Abstract:
A proximity monitoring system and method involves a mobile device monitoring at least one transponder and determining when the at least one transponder is separated from the mobile device by at least a predefined distance and providing an alert when the predefined distance is exceeded.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    This disclosure relates generally to risk of loss prevention systems and methods and, more particularly, to systems and methods for monitoring predefined items to reduce the risk of their loss. 
         [0003]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0004]    Mobile devices, such as smartphones, are becoming an increasingly essential tool for everyday life for more and more people. For many people, such devices have become as important as other items such as wallets, keys, jewelry, watches, laptop computers, tablet computers, and other mobile devices. The increasing number of such items that many people typically have with them during the day can often increase the likelihood that one or more of such items will be misplaced or even lost, especially in view of peoples&#39; increasingly complex and fast-paced lifestyles. Such losses can result in significant inconvenience, including the lost time and effort required to find them, and, in some cases, the irreplaceability or monetary loss if the lost items are not found. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY 
       [0005]    One aspect of this disclosure involves a proximity monitoring system. The system includes at least one transponder secured to a personal item of a user and configured to emit an identifiable signal having at least a minimum specified strength; an application running on a processor of a mobile device to cause the mobile device to periodically monitor for the identifiable signal of the at least one transponder to determine when a distance between the mobile device and the at least one transponder exceeds a specified distance based upon either (i) receipt of the identifiable signal at a level below a particular signal strength or (ii) non-receipt of the identifiable signal; and when the distance between the mobile device and the at least one transponder exceeds the specified distance the application is configured to cause the mobile device to issue an alert to the user. 
         [0006]    Another aspect of this disclosure involves a processor-implemented method for notifying a user if a personal item, having a transponder secured thereto, is missing based on the proximity thereof to a mobile device. The method involves periodically monitoring, using the mobile device, for a distance between the mobile device and the personal item by measuring strength of a signal received by the mobile device that was emitted by the transponder; comparing, using the mobile device, the strength of the received signal to an allowable signal strength corresponding to a maximum allowable distance between the mobile device and the transponder and providing an alert signal to the user if the strength of the received signal, when compared to the allowable signal strength, is less than the allowable signal strength so as to indicate that the distance between the mobile device and the personal item has exceeded a predefined allowable threshold distance. 
         [0007]    The foregoing has outlined rather generally the features and technical advantages of one or more embodiments of this disclosure in order that the following detailed description may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of this disclosure will be described hereinafter, which may form the subject of the claims of this application. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0008]    This disclosure is further described in the detailed description that follows, with reference to the drawings, in which: 
           [0009]      FIG. 1  illustrates, in simplified form, a representation of a proximity monitoring system implementing the approach described herein; 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  illustrates, in simplified form, a representative example graphical user interface (“GUI”) that can be displayed on the screen of a mobile device when an application program (“app”) is running thereon implemented to operate as part of the proximity monitors described herein; and 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  illustrates, in simplified form, a representative alternative example GUI for a proximity monitor implemented as described herein. 
       
    
    
       [0012]    Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings. This disclosure is further described in the detailed description that follows, with reference to the drawings. 
       DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0013]    In general overview, the proximity monitor and processor-implemented method described herein provide for monitoring of the distance between a user&#39;s mobile device and a transponder. By securing the transponder to a personal item of the user, the distance between the personal item and mobile device will be monitored and, if the distance between the personal item and mobile device exceeds some specified distance, an alert will be provided to the user. This increases the likelihood that the user will not travel beyond the specified distance from the personal item (or the personal item will not be moved beyond that distance from the user) since such mobile devices are routinely kept close to their users. As a result, the likelihood of loss of such personal items, for example, through misplacement, is reduced and the possibility of quick alert to theft is increased. This is very beneficial since such personal items may include (but are not limited to) wallets, keys, jewelry, watches, laptop computers, tablet computers, and other mobile devices. 
         [0014]    With the above in mind,  FIG. 1  illustrates, in simplified form, a representation of a proximity monitoring system  100  implementing the approach described herein. The system is made up of a proximity monitoring receiver in the form of a mobile device  102 , for example, a smartphone, or some other device capable of operating as described herein, and at least one (and likely more) transponder(s)  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 , . . .  104 - n.    
