Alert for real-time risk of theft or loss
View Patent ↗A computer process is disclosed for assessing the risk of theft or loss of electronic devices in particular locations. The risk assessments may be based on data regarding reported theft and/or loss events, and based on data regarding current locations of user devices. The risk assessments may be used to generate location-based alerts.
1. A method of determining whether to take an action in a monitored electronic device regarding risk of inadvertent loss of said device, the method comprising:
determining a location of the monitored electronic device;
retrieving location data associated with other monitored electronic devices, which have been inadvertently lost;
calculating, based at least partly on said location and said location data, a loss risk level associated with said location; and
determining whether to act based upon said loss risk level;
said method performed programmatically by a computerized system.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said location data relates to locations of loss events of the other monitored electronic devices.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein said location data relates to current locations of the other monitored electronic devices.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said location data relates to recent locations of the other monitored electronic devices.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, prior to retrieving said location data, receiving loss reports of the other monitored electronic devices.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising retrieving further location data associated with further monitored electronic devices that are not lost; wherein the calculating step is further based on said further location data.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein to act is to alert a user of said monitored electronic device.
8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising transmitting to the monitored electronic device a message that causes the monitored electronic device to output the alert.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, in response to the loss risk level satisfying a threshold, running a proximity detection system that detects a separation between said monitored electronic device and a second electronic device associated with a user of said monitored electronic device.
10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the separation is detected using an accelerometer in one or both of said monitored electronic device and said second electronic device.
11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the second electronic device is possessed by the user.
12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the second electronic device is possessed by an individual related to the user.
13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, in response to the loss risk level satisfying a threshold, transmitting, from said monitored electronic device, a signal comprising descriptive information about said monitored electronic device.
14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the signal is transmitted using short range radio.
15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the descriptive information has previously been uploaded to a monitoring center by a user or an owner of said monitored electronic device.
16. The method of claim 1 , comprising determining a zone that the location is in, wherein the calculating step comprises calculating a loss risk level of the zone.
17. The method of claim 16 , wherein determining whether to act is based on a presence in the zone of at least one other monitored electronic device that is lost.
18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the presence is a current presence.
19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the presence is a recent presence.
20. The method of claim 16 , wherein determining whether to act comprises calculating the loss risk level of the zone substantially in real time.
21. The method of claim 16 , wherein determining whether to act comprises determining whether a number of reported losses within the zone within a selected time period satisfies a threshold.
22. The method of claim 16 , wherein determining whether to act comprises taking into consideration dates of reported losses within the zone.
23. The method of claim 16 , further comprising calculating a time-averaged risk profile of the zone based at least partly on the location data and providing the time-averaged risk profile to a third party.
24. The method of claim 23 , wherein the time-averaged risk profile indicates a risk level trend of the zone.
25. The method of claim 1 , wherein the monitored electronic device is a device that is not currently reported as lost.
26. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is performed by a monitoring system that monitors locations and loss statuses of the monitored electronic devices.
27. Non-transitory computer storage having stored thereon executable program code that directs a computer system to at least:
maintain a database of data regarding locations and inadvertent losses of mobile electronic devices;
define a zone for assessing loss risk;
calculate a risk level associated with the zone based at least partly on said data; and
determine, based on the risk level, whether to instruct a mobile electronic device located in the zone to take an action.
28. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 27 , wherein the action is one or more of:
alerting a user of said monitored electronic device;
running a proximity detection system that detects a separation between said monitored electronic device and a second electronic device associated with the user; and
transmitting, from said monitored electronic device, a signal comprising descriptive information about said monitored electronic device.
29. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 27 , wherein the zone is defined as an area falling within a selected distance of said mobile electronic device.
30. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 27 , wherein the risk level is determined based at least partly on a number of loss events within the zone.
31. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 27 , wherein the risk level is determined based additionally on dates of the loss events.
32. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 27 , wherein the risk level is determined substantially in real time for the mobile electronic device.
33. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 27 , wherein the program code further directs the computer system to generate a time-averaged risk profile of the zone based on said data.
34. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 27 , wherein defining the zone comprises selecting a zone size based at least partly on said data.
35. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 34 , wherein the zone size is selected based at least partly on a density of the mobile electronic devices.
36. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 34 , wherein the zone size is based additionally on a precision with which a location of the mobile electronic device is known.
37. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 27 , wherein defining the zone comprises dynamically defining the zone to be centered about the mobile electronic device.
38. The non-transitory computer storage of claim 37 , wherein dynamically defining the zone comprises dynamically selecting a zone size.