Patent Description:
With the advent and substantial advancement of Global Positioning Systems (GPS), presently primarily used for navigation, artisans have recognized the opportunity to incorporate GPS technology into personnel tracking and pet containment. Several systems have been proposed in the literature for several decades, but these systems have not as yet become commercially viable.

One significant limitation of prior art GPS systems is the accuracy of the system. Accuracy can be dependent upon variables such as atmospheric variations, signal reflections and signal loss due to obstacles, and variability intentionally introduced into the system. Similar variability is found in various radio and cellular locating systems.

A GPS or similar navigation system that is accurate to plus or minus ten meters is very adequate for navigational purposes, for example to guide a person to a commercial building for a meeting or for other commerce. However, this level of accuracy is completely unacceptable for pet containment, personnel tracking, and machinery monitoring. For exemplary purposes, many residential yards are forty feet wide, or approximately <NUM> meters. A system that is only accurate to plus or minus ten meters might try to indicate a portable location tracking device as being in either neighbor's yard on any given day or at any given moment, depending upon unpredictable and uncontrollable variables such as atmospheric conditions. As will be readily appreciated, this unpredictable locating will lead to incorrect actions and alerts, when, in fact, the portable location tracking device is within the proper location. In turn, this will seriously erode confidence in the system, and can lead to very undesirable disregard for alerts issued by the apparatus.

Another limitation is the amount of calculation required to determine whether the portable location tracking device is within a selected area. Most prior art GPS systems use nodes to define the perimeter, and then mathematically calculate where the portable location tracking device is relative to the nodes. Unfortunately, this requires a substantial amount of computation, which increases greatly as the number of nodes are increased. As a result, these systems commonly rely upon a primary processing system that is remote from the portable location tracking device, to which the portable location tracking device is coupled via radio waves or the like. This permits the primary processing system to perform calculations and then relay results or control signals back to the portable location tracking device. Undesirably, this also drains precious battery power, limiting usable time between battery recharge cycles, and again makes the portable location tracking device dependent upon communication with a monitoring apparatus. In addition, the need for a secondary base station makes the system far less portable. For exemplary and non-limiting purpose, this means that taking the portable location tracking device away from a home base to a park may be impractical or impossible.

A further limitation of the prior art is battery life. A portable location tracking device that must be removed and recharged every few hours is unacceptable for most purposes. Unfortunately, the intensive computations required by prior art systems require either a fast and consequently higher power processor unit, or a high power and continuous communications link such as a radio link to a base station. While the portable location tracking device may transmit data back to the base unit to avoid the need for complex computational ability, even the transmission of position information and the reception of portable location tracking device actions requires a reasonably powered radio. It will be apparent that walkie-talkies, cell phones and other hand-held radio devices all have very large batteries to provide adequate transmission and reception life, and yet these devices often only support several hours of communications. As can be appreciated, size and weight are severely restricted for a small and portable location tracking device, and the inclusion of a large battery is undesirable.

Yet another limitation of the prior art is the unintentional blocking or loss of GPS signals. There are a number of conditions that can lead to loss of GPS signals. One is unfavorable weather, which can lead to a severely attenuated satellite signal, and much higher Signal to Noise Ratios (SNR). Another condition is an adjacent building, canyon wall, or other obstacle that blocks satellite signals. Such a signal might, for exemplary purposes, either block all signals such as commonly occurs within a building, or instead may only block signals from one direction. However, GPS systems require multiple satellites to obtain a position fix, and even if only one of the satellites is blocked, then the ability to accurately fix position may be lost. Another situation that can lead to signal loss is when the portable location tracking device itself is covered. In such case, then satellite signals may either be blocked or be too severely attenuated.

In any of these situations where the GPS signal is partially or completely blocked or attenuated, the latitudinal and longitudinal positional accuracy will either be inadequate, or may be completely lost. In such instances, a prior art portable location tracking device may become completely non-functional. Worse, this loss of function can occur without notice in an erratic manner, possibly causing severe harm or complete disruption or loss of the intended function.

