Systems and methods for asset tracking using an ad-hoc mesh network of mobile devices

• US 9,911,296 B2
• Filed: 12/10/2015
• Issued: 03/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gogoro Inc.
• Original Assignee: Gogoro Inc.
• Inventors: Luke, Hok-Sum Horace, Taylor, Matthew Whiting
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, An T
• Application Number:
  US14/965,569
• Publication Number:
  US 20160171855A1
• Time in Patent Office: 817 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0833 Tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0645 Rental transactions; Leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0227 System arrangements with a plurality of child units
• 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: G08B 21/0272 System arrangements wherein the object is to detect exact location of child or item using triangulation other than GPS
• 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: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/7072 Electromobility specific charging systems or methods for batteries, ultracapacitors, supercapacitors or double-layer capacitors

Abstract

An asset includes a short range transmitter that broadcasts a first signal that includes a unique identifier associated with the asset. Each asset is carried by one of number of mobile devices, and each asset is freely exchangeable between any of the number of mobile devices. Each of at least some of the mobile devices carries a receiver to receive the first signals within reception range of the receiver. Each of at least some of the mobile devices aggregates the received unique identifiers. Each of at least some of the mobile devices carries a transmitter that transmits a second signal that includes data representative of a geolocation of the respective mobile device and data indicative of the unique identifiers received by the respective mobile device to a back-end system. The back-end system uses the data included in the received second signals to track and locate assets within a geographic area.

Claims

1. An asset tracking system, the system comprising:

a plurality of assets to be tracked, each of the assets having a unique identifier associated therewith and an transmitter that broadcasts a first signal including data representative of the respective unique identifier assigned to the respective asset;

a plurality of mobile devices, each of the mobile devices capable of carrying at least one of the plurality of assets;

wherein each of the plurality of assets is freely exchangeable between at least two of the plurality of mobile devices;

wherein each of at least a number of the plurality of mobile devices includes a receiver to receive and an aggregator to aggregate a number of first signals broadcast by each of a respective number of assets; and

wherein each of the number of the plurality of mobile devices transmits a respective second signal that includes data representative of a geolocation of the respective mobile device and data representative of the aggregated number of first signals received by the respective mobile device from each of the respective number of assets;

wherein each of the plurality of assets comprises a portable electrical energy storage device; and

wherein the plurality of mobile devices comprises a plurality of electrically driven vehicles using at least one protable electrical energy storage device to provide energy to at least one electric motor.

2. The asset tracking system of claim 1, further comprising:

a back-end system including at least one communications interface to receive the second signal broadcast by each of the number of the plurality of mobile devices;

at least one processor communicably coupled to the at least one communications interface; and

a nontransitory storage media communicably coupled to the at least one processor, the nontransitory storage media including instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to;

determine a location of each of at least some of the plurality of assets using a number of second signals, each transmitted by a respective one of the number of mobile devices, the location of each of at least some of the plurality of assets determined based at least in part on data representative of the geolocation information and the data representative of the aggregated number of first signals in each of the number of received second signals.

3. The asset tracking system of claim 2 wherein the instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

receive, via an input device communicably coupled to the back end system, a unique identifier associated with a particular asset;

poll a number of mobile devices to broadcast a second signal that includes data representative of the geolocation of the respective mobile device and data representative of the aggregated number of first signals received by the respective mobile device from each of the respective number of assets; and

determine a geographic area in which the particular asset is physically present.

4. The asset tracking system of claim 2 wherein the instructions further cause the at least one processor to:

receive, via an input device communicably coupled to the back end system, a unique identifier associated with a particular asset; and

determine a location of the particular asset using the number of received second signals and based at least in part on data representative of the geolocation information and the data representative of the aggregated number of first signals in each of the number of received second signals.

5. The asset tracking system of claim 1 wherein each of the number of the plurality of mobile devices aggregates, from time-to-time, the number of first signals broadcast by each of the respective number of assets;

and

wherein each of the plurality of mobile devices transmits a respective second signal that includes data representative of a geolocation of the respective mobile device and data representative of the aggregated number of first signals received by the respective mobile device from each of the respective number of assets only when a new first signal is detected by the at least one controller.

6. The asset tracking system of claim 1 wherein each of the number of the plurality of mobile devices aggregates, from time-to-time, the number of first signals broadcast by each of the respective number of assets;

and

wherein each of the plurality of mobile devices transmits a respective second signal that includes data representative of a geolocation of the respective mobile device and data representative of the aggregated number of first signals received by the respective mobile device from each of the respective number of assets only when a loss of an existing first signal is detected by the at least one controller.

7. An asset tracking method, the method comprising:

receiving a number of first signals at each of a number of receivers physically coupled to a respective number of mobile devices, each of the first signals broadcast by a respective one of a plurality of transmitters that are physically coupled to a respective one of a plurality of assets, each of the first signals including data representative of a unique asset identifier;

aggregating each of the unique asset identifiers included in each of the received number of first signals by at least one controller physically coupled to each of the number of mobile devices and communicably coupled to each of the number of receivers; and

transmitting a second signal by each of the number of mobile devices, each of the second signals including data representative of a geolocation of the respective mobile device and data indicative of the aggregated unique asset identifiers received as a first signal by the mobile device;

wherein each of the plurality of assets is freely exchangeable between at least two of the number of mobile devices;

wherein each of the plurality of assets comprises a portable electrical energy storage device; and

wherein the number of mobile devices comprise a plurality of electrically driven vehicles using at least one portable electrical energy storage device to provide energy to at least one electric motor.

8. The asset tracking method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving at a back end system, the number of second signals; and

determining by the back end system a geographic area in which each of the plurality of assets is located using the data representative of the geolocation of each of the number of mobile devices included in each of the number of received second signals and the data representative of the aggregated unique asset identifiers received by each of the number of mobile devices in each of the number of received second signals.

9. The asset tracking method of claim 7 wherein broadcasting a second signal by each of the number of mobile devices comprises:

transmitting a second signal by each of the number of mobile devices only when a new first signal is detected by the at least one controller physically coupled to the respective mobile device.

10. The asset tracking method of claim 7 wherein broadcasting a second signal by each of the number of mobile devices comprises:

transmitting a second signal by each of the number of mobile devices only when a loss of a first signal is detected by the at least one controller physically coupled to the respective mobile device.

11. The asset tracking method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving, via an input device communicably coupled to the back end system, data representative of a unique identifier associated with a particular asset;

polling, by the back end system, a number of mobile devices to broadcast a second signal that includes data representative of the geolocation of the respective mobile device and data representative of the aggregated number of first signals received by the respective mobile device from each of the respective number of assets; and

determining, by the back end system, a geographic area in which the particular asset is physically present.

12. The asset tracking method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving, via an input device communicably coupled to the back end system, data representative of a unique identifier associated with a particular asset; and

determining, by the back end system, a location of the particular asset using the number of received second signals and based at least in part on data representative of the geolocation information and the data representative of the aggregated number of first signals in each of the number of received second signals.