Systems and methods for tracking assets using associated portable electronic device in the form of beacons

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10068440-B2
Application number	US-201414194953-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 3, 2014
Priority date	Jan 12, 2011
Publication date	Sep 4, 2018
Grant date	Sep 4, 2018

Abstract

The last known location of a beacon associated with an asset can be determined based on the beacon's last communication with a data network. A beacon can be set up to communicate its location to or through a server to a second client used for locating and tracking the beacon after the beacon obtains a wireless data network connection and registers its most recent location with the server. Beacon location can be based on data network router IP address or GPS information. Location can be stored in memory until a subsequent location and/or wireless connection is obtained. A beacon can also include short range wireless communications to facilitate short range radio frequency communications with a second client that are determined to be in close proximity to the beacon. Short-range communications can be facilitated utilizing Bluetooth communications.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for determining a location of a beacon associated with an asset based on a last communication of the beacon with a data network, the method comprising:
providing the beacon including location determination capabilities, wireless data network communications, and short range radio frequency communication capabilities,
wherein the beacon is programmed to communicate its location through a server to a second client associated with an owner of the beacon using electronic messaging each time the beacon obtains a new wireless connection to a wireless data network, and
the beacon is further programmed to communicate directly with the second client over short range of communication without network support when the beacon is within short range rf communication range thereby enabling more refined tracking in comparison to communicating with the second client through the server;
wherein the beacon is further programmed to obtain a new and direct short-range connection with the second client after having a network connection with the second client to perform a more refined short-range tracking with the second client, and in response to changing from communicating with the second client through the server with network support to communicating directly with the second client over the new short range of communication without network support, obtain a global positioning system (GPS) location of the beacon via a GPS network and transmit the GPS location directly to the second client through the short-range connection without network support.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the beacon is set up to communicate its location based on at least one of a wireless data network router IP address location and a portable device GPS location when the beacon is connected to the second client through the network connection.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the beacon is set up to communicate its location based on at least one of a wireless data network router IP address location or a portable device GPS location after the beacon becomes powered on and finds and obtains a new wireless connection to the wireless data network.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising setting up the beacon to communicate its location to the server after it becomes powered on by a motion sensor and obtains a wireless connection to the wireless data network.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the beacon is set up to communicate its location to the server after the beacon obtains the new wireless connection to the wireless data network and the location is stored until a subsequent location is registered in the server.

6. The method of claim 2 , further comprising setting up the beacon to communicate its location to the server after it obtains the new wireless connection to the wireless data network and the location is stored until a subsequent location is registered in the server.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising setting up the beacon to receive a “locate” command from a remote server after the beacon obtains the new wireless connection to the wireless data network and communicates its location to the server in response to the locate command.

8. A method for determining a location of a beacon associated with an asset based on last communication of the beacon with a data network, the method comprising:
programming a server to communicate with a beacon having network communications and a location module to obtain a last location of the beacon, and communicate the location to a second client associated with a user tracking the beacon using electronic messaging, wherein the location is determined when the beacon is powered on and obtains a new wireless connection to the wireless data network; and
programming the beacon to communicate directly with the second client over short range of communication without network support when the beacon is within short range rf communication range of the second client thereby enabling more refined tracking in comparison to communicating with the second client through the server;
wherein the beacon is further programmed to obtain a new and direct short-range connection with the second client after having a network connection with the second client to perform a more refined short-range tracking with the second client, and in response to changing from communicating with the second client through the server with network support to communicating directly with the second client over the new short range of communication without network support, obtain a global positioning system (GPS) location of the beacon via a GPS network and transmit the GPS location directly to the second client through the short-range connection without network support.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the beacon also includes short-range radio frequency communication hardware that facilitates the direct short range communications with the second client without network support when the second client comes within short range radio frequency communication range of the beacon.

10. The method of claim 8 , further comprising programming the beacon to communicate its location to at least one of the server or through the server to an owner of the beacon using electronic messaging after the beacon obtains a new wireless connection to the wireless data network.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising programming the beacon to communicate its location to at least one of the server or through the server to the second client using electronic messaging after the beacon obtains the new wireless connection to the wireless data network.

12. The method claim 8 , further comprising programming the beacon to communicate its location to the server after it becomes powered on by a motion sensor and obtains the new wireless connection to the wireless data network.

13. A beacon operable within a system for determining its last known location based on its location and its last communication with a data network, the beacon comprising:
a microprocessor programmed to determine a location of the beacon and communicate wirelessly with a data network and communicate via short-range radio frequency communication with other electronic devices;
a location module cooperating with the microprocessor to determine the location of the beacon when it is powered on;
a network communication module cooperating with the microprocessor and programmed to determine the location of the beacon based on at least one of GPS and a last communication between the beacon and the data network supporting wireless communication of the beacon; and
a short-range radio frequency module supporting communications with portable devices determined to be within a short-range communications range of the beacon;
wherein the network communication module provides location information using network support, through a server, to a portable device tracking a location of the beacon over the data network, and the microprocessor is programmed to cause the short-range radio frequency module to communicate directly with the portable device to locate the beacon using refined location information without network support when the beacon is within short-range rf communications range thereby enabling more refined tracking in comparison to communicating with the portable device through the server;
wherein the beacon is further programmed to obtain a new and direct short-range connection with the portable device after having a network connection with the portable device to perform a more refined short-range tracking with the portable device, and in response to changing from communicating with the portable device through the server wit

Assignees

• Open Invention Network Llc

Inventors

• Ortiz Sofia Alexandra
• Ortiz Luis M

Classifications

• H04W4/029 Primary

  Location-based management or tracking services · CPC title

• G08B5/224 Primary

  Paging receivers with visible signalling details · CPC title

• H04W4/80

  Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication · CPC title

• H04W12/12

  Detection or prevention of fraud · CPC title

• H04W12/126

  Anti-theft arrangements, e.g. protection against subscriber identity module [SIM] cloning · CPC title