# US 2019/0170851 A1 · Systems and Methods for Beacon Device Fleet Management > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2019/0170851 A1 - Document ID: US20190170851A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 16/258,119 - Filed: 2019-01-25 - Published: 2019-06-06 - Earliest claimed: 2015-07-14 - Assignees: Google Inc. - Applicants: Google LLC - Inventors: Mark William Weaver; Peter Sasaki; Jonathan Robert Morace; Salvatore Scellato - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20190170851A1 ## CPC - G01S 5/0236: {Assistance data, e.g. base station almanac} - G01S 1/024: {of beacon transmitters} - G01S 1/68: Marker, boundary, call-sign, or like beacons transmitting signals not carrying directional information - H04W 4/02: Services making use of location information - H04W 4/029: Location-based management or tracking services - H04W 4/80: Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication - H04W 40/244: {using a network of reference devices, e.g. beaconing} - H04W 64/003: {locating network equipment} - G01S 5/14: Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location - H04W 4/025: {using location based information parameters} - G01S: RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) ## Abstract Systems and methods for beacon device fleet management are provided. One example system includes a plurality of beacon devices, a plurality of mobile computing devices, a fleet management system, and a fleet owner computing devices. One example method includes receiving, by the fleet management system, a device status request from the fleet owner computing device. The fleet management system determines one or more operational statuses of beacon devices owned by the fleet owner and transmits data indicative of the one or more operational statuses to the fleet owner computing device. The operational statuses can include a current detection status (e.g., online or offline), a location status, a power source status, and/or other operational parameters. ## Claims ### Claim at position 1 -15. (canceled) ### Claim 16 A computer-implemented method to assess beacon device battery life, the method comprising: determining, by the fleet management system, a current expended operational lifespan of a first battery of a first beacon device; fitting, by the fleet management system, a curve that approximates a third order polynomial to battery life data points collected for at least one of the first beacon device and a plurality of other beacon devices which share one or more energy consumption characteristics with the first beacon device; determining, by the fleet management system, a total expected lifespan for the first battery of the first beacon device based at least in part on the fitted curve that approximates the third order polynomial; and determining, by the fleet management system, an expected remaining lifespan for the first battery of the first beacon device based at least in part on the current expended operational lifespan and the total expected lifespan. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein fitting, by the fleet management system, the curve that approximates a third order polynomial to battery life data points comprises: determining, by the fleet management system, whether a number of battery life data points collected for the first battery of the first beacon device is greater than a threshold number of battery life data points; when it is determined that the number of battery life data points collected for the first battery of the first beacon device is greater than the threshold number of battery life data points, fitting the curve that approximates the third order polynomial to the number of battery life data points collected for the first battery of the first beacon device; and when it is determined that the number of battery life data points collected for the first battery of the first beacon device is not greater than the threshold number of battery life data points, fitting the curve that approximates the third order polynomial to the battery life data points collected for the plurality of other beacon devices which share a battery type, a transmission power, and a transmission rate with the first battery of the first beacon device. ### Claim 18 (depends on 16) The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein fitting, by the fleet management system, the curve that approximates a third order polynomial to battery life data points comprises: identifying, by the fleet management system, a first subset of a plurality of beacon devices that share a battery type, a transmission power, and a transmission rate with the first beacon device; removing, by the fleet management system from the first subset of beacon devices, any beacon device with a respective current expended operational lifespan less than a threshold value to form a second subset of beacon devices; averaging, by the fleet management system, respective battery life data points respectively collected for the beacon devices in the second subset of beacon devices across an aggregation window; and fitting, by the fleet management system, the curve that approximates the third order polynomial to all of the averaged battery life data points for all of the second subset of beacon devices. ### Claim 19 (depends on 16) The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein: fitting, by the fleet management system, the curve that approximates a third order polynomial to battery life data points comprises: obtaining, by the fleet management system, a plurality of sets of battery life data points, the plurality of sets of battery life data points respectively corresponding to a plurality of sets of beacon devices, each set of beacon devices having a unique tuple of battery type, transmission power, and transmission rate; respectively fitting, by the fleet management system, the curve that approximates the third order polynomial to each of the plurality of sets of battery life data points to obtain a plurality of fitted curves respectively for the plurality of unique tuples of battery type, transmission power, and transmission rate; respectively determining, by the fleet management system based on the plurality of fitted curves, a plurality of total expected lifespans respectively for the plurality of unique tuples of battery type, transmission power, and transmission rate; and storing, by the fleet management system, the plurality of total expected lifespans in a lookup table; and determining, by the fleet management system, the total expected remaining lifespan for the first battery of the first beacon device comprises: identifying, by the fleet management system, the unique tuple associated with the first battery of the first beacon device; and retrieving, by the fleet management system from the lookup table, the total expected lifespan for the unique tuple associated with the first battery of the first beacon device. ### Claim 20 (depends on 16) The computer-implemented method of claim 16, further comprising: receiving, by the fleet management system from a fleet owner computing device, a device status request that requests an operational status of at least the first beacon device; and transmitting, by the fleet management system, data that describes the expected remaining lifespan of the first battery of the first beacon device to the fleet owner computing device; and wherein the expected remaining lifespan of the battery is expressed as one of number of days of life remaining and number of transmitted frames remaining. ### Claim 21 (depends on 20) The computer-implemented method of claim 20, wherein said determining the expected remaining lifespan and said fitting the curve are performed in response to receipt of the device status request from the fleet owner computing device. ### Claim 22 (depends on 20) The computer-implemented method of claim 20, wherein transmitting, by the fleet management system, data that describes the expected remaining lifespan of the first battery of the first beacon device to the fleet owner computing device comprises transmitting, by the fleet management system to the fleet owner computing device, data that further describes the currently expended lifespan. ### Claim 23 (depends on 20) The computer-implemented