Tracking Device Location Identification Beyond Wireless Range
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional tracking devices suffer from limited wireless range, preventing owners from locating them outside the range, and existing methods for determining a last known location do not incorporate all available information, making it difficult to find lost devices.
Innovation Solution
A tracking system coordinates multiple search party members by utilizing a community of users to locate a lost tracking device, selecting suitable candidates based on proximity and providing them with the last known location, allowing them to assist in finding the device.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a tracking device uses limited wireless range for location tracking, then the device can maintain simple operation and low power consumption, but the owner cannot locate the tracking device from outside the wireless range
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a server as an intermediary between the tracking device and the owner. The server receives location information from the tracking device and provides it to the owner, enabling location tracking beyond the wireless range. Additionally, community mobile devices act as intermediaries to detect and report the tracking device when it is lost, extending the search capability to the entire community network.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from direct wireless communication (one-dimensional proximity-based tracking) to network-based communication (multi-dimensional location tracking). By using cellular networks and community mobile devices, the system expands the tracking capability from immediate vicinity to any location within network coverage, effectively adding spatial dimensions to the tracking capability.
2Measurement precision
If the tracking system incorporates all available information to estimate last known location, then the accuracy of location determination is improved, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system continuously collects and stores location information from multiple sources (tracking device, community mobile devices, search party members) before the device is lost. This preliminary data collection ensures that when location determination is needed, all relevant information is already available, improving accuracy without requiring complex real-time processing during loss events.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where location information is continuously updated and verified. Search party members provide feedback on their locations and what they are observing, which is used to refine the estimated location of the lost tracking device. This iterative feedback process improves measurement precision while distributing the processing complexity across multiple participants.
Data Source
AI summary
A method includes receiving, by a tracking system server, a stream of tracking device event information associated with a plurality of tracking devices, extracting, by the tracking system server, and from the stream of tracking device event information, tracking device event information including location updates, filtering, by the tracking system server, the tracking device event information by removing information unrelated to any calculation of a last known location of at least one tracking device of the plurality of tracking devices, associating, by the tracking system server, the filtered tracking device event information with one or more disconnection events associated with the at least one tracking device, and identifying, by the tracking system server, and based at least in part on the filtered tracking device event information and the one or more disconnection events, the last known location of the at least one tracking device.