Locating physical assets via near field communication nodes

• US 9,980,205 B2
• Filed: 11/18/2015
• Issued: 05/22/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/18/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.), AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Meredith, Sheldon Kent, Cottrill, William, Hilliard, Brandon B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kincaid, Lester
• Assistant Examiner(s): Zewari, Sayed T
• Application Number:
  US14/944,728
• Publication Number:
  US 20170142639A1
• Time in Patent Office: 916 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561, 455 412, 4555561, 4554562, 4554563, 4554566, 3405731, 3405721, 34053912
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• 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 48/10 using broadcasted information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals

Abstract

An example device for processing a query for a physical asset includes a processor and a computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations. The operations may include receiving a query for a physical asset from a requesting device, determining a near field communication node that detects the physical asset, and providing to the requesting device an identification of a communication device that is associated with the near field communication node in response to the query.

Claims

1. A device comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising;

registering a plurality of communication devices to potentially be contacted in response to a query for a physical asset;

receiving the query for the physical asset from a requesting device;

determining a near field communication node that detects the physical asset;

determining that a particular communication device of the plurality of communication devices that are registered is associated with the near field communication node; and

providing to the requesting device, in response to the query, an identification of the particular communication device, when it is determined that the particular communication device is associated with the near field communication node.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the physical asset comprises a near field communication device.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein the near field communication node detects the physical asset via the near field communication device of the physical asset.

4. The device of claim 2, wherein the near field communication device is attached to the physical asset.

5. The device of claim 2, wherein the determining the near field communication node that detects the physical asset comprises:

receiving a message from the near field communication node indicating a detection of the near field communication device of the physical asset.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the determining the near field communication node that detects the physical asset comprises:

receiving a message from the near field communication node indicating a detection of the physical asset.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the near field communication node broadcasts the message via a near field communication transmission.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the message is received via at least one additional near field communication node, wherein the at least one additional near field communication node rebroadcasts the message via at least one additional near field communication transmission.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein the message is further received via a near field communication hub node, wherein the message is sent by the near field communication hub node via a non-near field communication link.

10. The device of claim 8, wherein the at least one additional near field communication node comprises a plurality of near field communication nodes, wherein the plurality of near field communication nodes is configured to rebroadcast the message a maximum number of times before discarding the message.

11. The device of claim 8, wherein the at least one additional near field communication node rebroadcasts the message when a time period since a creation of the message does not exceed a threshold.

12. The device of claim 8, wherein the at least one additional near field communication node rebroadcasts the message when the at least one additional near field communication node has not previously rebroadcast the message.

13. The device of claim 1, wherein the communication device is a non-mobile communication device, wherein the determining that the communication device is associated with the near field communication node comprises retrieving a database record associating the communication device with the near field communication node.

14. The device of claim 1, wherein the determining that the communication device is associated with the near field communication node comprises receiving the identification of the communication device from the near field communication node, wherein the communication device is a mobile communication device, wherein the communication device is detected by the near field communication node.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the communication device comprises a near field communication transceiver, wherein the near field communication node detects the communication device by detecting the near field communication transceiver of the communication device.

16. The device of claim 1, wherein the query for the physical asset comprises a query for a class of physical assets that include the physical asset, wherein the providing to the requesting device the identification of the communication device that is associated with the near field communication node further comprises providing a ranked list of physical assets of the class of physical assets to the requesting device.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations, the operations comprising:

registering a plurality of communication devices to potentially be contacted in response to a query for a physical asset;

receiving the query for the physical asset from a requesting device;

determining a near field communication node that detects the physical asset;

determining that a particular communication device of the plurality of communication devices that are registered is associated with the near field communication node; and

providing to the requesting device, in response to the query, an identification of the particular communication device, when it is determined that the particular communication device is associated with the near field communication node.

18. A method, comprising:

registering, by a processor, a plurality of communication devices to potentially be contacted in response to a query for a physical asset;

receiving, by the processor, the query for the physical asset from a requesting device;

determining, by the processor, a near field communication node that detects the physical asset;

determining, by the processor, that a particular communication device of the plurality of communication devices that are registered is associated with the near field communication node; and

providing, by the processor to the requesting device, in response to the query, an identification of the particular communication device, when it is determined that the particular communication device is associated with the near field communication node.