Laptop Location Tracking via Multi-Modal Wireless Signal Triangulation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for tracking and locating stolen laptops are inaccurate and unreliable, often relying on IP and MAC addresses which do not provide a precise location, making recovery difficult.
Innovation Solution
Employing existing receivers in laptops to collect data from multiple types of wireless devices in the vicinity, including access points and other transmitting devices using different communication modalities, and transmitting this information to a remote device to determine the laptop's location through triangulation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If conventional IP and MAC address tracking is used, then the tracking system is simple to implement, but the location accuracy is poor
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the location determination process into multiple independent components: collecting signals from multiple wireless transmitting devices (access points, cell towers, radio stations), measuring signal strengths separately, and combining these measurements to triangulate the laptop's location. This segmentation allows each component to be processed independently, improving accuracy without overwhelming system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs existing multi-functional receivers in the laptop that can detect various types of wireless transmitting devices (WiFi access points, cellular towers, radio stations) using different communication modalities. This universal approach allows the same hardware to serve multiple location-determination purposes, improving accuracy without proportionally increasing complexity.
2Measurement precision
If multiple types of wireless transmitting devices are monitored, then location accuracy improves, but the complexity of data collection and processing increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent leverages the laptop's existing receivers and operating system capabilities to automatically detect and collect signals from multiple wireless transmitting devices. The system uses already-present hardware and software resources to perform the detection work, reducing the burden of data collection while improving location accuracy through multi-source data gathering.
3Reliability
If existing receivers in the laptop are utilized, then additional hardware cost is reduced, but the reliability of location data may be insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges data from multiple independent sources (different types of wireless transmitting devices detected by existing receivers) to create a more reliable location determination. By combining signals from access points, cell towers, and radio stations, the system achieves higher reliability than any single source could provide alone, while using only the laptop's existing hardware.
Data Source
AI summary
An embodiment provides a method including: operating a plurality of receivers of a mobile computer to obtain information from two or more different types of wireless transmitting devices in a vicinity of the mobile computer; where the information comprises data relating to an access point and data relating to at least one other wireless transmitting device; where at least two of the two or more wireless transmitting devices transmit data using different communication modalities; transmitting the information from the mobile computer to a remote device; and thereafter obtaining a location of the mobile computer based on the information. Other embodiments are described and claimed.