Crowdsourced determination of movable device location
First Claim
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1. A method of establishing a location of a device in an institutional space, the method comprising the steps of:
- providing a device-location database storing records for each of a plurality of devices registered in the database as located in the institutional space, the database electronically storing, for each device, a record specifying a location of the device within the institutional space and when the location was most recently updated;
at the device, registering a request of a user for log-on and authentication;
in response to the request, prompting the user for authentication information and, depending on how recently the database record corresponding to the device was updated, a current location of the device;
in response to a current location was obtained from the user, causing the current location and a time it was obtained to be stored in the database record corresponding the devicewherein, in response to an interval between a current time and a time when the database record corresponding to the device was last updated exceeding a threshold, a plurality of users are prompted for a current location of the device, and further comprising the step of correlating the current locations provided by the plurality of users to determine consistency thereamong prior to causing the current location to be stored in the database.
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Abstract
The locations of electronic devices in an institutional facility are determined based on crowdsourced location reporting by users in an institutional setting and responding to device location queries.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of establishing a location of a device in an institutional space, the method comprising the steps of:
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providing a device-location database storing records for each of a plurality of devices registered in the database as located in the institutional space, the database electronically storing, for each device, a record specifying a location of the device within the institutional space and when the location was most recently updated; at the device, registering a request of a user for log-on and authentication; in response to the request, prompting the user for authentication information and, depending on how recently the database record corresponding to the device was updated, a current location of the device; in response to a current location was obtained from the user, causing the current location and a time it was obtained to be stored in the database record corresponding the device wherein, in response to an interval between a current time and a time when the database record corresponding to the device was last updated exceeding a threshold, a plurality of users are prompted for a current location of the device, and further comprising the step of correlating the current locations provided by the plurality of users to determine consistency thereamong prior to causing the current location to be stored in the database. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A system for establishing and storing locations of devices in an institutional space, the system comprising:
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a plurality of devices; a location server in operative communication with the devices and including computer storage defining a device-location database, the database including, for each device, a record specifying a location of the device within the institutional space and when the location was most recently updated, wherein (a) each of the devices includes an authentication module and is configured to (i) register a request of a user for log-on and authentication, (ii) in response to the request, prompt the user for authentication information, and (iii) depending on how recently the database record corresponding to the device was updated, prompt the user for a current location of the device, (b) the location server is configured to (i) receive, from the devices, current locations provided by users of the devices and times when the current locations were obtained, (ii) store the current locations in the database records corresponding to the devices, and (iii) notify a device in response to an interval between a current time and a time when the device-location database record corresponding to the device was last updated exceeding a threshold, (c) the device is configured, in response to the threshold being exceeded, to cause the interface to prompt a plurality of users for a current location of the device and to transmit the plurality of current locations to the location server, and (d) the location server is further configured to correlate the plurality of current locations to determine consistency thereamong prior to storing the current location in the device-location database. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification