System and method for providing an indication of the proximity of a moveable device

• US 20050075113A1
• Filed: 09/28/2004
• Published: 04/07/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Noble, Gary Paul
• Granted Patent: US 7,728,995 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.100
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/765 with exchange of information between interrogator and responder
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 60/00 Affiliation to network, e.g. registration; Terminating affiliation with the network, e.g. de-registration

Abstract

A system and method are described for providing an indication of the proximity of a moveable device. The system comprises at least a first moveable device having a transmitting means for transmitting data comprising an identification of the first device and a second device having a receiving means for receiving data from the first device and a transmitting means for transmitting data including the identification of the first device together with an indication of the proximity of the identified device. A further device with a receiving means for receiving the data transmitted by the second device can be used in order to obtain an indication of the proximity of the first device. The indication of the proximity of the first device is a scale value which degrades as the first device moves away from the second device.

Claims

1. A system for providing an indication of the proximity of a device, comprising:

a first moveable device having a transmitting means for transmitting data including an identification of the first moveable device; and

a second device having a receiving means for receiving data from the first moveable device and a transmitting means for transmitting data including the identification of the first moveable device with an indication of the proximity of the first device.

2. The system of claim 1, including a third device having a receiving means for receiving the data transmitted by the second device in order to obtain an indication of the proximity of the first moveable device, and a transmitting means.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the indication of the proximity of the first moveable device is the time elapsed since the first moveable device moved out of a receiving range of the second device.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the indication of the proximity of the first moveable device is a scale value which is degraded once the first device is located outside of the receiving range of the second device.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the indication of the proximity of the first moveable device is decreased with each retransmission of first moveable device data by the third device.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the first moveable device and the second device can transmit one or more packets of data, each packet of data including an identification of another device and an indication of the proximity of the identified device.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein each of the packets of data includes one or more of a message, a qualifier, an identification of the transmitting device, the location of the transmitting device, and the number of times the data packet has been transmitted.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the data to be transmitted from the first moveable device includes a value and a degradation formula of the value for providing an indication of the proximity of the first moveable device.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the degradation formula comprises a half-life degradation of the value.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the first moveable device is a radio frequency identification tag.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the first moveable device includes a receiving means for receiving transmissions of identifications of the third device and other devices.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the first moveable device can retransmit identifications of the other devices with an indication of the proximity of the other devices.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the first moveable device, the second device, the third device, and the other devices are at fixed locations.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the second device includes a connected device at another location and can retransmit data of the second device.

15. The system of claim 8, wherein the first moveable device is an interactive device including a user interface in the form of a mobile phone or personal digital assistant.

16. A method for providing an indication of the proximity of a device comprising the steps of:

providing a first moveable device and a second device; and

transmitting an identification of the first moveable device from the first moveable device to the second device, the second device receiving the transmission of the first moveable device and retransmitting data including the identification of the first moveable device together with an indication of the proximity of the first moveable device from the second device.

17. The method of claim 16 further including the steps of providing a third device and receiving the data retransmitted by the second device in order to obtain an indication of the proximity of the first moveable device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the receiving step includes the steps of:

moving the first moveable device out of a receiving range of the second device wherein the proximity of the first moveable device is the time since the first moveable device moved out of the receiving range of the second moveable device.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the measuring step comprises measuring the indication of the proximity of the first moveable device as a scale value which degrades once the first moveable device moves out of the receiving range of the second device.

20. The method of claim 19 further including the step of retransmitting the identification of the first moveable device by the third device thereby decreasing the indication of the proximity of the first moveable device with each retransmission.

21. The method of claim 17 further including the step of transmitting one or more packets of data from the first moveable device and the second device, each packet of data including an identification of another device and an indication of the proximity of the identified device.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the step of transmitting one or more packets of data includes transmitting one or more of a message, a qualifier, an identification of the transmitting device, the location of the transmitting device, and the number of times the data packet has been transmitted.

23. The method of claim 16 further including the step of:

providing other devices, the first moveable device receiving and retransmitting the identifications of the other devices together with an indication of the proximity of the other devices.

24. A computer program product comprising computer program code stored on a computer readable storage medium, which when executed on a data processing system, instructs the data processing system to carry out the method comprising the steps of:

providing a first moveable device and a second device; and

transmitting an identification of the first moveable device, from the first moveable device to the second device, the second device receiving the transmission of the first moveable device and retransmitting data including the identification of the first moveable device together with an indication of the proximity of the first moveable device from the second device.