Method and system for tracking devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9591570-B2
Application number	US-201514680920-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 7, 2015
Priority date	Apr 7, 2014
Publication date	Mar 7, 2017
Grant date	Mar 7, 2017

Abstract

Described herein are systems, methods and computer program products for controlling operation of wireless beacons, such as Bluetooth Low Energy beacons. Multiple beacons may be controlled centrally or may work together in a cooperative fashion such that related advertisement signals are transmitted by each beacon in a cooperative fashion to allow, for example, long-term indoor tracking of mobile devices in standby, locked, or sleep modes or with applications in background or non-execution states.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer implemented method, comprising:
determining, by a wireless beacon, a synchronized advertisement order, wherein the synchronized advertisement order identifies a sequence for transmitting a plurality of wireless advertisement packets, wherein the synchronized advertisement order is associated with concurrent wireless advertisement packet transmissions by multiple wireless beacons, and wherein wireless advertisement packets transmitted concurrently by multiple wireless beacons include a same beacon identifier;
transmitting a first wireless advertisement packet according to the synchronized advertisement order, wherein the first wireless advertisement packet includes a first beacon identifier, and wherein receiving a wireless advertisement packet including the first beacon identifier at a wireless device causes the wireless device to execute an application for a predetermined amount of time;
transmitting a second wireless advertisement packet according to the synchronized advertisement order, wherein the second wireless advertisement packet includes a second beacon identifier, wherein the second beacon identifier is different from the first beacon identifier, and wherein receiving a wireless advertisement packet including the second beacon identifier at the wireless device causes the wireless device to execute the application for the predetermined amount of time;
determining, by the wireless device, a signal strength of the first wireless advertisement packet and a signal strength of the second wireless advertisement packet; and
calculating, by the wireless device, a location of the wireless device based on the relative strengths of the first and second wireless advertisement packets.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sequence is repeated.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting an additional wireless advertisement packet according to the synchronized advertisement order, wherein the additional advertisement packet includes an additional beacon identifier, wherein the additional beacon identifier is different from the first beacon identifier, wherein the additional beacon identifier is different from the second beacon identifier, and wherein receiving a wireless advertisement packet including the additional beacon identifier at the wireless device causes the wireless device to execute the application for the predetermined amount of time.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein transmitting a wireless advertisement packet according to the synchronized advertisement order includes transmitting a plurality of wireless advertisement packets during an advertisement time period, wherein the plurality of wireless advertisement packets includes a same beacon identifier, and wherein the advertisement time period corresponds to the predetermined amount of time.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the synchronized advertisement order indicates that the sequence is to be repeated after a wireless advertisement reset duration of a wireless device, wherein a wireless advertisement reset duration corresponds to a time period during which repeated wireless advertisement packets including a same beacon identifier received at the wireless device do not cause the wireless device to execute the application more than once.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
synchronizing transmissions of wireless advertisement packets according to an advertisement schedule, wherein the advertisement schedule identifies wireless advertisement packet transmission times.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first beacon identifier is a first universally unique identifier (UUID), wherein the second beacon identifier is a second UUID, wherein wireless advertisement packets include additional beacon identifiers, and wherein a first additional beacon identifier of the first wireless advertisement packet and a second additional beacon identifier of the second wireless advertisement packet are a same additional beacon identifier.

8. A system, comprising:
one or more data processors; and
a non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing instructions which when executed on the one or more data processors, cause the one or more data processors to perform operations that comprise:
determine, by a wireless beacon, a synchronized advertisement order, wherein the synchronized advertisement order identifies a sequence for transmission of a plurality of wireless advertisement packets, wherein the synchronized advertisement order is associated with concurrent wireless advertisement packet transmissions by multiple wireless beacons, and wherein wireless advertisement packets transmitted concurrently by multiple wireless beacons include a same beacon identifier;
transmit a first wireless advertisement packet according to the synchronized advertisement order, wherein the first wireless advertisement packet includes a first beacon identifier, and wherein receipt of a wireless advertisement packet including the first beacon identifier at a wireless device causes the wireless device to execute an application for a predetermined amount of time;
transmit a second wireless advertisement packet according to the synchronized advertisement order, wherein the second wireless advertisement packet includes a second beacon identifier, and wherein receipt of a wireless advertisement packet including the second beacon identifier at the wireless device causes the wireless device to execute the application for the predetermined amount of time; and
wherein the second beacon identifier is different from the first beacon identifier to indicate the order of transmission of the first wireless advertisement packet in the sequence of the synchronized advertisements relative to the transmission of the second wireless advertisement packet.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the sequence is repeated.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the operations further include:
transmit an additional wireless advertisement packet according to the synchronized advertisement order, wherein the additional advertisement packet includes an additional beacon identifier, wherein the additional beacon identifier is different from the first beacon identifier, wherein the additional beacon identifier is different from the second beacon identifier, and wherein receipt of a wireless advertisement packet including the additional beacon identifier at the wireless device causes the wireless device to execute the application for the predetermined amount of time.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein to transmit a wireless advertisement packet according to the synchronized advertisement order includes to transmit a plurality of wireless advertisement packets during an advertisement time period, wherein the plurality of wireless advertisement packets includes a same beacon identifier, and wherein the advertisement time period corresponds to the predetermined amount of time.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the synchronized advertisement order indicates that the sequence is to be repeated after a wireless advertisement reset duration of a wireless device, wherein a wireless advertisement reset duration corresponds to a time period during which repeated wireless advertisement packets including a same beacon identifier received at the wireless device do not cause the wireless device to execute the application more than once.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the operations further include:
synchronize transmissions of wireless advertisement packets according to an advertisement schedule, wherein the advertisement schedule identifies wireless advertisement packet transmission times.

Assignees

• Aruba Networks Inc

Inventors

• Kubo Kiyo
• Farina Nicholas

Classifications

• H04W4/023

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

• H04W52/0219 Primary

  where the power saving management affects multiple terminals · CPC title

• H04W4/04

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W4/008

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W56/002

  Mutual synchronization · CPC title