Tile, Inc.

Marvell International Limited

Marvellworld Trade Ltd.

Marvell Asia Pte., Ltd.

Josselin De La Broise

Steven R Klinkner

Michael George Farley

Aaron Okano

Akhila Hegde

Dan Danknick

Ian Thomas Meyer

Raja Banerjea

Mayank Kumar

Guilherme De Barros Chapiewski

Charles Y Choi

Paul Aerick Lambert

Harish Ramamurthy

Rafael Marques Martins

Jossie Haines

Deepak Jain

Ken Yeung

Hao Zhang

Rajesh Juluri

Li-Fu Jeng

Nelson Xu

Vijay Ahirwar

Ankit Sethi

Swaroop Venkatesh

Nicholas George Evans

Neeta Srivastav

A mobile device determines based on a signal strength threshold when tracking devices communicatively coupled to the mobile device are lost or left behind. The mobile device communicatively couples to a tracking device and receives a first signal transmitted by the tracking device with a signal strength greater than a signal strength threshold. The mobile device receives a second signal transmitted by the tracking device and determines a measure of signal strength based on the second signal. While the mobile device is still communicatively coupled to the tracking device, and responsive to determining that the measure of signal strength of the second signal is less than the signal strength threshold, the mobile device generates a notification that the tracking device may be lost or left behind to alert the user of the mobile device.

Notifications in a tracking device environment

A tracking device can provide a hashed identifier to a mobile device, for instance within an advertisement packet. The mobile device can query each of a plurality of entities with the hashed identifier to identify an entity associated with the hash key used to generate the hashed identifier. In some embodiments, the mobile device can query a centralized key server, which in turn can query the plurality of entities to identify the entity associated with the hash key. The mobile device can then receive a public key from the identified entity, can determine a location of the mobile device, and can encrypt the location with the public key. The mobile device can then provide the hashed identifier and the encrypted location to the identified entity, which can provide the encrypted location to an owner of the tracking device for decryption using a private key corresponding to the public key.

End-to-end encryption with distributed key management in a tracking device environment

A method for reducing power consumption of a mobile computing device is provided. The method includes receiving a signal from a tracking device associated with the mobile computing device indicating a detected movement of the tracking device. The method includes activating a location-detection receiver of the mobile computing device. The location-detection receiver is configured to indicate a location of the mobile computing device and a first location of the tracking device based on a proximity of the tracking device to the mobile computing device. The method includes determining, based on the proximity of the tracking device to the mobile computing device, an identity information of the tracking device, and providing, to a tracking system server, the first location and the identity information. In response to receiving a confirmation that the tracking system server has received the first location and the identity information, the method includes deactivating the location-detection receiver.

Secure and private cloud based broadcast identification

An electronic device with a primary functionality and a tracking functionality can be used in a centralized tracking system. A controller configures the electronic device to operate in one of a set of: an 'on' mode, an “off” mode, a first standby mode, and a tracking standby mode. While configured to operate in the “on” mode, the primary and tracking functionality of the electronic device are enabled, and while configured to operate in the “off” mode, both are disabled. While configured to operate in the first standby mode, the tracking functionality is enabled and the primary functionality is limited. While configured to operate in the tracking standby mode, the primary functionality is disabled but the tracking functionality is enabled, enabling the electronic device to be located while the primary functionality is disabled and saving power relative to the first standby mode and the “on” mode.

Tracking functionality standby mode for third party electronic devices

A tracking device can use a permanent encryption key pair to encrypt a temporary private key that corresponds to a set of diversified temporary public keys. When a community mobile device subsequently detects the tracking device, the central tracking system provides a diversified temporary public key to the community mobile device. The community mobile device uses the diversified temporary public key to encrypt location data representative of a location of the community mobile device, and provides the encrypted location data to the central tracking system. When a user subsequently requests a location of the tracking device from the central tracking system, the central tracking system provides the encrypted temporary private key and the encrypted location data to a device of the user, and the device can decrypt the encrypted temporary private key using the permanent encryption key pair, and decrypt the encrypted location data using the decrypted temporary private key.

Data protection in a tracking device environment

A tracking system can provide configuration instructions to an electronic device based on user presence. The tracking system can determine a user's location relative to a geographic boundary surrounding a geographic area associated with the user. Depending on the user's location, the tracking system may send instructions to configure an electronic device to send a notification or change the operating mode of the electronic device in response to the user's presence. The electronic device may be a scanning device that is configured to have a higher or lower scanning frequency, depending on the presence or absence of the user relative to the scanning device.

