# US 11,310,630 B2 · Position tracking device and method for providing low power geofence service

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- Number: US 11,310,630 B2
- Document ID: US11310630B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/958,697
- Filed: 2019-05-29
- Published: 2021-01-14
- Granted: 2022-04-19
- Earliest claimed: 2018-05-30
- Assignees: Amotech Co., Ltd.
- Applicants: Amotech Co., Ltd.
- Inventors: Hyungil Baek; Hoeyoung Hwang; Kyunghyun Ryu; Semin Oh
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11310630B2

## CPC

- G08B 21/023: {Power management, e.g. system sleep and wake up provisions}
- H04W 4/029: Location-based management or tracking services
- G08B 21/02: Alarms for ensuring the safety of persons
- G08B 21/0269: {System arrangements wherein the object is to detect the exact location of child or item using a navigation satellite system, e.g. GPS}
- G08B 21/0272: {System arrangements wherein the object is to detect exact location of child or item using triangulation other than GPS}
- G08B 21/043: {detecting an emergency event, e.g. a fall}
- G08B 25/14: Central alarm receiver or annunciator arrangements
- G16Y 20/10: relating to the environment, e.g. temperature; relating to location
- G16Y 40/60: Positioning; Navigation
- H02S 10/40: Mobile PV generator systems
- H02S 40/38: Energy storage means, e.g. batteries, structurally associated with PV modules
- H02S 50/00: Monitoring or testing of PV systems, e.g. load balancing or fault identification
- H04W 4/021: Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
- H04W 4/33: for indoor environments, e.g. buildings
- H04W 4/38: for collecting sensor information
- H04W 4/70: Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
- H04W 52/0277: {according to available power supply, e.g. switching off when a low battery condition is detected}
- G08B 21/0492: {Sensor dual technology, i.e. two or more technologies collaborate to extract unsafe condition, e.g. video tracking and RFID tracking}
- Y02E 10/50: Photovoltaic [PV] energy
- Y02E 70/30: Systems combining energy storage with energy generation of non-fossil origin
- G08B: SIGNALLING SYSTEMS, e.g. PERSONAL CALLING SYSTEMS; ORDER TELEGRAPHS; ALARM SYSTEMS
- H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72)
- G16Y: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR THE INTERNET OF THINGS [IoT]
- H02S: GENERATION OF ELECTRIC POWER BY CONVERSION OF INFRARED RADIATION, VISIBLE LIGHT OR ULTRAVIOLET LIGHT, e.g. USING PHOTOVOLTAIC [PV] MODULES (obtaining electrical energy from radioactive sources G21H1/12; light sensitive inorganic semiconductor devices H10F; light sensitive organic semiconductor devices H10K30/00; thermoelectric devices H10N10/00; pyroelectric devices H10N15/00)
- Y02E: REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION

## Abstract

A method capable of providing a low power geofence service according to the present invention comprises the steps of: detecting a reference Vrect value for estimating an indoor/outdoor position from a solar charger of a position tracker; determining whether the solar charging module (solar charger) of the position tracker is in a charging or non-charging situation, on the basis of the detected Vrect value; if it is determined that the solar charging module of the position tracker is in the charging situation, determining that the position of the position tracker is outdoors and acquiring position tracking data by using a global positioning system (GPS) module; if it is determined that the solar charger of the position tracker is in the non-charging situation, determining that the position of the position tracker is indoors or in a shaded area, and acquiring position tracking data by using one among Bluetooth low energy (BLEs), wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi), and ultra-wide band (UWB) modules other than the GPS module; and transmitting the acquired position tracking data to a server by using a low power communication scheme.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A device of location tracking for providing low power consuming geo-fence service, comprising:
a body member;
a first bend member and a second bend member;
a flexible battery having a predetermined length, inserted into a receiving portion of the first and second band members, and disposed so that the remaining length except for the portion inserted in the receiving portion is located inside the body member;
a solar charging module for producing self-power; and
a circuit board including at least one of a Wireless Fidelity (WIFI), a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), a Global Positioning System (GPS), a real-time communication, a Ultra Wide Band (UWB), a Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) communication module for obtaining a location tracking data and communication with network and a control unit (MCU) for controlling the location tracking device;
wherein the control unit changes the communication module to minimize power consumption of the flexible battery according to a detected operation of solar charging module,
wherein the control unit determines that the location of the location tracking device is outdoor and the location tracking data is obtained using the GPS module when the solar charging module is a charging operation, and
wherein the control unit determines that the location of the location tracking device is indoor and the location tracking data is obtained by one of the BLE, the WIFI, and the UWB module other than the GPS module when the solar charging module is a non-charging operation.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The device of claim 1, wherein control unit determines the communication module as the Low-Power Wide-Area Network (LPWAN) module when a normal situation is detected,
wherein the control unit determines the communication module as the Ultra Wide Band (UWB) module when an emergency situation is detected.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The device of claim 1, wherein the LPWAN communication module transmits the locating tracking data through one of a Sigfox, a Long Range (LoRa), and a Narrow Band-Internet of Things (NB-IoT) communication network using a broadcasting communication method,
wherein the real-time communication module transmits the locating tracking data through a Long-term evolution (LTE) Category (Cat.) M1 mobile communication network using a bidirectional communication method.

### Claim 4

A method of location tracking for providing low power consuming geo-fence service in a location tracking device, comprising:
detecting a Voltage drop of the rectifiers (Vrect) value which is a reference value for determining a charging or a non-charging operation of the solar charging module;
determining whether the solar charging module is charging operation or non-charging operation based on the detected the Vrect value;
determining that a location of the location tracking device is outdoor and a location tracking data is obtained using a Global Positioning System (GPS) module when the solar charging module is in the charging operation;
determining that a location of the location tracking device is indoor and a location tracking data is obtained using one of a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), a Wireless Fidelity (WIFI) Sniffing, and an Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) modules other than the GPS module when the solar charging module is in the non-charging operation; and
transmitting the location tracking data through a Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) communication module,
wherein the location tracking data is obtained using the GPS module further comprising:
determining whether the location tracking data obtained using the GPS module is stably obtained, and if the location tracking data is not stably obtained using the GPS module, and determining the location of the location tracking device is indoor and obtaining the location tracking data using one of the BLE, the WIFI, and the UWB module, and
wherein the location tracking data is obtained using one of the BLE, the WIFI, and the UWB module other than the GPS module, further comprising: determining whether location tracking data is stably obtained using the location tracking module used before determining the location of the location tracking device is indoor according to the solar charging module,
searching other location tracking module which is most stably obtainable the location tracking data when the location tracking data is not stably obtained using the used location tracking module, and
obtaining the location tracking data by the searched location tracking module.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, wherein the LPWAN communication module transmits the locating tracking data through one of a Sigfox, a Long Range (LoRa), and a Narrow Band-Internet of Things (NB-IoT) communication network using a broadcasting communication method.

### Claim 6 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, the location tracking device includes status definitions that a Standby Status referring a standby state after the initialization of the location tracking device, a Sensor Sensing Status referring a state that measures a heart rate, a body temperature, and an acceleration, an Emergency Status referring a state of processing when the defined emergency situation is occurred, a Status Analysis referring a state of analyzing and managing information from each status, an Indoors/Outdoors detection referring a state of analyzing whether the location of the location tracking device is indoor or outdoor, an Indoor Status referring a state of processing and managing when the location of the location tracking device is indoor, an Outdoor Status referring a state of processing and managing when the location of the location tracking device is outdoor, an Indoor Interference Status referring a state of checking and observing the change of location data indoor, an Outdoor Interference Status referring a state of checking and observing the change of location data in the outdoor, a Geo-Fencing Control Status referring a state of processing when the user deviates from the geo-fence.

### Claim 7 (depends on 4)

The method of claim 4, wherein the Vrect value is the reference value determining that the location tracking device is indoor and the reference value determining that the location tracking device is outdoor.