The following patents and published patent applications are believed to be exemplary of the most relevant prior art, and the teachings and contents of each are incorporated herein by reference: <CIT>, entitled "Navigational plotting system"; <CIT>, entitled "Navigation system including an integrated electronic chart display"; <CIT>, entitled "Navigation warning system and method"; <CIT>, entitled "Automatic guided vehicle system"; <CIT>, entitled "Fixed curved path waypoint transition for aircraft"; <CIT>, entitled "Electronic assembly for restricting animals to defined areas"; <CIT>, entitled "System for sea navigation or traffic control/assistance"; <CIT>, entitled "Animal training method using positive and negative audio stimuli"; <CIT>, entitled "Animal control apparatus"; <CIT>, entitled "Position monitoring for communicable and uncommunicable mobile stations"; <CIT>, entitled "Wireless pet containment system"; <CIT>, entitled "Portable locating system"; <CIT>, entitled "Method and apparatus for controlling animals with electronic fencing"; <CIT>, entitled "Vehicle location method and system"; <CIT>, entitled "Arrestee monitoring with variable site boundaries"; <CIT>, entitled "Air combat monitoring system and methods and apparatus useful therefor"; <CIT>, entitled "Locator device"; <CIT>, entitled "System and method for accurate and efficient geodetic database retrieval"; <CIT>, entitled "Position and physiological data monitoring and control system for animal herding"; <CIT>, entitled "Animal training and tracking device having global positioning satellite unit"; <CIT>, entitled "Fenceless animal control system using GPS location information"; <CIT>, entitled "Pressure sensitive animal training device"; <CIT>, entitled "Location method and apparatus"; <CIT>, entitled "Satellite relay collar and programmable electronic boundary system for the containment of animals"; <CIT>, entitled "Pet locator system"; <CIT>, entitled "Pet locator"; <CIT>, entitled "Animal control system using global positioning and instrumental animal conditioning"; <CIT>, entitled "GPS restraint system and method for confining a subject within a defined area"; <CIT>, entitled "Mobile object locator"; <CIT>, entitled "Dog behavior monitoring and training apparatus"; <CIT>, entitled "Satellite animal containment system with programmable Boundaries"; <CIT>, entitled "Automotive GPS control system"; <CIT>, entitled "Object locator"; <CIT>, entitled "Pet locator"; <CIT>, entitled "Portable position determining device"; <CIT>, entitled "Dog behavior monitoring and training apparatus"; <CIT>, entitled "Mobile object locator"; <CIT>, entitled "Portable electronic multi-sensory animal containment and tracking device"; <CIT>, entitled "Animal containment system having a dynamically changing perimeter"; <CIT>, entitled "Satellite animal containment system with programmable boundaries"; <CIT>, entitled "System and method for training of animals"; <CIT>, entitled "DGPS animal containment system"; <CIT>, entitled "Method and apparatus for training and for constraining a subject to a specific area"; <CIT>, entitled "Large area position/proximity correction device with alarms using (D)GPS technology"; <CIT>, entitled "Apparatus and method for keeping pets in a defined boundary having exclusion areas"; <CIT>, entitled "System and method for computer-controlled animal toy"; <CIT>, entitled "Dog training device"; <CIT>, entitled "Method, device, device arrangement and computer program for tracking a moving object"; <CIT>, entitled "Traveling invisible electronic containment perimeter - method and apparatus"; <CIT>, entitled "Position and proximity detection systems and methods"; <CIT>, entitled "Remote animal training system using voltage-to-frequency conversion"; <CIT>, entitled "Reverse RFID location system"; <CIT>, entitled "Mobile telephone dog training tool and method"; <CIT>, entitled "Pet restraint system"; <CIT>, entitled "GPS pet containment system and method"; <CIT>, entitled "Method and apparatus for acquiring local position and overlaying information"; <CIT>, entitled "Sensor collar system"; <CIT>, entitled "Electronic pet containment system"; <CIT>, entitled "Method and apparatus to determine actionable position and speed in GNSS applications"; and <CIT> and <CIT>, entitled "GPS Explorer".

Other US patents published applications, the teachings and content which are incorporated herein by reference, include: <CIT>, entitled "Dog collar"; <CIT>, entitled "Mobile tracking units employing motion sensors for reducing power consumption therein"; <CIT>, entitled "Animal training apparatus and method"; <CIT>, entitled "Dual transmitter pet confinement and training system"; <CIT>, entitled "Portable position determining device"; <CIT>, entitled "Large area position/proximity correction device with alarms using (D)GPS technology"; <CIT>, entitled "Wireless fencing system"; <CIT>, entitled "Large area position/proximity correction device with alarms using (D)GPS technology"; <CIT>, entitled "Configurable inertial navigation system with dual extended kalman filter modes"; <CIT>, entitled "Large area position/proximity correction device with alarms using (D)GPS technology"; <CIT>, entitled "Method, device, device arrangement and computer program for tracking a moving object"; <CIT>, entitled "System and Method for Remote Guidance of an Animal to and from a Target Destination"; <CIT>, entitled "Position Tracking System and Method Using Radio Signals and Inertial Sensing"; <CIT>, entitled "Personal Locations Detection System"; <CIT>, entitled "Wireless Fencing System with Tetherless Leash"; <CIT>, Entitled "Intelligent Mobile Asset Management System"; <CIT>, entitled "Wireless Fencing System"; <CIT>, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Training and for Constraining a subject to a specific area"; <CIT>, entitled "Positioning system that uses signals from a point source"; <CIT>, entitled "Virtual fence"; <CIT>, entitled "Animal Tracking Apparatus and Method"; <CIT>, entitled "System and Method for automatically generating sets of geo-fences"; <CIT>, entitled "Automatic GPS tracking system with passive battery circuitry"; <CIT>, entitled "Systems and methods for dynamically determining position"; <CIT>, entitled "Position monitoring system"; <CIT>, entitled "System and method for controlling a planter"; <CIT>, entitled "Using base-station location to assist mobile-device system acquisition"; <CIT>, entitled "Electronic Fence System"; <CIT>, entitled "Determination of time zone andDST participation"; <CIT>, entitled "mobile device positioning in a constrained environment"; <CIT>, entitled "Pet Restraint System"; <CIT>, entitled "docking system and apparatus to track and stimulate an animal"; <CIT>, entitled "Smart phone based electronic fence system"; <CIT>, entitled "Personal security and tracking system"; <CIT>, entitled "Method and apparatus using geofence to track individual group members"; <CIT>, entitled "Animal Indicator Apparatus"; <CIT>, entitled "Methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture to measure geographical features using an image of a geographical location"; <CIT>, entitled "Pet restraint System"; <CIT>, entitled "System and method for remote guidance of an animal to and from a target destination".