         [0015]    The mobile device  102  includes an externally visible screen  106  on which a graphical user interface (“GUI”) can be displayed containing information related to, among other things, the transponders  104 - 1   104 - 2 , . . .  104 - n.  Depending upon the particular implementation, this information may be displayed by icons, text or some combination thereof. Ideally, the screen  106  is a touch screen, which allows the user to provide input by directly touching the screen  106 . Alternatively, or additionally, the mobile device may contain a keyboard via which user input can be provided. Internally, the mobile device  102  includes at least one processor  108  coupled to RAM  110 , ROM  112  and non-transient storage  114  into which application programs and data may be stored and retrieved for execution and use. In addition, the mobile device includes circuitry  116  that, for example, converts user input via the screen to a form usable by the processor  108 , implements cell phone capability, and/or implements other operational aspects commonly found in smartphones, the additional operational aspects being irrelevant to understanding the instant invention. Finally, the mobile device  102  includes appropriate transceiver circuitry  120  to allows it to wirelessly communicate with, for example, the transponders  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 , . . .  104 - n,  for example, using low power radio frequency (“RF”) signals, generally within the Industrial, Scientific and Medical (“ISM”) radio bands defined by the ITU Radiocommunication Sector (“ITU-R”) in 5.138, 5.150, and 5.280 of the Radio Regulations as adopted by the World Radiocommunication Conference. 
         [0016]    The transceiver circuitry  120  wirelessly communicates with the transponders  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 , . . .  104 - n  using an appropriate protocol, standard or proprietary. 
         [0017]    The transponders  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 , . . .  104 - n  are constructed to be small and easily affixed to those personal items  122 ,  124 ,  126  that the user wishes to maintain in their close proximity and, thus, have monitored. In the simplest implementation, the transponders are self-powered with a battery and configured to receive a signal from the transceiver circuitry and issue a signal, at a particular signal strength, that allows it to uniquely identify itself. It is understood that the term “unique” as used herein is intended to merely mean unique relative to the other transponders  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 , . . .  104 - n  that the user may also be using on other of their personal items so that they can be differentiated, and not universally unique. Depending upon the particular implementation, the uniquely identifying signal can be as simple as a unique number or a more complex identifier. 
         [0018]    The transponders  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 , . . .  104 - n  may be constructed, depending upon implementation, to continually emit its signal, to periodically emit its signal, or to monitor for receipt of a signal from the transceiver and respond with its identifier. 
         [0019]    Since it is well known that signal strength weakens according to the inverse square law, meaning that the signal strength is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the source, a doubling of the distance between the transponders  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 , . . .  104 - n  and the transceiver  120  of the mobile device  102  will result in a signal that is ¼ as strong, the tripling of the distance will result in a signal that is 1/9 as strong. Likewise, halving the distance between the transponders  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 , . . .  104 - n  and the transceiver  120  of the mobile device  102  will result in a signal 4× as strong as was received at the starting point. As such, the transponders  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 , . . .  104 - n  are constructed to emit a signal of sufficient strength to be received by the transceiver  120  of the mobile device  102  at a maximum separation distance of up to about 40 to about 50 feet (about 12 to about 15 meters). 
         [0020]    Thus, depending upon the particular implementation, when the distance between a transponder  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 , . . .  104 - n  and the transceiver  120  of the mobile device  102  exceeds that maximum separation distance, the transceiver  120  of the mobile device  102  will either not receive the signal at all or it will receive an attenuated signal whose strength is indicative of a distance in excess of that distance. In addition, with some implementations, since the received strength of the signal from a transponder  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 , . . .  104 - n  can be used to roughly determine its distance from the transceiver  120  of the mobile device  102 , a user can be allowed to specify a separation distance that is less than the maximum. In such implementations, programming of the mobile device  102  and its transceiver  120  will either (i) calculate an expected signal strength from the user-specified distance and compare the strength of the received signal to it, or (ii) based upon the received signal strength, calculate a corresponding distance and compare that calculated distance to the user-specified separation distance. Either way, if the result of the calculation is an indication that the specified distance has been exceeded, programming in the mobile device  102  will cause an alert to be issued to the user. 
         [0021]    Depending upon the particular implementation, the alert can be an audible alert issued through the speaker(s)  118 , it can be a visual alert displayed on the screen  106 , for mobile devices  102  that include a vibration capability, the alert could be a vibratory pattern, or the alert could be some combination thereof In addition, the mobile device  102  may cause the transponder  104 - 1 ,  104 - 2 , . . .  104 - n  to provide an audible, vibratory and/or visual alert. 