User presence-enabled tracking device functionality

A tracking device can securely communicate with a secondary device by generating a hash value based on the identity of the tracking device. If the secondary device cannot resolve the hash value, the hash value can be provided to a tracking server, such as a cloud server, for resolving the hash value. Upon resolving the hash value, the tracking server can store a location of the tracking device in association with the identity of the tracking device. To preserve power, the secondary device can activate location-detection functionality (such as a GPS receive) only in response to the detection of movement of the tracking device, can obtain location information, and can de-activate the location-detection functionality upon providing the location information to the tracking server. The tracking server can associate one or both of a previous location and the current location information based on movement of the tracking device.

In one embodiment, techniques include a method that includes determining, based at least on historical usage information of a tracking device and tracking device diagnostic information, a length of time the tracking device can continue to operate. The method includes determining that the length of time does not satisfy a first power condition out of one or more power conditions. The method includes determining reconfiguration instructions for the tracking device based at least on the historical usage information, tracking device diagnostic information, and projected usage information of the tracking device. The reconfiguration instructions are selected to cause the tracking device to satisfy the one or more power conditions. The method includes storing the reconfiguration instructions for the tracking device in a database in association with a flag indicating that pending reconfiguration instructions are available for the tracking device.

Dynamic tracking device reconfiguration

A tracking device broadcasts beacon signals that are separated in time by broadcast intervals. The tracking device determines the broadcast intervals based on a behavior model. The behavior model specifies one or more conditions, such as times of day within a 24-hour day, and associates a usage probability with each condition. A higher usage probability causes the tracking device to broadcast beacon signals at shorter broadcast intervals. A mobile device in communication with the tracking device can reconfigure the behavior model, either by modifying portions of the behavior model or by replacing the behavior model with a different behavior model. This allows the behavior model to adapt to different circumstances, such as different usage patterns during weekdays, weekends, and vacations.

Dynamic selection and modification of tracking device behavior models

In one embodiment, a method of commissioning a third-party electronic device of a user for use with a tracking service includes detecting, by an application executing on the computing device of the user, the third-party electronic device within a communicative range of the computing device of the user. The third-party electronic device is not associated with the tracking service and is not communicatively coupled with the tracking service. The method includes initiating a commissioning exchange with the third-party electronic device. The method includes providing an output of the commissioning exchange to a tracking system server associated with the tracking service. The method includes receiving an acknowledgement that the third-party electronic device has been commissioned for use with the tracking service. The method includes providing, in response to the acknowledgement, a location associated with the third-party electronic device to the tracking system server.

Commissioning electronic devices for use in a tracking system

Key diversification in a tracking device environment

A tracking system determines a location of a tracking device associated with a user using one or more access points at the location. Each access point at the location is configured to detect and couple with the tracking device when the tracking device is within a communicative range of the access point. An access point provides updates on the tracking device's presence, as well as the tracking device's arrival to and departure from the communicative range of the access point, to a tracking server. The tracking server determines, from these updates, whether the tracking device is at the location. The user may be notified, via a mobile device, of the tracking device's location.

Tracking device presence detection and reporting by access points

A tracking device stores identification values unique to the tracking device for use in authenticating the tracking device. When activated, the tracking device provides a first identification value to a first owner and a different identification value to a tracking system. The identification of the tracking device can only be authenticated by combining the identification values given to the owner and tracking system. If a second owner resets the tracking device, the tracking device stores a second version the identification values for use in authenticating the tracking device. In the case that the second owner is illegitimate, (for instance, the tracking device is stolen by the second owner) the first owner can report the tracking device stolen. Upon being reported stolen, the identification value provided to the first owner is transmitted to the tracking system for use with the tracking system identification value to authenticate the first owner, enabling the first owner to locate and recover their stolen device.

Private anti-theft protection in a tracking device environment

Unauthorized tracking devices, including those that change their identification information periodically, are detected to protect an individual's privacy. A privacy system can implement a number of anti-stalking features to protect against such unauthorized tracking devices. The privacy system, upon determining that an unauthorized tracking device is mirroring a user's movements, can enable the user to 'ring' the tracking device in order to allow the user to locate the unauthorized device. The privacy system, in response to determining that the tracking device or the owner of the tracking device satisfy one or more stalking conditions, can notify a user that the tracking device satisfies the stalking conditions. Finally, the privacy system enables users to disable access to location information from the tracking device to owners of the tracking device in the event that the tracking device is deemed unauthorized by the user.

Growing community of inventors

Mountain View, CA, United States of America

Josselin De La Broise