System for, and method of, monitoring the movement of mobile items

A system for monitoring the operations, including indications of locations, of a pair of mobile items, comprising:

• a user interface for inputting desired operations and for viewing status indications;
• first and second beacons respectively associated with first and second items, each beacon being responsive to different monitoring instructions than the other beacon;
• a first beacon manager for the first beacon to create monitoring instructions for the first beacon based on indications from the first user of the desired operations;
• a second beacon manager for the second beacon to create monitoring instructions for the second beacon based on indications from the second user of the desired operations;
• means for providing indications of the operation of the first item, including indications of location, to the first user according to the first user's desired operations for the first beacon;
• and
• means for providing indications of the operation of the second item, including indications of location, to the second user according to the second user's desired operations for the second beacon.

A system for monitoring the operations, including location indicators, of a plurality of mobile items, comprising:

• a plurality of beacons each movable with an individual one of the items, each of the beacons being responsive to signals in an individual ones of a plurality of wireless location technologies;
• a plurality of monitoring stations in operable communication with the plurality of beacons;
• a receiver in each of the beacons for receiving signals in the individual ones of the wireless location technologies;
• and
• wherein the monitoring stations monitor the operations of the individual ones of the beacons in accordance with the signals in the individual ones of the wireless location technologies.

A system for monitoring the movements of a plurality of mobile items, comprising:

• a plurality of beacons each movable with an individual one of the items, each of the beacons being responsive to signals in an individual one of a plurality of wireless communication technologies;
• a plurality of monitoring stations in operable communication with the plurality of beacons;
• a receiver in each of the plurality of beacons for receiving in each of the beacons of signals in an individual one of the wireless communication technologies;
• and
• wherein the monitoring stations monitor the locations of the individual ones of the beacons in accordance with the signals delivered via the individual ones of the wireless communication technologies.

A system for monitoring the operations, including location indications, of a plurality of mobile items, comprising:

• an input for inputting an operation function request from a user operating a selective one of a user interface as a system administration portal, a monitoring station portal, a dealer, a user portal, and a recovery interface;
• a beacon controller interface in operably communication with the input, the beacon controller having a plug-and-play channel;
• a plurality of beacon managers, each designated for a specific beacon type;
• and
• wherein the plug-and-play channel identifies in the operation request an individual one of a plurality of beacon types and an individual one of the beacon managers for monitoring the operation of the specific beacon type, and wherein the individual one of the beacon managers monitors the operation of the specific beacon in accordance with the operation request from the user.

A system for monitoring the status, including location indications, of a plurality of mobile items, comprising:

• a beacon operatively coupled to an item for movement with the item, the beacon having a tracking function and a threshold operation for the item;
• first and second user interfaces selected from the group consisting of a system management portal, a monitoring station portal, a dealer portal, a user portal and a recovery interface;
• a beacon controller interface;
• and
• wherein the tracking function has priority over the threshold operation in controlling the operation of the beacon, and wherein the results obtained from the tracking function in the beacon to be used to determine results of the threshold operation in the beacon controller interface.

A method of providing for monitoring the movement of first and second mobile items, comprising:

• a user interface for each user of a plurality of users to input desired operations and view status indications, the user interfaces being the same for each user,
• first and second beacons respectively associated with the first and second mobile items, each beacon being responsive to different monitoring instructions than the other beacon, each beacon being capable of performing both a threshold monitoring and a tracking instruction set at the same time,
• a first beacon manager associated with the first beacon for providing monitoring operations for the first beacon based on indications from the first user of the desired operations,
• a second beacon manager associated with the second beacon to provide monitoring operations for the second beacon based on indications from the second user of the desired operations, and
• means providing indications of the operations of the first item, including indications of location, to the first user according to the first user's desired operations for the first beacon, and
• means for providing indications of the status of the second item, including indication of location, to the second user according to the second user's desired operations for the second beacon.

A system for monitoring the operation, including location determination, of a mobile item, comprising:

• a beacon for monitoring the movements of the mobile item,
• a beacon controller interface configured to receive a tracking request of the mobile item for a continuous time period between first and second times, a threshold monitoring request of the mobile item for a second time period between the first and second times in the first time period, and a speed monitoring request of the mobile item for a third time period after the second time period, the third time period starting in the first time period after the end of the second time period and continuing to a time past the end of the first time period, the beacon controller interface
• applying the tracking request to the beacon in the first time period between the first and second times and for a disregard of the request of the mobile item to providing for a threshold monitoring of the mobile item in the second time period, and
• for a disregard of the request of the mobile item in the period of time common to the first and the third time periods, providing for changes in the operation of the beacon controller interface in the second time period in accordance with the tracking of the mobile item in the second time period, and
• providing for monitoring the speed of the mobile item in the beacon controller interface during the period common to the first time period, in accordance with the tracking operation of the mobile item in this common monitoring period, and
• providing for monitoring the speed of the mobile item by the beacon, in the third time period after the end of the first time period.

