Tracking Device Location Selection via Hash Resolution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional tracking devices face limitations in battery life due to power consumption for long-range tracking, are expensive, and have limited low-power options, restricting their usefulness, especially when the user is far away from the device.
Innovation Solution
A tracking device uses a one-way communication protocol to generate and broadcast a hash value, allowing a secondary device or a cloud server to resolve the location and identity, activating location-detection functionality only upon movement detection, and leveraging a community of mobile devices for extended range tracking.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Length of stationary object
If traditional long-range tracking technology is used, then tracking range is improved, but power consumption increases and battery life decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The tracking system is divided into multiple components: a low-power tracking device that only broadcasts hash values, secondary devices (mobile phones) that perform hash resolution, and cloud servers that maintain tracking databases. This segmentation allows the tracking device to remain in low-power mode while still achieving long-range tracking capabilities through the distributed network of secondary devices and servers.
Solution Approach 2:
Hash values act as intermediaries between the tracking device and secondary devices/cloud servers. The tracking device broadcasts these hash values without establishing direct communication channels, enabling indirect location tracking while minimizing power consumption. The hash resolution process performed by secondary devices or cloud servers completes the tracking function without requiring continuous high-power transmission from the tracking device.
2Reliability
If traditional tracking devices are used, then tracking functionality is provided, but device cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The tracking device is designed as a low-cost, simple unit that only needs to broadcast hash values. The complex processing functions (hash resolution, location calculation, database management) are offloaded to secondary devices and cloud servers that users already possess or can access. This allows the tracking device itself to be manufactured at minimal cost while maintaining full tracking functionality through the distributed system.
Solution Approach 2:
Secondary devices (mobile phones, tablets) and cloud servers perform multiple functions: they resolve hash values, determine locations, store tracking data, and communicate with users. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for expensive dedicated tracking hardware, as existing universal devices are leveraged to provide comprehensive tracking services.
3Use of energy by moving object
If low-power tracking options are used, then power consumption is reduced, but tracking range is limited to nearby objects
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from a single-device tracking model to a distributed network model, adding the dimension of multiple secondary devices and cloud servers. This allows low-power hash broadcasting from the tracking device to be amplified across a wide geographic area through the network of secondary devices, effectively extending tracking range without increasing the tracking device's power consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
Secondary devices and cloud servers automatically perform hash resolution and location determination when they receive hash broadcasts. The system self-organizes to provide tracking services without requiring active intervention or high-power transmission from the tracking device, enabling extended range tracking while maintaining low power consumption at the source.
4Measurement precision
If location-detection functionality is continuously activated, then location accuracy is maintained, but power consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The tracking device periodically broadcasts hash values instead of continuously transmitting location data. Secondary devices and cloud servers resolve these hash values to determine locations only when needed (when hash broadcasts occur or when tracking information is requested). This periodic operation maintains location tracking capability while significantly reducing power consumption compared to continuous location-detection functionality.
Data Source
AI summary
A tracking server receives, from a first mobile device in response to a tracking signal, a first location associated with a tracking device and a first measurement of accuracy of the first location. The tracking server receives, from a second mobile device in response to a tracking signal, a second location associated with the tracking device and a second measurement of accuracy of the second location transmitted from a second mobile device. In response to determining that two locations associated with the tracking device have been received, the tracking server determines whether the first measurement of accuracy and the second measurement of accuracy are within a threshold measurement of accuracy. In response to determining that the first and second measurements of accuracy are within the threshold, the first location and the second location are transmitted to the second mobile device for presentation by the second mobile device.