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US 10,650,653 B2Granted
Location tracking using beacons
AssigneeUnited Parcel Service of America, Inc.
InventorsDaniel Paul Tyler, Balakrishna Subramaniam
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Systems and methods for tracking the location of an asset may utilize wireless asset beacons broadcasting asset information/data and powered asset beacons secured relative to movable powered assets. The powered asset beacons may be configured to receive signals transmitted from the asset beacons and to ascertain a relative location between the asset beacon and the powered asset to determine an estimated location of the asset. Moreover, the asset beacons may be selectively activated based on the occurrence of a trigger event, such that the asset beacons do not wireless transmit information/data when it is desirable to limit wireless data transmissions.
Claims15
A system for monitoring a location of one or more assets, the system comprising:
- one or more powered asset beacons coupled to an aircraft, each of the one or more powered asset beacons comprising an altitude sensor and configured to broadcast a sleep trigger instruction within a broadcast range when an altitude of the aircraft exceeds a predetermined threshold based on the altitude sensor;
- a container beacon, the container beacon secured to a corresponding asset, and wherein the container beacon comprises:
- one or more status sensors;
- one or more wireless network interfaces configured to detect the sleep trigger instruction when the container beacon is located within the broadcast range of the one or more powered asset beacons;
- and
- one or more processors configured to:
- monitor the one or more status sensors and the one or more wireless network interfaces to determine an occurrence of one or more trigger states;
- upon detecting that a trigger state is not present, configure the one or more wireless network interfaces into a listening mode, wherein the one or more wireless network interfaces are configured to receive wireless signals broadcast by third party computing entities while in the listening mode, and upon detecting that one or more wireless signals are received by the one or more wireless network interfaces, configuring the one or more wireless network interfaces into an advertising mode, wherein the one or more wireless network interfaces are configured to broadcast one or more signals while in the advertising mode that are used to provide a location of the corresponding asset coupled to the container beacon;
- and
- determine, based on the one or more wireless network interfaces detecting the sleep trigger instruction, that a trigger state is present and configuring the one or more wireless network interfaces into a sleep mode, wherein the one or more wireless network interfaces are placed in a configurable power state and supplied with enough power to detect if the trigger state is no longer present and to change from the sleep mode to the listening mode.
7 more elements
A method for monitoring a location of one or more assets, the method comprising:
- providing a container beacon on each of the one or more assets, wherein the container beacon comprises one or more status sensors and one or more wireless network interfaces;
- monitoring the one or more status sensors to determine an occurrence of one or more trigger states;
- monitoring the one or more wireless network interfaces to determine if a trigger instruction has been received from one or more powered asset beacons within range of the one or more wireless network interfaces, wherein the one or more powered asset beacons is coupled to an aircraft and comprises an altitude sensor, the one or more powered asset beacons configured to broadcast a sleep trigger instruction within a broadcast range when an altitude of the aircraft exceeds a predetermined threshold based on the altitude sensor;
- upon detecting that a trigger state is not present, configuring the one or more wireless network interfaces into a listening mode, wherein the one or more wireless network interfaces are configured to receive wireless signals broadcast by third party computing entities while in the listening mode, and upon detecting that the wireless signals broadcast by the third party computing entities are received by the one or more wireless network interfaces, configuring the one or more wireless network interfaces into an advertising mode, wherein the one or more wireless network interfaces are configured to broadcast one or more signals while in the advertising mode that are used to provide a location of each of the one or more assets coupled to the container beacon;
- and
- determine, based on the one or more wireless network interfaces detecting the sleep trigger instruction, that a trigger state is present and configuring the one or more wireless network interfaces into a sleep mode, wherein container beacon is placed in a configurable power state and supplied with enough power to detect when the trigger state is no longer present and to change from the sleep mode to the listening mode.
3 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.