office location cluster as safe zones;

generating an alert based on wireless communications between the computing device and a personal item being lost and the computing device is not located in a safe zone of the assigned safe zones;

determining a location of the device at a time the wireless communications between the computing device and the personal item is lost; and

associating the determined location of the device at the time the wireless communications between the device and the personal item is lost with the alert.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein determining the home location cluster comprises determining a latitude and longitude data point cluster in which the computing device is located at for a greatest amount of time during a day.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein determining the work location cluster comprises determining a latitude and longitude data point cluster in which the computing device spends a second greatest amount of time during the day.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein determining the office location cluster comprises determining a wireless network fingerprint data cluster within the determined work location cluster in which the computing device spends a greatest amount of time, from among the locations within the work location, during the day.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein determining the office location cluster comprises determining a wireless network fingerprint data cluster within the determined work location cluster that the computing device most frequently enters first after the computing device enters the determined work location cluster.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein determining the office location cluster comprises determining a wireless network fingerprint data cluster within the determined work location cluster that the computing device most frequently leaves before the computing device leaves the determined work location cluster.

20. A system for monitoring proximity of a personal item, comprising:

means for determining a home location cluster;

means for determining a work location cluster;

means for automatically determining an office location cluster within the work location cluster, the office location cluster being a cluster of locations within the work location cluster that the device is located, from among the locations within the work location, for a greatest amount of time during a time period;

means for assigning the home location cluster and the office location cluster as safe zones; and

means for generating an alert based on wireless communications between the system and the personal item being lost and the system is not located in a safe zone of the assigned safe zones;

means for determining a location of the device at a time the wireless communications between the computing device and the personal item is lost; and

means for associating the determined location of the device at the time the wireless communications between the device and the personal item is lost with the alert.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the means for determining the home location cluster is configured to determine a latitude and longitude data point cluster in which the system is located for a greatest amount of time during a day.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the means for determining the work location cluster is configured to determine a latitude and longitude data point cluster in which the computing device spends a second greatest amount of time, from among the locations within the work location, during the day.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the means for determining the office location cluster is configured to determine a wireless network fingerprint data cluster within the determined work location cluster in which the computing device spends a greatest amount of time during a day.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the means for determining the office location cluster is configured to determine a wireless network fingerprint data cluster within the determined work location cluster that the system most frequently enters first after the system enters the determined work location cluster.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein the means for determining the office location cluster is configured to determine a wireless network fingerprint data cluster within the determined work location cluster that the computing device most frequently leaves before the computing device leaves the determined work location cluster.

26. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computing device, cause the computing device to:

determining a home location cluster;

determining a work location cluster;

automatically determining an office location cluster within the work location cluster, the office location cluster being a cluster of locations within the work location cluster that the device is located, from among the locations within the work location, for a greatest amount of time during a time period;

assigning the home location cluster and the office location cluster as safe zones; and

generating an alert based on wireless communications between the computing device and a personal item being lost and the computing device is not located in a safe zone of the assigned safe zones;

determining a location of the device at a time the wireless communications between the computing device and the personal item is lost; and

associating the determined location of the device at the time the wireless communications between the device and the personal item is lost with the alert.