The present inventor has also previously developed various apparatus and methods that have decreased computational requirements and RAM required sufficiently to provide a fully self-contained apparatus that may both track location and take appropriate actions responsive to predetermined zones stored within RAM. The apparatus and associated methods are disclosed in <CIT> and published application <CIT>, as well as a number of other pending applications including <CIT> which discloses a wireless location assisted zone guidance system. The relevant teachings and content which are incorporated herein by reference.

While each of the foregoing patents and published applications have offered tangible features and benefits, there has continued to remain a need for improved methods and apparatus to safely and securely monitor the location of a portable location tracking device. Using the aforementioned technology, a parent is now able to track and monitor the location of a child, a friend can monitor and track the location of another friend, and an elderly patient with dementia can be tracked and monitored, with the intent to keep them safe. These goals are of course desirable and highly beneficial.

However, with the introduction of the various location tracking apparatus has come a sometimes highly undesirable side effect. Not only can a parent track the location of the child, but so can a would-be kidnapper. A valuable package can be tracked not only by the owner, but also by a thief. To reduce the chance for this corruption of an otherwise very beneficial set of tracking apparatus, a system may be provided with encryption. Unfortunately, not only has encryption improved, but so has the entire field of cryptography, including decryption. While an apparatus may today be provided with an encryption code or apparatus that may be difficult or time-consuming to break, in only a matter of a few short months or years, the hardware and software used for cryptography may advance sufficiently to render these encryptions useless against even a poorly skilled hacker. Further, this encryption and decryption once more requires processor intense operation, which is as already noted herein above quite detrimental to both battery life and hardware costs.

As maybe apparent then, in spite of the enormous advancements and substantial research and development that has been conducted, there still remains a need for an improved apparatus that operates in a self-sufficient manner, and that may further safely and securely communicate with a monitoring apparatus.

In addition to the foregoing, <NPL>, is incorporated herein by reference in entirety for the definitions of words and terms used herein.

The present invention and the preferred and alternative embodiments have been developed with a number of objectives in mind. While not all of these objectives are found in or required of every embodiment, these objectives nevertheless provide a sense of the general intent and the many possible benefits that are available from ones of the various embodiments of the present invention.

A first object of the invention is to provide a safe and secure apparatus for monitoring the location of a portable location tracking device. From the descriptions provided herein and the teachings incorporated by reference herein above, it will be apparent that the present invention may be applied in certain instances to humans, livestock, pets, or other animals, machinery, and other diverse apparatus. A second object of the invention is to provide a fully self-contained apparatus that will determine location and take various appropriate actions or inactions based upon that location for extended periods of operation. As a corollary, the fully self-contained portable location tracking device is preferably operational with universally available location systems, including but not limited to satellite GPS, cellular telephone triangulation systems, and radio triangulation system such as Loran, but may alternatively be provided with a custom location system if so desired. By using universally available location systems, there is no limit on the locations where the apparatus may be used. Another object of the present invention is to enable simple and efficient set-up and operation by a person. A further object of the invention is to efficiently and expeditiously apply a portable location tracking device to a subject to be tracked, whether the subject is animate or inanimate, with minimal training time and knowledge required for proper and effective use of the apparatus. Yet another obj ect of the present invention is to enable the establishment of an acceptable area or "safe zone" which may have very complex geometry using only the self-contained portable location tracking device, and to adjust or redefine the area again by simple manipulation of the self-contained portable location tracking device. An additional object of the invention is to enable the self-contained portable location tracking device to automatically generate a number of zones that facilitate desired use and generation of action, including when so desired a set of progressive zones that may share a common action that escalates as the zones are progressively penetrated. An even further object of the invention is to facilitate very secure and very low-power communication from a portable location tracking device to a monitoring apparatus on an "as-needed" basis that may for exemplary and non-limiting purpose include one of status, current zone, or offset from a reference point.

The foregoing and other objects, advantages, and novel features of the present invention can be understood and appreciated by reference to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:.

In a preferred embodiment wireless location assisted zone guidance system <NUM> designed in accord with the teachings of the present invention, a person might want to monitor a child, pet, machine, or other animate or inanimate object located within an example property <NUM> such as that illustrated in <FIG>. An outer limit of the property <NUM> may encompass one or more buildings <NUM>, a driveway <NUM>, and a mailbox <NUM>. For exemplary purposes, a mailbox may be located on a small peninsula <NUM> which could extend beyond the bounds of the particular property location.

A self-contained portable location tracking device <NUM>, which might for exemplary purposes and not solely limiting thereto resemble that illustrated in <FIG>, will preferably contain the necessary electronic components to perform a number of tasks as described herein. Some exemplary components include: components to receive and decipher location determining signals through GPS location determination apparatus <NUM>; a microprocessor, programmable logic controller, or any other equivalent or suitable apparatus <NUM>; a data exchange apparatus <NUM> which might comprise a radio or other communications hardware; and also preferably both volatile and non-volatile memory such as RAM <NUM> and non-volatile storage <NUM>.

