Systems, methods, and computer-readable media for timer-based management of communication devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9749461-B2
Application number	US-201615238274-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 16, 2016
Priority date	May 4, 2012
Publication date	Aug 29, 2017
Grant date	Aug 29, 2017

Abstract

A method of management of a communication device in an aircraft may include transitioning the communication device from a normal mode to a disabled mode based on a calculated device sleep time based on data associated with transportation information of the device. One of these modes may be a state of the device in which a transceiver of the device is deactivated and the other mode may be a state of the device in which the transceiver is activated. Therefore, the device sleep time determines when the wireless device's transceiver may not be activated.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
calculating a device sleep time based on data relating to transportation of a device, the device sleep time including an additional time buffer;
transitioning the device from a first mode in which a transceiver included in the device is powered on, to a second mode in which the transceiver is powered off; and
transitioning the device from the second mode to the first mode after expiration of the device sleep time.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
calculating the additional time buffer based on a schedule delay associated with an aircraft carrying the device.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
calculating the additional time buffer based on a statistical analysis of schedules associated with past actual route information for an aircraft that carried the device.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the additional time buffer is based on an user input.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, upon expiration of the device sleep time, whether an aircraft carrying the device is in flight;
calculating, when determining that the aircraft is in flight, a device re-sleep time;
transitioning the device from the first mode to the second; and
transitioning the device from the second mode to the first mode after expiration of the device re-sleep time.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein calculating the device re-sleep time includes:
calculating the device re-sleep time based on average flight times between an origin and a destination associated with the flight.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein calculating the device sleep time includes:
calculating a start time and an end time.

8. The method of claim 7 , further including:
initiating the transition from the first mode to the second mode at the start time.

9. The method of claim 7 , further including:
initiating the transition from the second mode to the first mode at the end time.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein initiating the transition from the first mode to the second mode is automatically performed at the start time.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein initiating the transition from the second mode to the first mode is automatically performed at the end time.

12. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the first mode is an normal mode, and the second mode is a disabled mode, and
wherein the method further includes automatically transitioning the device from the disabled mode to an airplane mode based on data indicative of at least one of an aircraft takeoff and an aircraft reaching a cruise altitude.

13. A system for management of a device, comprising:
a memory device configured to store a set of instructions; and
at least one processor configured to execute the set of instructions to:
calculate a device sleep time based on data relating to transportation of the device, the device sleep time including an additional time buffer;
transition the device from a first mode in which a transceiver included in the device is powered on, to a second mode in which a transceiver included in the device is powered off; and
transition the device from the second mode to the first mode after expiration of the device sleep time.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the set of instructions to:
calculate the additional time buffer based on a schedule delay associated with an aircraft carrying the device.

15. The system of claim 13 , wherein the additional time buffer is based on an user input.

16. The system of claim 13 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the set of instructions to:
determine, upon expiration of the device sleep time, whether an aircraft carrying the device is in flight;
calculate, when determining that the aircraft is in flight, a device re-sleep time;
transition the device from the first mode to the second mode; and
automatically transition the device from the second mode to the first mode after expiration of the device re-sleep time.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the set of instructions to:
calculate the device re-sleep time based on average flight times between an origin and a destination associated with the flight.

18. The system of claim 13 ,
wherein the device sleep time includes a start time and an end time, and
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the set of instructions to:
initiate the transition from the first mode to the second mode at the start time; and
initiate the transition from the second mode to the first mode at the end time.

19. The system of claim 13 ,
wherein the first mode is an normal mode, and the second mode is a disabled mode, and
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to execute the set of instructions to automatically transition the device from the disabled mode to an airplane mode based on data indicative of at least one of an aircraft takeoff and an aircraft reaching a cruise altitude.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform a method including:
calculating a device sleep time based on data relating to transportation of a device, the device sleep time including an additional time buffer;
transitioning the device from a first mode in which a transceiver included in the device is powered on, to a second mode in which the transceiver is powered off; and
transitioning the device from the second mode to the first mode after expiration of the device sleep time.

Assignees

• Fedex Corp Services Inc

Inventors

• Putman John David

Classifications

• H04W52/0274

  by switching on or off the equipment or parts thereof · CPC title

• H04W52/0254 Primary

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

• H04W4/046

  Electricity · mapped topic

• Y02B60/50

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• H04M1/72577 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic