Systems and methods for beacon device fleet management

• US 9,864,041 B1
• Filed: 10/26/2015
• Issued: 01/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Weaver, Mark William, Sasaki, Peter, Morace, Jonathan Robert, Scellato, Salvatore
• Primary Examiner(s): Ajibade Akonai, Olumide T
• Application Number:
  US14/922,713
• Time in Patent Office: 806 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 1/024 of beacon transmitters
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 1/68 Marker, boundary, call-sign, or like beacons transmitting signals not carrying directional information
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0236 Assistance data, e.g. base station almanac
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/14 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• 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 40/244 using a network of reference devices, e.g. beaconing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment

Abstract

Systems and methods for beacon device fleet management are provided. One example system includes a plurality of beacon devices, a plurality of mobile computing devices, a fleet management system, and a fleet owner computing devices. One example method includes receiving, by the fleet management system, a device status request from the fleet owner computing device. The fleet management system determines one or more operational statuses of beacon devices owned by the fleet owner and transmits data indicative of the one or more operational statuses to the fleet owner computing device. The operational statuses can include a current detection status (e.g., online or offline), a location status, a power source status, and/or other operational parameters.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method to enable beacon device fleet management, the method comprising:

receiving, by a fleet management system, a plurality of observation reports respectively from a plurality of mobile computing devices, each observation report identifying at least one of a plurality of beacon devices observed by a reporting mobile computing device and describing a location of the reporting mobile computing device when the reporting mobile computing device observed the identified at least one beacon device, wherein one or more of the plurality of observation reports identify a plurality of simultaneously observed beacon devices, the plurality of simultaneously observed beacon devices including at least a first beacon device and a second beacon device, and wherein the first beacon device is non-stationary;

receiving, by the fleet, management system from a fleet owner computing device, a device status request that requests an operational status of at least the first beacon device of the plurality of beacon devices;

determining, by the fleet management system, a current location of the first beacon device based at least in part on the respective locations indicated by the one or more of the plurality of observation reports and based at least in part on respective current locations of the plurality of simultaneously observed beacon devices, such that the current location of the first beacon device is determined based at least in part on a second location that is associated with the second beacon device that was simultaneously observed with the first beacon device;

determining, by the fleet management system, a location status of the first beacon device based at least in part on the current location of the first beacon device; and

transmitting, by the fleet management system, data that describes the determined location status of the first beacon device to the fleet owner computing device.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining, by the fleet management system, the current location of the first beacon device comprises:

building, by the fleet management system using Bayesian inference, a plurality of probabilities that the first beacon device is respectively located at a plurality of candidate locations.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining, by the fleet management system, the current location of the first beacon device comprises:

generating, by the fleet management system, one or more simulated observation reports based at least in part on the one or more observation reports that identify the plurality of simultaneously observed beacon devices, each the one or more simulated observation reports describing an additional observation location determined based at least in part on the respective current locations of the plurality of simultaneously observed beacon devices; and

determining, by the fleet management system, the current location of the first beacon device based at least in part on the one or more simulated observation reports.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining, by the fleet management system, the current location of the first beacon device comprises:

modifying, by the fleet management system, the respective locations described by the one or more observation reports that identify the plurality of simultaneously observed beacon devices based at least in part on the respective current locations of the plurality of simultaneously observed beacon devices; and

determining, by the fleet management system, the current location of the first beacon device based at least in part on the one or more modified observation reports.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining, by the fleet management system, the current location of the first beacon device comprises:

clustering, by the fleet management system, at least a portion of the plurality of observation reports that identify the first beacon device to determine the current location of the first beacon device.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein transmitting, by the fleet management system, data that describes the determined location status of the first beacon device to the fleet owner computing device comprises transmitting, by the fleet management system, data that describes the current location of the first beacon device.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein transmitting, by the fleet management system, data that describes the determined location status of the first beacon device to the fleet owner computing device comprises transmitting, by the fleet management system to the fleet owner computing device, data that describes the current location of the first beacon device but does not describe any locations provided by mobile computing devices in the plurality of observation reports.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein transmitting, by the fleet management system, data that describes the determined location status of the first beacon device to the fleet owner computing device comprises transmitting, by the fleet management system, data that describes whether the first beacon device is currently located at an expected location without specifying the current location of the first beacon device.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

analyzing, by the fleet management system, at least a portion of the plurality of observation reports that are associated with the first beacon device to determine a detection interval for the first beacon device, the detection interval comprising an amount of time that is based at least in part on a historical observation frequency at which the first beacon device has been observed by mobile computing devices; and