In the preferred embodiment wireless location assisted zone guidance system <NUM> as illustrated in <FIG>, a plurality of satellites <NUM> transmit GPS signals, which may then be received and converted to latitude and longitude references by the GPS location determination apparatus <NUM>. These latitude and longitude references are then communicated from GPS location determination apparatus <NUM> to microprocessor <NUM>. While latitude and longitude references are preferred, in alternative embodiments any suitable coordinate reference representative of a geographic area may be used.

A new area may be established such as described in greater detail in my <CIT> and published application <CIT> incorporated herein above by reference, or by any other suitable technique. In one embodiment described therein, outer limit <NUM> is traversed, while the GPS location determination apparatus <NUM> and microprocessor <NUM> track these locations and store them in either or both of RAM <NUM> and non-volatile storage <NUM>. In an alternative embodiment, maps created upon or stored within various computing devices may be transferred through data exchange <NUM> and microprocessor <NUM> to either or both of RAM <NUM> and non-volatile storage <NUM>.

Next, microprocessor <NUM> or other suitable processor will preferably automatically convert this outer limit <NUM> into a table <NUM> of values such as illustrated for exemplary purposes in <FIG>. The embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented with a general purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor maybe any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices.

While the numerals <NUM>-<NUM> illustrated in table <NUM> are used therein for the purposes of the present illustration, any suitable designations, whether numeric or not, may be used. As but one example, the numerals <NUM>-<NUM> represent four choices, and so may easily be represented by two bits of data. In such case, the possible combinations are binary <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM>. Furthermore, the present invention is not limited solely to four choices, and any number of choices, including both more and fewer than four, determined by a designer to be appropriate for the apparatus that is otherwise generally compliant with the remainder of the present description will be understood to be incorporated herein.

While <FIG> illustrates an exemplary outline of an area, which is a subset of the total property, the area can be of any geometry, and in the example is somewhat irregular.

In the preferred embodiment wireless location assisted zone guidance system <NUM>, a number of different zones are defined based upon the traversal of outer limit <NUM> during initial setup. The area beyond outer limit <NUM> is defined by an "out-of-bounds" zone <NUM> represented by a numerical value of zero at each discrete data table location. Immediately inside of the zero-value locations is a zone of locations assigned a numerical value of one. This will be referred to herein as the "second alert zone" <NUM>. Between "out-of-bounds" zone <NUM> and "second alert zone" <NUM> in <FIG>, a dashed line <NUM> has been drawn for illustrative purposes. This line does not actually exist in stored data table <NUM>, but instead helps to better illustrate the various zones that are defined by the various location values.

A plurality of discrete locations relatively inward from the second alert zone <NUM> are assigned a numerical value of two, and represent a "first alert zone" <NUM>. Again, for the purpose of illustration only, a dashed line <NUM> is shown separating first alert zone <NUM> from second alert zone <NUM>. Again, and like line <NUM>, this line <NUM> does not actually exist in the stored data table, and is provided solely for illustrative purposes.

Finally, an innermost "safe zone" <NUM> preferably intentionally encompasses the largest area of all zones and is populated with discrete location values assigned to equal the numerical value of three. Dashed line <NUM>, like lines <NUM> and <NUM>, indicates the separate zones, but does not exist in the stored data table.

As is evident when reviewing <FIG>, line <NUM> corresponds approximately to outer limit <NUM> and so is shared by both reference numerals. Due to the discrete nature of the resolution of the particular position determining system, such as a GPS system in preferred embodiment wireless location assisted zone guidance system <NUM>, the points defined during the traversal of outer limit <NUM> may or may not exactly correspond to the land location. In addition, since outer limit <NUM> may not be linear, and may instead include a number of irregularities such as peninsula <NUM> and slightly cropped corners <NUM> and <NUM> referenced in <FIG>, the data points more interior but generally adjacent to these irregularities will have variability in their associated geometries relative to that of the outer limit <NUM>. So, and again for exemplary purposes, peninsula <NUM> is too narrow to provide for the as-illustrated exemplary two data point width provided for each zone. Nevertheless, there is a single data point of numerical value <NUM> protruding at reference numeral <NUM> illustrated in <FIG>. Consequently, as outer limit <NUM> was traversed at set-up, a self-contained portable location tracking device <NUM> may reach the base of mail box <NUM>, which is located at this single data point of numerical value <NUM> at reference numeral <NUM>, without passing into the second alert zone. Nevertheless, the self-contained portable location tracking device <NUM> will still pass into the first alert zone, and an action associated with the first alert zone will be initiated and carried out. Similarly, the intricacies of notched corner <NUM> are lost as the corner becomes a simple square corner at reference numeral <NUM> of <FIG>. Likewise, the elaborate stepping of cropped corner <NUM> fades some to simpler corner <NUM>, and becomes a very simple single curve at more interior corner <NUM>.

Also strictly for the purpose of illustration, and not limiting the invention solely thereto, two GPS location points are used as the width of each of the first alert and second alert zones. Consequently, in the embodiment as illustrated, each of these first alert and second alert zones are calculated to be approximately two GPS points in width. It will be understood herein that the width of the alert zones may be predetermined to be more or less than the exemplary and illustrated two data points. Furthermore, the number of alert zones may be varied from the two zones that are illustrated.

