Tracking device operation in behavior-classified zone

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10244352-B2
Application number	US-201816142450-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 26, 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 smart zone in response to the received location being located within a geographic boundary associated with the smart zone, wherein an expected behavior of the tracking device within the geographic boundary associated with the smart zone is different than an expected behavior of the tracking device outside the geographic boundary; and
in response to determining that the tracking device is located within the smart zone, providing, by the central tracking system, an instruction to the mobile device to configure the tracking device to operate in a smart zone mode, the mobile device configured to configure the tracking device to operate in the smart zone mode in response to receiving the instruction.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the smart zone is associated with an entity comprising one or more of: a restaurant, a gym, a church, a school, a home, a store, and a place of business.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the smart zone is generated based on historical location data of a population of tracking devices.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the smart zone is associated with an entity determined from an identification by one or more owners of the population of the tracking devices.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the smart zone is associated with an entity determined by querying an external location database with the historical location data of the population of the tracking devices.

6. 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.

7. 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 smart zone in response to the received second location being located outside the geographic boundary associated with the smart zone; and
in response to determining that the tracking device is located outside of the smart 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.

8. 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 smart zone in response to the received location being located within a geographic boundary associated with the smart zone, wherein an expected behavior of the tracking device within the geographic boundary associated with the smart zone is different than an expected behavior of the tracking device outside the geographic boundary; and
in response to determining that the tracking device is located within the smart zone, providing, by the central tracking system, an instruction to the mobile device to configure the tracking device to operate in a smart zone mode, the mobile device configured to configure the tracking device to operate in the smart zone mode in response to receiving the instruction.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the smart zone is associated with an entity comprising one or more of: a restaurant, a gym, a church, a school, a home, a store, and a place of business.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the smart zone is generated based on historical location data of a population of tracking devices.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the smart zone is associated with an entity determined from an identification by one or more owners of the population of the tracking devices.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the smart zone is associated with an entity determined by querying an external location database with the historical location data of the population of the tracking devices.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , 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.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 8 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, perform further steps 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 smart zone in response to the received second location being located outside the geographic boundary associated with the smart zone; and
in response to determining that the tracking device is located outside of the smart 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.

15. A central tracking system for locating a tracking device, comprising:
a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions that, when executed, perform steps comprising:
receiving, by the 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 smart zone in response to the received location being located within a geographic boundary associated with the smart zone, wherein an expected behavior of the tracking device within the geographic boundary associated with the smart zone is different than an expected behavior of the tracking device outside the geographic boundary; and
in response to determining that the tracking device is located within the smart zone, providing, by the central tracking system, an instruction to the mobile device to configure the tracking device to operate in a smart zone mode, the mobile device configured to configure the tracking device to operate in the smart zone mode in response to receiving the instruction; and

a processor for executing the instructions.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the smart zone is associated with an entity comprising one or more of: a restaurant, a gym, a church, a school, a home, a store, and a place of business.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the smart zone is gen

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