method of claim 20, wherein transmitting, by the fleet management system, data that describes the expected remaining lifespan of the first battery of the first beacon device to the fleet owner computing device comprises transmitting, by the fleet management system to the fleet owner computing, data that further describes the total expected lifespan. ### Claim 24 (depends on 20) The computer-implemented method of claim 20, wherein receiving, by the fleet management system from the fleet owner computing device, the device status request comprises receiving, by the fleet management system from the fleet owner computing device via an application programming interface, the device status request that requests the operational status of at least the first beacon device of the plurality of beacon devices. ### Claim 25 (depends on 16) The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein determining, by the fleet management system, the expected remaining lifespan for the first battery of the first beacon device based at least in part on the fitted curve comprises: extrapolating, by the fleet management system, a time or number of transmitted frames at which the battery will no longer properly power the beacon device. ### Claim 26 (depends on 16) The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein determining, by the fleet management system, the expected remaining lifespan for the first battery of the first beacon device based at least in part on the fitted curve comprises: analyzing, by the fleet management system, data points for the other beacon devices that share the energy consumption characteristics to predict the expected remaining lifespan for the first battery from when the battery is first made operational. ### Claim 27 (depends on 16) The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein determining, by the fleet management system, the expected remaining lifespan for the first battery of the first beacon device based at least in part on the current expended operational lifespan and the total expected lifespan comprises: subtracting, by the fleet management system, the current expended operational lifespan from the total expected lifespan. ### Claim 28 (depends on 16) The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein determining, by the fleet management system, the total expected lifespan for the first battery of the first beacon device based at least in part on the fitted curve that approximates the third order polynomial comprises: identifying, by the fleet management system based on the fitted curve, an axis value that corresponds to a critical low voltage point for the battery. ### Claim 29 (depends on 16) The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein fitting, by the fleet management system, the curve that approximates a third order polynomial to battery life data points comprises: obtaining, by the fleet management system, a plurality of real-time sets of battery life data points, the plurality of real-time sets of battery life data points respectively corresponding to recent observations reports for a plurality of sets of beacon devices, each set of beacon devices having a unique tuple of battery type, transmission power and transmission rate. ### Claim 30 (depends on 16) The computer-implemented method of claim 16, further comprising: identifying, by the fleet management system, unexpected beacon devices based on at least one beacon observation device report; determining, by the fleet management system, a location of a mobile computing device based on the at least one beacon device observation report; and refining, by the fleet management system, location data for points of interest based on the at least one beacon device report. ### Claim 31 A computing system, comprising: one or more processors; and one or more non-transitory computer-readable media that collectively store instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the computing system to perform operations, the operations comprising: determining a current expended operational lifespan of a first battery of a first beacon device; fitting a curve that approximates a third order polynomial to battery life data points collected for at least one of the first beacon device and a plurality of other beacon devices which share one or more energy consumption characteristics with the first beacon device; determining a total expected lifespan for the first battery of the first beacon device based at least in part on the fitted curve that approximates the third order polynomial; and determining an expected remaining lifespan for the first battery of the first beacon device based at least in part on the current expended operational lifespan and the total expected lifespan. ### Claim 32 (depends on 31) The computing system of claim 31, wherein fitting the curve that approximates the third order polynomial to the battery life data points comprises: determining whether a number of battery life data points collected for the first battery of the first beacon device is greater than a threshold number of battery life data points; when it is determined that the number of battery life data points collected for the first battery of the first beacon device is greater than the threshold number of battery life data points, fitting the curve that approximates the third order polynomial to the number of battery life data points collected for the first battery of the first beacon device; and when it is determined that the number of battery life data points collected for the first battery of the first beacon device is not greater than the threshold number of battery life data points, fitting the curve that approximates the third order polynomial to the battery life data points collected for the plurality of other beacon devices which share a battery type, a transmission power, and a transmission rate with the first battery of the first beacon device. ### Claim 33 (depends on 31) The computer system of claim 31, wherein determining the expected remaining lifespan for the first battery of the first beacon device comprises: analyzing data points for the other beacon devices that share the energy consumption characteristics to predict expected remaining lifespan from when the first battery is first made operational. ### Claim 34 (depends on 31) The computing system of claim 31, wherein fitting the curve that approximates the third order polynomial to the battery life data points comprises: identifying a first subset of a plurality of beacon devices that share a battery type, a transmission power, and a transmission rate with the first beacon device; removing from the first subset of beacon devices, any beacon device with a respective current expended operational lifespan less than a threshold value to form a second subset of beacon devices; averaging respective battery life data points respectively collected for the beacon devices in the second subset of beacon devices across an aggregation window; and fitting the curve that approximates the third order polynomial to all of the averaged battery life data points for all of the second subset of beacon devices. ### Claim 35 (depends on 31) The computing system of claim 31, wherein fitting the curve that approximates a third order polynomial to battery life data points comprises: obtaining a plurality of sets of battery life data points, the plurality of sets of battery life data points respectively corresponding to a plurality of sets of beacon devices, each set of beacon devices having a unique tuple of battery type, transmission power, and transmission rate; respectively fitting the curve that approximates the third order polynomial to each of the plurality of sets of battery life data points to obtain a plurality of fitted curves respectively for the plurality of unique tuples of battery type, transmission rate; and storing the plurality of total expected lifespans in a lookup table; and wherein determining the total expected remaining lifespan for the first battery of the first beacon device comprises: identifying the unique tuple associated with the first battery of the first beacon device; and retrieving from the lookup table, the total expected lifespan for the unique tuple associated with the first battery of the first beacon device.