While the alert zone areas are, in fact, two data points wide, the width of the alert zones at sharp transition points, such as corners, may be greater or less than two data points in width. The particular decisions for how to shape interior zones will be determined by algorithms chosen or written by a designer at design time. Furthermore, there may be times where assisted guidance zones may take on a very irregular shape. This can occur, for exemplary purposes, when there is a narrow peninsula between two larger safe zones. When there is not sufficient room for the predetermined number of alert zone location points, such as within peninsula <NUM> of <FIG>, in the preferred embodiment the data point calculations still begin with the second alert zone value adjacent to the "out of bounds" area. This presents consistent operation near the borders, and provides more consistent system behavior, which in some cases may be very important.

As may be apparent, a person may choose where to traverse in order to control the formation of various zones. As an example, a person trying to create a larger buffer adjacent a high traffic road would, when setting up the zones, simply walk an outer limit farther from the edge of the road. This maintains more consistent alert zone widths, which is believed to offer better communication and training for animate beings than varying the width of the alert zones. Nevertheless, and alternatively, it is contemplated herein to allow a person, the system, or self-contained portable location tracking device <NUM> to vary the width of alert zones to correspond with various objects or hazards such as fences, gardens, and roadways.

<FIG> illustrates the data table <NUM> representation of the land area of <FIG>, but without the land features shown. A latitude and longitude land map is converted to and saved as an X-Y plot or table of points, where one axis (in this case the rows, also referred to as the abscissa) represents latitude and the other axis (in this case as illustrated, the columns, also referred to as the ordinate) represents longitude. Each point is then assigned a numerical value that is representative of a zone within the assisted guidance region.

These points may for exemplary purposes and in accord with the preferred embodiment, correspond to specific points of geographic latitude and longitude determined to a particular degree of resolution. The degree of resolution may typically be the limit of precision available for a particular location system, such as six decimals of precision in a GPS system. So, as represented in <FIG>, the latitude and longitude representations are presented to six decimal precision, though other suitable levels of precision are considered incorporated herein.

Noteworthy herein is the fact that the data points do not correspond to an exact measure in feet or inches. Instead, and as known in the industry of mapping, a single second of longitude at the equator is the equivalent of approximately <NUM> feet. In contrast, a single second of longitude at sixty degrees north latitude, which is approximately the location of Oslo, Norway; Helsinki, Finland; and Anchorage, Alaska; is only approximately <NUM> feet. Taken to the extreme, at the north and south poles, a second of longitude is zero feet. For prior art systems attempting to calculate distances in feet or inches, this deviation of longitudinal distance as the collar moves away from the equator drastically increases the complexity of calculations required. In contrast, the present example directly associates GPS data points with zones, and disregards the distance in feet or inches that this may be equivalent to.

Storage of data table <NUM> requires memory, and a suitable electronic system within self-contained portable location tracking device <NUM> will not be provided with unlimited memory within which to store data points. The particular type of memory selected is well within the level of skill of a designer of portable devices using micro-processors, micro-controllers and the like, and the invention is not limited to a single or particular type of memory. In accord with a preferred embodiment of the system, the memory will be divided into some combination of slower non-volatile storage <NUM> and relatively faster but volatile RAM <NUM>. The slower, non-volatile memory for exemplary but non-limiting purposes might comprise well-known flash memory.

A reference location within table <NUM> will be determined. This reference location may be any position within the table. For exemplary and non-limiting purposes, a reference location will be selected from the centroid of the intended safe zone as labeled in <FIG>, the minimum latitude and longitude of the zone or data table, or even some other location entirely. For the purposes of illustrating the present preferred embodiment wireless location assisted zone guidance system <NUM>, the lower-left corner may be understood to be the reference location, identified as reference point <NUM> in the illustration of <FIG>.

The data table <NUM> populated with zone values as illustrated in <FIG> and <FIG> needs to be stored within both self-contained portable location tracking device <NUM> and monitoring apparatus <NUM>. This may be achieved through any suitable communication, such as through a communication invoked between tracking device data exchange <NUM> and monitoring apparatus data exchange <NUM>. While any means of communication maybe invoked, alternatives to the field operation method of communication are preferred. For exemplary and non-limiting purpose, Near Field Communication (NFC), direct wired connection, or other alternative communications channel may be used to provide an initiation of both devices <NUM>, <NUM>, such as a transfer of the reference point and map of zones. In another embodiment, an encrypted communication may be used to transfer such information. By invoking this initial transfer using an alternative mode of communication, particularly one such as the direct wired connection or NFC that is much less susceptible to being externally hacked, a third party will not have access to data table <NUM> or the reference point such as either the safe zone centroid or reference point <NUM>.

Once data table <NUM> and a suitable reference point such as reference point <NUM> have been shared between self-contained portable location tracking device <NUM> and monitoring apparatus <NUM>, preferred embodiment wireless location assisted zone guidance system <NUM> can begin operation.

When operational, self-contained portable location tracking device <NUM> will receive GPS signal transmissions from a plurality of satellites <NUM>, typically three or more satellites. The received signals are converted by GPS location determination apparatus <NUM> into latitude and longitude references, which are then forwarded to and received by microprocessor <NUM>. Microprocessor <NUM> will use the current latitude and longitude signal forwarded from GPS location determination apparatus <NUM> to find the location within data table <NUM> corresponding to the current location.