determining, by the fleet management system, whether a difference between a current time and a timestamp of a most recent observation report of the plurality of observation reports that are associated with the first beacon device is less than the detection interval of the first beacon device;

wherein transmitting, by the fleet management system, data that describes the determined location status of die first beacon device to the fleet owner computing device comprises;

when the difference between the current time and the timestamp of the most recent observation report is greater than the detection interval, transmitting, by the fleet management system to the fleet owner computing device, data that indicates that the first beacon device is not currently detected; and

when the difference between the current time and the timestamp of the most recent observation report is less than the detection interval, transmitting, by the fleet management system to the fleet owner computing device, data that indicates that the first beacon device is currently detected.

10. A computer-implemented method to enable beacon device fleet management, the method comprising:

receiving, by a fleet management system, a plurality of observation reports respectively from a plurality of mobile computing devices, each observation report identifying at least one of a plurality of beacon devices observed by a reporting mobile computing device and describing a location of the reporting mobile computing device when the reporting mobile computing device observed the identified at least one beacon device, wherein one or more of the plurality of observation reports identify a plurality of simultaneously observed beacon devices, the plurality of simultaneously observed beacon devices including at least a first beacon device and a second beacon device;

receiving, by the fleet management system from a fleet owner computing device, a device status request that requests an operational status of at least the first beacon device of the plurality of beacon devices;

determining, by the fleet management system, a current location of the first beacon device based at least in part on the respective locations indicated by the one or more of the plurality of observation reports and based at least in part on respective current locations of the plurality of simultaneously observed beacon devices;

determining, by the fleet management system, a location status of the first beacon device based at least in part on the current location of the first beacon device; and

transmitting, by the fleet management system, data that describes the determined location status of the first beacon device to the fleet owner computing device;

wherein determining, by the fleet management system, the current location of the first beacon device comprises;

generating, by the fleet management system, one or more simulated observation reports based at least in part on the one or more observation reports that identify the plurality of simultaneously observed beacon devices, each the one or more simulated observation reports describing an additional observation location determined based at least in part on the respective current locations of the plurality of simultaneously observed beacon devices; and

determining, by the fleet management system, the current location of the first beacon device based at least in part on the one or more simulated observation reports.

11. A computer-implemented method to enable beacon device fleet management, the method comprising:

receiving, by a fleet management system from one or more reporting devices, one or more observation reports that provide a location at which the reporting device observed a first beacon device that is non-stationary, wherein at least one of the observation reports identifies a second beacon device that was simultaneously observed with the first beacon device;

determining, by the fleet management system, a current location of the first beacon device based at least in part on a second location that is associated with the second beacon device that was simultaneously observed with the first beacon device;

determining, by the fleet management system, a location status of the first beacon device based at least in part on the current location of the first beacon device.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein determining, by the fleet management system, the current location of the first beacon device comprises:

building, by the fleet management system using Bayesian inference, a plurality of probabilities that the first beacon device is respectively located at a plurality of candidate locations.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein determining, by the fleet management system, the current location of the first beacon device comprises:

clustering, by the fleet management system, at least a portion of the plurality of observation reports that identify the first beacon device to determine the current location of the first beacon device.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein determining, by the fleet management system, the current location of the first beacon device comprises:

generating, by the fleet management system, one or more simulated observation reports based at least in part on the one or more observation reports that identify the second beacon device, each the one or more simulated observation reports describing an additional observation location for the first beacon device determined based at least in part on the second location of the second beacon device; and

determining, by the fleet management system, the current location of the first beacon device based at least in part on the one or more simulated observation reports.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein determining, by the fleet management system, the current location of the first beacon device comprises:

modifying, by the fleet management system, the respective locations described by the one or more observation reports that identify the second beacon device based at least in part on the second location of the second beacon device; and

determining, by the fleet management system, the current location of the first beacon device based at least in part on the one or more modified observation reports.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, further comprising:

transmitting, by the fleet management system, data that describes the current location of the first beacon device to a fleet owner computing device.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, further comprising:

transmitting, by the fleet management system to a fleet owner computing device, data that describes whether the first beacon device is currently located at an expected location without specifying the current location of the first beacon device.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, further comprising:

transmitting, by the fleet management system to a fleet owner computing device, data that describes the current location of the first beacon device but does not describe any locations provided by reporting devices in the one or more observation reports.