IP Library Granted Patent US 9,536,407
Granted Patent B2
US 9,536,407 · App. 14/585,893 · Granted Jan 3, 2017

Emergency monitoring of tagged objects

Inventors: Michael Charles Todasco (Santa Clara, CA); Autumn Paige Crossett (Santa Clara, CA); James Fussell (Sunnyvale, CA)
Assignee: PayPal, Inc.
G08B21/02H04W4/02H04W4/04H04W4/22
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 9,536,407
App. No.
14/585,893
Granted
Jan 3, 2017
Kind
B2
Abstract

There are provided systems and methods for remote monitoring of tagged physical objects in an emergency. A user may set up a series of beacons at a facility of the user, such as an office or hospital. The beacons may connect to tag devices as the devices enter a coverage area for the wireless beacons or upon request by a service provider server in an emergency situation. The beacons communicate distance information regarding the tag devices and associated physical objects to a service provider server. The service provider server may determine the location of a physical object and provides the location to the user or to emergency personnel. In an emergency, the service provider server may provide a notification to a specific subset of users, in which the notification includes the location of a physical object of interest to the subset of users because of the emergency condition.

Claims (76)

1. A system comprising:

a non-transitory memory storing location information for a tag device; and

one or more hardware processors configured to execute instructions to cause the system to perform operations comprising:

determining an emergency condition;

in response to determining the emergency condition, directing at least one beacon to initiate communication with a tag device associated with a physical object;

determining a location of the physical object based at least on a distance between the tag device associated with the physical object and the at least one beacon;

transmitting data comprising the determined location of the physical object to a user device;

after an interval of time, determining a current distance between the physical object and the at least one beacon to determine a current location of the physical object;

comparing the current location of the physical object with the determined location of the physical object; and

when a location change greater than a threshold is found by the comparison, transmitting an alert to the user device.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the tag device and the at least one beacon connect using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communication.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the tag device comprises one of a BLE communication module, and LTE Direct communication module, and a radiofrequency identification (RFID) communication module.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the physical object comprises a file cabinet, a computer, a safe, a first aid kit, a defibrillator, or a user device associated with a person.

5. The system of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:

determining relative locations of a plurality of beacons including the at least one beacon;

accessing a set of previously determined relative locations of the beacons;

determining a change in the relative locations of the beacons; and

compensating for the change in relative locations when determining the location of the physical object.

6. The system of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:

receiving a location fixation signal originating from outside a facility containing the at least one beacon; and

registering locations of a plurality of beacons comprising the at least one beacon according to the location fixation signal.

7. The system of claim 1 , the operations further comprising:

determining a subset of users based on the emergency condition; and

transmitting a notification to each user of the subset of users.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the notification comprises the location of the physical object, the physical object being determined of interest to each user of the subset of users due to the emergency condition.

9. A method for locating one or more physical objects in an emergency condition, the method comprising:

determining an emergency condition;

in response to the determining of the emergency condition, directing at least one beacon to initiate communication with a tag device associated with a physical object;

determining a location of the physical object based at least on a distance between the tag device associated with the physical object and the at least one beacon;

transmitting data comprising the determined location to a user device;

accessing a pre-notification location of the physical object;

comparing the pre-notification location of the physical object with the determined location of the physical object; and

when a location change greater than a threshold is found by the comparison, transmitting an alert to the user device.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

providing a facility layout to the user device; and

overlaying an indicator of the physical object onto the facility layout by registering the determined location to the facility layout.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the tag device connects to the at least one beacon using one of near field communication, radio communication, infrared communication, Bluetooth communication, and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) communication.

12. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

determining a subset of users based on the emergency condition; and

transmitting a notification to each user of the subset of users, wherein the notification comprises the location of the physical object, the physical object being determined of interest to each user of the subset of users due to the emergency condition.

13. A method for locating one or more physical objects in an emergency condition, the method comprising:

determining an emergency condition;

in response to the determining of the emergency condition, directing at least one beacon to initiate communication with a tag device associated with a physical object;

determining a location of the physical object based at least on a distance between the tag device associated with the physical object and the at least one beacon;

transmitting data comprising the determined location to a user device;

after an interval of time, determining a current distance between the physical object and the at least one beacon to determine a current location of the physical object;

comparing the current location of the physical object with the determined location of the physical object; and

when a location change greater than a threshold is found by the comparison, transmitting an alert to the user device.

14. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

after an interval of time, initiating a communication request for the at least one beacon to communicate with the tag device associated with the physical object; and

when a response is not received by the at least one beacon, transmitting a second alert to the user device.

15. A method for locating one or more physical objects in an emergency condition, the method comprising:

determining an emergency condition;

in response to the determining of the emergency condition, directing at least one beacon to initiate communication with a tag device associated with a physical object;

determining a location of the physical object based at least on a distance between the tag device associated with the physical object and the at least one beacon;

transmitting data comprising the determined location to a user device;

determining relative locations of a plurality of beacons including the at least one beacon;

accessing a set of previously determined relative locations of the beacons;

determining a change in the relative locations of at least one of the beacons; and

compensating for the change in relative locations when gauging the distance between the tag device associated with the physical object and the beacons to determine the location of the physical object.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon machine-readable instructions executable to cause a machine to perform operations comprising:

determining an emergency condition;

in response to the determining of the emergency condition, directing at least one beacon to initiate communication with a tag device associated with a physical object;

determining a location of the physical object based at least on a distance between the tag device associated with the physical object and the at least one beacon;

transmitting data comprising the determined location to a user device;

accessing a pre-notification location of the physical object;

comparing the pre-notification location of the physical object with the determined location of the physical object; and

when a location change greater than a threshold is found by the comparison, transmitting an alert to the user device.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon machine-readable instructions executable to cause a machine to perform operations comprising:

determining an emergency condition;

in response to the determining of the emergency condition, directing at least one beacon to initiate communication with a tag device associated with a physical object;

determining a location of the physical object based at least on a distance between the tag device associated with the physical object and the at least one beacon;

transmitting data comprising the determined location to a user device;

after an interval of time, determining a current distance between the physical object and the at least one beacon to determine a current location of the physical object;

comparing the current location of the physical object with the determined location of the physical object; and

when a location change greater than a threshold is found by the comparison, transmitting an alert to the user device.

Assignments (3)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Jul 23, 2015
From: EBAY INC.
To: PAYPAL, INC.
Reel/Frame 036171/0403 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 19, 2015
From: FUSSELL, JAMES
To: EBAY INC.
Reel/Frame 034982/0231 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 30, 2014
From: TODASCO, MICHAEL CHARLES; CROSSETT, AUTUMN PAIGE
To: EBAY INC.
Reel/Frame 034601/0558 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20160189514A1 · Jun 30, 2016