The offset determination may be as simple as a simple subtraction of the reference location, such as reference point <NUM> of <FIG>, from the currently determined location. Then, this difference is used as the table index, to directly address the particular table location. In the preferred embodiment, each data point is stored in memory using a double-indexed array, with each of the two indices of the array uniquely representing one of the latitudinal or longitudinal offset from the reference point. For exemplary purposes, this may be written as ArrayName[latitude-offset][longitude-offset]. Each unique [latitude-offset][longitude-offset] may for exemplary purposes point to a unique location in memory where the zone value associated with that geographic location is stored.

In an alternative embodiment, the offset may be additionally converted in a proportional or scalar calculation, where a particular number of degrees of latitude, for example, are known to equal one data point shift to the right in table <NUM>. This requires storing the scalar conversion and an extra scalar calculation to look up the data value for a location, both which may be undesirable for some applications.

Once the offset is calculated, then microprocessor <NUM> will query the memory location and the contents of the memory are returned in the form of a numerical value from <NUM>-<NUM>, the meaning which represents whether the self-contained portable location tracking device <NUM> is comfortably within the safe zone ("<NUM>" in the preferred embodiment), or is in the first alert ("<NUM>" in the preferred embodiment), second alert ("<NUM>" in the preferred embodiment), or out-of-bounds zones. After GPS location is determined, the only calculation required during operation of self-contained portable location tracking device <NUM> to determine whether device <NUM> is within an assisted guidance zone is the calculation of offset in latitude and longitude from the reference point, such as reference point <NUM> in the lower left corner of table <NUM>. This is a very rapid and easy calculation, followed by a near-instantaneous read of the memory contents. In the preferred embodiment wireless location assisted zone guidance system <NUM> then, all numerical representation calculations are performed at the time the outer limit is defined, and then these numerical representation tiles are saved, preferably in non-volatile storage <NUM> such as within EEPROM, flash memory, or equivalent storage. Saving in non-volatile storage <NUM> allows the stored map to be used at a later date, even if the battery should fail in the interim.

The procedure used to clear a map from non-volatile storage <NUM> is also quite simple in the preferred embodiment. Once the user selects to delete the map, the associated memory locations are simply rewritten to numerical values of zero; or simply deleted from a directory of memory or a file allocation table; or otherwise deleted as known in the field of computing.

When more than one map is desired to be saved, the data tables containing zone values may be swapped into and out of active memory as required. This means that storage of diverse locations does not require storage of every location in between. So, for example, storage of two distinct one acre maps on opposite sides of the earth does not require storing millions of acres of maps. Instead, only the data table associated with a latitude and longitude actually needed is required to be stored in memory. While the use of these smaller data tables is not essential to the operation of the present invention, the ability to create these means that with only very modest amounts of memory and processing capability, the present invention may be used to map one or a plurality of assisted guidance regions literally anywhere on earth.

Using the teachings of the present invention, the self-contained portable location tracking device <NUM> may be designed to contain an entire and independent wireless location assisted zone guidance system. In other words, no additional components would need to be purchased or acquired, nor is there a need for any other external device other than the plurality of GPS satellites <NUM>. Self-contained portable location tracking device <NUM> will preferably interact directly with GPS signals received from GPS satellites <NUM>, and may for enablement use a commercially available set of components to determine latitude and longitude.

A number of other features may also desirably or optionally be incorporated into a preferred embodiment wireless location assisted zone guidance system <NUM>. Some of these are described and set forth in my <CIT> and published application <CIT> incorporated herein above by reference.

In addition, in accord with the present preferred embodiment wireless location assisted zone guidance system <NUM>, a monitoring apparatus <NUM> will also be provided. Monitoring apparatus <NUM> in preferred embodiment wireless location assisted zone guidance system <NUM> may for exemplary and non-limiting purpose have a GPS location determination apparatus <NUM>; a microprocessor <NUM>; a data exchange apparatus <NUM>; RAM <NUM>; and non-volatile storage <NUM>. GPS location determination apparatus <NUM> is optional and not required for the essential features of the invention, but may offer benefit in some situations, such as the physical tracking of self-contained portable location tracking device <NUM> with a portable monitoring apparatus <NUM>.

As noted herein above, the provision of data exchange apparatuses <NUM>, <NUM> allows assisted guidance region maps and reference point to be communicated from an external computing device. This may be from another self-contained portable location tracking device <NUM>, a monitoring apparatus <NUM>, or from a cellular telephone or various other mobile or fixed computing devices. To facilitate such transfer, self-contained portable location tracking device <NUM> and monitoring apparatus <NUM> will preferably be provided with a local interface, such as through data exchange apparatus <NUM>, <NUM>. The local interface may be of any suitable type, including but not limited to wireless Bluetooth™, NFC, cellular, or other type of radio or alternative communications link, or wired communications channel.