         [0022]    Having described representative hardware components of the proximity monitoring system, the operation from a user perspective will now be described. 
         [0023]      FIG. 2  illustrates, in simplified form, a representative example graphical user interface (“GUI”)  200  that can be displayed on the screen  106  of the mobile device  102  when the application program (“app”) is running thereon. As shown, the GUI  200  includes a slider  202  within which a user can specify a maximum separation distance between the mobile device  102  and a transceiver  104  by moving a pointer  204  to the desired maximum separation distance to be allowed. The GUI  200  also includes a series of check boxes  206  that can be selected or de-selected to indicate whether the associated transponder should be monitored. As shown, the GUI  200  is further configured to allow a user to associate in the GUI  200  a particular personal item with a particular transponder by, for example, touching a part  208  of the screen  106  corresponding to that particular transponder (labeled “Transponder A” through “Transponder J”) that is attached to that item, at which point, depending upon the particular implementation, a list of personal item types can be displayed or keyboard entry can be provided by the user to enter some form of identifier for the item. In the list example, a list of common personal item types, for example, Wallet, Backpack, Briefcase, Purse, Laptop, Tablet, Jewelry (or more specific terms, like Watch, Necklace, etc.), Stuffed Animal, Pet (live), Book, etc. 
         [0024]    Advantageously, in addition to being able to select the particular personal item(s) to be monitored, a user is not required to monitor the selected item(s) all the time. Thus, as shown, the GUI  200  includes an area  210  configured as an “On/Off” button which, when set to “On” causes the selected transponders to be monitored and, when set to “Off” precludes monitoring of any transponders, irrespective of whether or not they have been selected in the GUI  200 . 
         [0025]    Additionally, some variants of the GUI  200  may include one or more areas  212  where additional information can be displayed, for example, a company or a sponsor&#39;s logo, advertisements, alerts, etc. 
         [0026]    With the foregoing as background, a usage example will now be discussed to provide context for the foregoing with reference to  FIG. 3 . 
         [0027]      FIG. 3  illustrates, in simplified form, a representative alternative example GUI  300  for a proximity monitor system  100  implemented as described herein. 
         [0028]    For purposes of the example of  FIG. 3 , presume that a user has an implementation variant proximity monitoring system in use. To do so, they have installed the appropriate application program on their mobile device  102  and affixed transponders to their wallet, a tablet computer and their keys. Consequently, they have associated those items with the respective transponders in the GUI  300  and, using the check boxes, selected only the wallet and keys for monitoring. In addition, the user has specified the maximum allowable separation distance between the transponders and mobile device, in this interface, using the “radio button” representations  302  on the GUI  300  to a distance of 30 feet. Finally, presume that the user is in a restaurant and has left their keys on the table. 
         [0029]    Since the application is running, periodically (which could be every second, every minute, a certain number of times per minute), the transceiver  120  in the mobile device  102  checks for the presence of the selected two monitored transponders that are respectively coupled to the user&#39;s wallet and keys. Upon receipt of the signal from each, the application determines if the transponders are both within the specified distance based upon the received signal strength. During the entire meal, they are both within 30 feet of the mobile device  102 , so all is well. 
         [0030]    At the end of the meal, the user gets up from the table and does not notice that their keys are still on the table covered by a napkin. As the user heads towards the door, the distance between the transponders attached to the keys and the mobile device  102  increases until, at some point, the signal received by the transceiver  120  from the transponder attached to the keys drops such that the distance between the two exceeds the specified 30 feet. As a result, the application immediately triggers an alert for the user. As shown with this implementation example, the alert is made up of an audible alert tone  304  provided through the mobile device speakers, a physical vibratory alert  306  and a visual alert  308  in the GUI  300  displayed on the screen  106  of the mobile device  102 . Moreover, since the application knows which transponder is beyond the distance, an indication of that is optionally provided as well, in this case by highlighting the area  310  for that transponder labeled “Keys.” Thus, before they have gone too far, the user can return to the table and retrieve their keys. 
         [0031]    Having described and illustrated the principles of this application by reference to one or more preferred embodiments, it should be apparent that the preferred embodiment(s) may be modified in arraignments and detail without departing from the principles disclosed herein and that it is intended that the application be construed as including all such modifications and variations insofar as they come within the spirit and scope of the subject matter disclosed herein.