Systems, methods, and computer program products for determining a location of a tracked device after a device or network failure

• US 8,700,052 B2
• Filed: 07/07/2010
• Issued: 04/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/07/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Modi, Milap, Beattie, James Gordon Jr., Griesmer, Stephen J., Sharp, Robert K., Stewart, Harold
• Primary Examiner(s): Kincaid, Lester
• Assistant Examiner(s): LAM, DUNG LE
• Application Number:
  US12/831,343
• Publication Number:
  US 20120009904A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,378 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414.2, 455/456.1, 455/456.2, 455/456.5, 455/456.6, 340/539.13, 340/539.14, 340/539.15, 340/539.16, 340/539.17, 340/539.18, 340/539.2, 340/1
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer program products are for receiving a tracking failure notification including a device identifier of a tracked device that is unavailable because of a failure condition, determining the failure condition as being one of a network failure and a tracked device failure, retrieving known location data of the tracked device including a last known location of the tracked device, determining a potential location of the tracked device, and notifying an entity of the failure condition, the device identifier, and the potential location.

Claims

1. A tangible computer-readable storage device comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving a tracking-failure notification, the tracking-failure notification comprising a device identifier of a tracked device that is unavailable because of a failure condition;

determining the failure condition, the failure condition being selected from a group consisting of a network failure and a tracked-device failure;

retrieving last-known-location data of the tracked device, the last-known-location data comprising a last-known location of the tracked device;

determining a set of potential locations of the tracked device;

retrieving a device track history corresponding to the tracked device;

determining a potential location of the tracked device from among the set of potential locations using the device track history corresponding to the tracked device, wherein each potential location in the set of potential locations is associated with a specific time at which the tracked device was at the potential location determined, and wherein determining the potential location comprises;

determining that a pattern exists within the device track history;

comparing the specific time of each corresponding potential location in the set potential locations to a particular time; and

determining the potential location using the pattern and based upon results of the comparing; and

notifying an entity of the failure condition, the device identifier, and the potential location.

2. The tangible computer-readable storage device of claim 1, wherein the tracking-failure notification is received in a communication selected from a group consisting of:

a call;

a short messaging service message;

a multimedia messaging service message;

an email;

an interactive voice response message;

an emergency services message; and

a direct input message.

3. The tangible computer-readable storage device of claim 1, wherein the device identifier is selected from a group consisting of:

a mobile station international integrated services digital network number;

an international mobile subscriber identity; and

an international mobile equipment identity.

4. The tangible computer-readable storage device of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining whether the last-known location of the tracked device is within a predetermined distance of a second last-known location of a second tracked device for which a second tracking-failure notification comprising the second last-known location has been received; and

determining, if the last-known location of the tracked device is within the predetermined distance of the second last-known location of the second tracked device, the potential location of the tracked device using one of second last-known-location data of the second tracked device and a second device track history of the second tracked device.

5. The tangible computer-readable storage device of claim 1, wherein:

the operations further comprise retrieving a communications history of the tracked device, the communications history comprising a type of history selected from a group consisting of a call history, a message history, and a date history for communications that occur during a particular time period; and

determining the potential location of the tracked device comprises determining the potential location of the tracked device based upon the communications history of the tracked device.

6. The tangible computer-readable storage device of claim 1, wherein the operation of retrieving the last-known-location data of the tracked device comprises retrieving the last-known-location data from a location database comprising location information for location-based services subscribers.

7. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a location assessment system using a computer processor, a tracking-failure notification, the tracking-failure notification comprising a device identifier of a tracked device that is unavailable because of a failure condition;

determining, by the location assessment system using the computer processor, the failure condition, the failure condition being selected from a group consisting of a network failure and a tracked-device failure;

retrieving, by the location assessment system using the computer processor, last-known-location data of the tracked device, the last-known-location data comprising a last-known-location of the tracked device;

determining, by the location assessment system using the computer processor, a set of potential locations of the tracked device;

retrieving, by the location assessment system, a device track history corresponding to the tracked device;

determining, by the location assessment system using the computer processor, a potential location of the tracked device from among the set of potential locations using the device track history corresponding to the tracked device, wherein each potential location in the set of potential locations is associated with a specific time at which the tracked device was at the potential location determined, and wherein determining the potential location comprises;

determining that a pattern exists within the device track history;

comparing the specific time of each corresponding potential location in the set of potential locations to a particular time; and

determining the potential location using the pattern and based upon results of the comparing; and

notifying, by the location assessment system using the computer processor, an entity of the failure condition, the device identifier, and the potential location.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

determining whether the last-known location of the tracked device is within a predetermined distance of a second last-known location of a second tracked device for which a second tracking-failure notification comprising the second last-known location has been received; and

determining, if the last-known location of the tracked device is within the predetermined distance of the second last-known location of the second tracked device, the potential location of the tracked device using one of second last-known-location data corresponding to the second tracked device and a second device track history corresponding to the second tracked device.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein:

the method further comprises retrieving a communications history of the tracked device, the communications history comprising a type of history selected from a group consisting of a call history, a message history, and a data history for communications that occur during a particular time period; and

determining the potential location of the tracked device comprises determining the potential location of the tracked device based upon the communications history of the tracked device.

10. A location assessment system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving a tracking-failure notification, the tracking-failure notification comprising a device identifier of a tracked device that is unavailable because of a failure condition;

determining the failure condition, the failure condition being selected from a group consisting of a network failure and a tracked-device failure;

retrieving last-known-location data of the tracked device, the last-known-location data comprising a last-known location of the tracked device;

determining a set of potential locations of the tracked device;

retrieving a device track history corresponding to the tracked device;

determining a potential location of the tracked device from among the set of potential locations using the device track history corresponding to the tracked device, wherein each potential location in the set of potential locations is associated with a specific time at which the tracked device was at the potential location determined, and wherein determining the potential location comprises;

determining that a pattern exists within the device track history;

comparing the specific time of each corresponding potential location in the set of potential locations to a particular time; and

determining the potential location of the tracked device using the pattern and the results of the comparing; and

notifying an entity of the failure condition, the device identifier, and the potential location.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining whether the last-known location of the tracked device is within a predetermined distance of a second last-known location of a second tracked device for which a second tracked failure notification comprising the second last-known location has been received; and

determining, if the last-known location of the tracked device is within the predetermined distance of the second last-known location of the second tracked device, the potential location of the tracked device using one of a second last-known-location data of the second tracked device and a second device track history of the second tracked device.