Once a reference point and data table have been transferred between or to both of self-contained portable location tracking device <NUM> and monitoring apparatus <NUM>, the only data required to be transferred from a self-contained portable location tracking device <NUM> to a wireless communications monitoring apparatus <NUM> is the number of map points offset from the reference point that represents the current location of portable location tracking device <NUM>. In other words, if the portable location tracking device is at position <NUM> in <FIG>, this location is offset from reference point <NUM> by three points along the X-axis or abscissa, and six points along the Y-axis or ordinate. Portable location tracking device <NUM> may simply transmit the offset from reference as the two integers "<NUM>" and "<NUM>" sequentially. Upon receipt of "<NUM><NUM>", wireless communications monitoring apparatus <NUM> through microprocessor <NUM> will calculate the "<NUM><NUM>" offsets using data table <NUM> to determine the exact location of portable location tracking device <NUM>, and can additionally immediately assess that self-contained portable location tracking device <NUM> is located in the first alert zone. If this location is intended to initiate some action, event, or sequence of events within wireless communications monitoring apparatus <NUM>, then through control of microprocessor <NUM> such action, event, or sequence will be initiated. As a further example, position <NUM> might be represented by offsets of four and three, or simply "<NUM><NUM>".

As portable location tracking device <NUM> moves from location to location, GPS location determination <NUM> continues to provide location information to microprocessor <NUM>. As a result, portable location tracking device <NUM> is location-aware, and with changes in either time or location, portable location tracking device <NUM> will autonomously check the onboard map to determine a zone value, and act, if needed.

Since status processing happens locally within portable location tracking device <NUM>, the device only needs to communicate when there is a problem or action required at monitoring apparatus <NUM>, or to give infrequent time-interval based updates to confirm proper operation and signal lack of problem or action required. In addition, there may be times where an action is initiated by some combination of current location, location history, and time.

The transmission by portable location tracking device <NUM> may simply be a signal representative of the two offset numbers. There are several benefits to this extremely compact transmission of the two numbers, including battery preservation and location security.

A short and compact transmission requires very little power, so batteries will last longer. This is very complementary to the portable location tracking device <NUM> being autonomous and location aware, and so also requiring very few transmissions. This combination of few and compact transmissions provides very little drain on batteries.

Another benefit of the compact transmission of the two offset numbers is that a third party receiving the transmission will not have enough information to reveal the location of the portable tracking device without also knowing the reference point. Therefore, location security is preserved even if third parties may intercept the transmission from portable location tracking device <NUM>. In addition, a short and compact transmission is also much more difficult to locate through triangulation or other technique, meaning the location of portable location tracking device <NUM> is extremely difficult to discern by untrustworthy third parties. Therefore, a short "burst" transmission at infrequent intervals both improves battery life and greatly enhances security of preferred embodiment wireless location assisted zone guidance system <NUM>.

As described above, in an alternative embodiment, the offset may be additionally converted in a proportional or scalar calculation, where a particular number of degrees of latitude, for example, are known to equal one data point shift to the right in table <NUM>. This requires storing the scalar conversion and an extra scalar calculation to look up the data value for a location. In a further alternative embodiment, this scale factor can be leveraged to improve security and battery life further.

In this embodiment, the scale factor is transferred between or to each self-contained portable location tracking device <NUM> and monitoring apparatus <NUM> at or about the same time as the data table <NUM> and reference point are provided. This scale factor will further obfuscate the location of portable location tracking device <NUM>. For exemplary purposes, if the scale factor is <NUM>, the accuracy of the location would be about <NUM> meter at <NUM> degrees in latitude. However, if the scale factor is higher, then the accuracy would be lower. This has two benefits. First, a third party recipient of the transmitted offset would have no idea what the scale factor would be, so even if they knew the pre-shared reference location, they still would not know the actual location of the person. Secondly, as the scale factor increases, the amount of times a portable location tracking device <NUM> would need to transmit goes down, which saves on battery.

While the two number (Lat-Lon offset)transmission described herein above is most compact, sending the two offsets in sequence and without any separator risks confusion. If, for example if there are a total of three digits, there is uncertainty whether the middle digit might apply to latitude offset or to longitude offset. Consequently, there will preferably be either a short time gap in the transmission or other predetermined separator signal or character between the two offsets. In addition, a predetermined "finished" or "end of transmission" signal can avoid the risk of misinterpretation of the data if a signal were lost or truncated before complete transmission.

In situations where there may be more than one portable location tracking device <NUM> operating within an allocated communications channel, and where these tracking devices may potentially overlap in location, a "station identifier" that is unique to each portable location tracking device <NUM> will also preferably be transmitted. This avoids confusion over which portable location tracking device <NUM> is transmitting. However, in those embodiments where either the communications channels can be kept separate, or the locations of the portable location tracking devices <NUM> will be unique to a particular device and not be shared by two devices, then the station identifier will not be required.

In preferred embodiment wireless location assisted zone guidance system <NUM>, the signals are transmitted uni-directionally from portable location tracking device <NUM> to any device equipped to receive the signal. As described herein above, this preserves a short transmission burst, and improves security of the system.

Nevertheless, in alternative embodiments, a bi-directional transmission may be desired. When so desired, an acknowledgment or the like may be transmitted from wireless communications monitoring apparatus <NUM> to portable location tracking device <NUM> to confirm receipt of a complete transmission. In addition, bidirectional communications enable monitoring apparatus <NUM> to query portable location tracking device <NUM> of status or location when so desired. For many applications, this ability to query may be highly desirable.

