Abstract:
A phone sends information about its whereabouts periodically to a receiving part. The receiving part can then report the last location or information about the last known location of the phone. The query can return a map of both coarse and fine. This allows determining the location of the phone, even when the phone is off or not receiving cell service. A special message can be to the phone, indicating that the phone is trying to be found. This puts the phone into an “im lost” mode, from which it does not recover until a code is entered.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    As cell phones get smaller, it becomes easier to lose them. However, it is desirable for the cell phone to be small so that it can be easily carried by a user between different places. The small cell phone, which is desirable in so many other ways, is easy to put down and forget, easier to fall out of a pocket and just in general easier to lose. Users often lose their cell phones and have no way of finding them. 
         [0002]    One way of finding a cell phone have lost is to call its number and listen for the ring. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0003]    The inventor noticed, however, that calling a cell phone to find the cell phone is inherently a flawed way to find such a cell phone. Sometimes the phone is under something and it may be difficult or impossible to hear its ring. Sometimes the cell phone, especially when under something, is outside of cell server. The phone may have a depleted battery. The phone may be in a place where you can&#39;t hear it at all. 
         [0004]    Moreover, as phones become more sophisticated and smaller, it becomes progressively more difficult to find these phones when they are lost. 
         [0005]    According to an embodiment, a cellular phone location device is defined which allows users to find cellular phones that have been lost. 
         [0006]    An embodiment describes a phone that sends information about its whereabouts periodically to a receiving part. The receiving part can then report the last location or information about the last known location of the phone. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0007]      FIG. 1  shows a block diagram of the system; and 
           [0008]      FIG. 2  shows a flowchart of operation. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0009]    An embodiment is shown in  FIG. 1 . A cell phone  100  includes communication circuitry therein shown generally as  105 . The communication circuitry sends information to local cell towers, including any kind of information from the phone. The phone can also include a GPS device  110  that reports its location. However, the GPS device may be able to obtain accurate location information when having reception of multiple satellites—typically not indoor. A controller  102  controls the operation of the phone based on input commands and as shown in the flowchart of  FIG. 2 . 
         [0010]    According to an embodiment, the communication device  105  communicates with a number of different cell towers shown as  120 ,  121 ,  122 . However, only the closest cell tower  120  is the selected cell tower; all the others are deselected. However, the act of communicating infers that either the communication device  105 , or a cellular system computer shown generally as  130 , knows the identity of those cell towers  120 ,  121 ,  122  that are communicating with the cellular phone. The cellular computer  130  stores for each of a plurality of cellular phones (e.g. phone  100  which is shown as X 1 ), a position file shown as  132  which represents the position information of the cellular phone as last received. 
         [0011]    The position information can be the GPS coordinates of the last time that accurate GPS coordinates were obtained. The position information can also include a triangulation between the signals sent and received by towers  120 ,  121  and  122 . The position information  132  can be received from the phone. 
         [0012]    In an embodiment, the communication device  105  may include a processor or digital signal processor and/or may include an FPGA. This processing capability may determine information about the phone&#39;s location based on parameters such as triangulation and GPS. 
         [0013]    When sending pilots or other stay alive signals to the towers, the phone  100  may include information about a calculated or estimated position of the phone. As an alternative, the cellular computer  130  may calculate or estimate this position. This information can include information from multiple different sources, as described above. 
         [0014]    The position  132  is updated each time a new position is received or each time that information is received from telephone use from which a new position can be obtained, 
         [0015]    Information about the latest position of a cell phone is thus obtained and stored at many different times. The storage thus has the phone&#39;s most current whereabout. 
         [0016]    When a phone is lost, the user can execute the find routine shown in  FIG. 2 . At  200 , the system queries “where is phone X 1 ?”. This query may be done on an Internet website, or may be done on another cellular phone associated with the carrier that runs the computer  130 . The query is sent to the computer  130 . The last stored location of the phone is returned at  210 . In one embodiment, that last stored location is overlaid onto two maps: a coarse map showing street level details and a fine map showing as much detail as possible about the actual location. The coarse map may show a general location of where the phone was last seen as being located. Note that this location may be current, or may be a previous location. The phone location is shown for example on the street. From this, the user may be able to deduce where they left the phone—for example did they leave it in a department store or leave it on a street corner. If the area is near a place the user has visited, e.g. a friend&#39;s house etc, the user can deduce where they left the phone. 
         [0017]    Note, again, importantly, that this allows determining the location of the phone, even when the phone is off and/or when the phone is not receiving cell service. 
