Establishing geo-fences and related alarms

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9560481-B1
Application number	US-201514826592-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Aug 14, 2015
Priority date	Aug 14, 2015
Publication date	Jan 31, 2017
Grant date	Jan 31, 2017

Abstract

System and method of geo-fencing. A user equipment (UE) defines a geo-fence for an asset by tracking location coordinates of the UE with at least one sensor element, as the UE is moved around a perimeter of an area. The location coordinates of the geo-fence are transferred to a location aware device (LAD) attached to the asset. Upon determining, by the at least one sensor, that the LAD crossed the geo-fence, a notification is sent to a warning server operative to trigger a warning message to one or more recipients.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computing device, comprising:
a processor;
a network interface coupled to the processor configured to enable communications via a radio access network;
a storage device for content and programming;
at least one sensor element;
a program stored in the storage device, wherein execution of the program by the processor configures the computing device to perform acts comprising:
receiving location coordinates from a user equipment (UE) for a geo-fence, wherein the location coordinates are defined by the UE by recording a movement of the UE around a perimeter of an area;
upon determining, by the at least one sensor, that the computing device crossed the geo-fence,
determining a time and a location of where the geo-fence was crossed; and
sending a notification to a warning server operative to trigger a warning message to one or more recipients, wherein the notification comprises:
the location coordinates of the geo-fence; and
the time and the location of where the geo-fence was crossed.

2. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein execution of the program further configures the computing device to perform acts comprising:
recording a picture of an asset to be protected by the geo-fence; and
including the picture in the notification to the warning server.

3. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the geo-fence is three dimensional.

4. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor element includes a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver that is used for the determination that the computing device crossed the geo-fence.

5. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor element includes a WiFi receiver that is used for the determination that the computing device crossed the geo-fence.

6. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one sensor performs at least one of cellular triangulation and multilateration for the determination that the computing device crossed the geo-fence.

7. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the sending of the location coordinates of the notification to the warning server is via the radio access network.

8. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein:
the at least one sensor includes at least one of (i) an accelerometer, and (ii) a gyroscope, and
execution of the program further configures the computing device to perform acts comprising maintaining a low power standby mode until at least one of (i) the accelerometer and (ii) the gyroscope determine a motion above a predetermined threshold.

9. A computing device, comprising:
a processor;
a network interface coupled to the processor configured to enable communications via a radio access network;
a storage device for content and programming;
at least one sensor element;
a program stored in the storage device, wherein execution of the program by the processor configures the computing device to perform acts comprising:
defining a geo-fence for an asset by tracking location coordinates of the computing device with the at least one sensor element by recording a movement of the computing device around a perimeter of an area;
upon determining, by the at least one sensor, that the computing device crossed the geo-fence,
determining a time and a location of where the geo-fence was crossed; and
sending a notification to a warning server operative to trigger a warning message to one or more recipients, wherein the notification comprises:
the location coordinates of the geo-fence; and
the time and the location of where the geo-fence was crossed.

10. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein execution of the program further configures the computing device to perform acts comprising:
recording a picture of an asset to be protected by the geo-fence; and
including the picture in the notification to the warning server.

11. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the geo-fence is three dimensional.

12. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the at least one sensor element includes a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver that is used for the determination that the computing device crossed the geo-fence.

13. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the at least one sensor element includes a WiFi receiver that is used for the determination that the computing device crossed the geo-fence.

14. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the at least one sensor performs at least one of cellular triangulation and multilateration for the determination that the computing device crossed the geo-fence.

15. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein the transferring of the location coordinates of the notification to the warning server is via the radio access network.

16. The computing device of claim 9 , wherein:
the at least one sensor includes at least one of (i) an accelerometer, and (ii) a gyroscope, and
execution of the program further configures the computing device to perform acts comprising maintaining a low power standby mode until at least one of the accelerometer and the gyroscope determine a motion above a predetermined threshold.

Assignees

• T Mobile Usa Inc
• T-Mobile U S A Inc

Inventors

• Yocam Eric
• Watts Andrew

Classifications

• H04W4/021 Primary

  Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences · CPC title

• H04W52/0254

  detecting a user operation or a tactile contact or a motion of the device · 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

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• Y02D30/70

  in wireless communication networks · CPC title