Multi-Bluetooth listeners with authenticated levels and power adjustment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11032669-B2
Application number	US-201916248331-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 15, 2019
Priority date	Jan 15, 2019
Publication date	Jun 8, 2021
Grant date	Jun 8, 2021

Abstract

Techniques are described herein for tracking an item of interest using a plurality of user equipment that can communicate with a tracking device that is configured to attach to the tracked item. The techniques include: storing a unique tracking device identifier corresponding to a tracking device associated with a first user equipment; receiving a location information of the tracking device from a second user equipment in response to the second user equipment receiving a tracking device signal transmitted by the tracking device, the tracking device signal comprising the location information of the tracking device and the unique tracking device identifier corresponding to the tracking device; authenticating the second user equipment to facilitate communication between the second user equipment and the tracking device; and transmitting the location information of the tracking device to the first user equipment.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that upon execution cause one or more processors to perform acts comprising:
storing a unique tracking device identifier corresponding to a tracking device associated with a first user equipment;
receiving location information of the tracking device from a second user equipment in response to the second user equipment receiving a tracking device signal transmitted by the tracking device, the tracking device signal comprising the location information of the tracking device and the unique tracking device identifier corresponding to the tracking device;
determining an authentication level associated with the second user equipment based at least on whether the second user equipment is associated with a subscriber or a non-subscriber of a telecommunications service provider;
establishing communication between the second user equipment and the tracking device based at least on the authentication level associated with the second user equipment;
adjusting a frequency of the communication based at least on the authentication level associated with the second user equipment; and
transmitting the location information of the tracking device to the first user equipment.

2. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1 , wherein the acts further comprise:
receiving updated location information of the tracking device from a third user equipment in response to the third user equipment receiving the tracking device signal transmitted by the tracking device;
determining an additional authentication level associated with the third user equipment based at least on whether the third user equipment is associated with an additional subscriber or an additional non-subscriber of the telecommunications service provider;
establishing a communication between the third user equipment and the tracking device based at least on the additional authentication level associated with the third user equipment, the authentication level indicating that the second user equipment is fully authenticated and the additional authentication level indicating that the third user equipment is semi-authenticated;
adjusting an additional frequency of the communication such that the tracking device communicates more frequently with the second user equipment compared to the third user equipment; and
transmitting the updated location information of the tracking device to the first user equipment.

3. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1 , wherein the location information is time stamped.

4. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1 , wherein the acts further comprise:
transmitting a message to the tracking device from the second user equipment upon determining that the second user equipment is fully authenticated.

5. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1 , wherein the acts further comprise:
transmitting a message to the second user equipment indicating that the second user equipment is within a communication range of the tracking device upon determining that the second user equipment is fully authenticated.

6. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1 , wherein the acts further comprise:
transmitting a message to the tracking device indicating that tracking device signal is received at the second user equipment upon determining that the second user equipment is semi-authenticated.

7. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 6 , wherein the message is transmitted to the tracking device on a scheduled basis.

8. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 1 , wherein the acts further comprise:
transmitting a message to the tracking device indicating that the tracking device signal is received at the second user equipment upon determining that the second user equipment is unauthenticated.

9. A computer-implemented method, comprising:
storing a unique tracking device identifier corresponding to a tracking device paired with a first user equipment;
receiving location information of the tracking device from a second user equipment when the tracking device is located within a predetermined radius of the second user equipment, the tracking device signal comprising the location information of the tracking device and the unique tracking device identifier;
determining an authentication level associated with the second user equipment based at least on whether the second user equipment is associated with a subscriber or a non-subscriber of a telecommunications service provider;
establishing communication between the second user equipment and the tracking device based at least on the authentication level associated with the second user equipment;
adjusting a frequency of the communication based at least on the authentication level associated with the second user equipment; and
transmitting the location information of the tracking device to the first user equipment.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , further comprising:
receiving an updated location information of the tracking device from a third user equipment;
authenticating the third user equipment to establish communication between the third user equipment and the tracking device; and
transmitting the updated location information of the tracking device to the first user equipment.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the second user equipment is not within a communication range of the tracking device.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the location information and the updated location information of the tracking device are time stamped, further comprising:
tracking movement of the tracking device based on the time stamped location information and the time stamped updated location information.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , further comprising:
transmitting a message to the tracking device from the first user equipment to the tracking device when the tracking device is located within the predetermined radius of the first user equipment and the first user equipment is fully authenticated.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , further comprising:
transmitting a message to the first user equipment when the tracking device is located within the predetermined radius of the first user equipment.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , further comprising:
transmitting a message to the tracking device indicating that tracking device signal is received at the second user equipment upon determining that the second user equipment is semi-authenticated.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , wherein the second user equipment is a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) listening device.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , further comprising:
transmitting a message to the tracking device indicating that the tracking device signal is received at the second user equipment upon determining that the second user equipment is unauthenticated.

18. A system, comprising:
one or more non-transitory storage mediums configured to provide stored code segments, the one or more non-transitory storage mediums coupled to one or more processors, each configured to execute the code segments and causing the one or more processors to:
store a unique tracking device identifier corresponding to a tracking device associated with a first user equipment;
receive location information of th

Assignees

• T Mobile Usa Inc

Inventors

• Baird Joseph
• Lavassar Nicholas
• Moore Christopher
• Garg Parag
• Busireddy Deepti
• Singh Manish

Classifications

• G08B21/24

  Reminder alarms, e.g. anti-loss alarms · CPC title

• H04W76/14

  Direct-mode setup · CPC title

• H04W4/023

  using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds · CPC title

• H04W4/029 Primary

  Location-based management or tracking services · CPC title

• G08B21/0283

  via a telephone network, e.g. cellular GSM · CPC title