Tracking device operation in risk-classified zone

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10244351-B2
Application number	US-201816049285-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 30, 2018
Priority date	Aug 16, 2017
Publication date	Mar 26, 2019
Grant date	Mar 26, 2019

Abstract

Tracking devices can be associated with safe zones, smart zones, and high risk zones. Safe zones correspond to regions where a likelihood that a tracking device is lost within the safe zone is lower than outside the safe zone. High risk zones correspond to regions where a likelihood that a tracking device is lost within the high risk zone is higher than outside the high risk zone. Smart zones correspond to an expected tracking device, mobile device, or user behavior. Home areas are geographic regions in which a user resides, and travel areas are geographic regions in which a user does not reside. A tracking device can be configured to operate in a mode selected based on a presence of the tracking device within a safe zone, a smart zone, a high risk zone, a home area, or a travel area.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for locating a tracking device, comprising:
receiving, by a central tracking system from a mobile device, a location of the tracking device, the mobile device configured to provide the location of the tracking device to the central tracking system in response to receiving a communication from the tracking device;
determining, by the central tracking system, that the tracking device is located within a high risk zone in response to the received location being located within a geographic boundary associated with the high risk zone, wherein a probability that the tracking device is lost when located within the high risk zone is greater than when not located within the high risk zone; and
in response to determining that the tracking device is located within the high risk zone, providing, by the central tracking system, an instruction to the mobile device to configure the tracking device to operate in a high risk zone mode, and wherein the mobile device is configured to configure the tracking device to operate in the high risk zone mode in response to receiving the instruction.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the high risk zone is defined by an owner of the tracking device.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the high risk zone is defined based on historical location data or behavior data of the tracking device.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the high risk zone is one of a set of high risk zones, each associated with a corresponding geographic boundary.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the high risk zone comprises a geographic area in which one or more other tracking devices were previously lost.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the high risk zone comprises one of: an airport, a train station, a concert venue, a location associated with a sporting event, a location associated with public transit, a store, or a shopping mall.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the location of the tracking device comprises a location of the mobile device when the mobile device receives the communication from the tracking device.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the frequency of communication transmissions increases when the tracking device switches from operating in a normal operation mode to the high risk zone mode.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tracking device, when operating in the high risk zone mode, uses more power relative to the tracking device operating in a normal operation mode.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tracking device, when operating in the high risk zone mode, transmits communications at a greater power than when operating in a normal operation mode.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the central tracking system is configured to classify the tracking device, when the tracking device is configured to operate in the high risk zone mode, as lost after a first threshold amount of time has passed without receiving a location of the tracking device, and wherein the central tracking system is configured to classify the tracking device, when the tracking device is configured to operate in a normal operation mode, as lost after a second threshold amount of time longer than the first threshold amount of time has passed without receiving the location of the tracking device.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the central tracking system, a second location of the tracking device;
determining, by the central tracking system, that the tracking device is located outside of the high risk zone in response to the received second location being located outside the geographic boundary associated with the high risk zone; and
in response to determining that the tracking device is located outside of the high risk zone, providing, by the central tracking system, a second instruction to the mobile device to configure the tracking device to operate in a normal operating mode, the mobile device configured to configure the tracking device to operate in the normal operating mode in response to receiving the second instruction.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable computer instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform steps for locating a tracking device comprising:
receiving, by a central tracking system from a mobile device, a location of the tracking device, the mobile device configured to provide the location of the tracking device to the central tracking system in response to receiving a communication from the tracking device;
determining, by the central tracking system, that the tracking device is located within a high risk zone in response to the received location being located within a geographic boundary associated with the high risk zone, wherein a probability that the tracking device is lost when located within the high risk zone is greater than when not located within the high risk zone; and
in response to determining that the tracking device is located within the high risk zone, providing, by the central tracking system, an instruction to the mobile device to configure the tracking device to operate in a high risk zone mode, and wherein the mobile device is configured to configure the tracking device to operate in the high risk zone mode in response to receiving the instruction.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the tracking device is configured to operate in the high risk zone mode until an owner of the tracking device manually configures the tracking device to operate in a different mode.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the tracking device is configured to operate in the high risk zone mode until the tracking device moves outside of the geographic boundary associated with the high risk zone.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the tracking device is configured to operate in the high risk zone mode until the central tracking system provides a second instruction to the mobile device to configure the tracking device to operate in a different mode.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the high risk zone is defined by an owner of the tracking device.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the high risk zone is defined based on historical location data or behavior data of the tracking device.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the high risk zone is one of a set of high risk zones, each associated with a corresponding geographic boundary.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the high risk zone comprises a geographic area in which one or more other tracking devices were previously lost.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the high risk zone comprises one of: an airport, a train station, a concert venue, a location associated with a sporting event, a location associated with public transit, a store, or a shopping mall.

Assignees

• Tile Inc

Inventors

• Puppala Arunkumar
• Cheng Liuyin
• Patterson Wayne

Classifications

• G01S2205/05

  Anti-theft or abduction · CPC title

• G01S5/01

  Determining conditions which influence positioning, e.g. radio environment, state of motion or energy consumption · CPC title

• G01S5/0295

  Proximity-based methods, e.g. position inferred from reception of particular signals · CPC title

• G01S2205/01

  specially adapted for specific applications · CPC title

• G01S5/0205

  Details · CPC title