Method and apparatus for improving the battery life of a tracker attached to an asset while outside a base safe-zone

A tracking device, comprising:

• means for determining whether the tracking device can receive a safe-zone beacon signal with at least a predetermined threshold signal strength;
• means for determining whether the safe-zone beacon signal is received from a base safe-zone beacon or a portable safe-zone beacon;
• means for placing the tracking device in a low-power mode in response to receiving the safe-zone beacon signal, wherein the low power mode is either a base low-power mode when it is determined that the safe-zone beacon signal is received from the base safe zone beacon or a portable low power mode when it is determined that the safe-zone beacon signal is received from the portable safe zone beacon;
• means for configuring the portable low-power mode to cause the tracking device to transmit data to and receive data from the portable safe-zone beacon;
• means for transmitting tracking device data to the portable safe-zone beacon when the tracking device is placed in the portable low-power mode, wherein the tracking device data is relayed from the portable safe-zone beacon to a mobile device via an established communication link and further relayed from the mobile device to an external network via a wireless data network;
• and
• means for placing the tracking device in an alarm mode in response to the tracking device not receiving the safe-zone beacon signal,
• wherein the alarm mode is configured in response to receiving the safe-zone beacon signal from the portable safe-zone beacon in a manner that is different from how the alarm mode is configured in response to receiving the safe-zone beacon signal from the base safe-zone beacon.

A tracking device, comprising:

• a memory;
• a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations comprising:
• determining whether the tracking device can receive a safe-zone beacon signal with at least a predetermined threshold signal strength;
• determining whether the safe-zone beacon signal is received from a base safe-zone beacon or a portable safe-zone beacon;
• placing the tracking device in a low-power mode in response to receiving the safe-zone beacon signal, wherein the low power mode is either a base low-power mode when it is determined that the safe-zone beacon signal is received from the base safe zone beacon or a portable low power mode when it is determined that the safe-zone beacon signal is received from the portable safe zone beacon;
• configuring the portable low-power mode to cause the tracking device to transmit data to and receive data from the portable safe-zone beacon;
• transmitting tracking device data to the portable safe-zone beacon when the tracking device is placed in the portable low-power mode, wherein the tracking device data is relayed from the portable safe-zone beacon to a mobile device via an established communication link and further relayed from the mobile device to an external network via a wireless data network;
• and
• placing the tracking device in an alarm mode in response to the tracking device not receiving the safe-zone beacon signal,
• wherein the alarm mode is configured in response to receiving the safe-zone beacon signal from the portable safe-zone beacon in a manner that is different from how the alarm mode is configured in response to receiving the safe-zone beacon signal from the base safe-zone beacon.

A non-transitory processor-readable storage medium having stored thereon processor-executable software instructions configured to cause a processor of a tracking device to perform operations comprising:

• determining whether the tracking device can receive a safe-zone beacon signal with at least a predetermined threshold signal strength;
• determining whether the safe-zone beacon signal is received from a base safe-zone beacon or a portable safe-zone beacon;
• placing the tracking device in a low-power mode in response to receiving the safe-zone beacon signal, wherein the low power mode is either a base low-power mode when it is determined that the safe-zone beacon signal is received from the base safe zone beacon or a portable low power mode when it is determined that the safe-zone beacon signal is received from the portable safe zone beacon;
• configuring the portable low-power mode to cause the tracking device to transmit data to and receive data from the portable safe-zone beacon;
• transmitting tracking device data to the portable safe-zone beacon when the tracking device is placed in the portable low-power mode, wherein the tracking device data is relayed from the portable safe-zone beacon to a mobile device via an established communication link and further relayed from the mobile device to an external network via a wireless data network;
• and
• placing the tracking device in an alarm mode in response to the tracking device not receiving the safe-zone beacon signal,
• wherein the alarm mode is configured in response to receiving the safe-zone beacon signal from the portable safe-zone beacon in a manner that is different from how the alarm mode is configured in response to receiving the safe-zone beacon signal from the base safe-zone beacon.

A system, comprising:

• a tracking device;
• a base safe-zone beacon configured to emit a first beacon signal;
• and
• a portable safe-zone beacon configured to emit a second beacon signal,
• wherein the tracking device comprises:
• a first transceiver configured to communicate with a network via long-range signals;
• a second transceiver configured to receive the first and second beacon signals and to communicate with the portable safe-zone beacon and the base safe-zone beacon via short-range signals;
• and
• a first processor coupled to the first and second transceivers, and configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations comprising:
• determining whether the second transceiver can receive a beacon signal with at least a predetermined threshold signal strength;
• determining whether the beacon signal received by the second transceiver is the first beacon signal or the second beacon signal;
• placing the tracking device in a base low-power mode in response to receiving the first beacon signal or a portable low power mode in response to receiving the second beacon signal, wherein the portable low-power mode is configured in a manner that is different from how the base low-power mode is configured;
• configuring the portable low-power mode to cause the tracking device to transmit data to and receive data from the portable safe-zone beacon;
• transmitting, via the second transceiver, tracking device data to the portable safe-zone beacon in the portable low-power mode wherein the tracking device data is relayed from the portable safe-zone beacon to a mobile device via an established communication link and further relayed from the mobile device to an external network via a wireless data network;
• and
• activating an alarm mode in response to the tracking device not receiving either the first or second beacon signals, wherein the alarm mode activated depends upon whether a last beacon signal received was the first beacon signal or the second beacon signal.