Vehicle geofence in a tracking device environment

• US 9,998,864 B2
• Filed: 02/27/2017
• Issued: 06/12/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TILE, INC. (Life360 Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: TILE, INC. (Life360 Incorporated)
• Inventors: Kumar, Mayank, Patterson, Wayne, Puppala, Arunkumar
• Primary Examiner(s): Mehra, Inder
• Application Number:
  US15/443,432
• Publication Number:
  US 20170353829A1
• Time in Patent Office: 470 Days
• Field of Search: 455441, 455435, 709202, 709204, 709205, 709208, 709223
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/063116 Schedule adjustment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/04 by breaking of glass
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/14 by lifting or attempted removal of hand-portable articles
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/1427 with transmitter-receiver for distance detection
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/2462 Asset location systems combined with EAS inventory, tracking, logistic G06Q10/00; entrance control systems G07C9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/24 Reminder alarms, e.g. anti-loss alarms
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 25/08 using communication transmission lines G08B13/19658, G08B21/0286, G08B25/016 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• 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 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination

Abstract

A tracking system can provide intervention notifications to a user to notify the user that a tracking device is potentially lost or is in a predicted state. The tracking system may notify the user that a tracking device is potentially lost or in a predicted state based on a number of factors, including: a proximity of a tracking device to other tracking devices or a user'"'"'s mobile device, a movement of a tracking device to more than a threshold distance away from a mobile device or other tracking devices, a location of a tracking device relative to a geographic location or to geographic boundaries, a usage or movement behavior of the tracking device, a usage or movement behavior of a user or owner of a tracking device, information received from an external source, or information received from sensors within the tracking device or a user'"'"'s mobile.

Claims

1. A method for tracking a vehicle, comprising:

connecting, by a mobile device, to a vehicle tracking device when the mobile device is configured to operate with a first communication range, the vehicle tracking device coupled to or located within an associated vehicle;

determining, by the mobile device and while the mobile device is connected to the vehicle tracking device, that the mobile device is travelling in the vehicle associated with the vehicle tracking device;

responsive to determining that the vehicle is in motion, reducing the communication range of the mobile device to a second communication range less than the first communication range;

detecting, by the mobile device, that the vehicle tracking device has disconnected from the mobile device by detecting a disconnect event triggered by an operating system of the mobile device; and

in response to detecting the disconnect event triggered by the operating system of the mobile device;

establishing a geofence around the current location of the mobile device; and

returning the communication range of the mobile device to the first communication range.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing a geofence around the current location of the mobile device comprises:

determining the current location of the mobile device;

selecting a range for the geofence; and

associating the current location and the selected range with the vehicle tracking device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the range for the geofence is selected based on the second communication range.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the geofence comprises:

determining that the mobile device is located within the geofence;

determining that the tracking device is not located within the geofence based on a determination that the vehicle tracking device is not connected to the mobile device; and

increasing the radius of the geofence.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the vehicle tracking device is located within the geofence.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing the location and range of the geofence to a central tracking system.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the central tracking system is configured to receive an updated location of the vehicle tracking device from a second mobile device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the central tracking system is further configured to provide a notification to an owner of the mobile device that the vehicle may be lost or stolen in response to determining that the updated location of the vehicle tracking device is located outside of the geofence.

9. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing instructions, which when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform steps comprising:

connecting, by a mobile device, to a vehicle tracking device when the mobile device is configured to operate with a first communication range, the vehicle tracking device coupled to or located within an associated vehicle;

determining, by the mobile device and while the mobile device is connected to the vehicle tracking device, that the mobile device is travelling in the vehicle associated with the vehicle tracking device;

responsive to determining that the vehicle is in motion, reducing the communication range of the mobile device to a second communication range less than the first communication range;

detecting, by the mobile device, that the vehicle tracking device has disconnected from the mobile device by detecting a disconnect event triggered by an operating system of the mobile device; and

in response to detecting the disconnect event triggered by the operating system of the mobile device;

establishing a geofence around the current location of the mobile device; and

returning the communication range of the mobile device to the first communication range.

10. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein establishing a geofence around the current location of the mobile device comprises:

determining the current location of the mobile device;

selecting a range for the geofence; and

associating the current location and the selected range with the vehicle tracking device.

11. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the range for the geofence is selected based on the second communication range.

12. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein establishing the geofence comprises:

determining that the mobile device is located within the geofence;

determining that the tracking device is not located within the geofence based on a determination that the vehicle tracking device is not connected to the mobile device; and

increasing the radius of the geofence.

13. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the vehicle tracking device is located within the geofence.

14. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 9, the processor configured to perform further steps comprising providing the location and range of the geofence to a central tracking system.

15. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the central tracking system is configured to receive an updated location of the vehicle tracking device from a second mobile device.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the central tracking system is further configured to provide a notification to an owner of the mobile device that the vehicle may be lost or stolen in response to determining that the updated location of the vehicle tracking device is located outside of the geofence.