Arrangement for, and method of, accurately locating, and reducing electrical power consumption of, mobile devices at rest in a venue

1. An arrangement for accurately locating, and for reducing average electrical power consumption of, an electrically-powered, mobile device at rest in a venue, the arrangement comprising:

a sensing system for generating location signals indicative of where the mobile device is in the venue, wherein the sensing system includes a locationing system deployed in the venue; and

a control system operatively connected to the sensing system for determining that the mobile device is at rest when the location signals are substantially the same for a predetermined period of time, for processing the location signals to determine an accurate, current location of the mobile device in the venue when the mobile device is determined to be at rest, and for controlling the mobile device when determined to be at rest to operate in a low power mode in which the average electrical power consumption of the mobile device is reduced.

2. The arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the sensing system further includes a motion sensor supported by the mobile device and operative to determine if the mobile device is at rest.

3. The arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the locationing system is an ultrasonic locationing system having a plurality of ultrasonic transmitters mounted in the venue remotely from the mobile device for transmitting a plurality of ultrasonic ranging signals, and an ultrasonic receiver supported by the mobile device for receiving the ultrasonic ranging signals; and wherein the control system is operative for determining that the mobile device is at rest when the received ultrasonic ranging signals are substantially the same for the predetermined period of time.

4. The arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the locationing system is a video system having a camera mounted in the venue remotely from the mobile device for capturing images of the mobile device; and wherein the control system is operative for determining that the mobile device is at rest when the images are substantially the same for the predetermined period of time.

5. The arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the mobile device is one of a handheld radio frequency (RF) identification (RFID) tag reader for capturing data from RFID tags associated with products in the venue, a handheld bar code symbol reader for capturing data from bar code symbols associated with the products in the venue, and a mobile computer having a camera for capturing data from targets in the venue; and wherein the control system reduces electrical power to the mobile device at rest to prevent the data from being captured in the low power mode.

6. The arrangement of claim 1 , wherein the control system controls the mobile device to operate in the low power mode after the accurate, current location of the mobile device is determined.

7. The arrangement of claim 1 , wherein:

when the location signals indicate that the mobile device is in motion, the control system processes the location signals to determine a general location of the mobile device in a tracking mode of operation, and

when the location signals indicate that the mobile device is at rest, the control system switches to a different mode of operation in which the current location of the mobile device at rest is more accurately determined.

8. The arrangement of claim 7 , wherein the control system includes an accessible memory for storing the current location of the mobile device at rest, and wherein the control system accesses the memory to retrieve the stored current location of the mobile device at rest when the control system determines that the mobile device is no longer at rest.

9. The arrangement of claim 7 , wherein the control system periodically controls the mobile device to stop processing the location signals during a shutdown time to reduce the average electrical power consumption, and to resume processing the location signals during a wake-up time.

10. A method of accurately locating, and of reducing average electrical power consumption of, an electrically-powered, mobile device at rest in a venue, the method comprising:

generating, via a sensing system including a locationing system deployed in the venue, location signals indicative of where the mobile device is in the venue;

determining, via the sensing system and a control system operatively connected to the sensing system, that the mobile device is at rest when the location signals are substantially the same for a predetermined period of time;

processing, via the control system, the location signals to determine an accurate, current location of the mobile device in the venue when the mobile device is determined to be at rest; and

controlling, via the control system, the mobile device when deteimined to be at rest to operate in a low power mode in which the average electrical power consumption of the mobile device is reduced.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein at least one of the generating and the determining is performed further by a motion sensor onboard the mobile device.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the determining that the mobile device is at rest is performed by determining when received ultrasonic ranging signals are substantially the same for the predetermined period of time.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the determining that the mobile device is at rest is performed by determining when captured images of the mobile device are substantially the same for the predetermined period of time.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising configuring the mobile device as one of a handheld radio frequency (RF) identification (RFID) tag reader for capturing data from RFID tags associated with products in the venue, a handheld bar code symbol reader for capturing data from bar code symbols associated with the products in the venue, and a mobile computer having a camera for capturing data from targets in the venue; and

reducing electrical power to the mobile device at rest to prevent the data from being captured in the low power mode.

15. The method of claim 10 , wherein the controlling of the mobile device to enter the low power mode is performed after the processing of the location signals.

16. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

when the location signals indicate that the mobile device is in motion, processing the location signals to determine a general location of the mobile device in a tracking mode of operation, and

when the location signals indicate that the mobile device is at rest, switching to a different mode of operation in which the current location of the mobile device at rest is more accurately determined.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising storing the current location of the mobile device at rest, and retrieving the stored current location of the mobile device at rest upon the determination that the mobile device is no longer at rest.

18. The method of claim 16 , further comprising periodically controlling the mobile device to stop processing the location signals during a shutdown time to reduce the average electrical power consumption, and to resume processing the location signals during a wake-up time.