A system for building a scenario for use by an assigned beacon in monitoring the operation, including location determinations, of a mobile item, comprising:

• a processor programmed to perform the steps of:
• selecting the mobile item with the assign beacon attached to the mobile item,
• determining whether the scenario is to be selected from a previously saved scenario or whether a new scenario is to be created,
• selecting a previously saved scenario if the determination is made that a previously saved scenario is to be selected, creating a new scenario if the decision is made to create a new scenario, and
• as a first step in creating a new scenario, selecting a trigger mechanism from a plurality of trigger mechanisms,
• as a next step, determining whether a schedule is to be selected from a plurality of previously saved schedules or whether a new schedule is to be created,
• selecting one of the plurality of previously saved schedules when the determination is made to select one of the previously saved schedules,
• creating the new schedule when the decision is made to create a new schedule,
• as a next step, selecting one of a plurality of previously saved notification entities or defining a new notification entity when a decision is made to define a new notification entity,
• as a next step, selecting one of a plurality of previously saved notification methods or defining a new notification method when a decision is made to define a new notification method,
• as a next step, selecting one of a plurality of previously saved messages or defining a new message when a decision is made to define a new message,
• as a next step, activating the selected or defined schedule, as a next step, commanding the beacon at the scheduled time to monitor the mobile item to which the beacon is attached.

A system for building a scenario for use by an assigned beacon in monitoring the operation, including location determinations of a mobile item, comprising:

• a processor programmed to carry out the steps of:
• selecting the mobile item with the assigned beacon attached to the mobile item,
• selecting a previously saved scenario or creating a new scenario, the creation of the new scenario consisting of the following steps:
• selecting a previously saved trigger mechanism,
• selecting a previously saved schedule or defining a new schedule,
• selecting a previously saved notification scheme or creating a new notification scheme,
• selecting one of a plurality of entities;
• selecting one of a plurality of notification methods, and
• selecting one of a plurality of messages.

A system for monitoring and processing a scenario for a beacon, comprising:

• a processor programmed for:
• receiving a trigger report from a beacon controller interface for the beacon,
• determining whether an account status for the beacon is active,
• disregarding the trigger report if the account status for the beacon is not active, and
• when the account status of the beacon is active, determining if there are any active scheduled scenarios associated with the trigger for the beacon, and
• when the answer to the previous determination is yes, monitoring the operation of the beacon in accordance with the active scheduled scenario associated with the trigger for the beacon, and
• again reviewing trigger reports from the beacon controller interface for the beacon when the account status for the beacon is not active, when there are no active scheduled scenarios for the beacon or when the operation of the beacon has been monitored in accordance with the active scheduled scenario associated with the trigger for the beacon.

A system for monitoring the operation, including location determinations, of mobile items in accordance with the operations of beacons attached to the mobile items, comprising:

• a processor programmed for:
• setting an appropriate presentation dependent upon a type of device being used to operate a user interface in operable communication with the processor,
• providing for a login with a user identification and a user password when an account status of the user is active,
• providing for a login of the user to the system when the identification and the password of the user are correct,
• when the user has been logged into the system, determining the level of authorized access for the user dependent upon the user type, and
• providing for the users to manage the beacon inventories of different types of beacons and to manage the operations to be performed by the managed beacon inventories.

A system for monitoring the status, including location determination, of mobile items in accordance with the operation of beacons attached to the mobile items, comprising:

• a processor programmed for:
• providing for a login of each user with a user identification and a user password when an account status of the user is active,
• providing for a login of the user to the system when the identification and password of the user are correct,
• when the user has been logged into the system, managing beacon inventory by assigning beacons to wholesalers and retailers,
• when the user has been logged into the system assigning wholesale service plans to the beacons of the wholesalers and retailers, and
• when the user has been logged into the system, managing retail subscriber service plans by assigning different subscriber service plans to specific wholesalers and retailers.

A system for monitoring the operations, including location determinations, of mobile items in accordance with the operation of beacons attached to the mobile items, comprising:

• a processor programmed for:
• providing for a login of each user into the system when an identification and a password of the user are correct,
• when each user has been logged into the system, determining a level of the authorized access of the user into the system dependent upon a user type, and
• when each user has been logged into the system, providing for the user to manage beacon types by adding new types of beacons into the system and assigning features to the beacon and setting defaults to the beacons in the system if the user has been authorized to manage these beacon operations,
• when each user has been logged into the system and has been authorized to perform the operations individual to the beacons, managing the beacon inventory by assigning beacons to individual ones of wholesalers, retailers and direct resellers.