         [0018]    The fine map shown as  215  may show details about the last fix shown as  216  relative to known GPS landmarks. For example  216  may be based on a precise GPS location in longitude and latitude. Known longitude and latitude landmarks such as  218  and  219  may also be displayed. Trees, buildings, or other landmarks whose GPS coordinates are known may be included on the map. The fine map may show the last known coordinate relative to these other GPS coordinates. One important displayed landmark may be the user&#39;s place of residence and/or work. This can narrow down the search by informing the user that their phone is ‘at home’. 
         [0019]    The query causes a message to the now-lost phone indicating that a user is looking for the cell phone at  220 . 
         [0020]    An embodiment sends a text message as this message to the cell phone. 
         [0021]    The message to the cell phone puts the phone into a special find mode at  230 , that causes multiple different operations. The find mode may cause for example a periodic power-up mode. The phone increases its transmit power for a short time in order to transmit more assertively during the power up mode. The power up mode may be periodic, e.g., for example, one 2 second period of power up per 5 minutes. 
         [0022]    The message to the cell phone may also cause other actions to be taken by the cell. One embodiment initiates a find-me mode on the cell phone, where the cell phone begins audible tones and/or visual displays to enable its easier find. The tones may be loud tone emitted for example every 5 seconds. The displays may be bright alternatives between display on and display off. 
         [0023]    The find me mode can also prevent the phone from being used for outgoing calls. This may lock the phone into the find mode until the phone physically has a personal identification code entered. This may be a 4 digit pin. By locking the phone into the find mode, this in essence becomes an anti theft mode where even if the phone is stolen or falls into the wrong hands, it cannot be used for making calls after the loss/theft is reported. 
         [0024]    In another embodiment, when entering the query at  200 , the user may be required to enter identification which identifies to the system that the user making the query is the authorized user (e.g., the login and password for the user&#39;s account on the cellular system). At that point, the phone can be automatically locked down, and the user given a special code that unlocks the locked cell. For example, the user may be given a code in a screen such as shown in  205  which says that “the cell is now locked; enter 4567 on the cell to unlock”. The locked cellular phone therefore cannot be used by anyone who does not know the code. When the user finds their phone, they can enter the number 4567 to unlock it, and resume normal operation. The locking can be carried out, for example, by sending remote signals to the cell phone. These remote signals may be queued in the event of the phone is not currently sending or receiving information. 
         [0025]    In the find me mode, the phone becomes useless to a finder who is not the authorized user. In another embodiment, the cell phone may display on its display information about the real owner—such as “call 456-7890 for the authorized user”, or “deliver this lost phone to any VZW store for a $10 reward”, or “drop this in any mailbox to return to the user, postmaster, postage to VZW guaranteed”. 
         [0026]    Although only a few embodiments have been disclosed in detail above, other embodiments are possible and the inventor intends these to be encompassed within this specification. The specification describes specific examples to accomplish a more general goal that may be accomplished in another way. This disclosure is intended to be exemplary, and the claims are intended to cover any modification or alternative which might be predictable to a person having ordinary skill in the art. For example, other devices can be controlled in this way. Other forms of code entry can be used. For example, a code can be provided on an external device that can be transferred to the locked unit to unlock it. The find mode can be terminated by entering a code into the same Internet website where the find me mode was initially entered. 
         [0027]    Also, the inventor intends that only those claims which use the words “means for” are intended to be interpreted under 35 USC 112, sixth paragraph. Moreover, no limitations from the specification are intended to be read into any claims, unless those limitations are expressly included in the claims. 
         [0028]    The computers described herein may be any kind of computer, either general purpose, or some specific purpose computer such as a workstation. The computer may be a special purpose computer such as a PDA, cellphone, or laptop. 
         [0029]    The programs may be written in C or Python, or Java, Brew or any other programming language. The programs may be resident on a storage medium, e.g., magnetic or optical, e.g. the computer hard drive, a removable disk or media such as a memory stick or SD media, wired or wireless network based or Bluetooth based Network Attached Storage (NAS), or other removable medium or other removable medium. The programs may also be run over a network, for example, with a server or other machine sending signals to the local machine, which allows the local machine to carry out the operations described herein. 
         [0030]    Where a specific numerical value is mentioned herein, it should be considered that the value may be increased or decreased by 20%, while still staying within the teachings of the present application, unless some different range is specifically mentioned. Where a specified logical sense is used, the opposite logical sense is also intended to be encompassed.