A system for monitoring the operations, including location determinations, of mobile items in accordance with the operation of beacons attached to the mobile items, comprising:

• a processor programmed for:
• setting appropriate presentation styles for types of devices being used to operate user interfaces,
• logging in the users in accordance with the users' identifications and passwords,
• determining that the users' account status is active,
• determining that the users' identifications and passwords are correct,
• determining a level of the users' access into the system dependent upon the type of user accessing into the system,
• adding, updating and deleting the users in the system, by assigning individual ones of the beacons to individual ones of the user, and
• initializing the operations of the assigned beacons.

A system for monitoring the operations including location determinations, of mobile items in accordance with the operations of beacons attached to the mobile items, comprising:

• a processor programmed for:
• assigning access levels to users dependent upon types of users,
• adding, updating and deleting the users in the system,
• assigning portals to the users in the system, and
• assigning passwords to the users to provide for access by the users to the assigned portals.

A system for monitoring the operations, including location determinations, of mobile items in accordance with the operation of beacons attached to the mobile items, including the steps of:

• a system administrator for managing and viewing a plurality of beacons forming a beacon inventory, the system administrator configured to:
• initialize the operation of the beacons by originating commands for the beacons,
• to test the beacons,
• to assign access levels to the users dependent upon the types of users, and
• to assign beacons to individual ones of the users.

A system for monitoring the operations, including location determinations, of mobile items in accordance with the operation of beacons attached to the mobile items, comprising:

• a processor programmed for:
• assigning access levels to system users dependent upon types of system users,
• cooperating with an operating manager to manage the system users including adding, updating and deleting the system users,
• providing passwords for the users to enter the users' portals,
• cooperating with the operating manager to manage user accounts, including adding, updating and deleting the users, without accessing the users' portals, and
• cooperating with the operating manager to override the password and access one of the user's portals under particular circumstances including when there is an emergency.

A system for monitoring the operation, including location determination, of mobile items in accordance with the operation of beacons attached to the mobile items, comprising:

• a processor programmed for:
• receiving an incident alert from a beacon controller interface,
• determining whether an incident should be indicated in an incident queue of an integrated automation system for a particular one of the beacons,
• if the answer is no, disregarding a notification of the incident,
• if the answer is yes, determining the type of automation system to be notified by matching the particular one of the beacons to a particular one of the automation systems,
• configuring a protocol based upon the type of automation system to be notified and the type of network to interface with the automation system, and
• sending the incident notification to the automation system's incident queue based upon the configured protocol.

A system for monitoring the operations, including location determinations, of mobile items in accordance with the operation of beacons attached to the mobile items, comprising:

• a processing system programmed and configured for:
• providing a login with a user's identification and a user's password when it is determined that the user's monitoring status is active, the user's account status is active and the user's identification and password are correct,
• managing user types including adding, updating and deleting users and assigning access levels to the users dependent upon the types of users,
• creating and managing scenarios, and
• managing beacons including tracking the beacons and including managing the operation of non-tracking components in the beacons.

A system for monitoring the operation, including location determinations, of mobile items in accordance with the operation of beacons attached to the mobile items, comprising:

• a monitoring system,
• a beacon controller interface as a module of the monitoring system, and
• communication means for communicating between the monitoring system and the beacon controller interface to perform individual ones of the following operations:
• (a) locating the beacons, (b) tracking the beacons, (c) monitoring thresholds measured by the beacons, (d) provide monitoring of auxiliary devices connected to the beacons, and (e) reporting the status of all parameters measured by the beacons.

A system for monitoring the operation, including location determinations, of mobile items, comprising:

• a plurality of beacons with individual types of wireless technology for communication with the beacons, the beacons being capable of providing operations, including location technologies, individual to the beacons, the beacons being coupled to the mobile items for indicating the location of the mobile items,
• a monitoring system including a beacon controller interface with characteristics compatible with the existing and new types of beacons,
• beacon managers for operating the existing types of beacons, and capable of operating the new types of beacons, to determine the locations of the beacons and communicate such locations to the beacon controller interface, and
• a plug-and-play channel disposed between the beacon controller interface and the beacon managers to provide communications between the beacon controller interface and the beacon managers without interfering with the operation of the existing beacons by the beacon controller interface when new types of beacons are added to the monitoring system.

A system for monitoring the operation of mobile items, comprising:

• a system administration module,
• a reseller/dealer portal configured to receive indications from the system administration module,
• an incident handling module capable of receiving indications from the reseller/dealer portal,
• a recovery interface configured to receive indications from the incident handling module, and
• a beacon controller interface in operable communication with each of the incident handling module and the recovery interface module.