However, any benefits of bidirectional communication must still be weighed against potential loss of security. One attack vector is "pinging" portable location tracking device <NUM>, to cause repeated transmissions that can be used to triangulate the location of portable location tracking device <NUM>. The risk of this type of attack in some embodiments is mitigated by limiting how often portable location tracking device <NUM> is allowed to respond to such queries through limits that may for exemplary and non-limiting purpose be set in software and enforced by microprocessor <NUM>. In addition, in a bidirectional communications implementation of preferred embodiment wireless location assisted zone guidance system <NUM>, there will most preferably be provided further encryption or "station identification", in some embodiments with further password or key validation or other known security techniques, making it much more difficult and time-consuming for adversarial access and location determination.

As aforementioned, there will preferably be multiple zones in the assisted guidance region. For exemplary and non-limiting purposes, in preferred embodiment wireless location assisted zone guidance system <NUM> these are illustrated in <FIG> and <FIG> as the "safe", "first alert","second alert", and "out-of-bounds" or "outside" zones, though there may be more or fewer zones, and alternative titles may be used to provide better description for a particular intended application of preferred embodiment wireless location assisted zone guidance system <NUM>. Each of these zones may be used to initiate a particular action, sequence, or lack thereof.

There are many potential applications for a wireless location assisted zone guidance system designed in accord with the teachings of the invention. For exemplary and non-limiting purposes, in one embodiment a wearable "safe zone" alerting system monitors children and vulnerable adults. In a manner similar to that already described herein above with regard to the property of <FIG>, and as illustrated for exemplary purpose also in <FIG>, a region is identified, and then one or more progressive alert zones are established during the construction of a data table such as data table <NUM>. The resulting data table and a pre-defined reference point are communicated to at least one self-contained portable location tracking device <NUM> and at least one monitoring apparatus <NUM>. As also described herein above, self-contained portable location tracking device <NUM> is capable of fully autonomous operation. As a result, no communications are required while the monitored person moves about in the safe zone. This is illustrated in <FIG> as movement from location A to location B. No transmissions are initiated, and battery power is preserved. When desired, and if bidirectional communications are provided, monitoring apparatus <NUM> may also query the location of the person when needed or desired.

Continuing the exemplary cases of application to personal safety of children or the elderly, if the monitored person leaves the an area defined by data table <NUM> as being safe, which might for exemplary purposes be an area within the building or grounds where they reside, they may optionally be notified with a voice message, tone, vibration or other gentle reminder that they are wandering astray. This movement is illustrated in <FIG> as movement from location B to location C.

At the same time, portable location tracking device <NUM> is preferably configured to provide a short burst transmission containing the Lat-Lon position offsets to at least one monitoring apparatus <NUM>. This provides immediate notification to family or medical staff that the person has left the safe zone. If the person were to continue to the second alert zone or beyond, other alarms or notifications may be generated by either or both of portable location tracking device <NUM> and at least one monitoring apparatus <NUM>.

If the person then returns to the safe zone at location D, then portable location tracking device <NUM> may once more communicate with at least one monitoring apparatus <NUM> with the offset information, which can then be used within monitoring apparatus <NUM> to update both status and location.

As may be apparent, the preferred embodiment wireless location assisted zone guidance system <NUM> is similarly applicable to use within a fenced or even unfenced yard, for a child in a cart at the market, at the park, at the local soccer field, for the walk home from school, or even when visiting friends out of town. In any of these situations, a parent, guardian, or staff will be immediately be notified if the monitored person wanders outside the safe zone.

The preferred embodiment wireless location assisted zone guidance system <NUM> is also very applicable to use by capable persons. A person running alone on a predetermined route and carrying self-contained portable location tracking device <NUM> will be notified should they make a wrong turn. In addition, a loved one or friend will immediately be notified as well through monitoring apparatus <NUM>.

Other embodiments of the invention are applicable to and may be customized for other animate and inanimate objects, including but not limited to livestock, pets, or other animals, machinery, and other diverse apparatus.

Preferred embodiment wireless location assisted zone guidance system <NUM> is illustrated as having a safe zone and three subsequent progressive alert zones. Nevertheless, the present invention is not solely limited to a particular number of zones within an assisted guidance region, or a particular way to represent those zones. The numerical representations from zero to three are preferred, but any other representations that may be machine stored are contemplated herein.

While the preferred embodiment table <NUM> has been described herein above and illustrated in <FIG> - <NUM> for the purposes of enablement as cooperative with a particular self-contained apparatus, it should be apparent that the table <NUM> incorporating discrete values representative of various zones may be used with other apparatus such as found in many other patents incorporated herein by reference above and other systems, as will be understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art.

While the foregoing details what are felt to be the preferred and additional alternative embodiments, no material limitations to the scope of the claimed invention are intended. The variants that would be possible from a reading of the present disclosure are too many in number for individual listings.

Claim 1:
In combination, a portable location tracking device (<NUM>) and a monitoring apparatus, said portable location tracking device having:
a location determination apparatus (<NUM>) configured to determine an instantaneous latitude-longitude-location of said portable location tracking device from received GPS signals or from another location system;
memory (<NUM>; <NUM>) containing a two-dimensional array corresponding to longitude and latitude;
a processor configured to find a location within the two-dimensional array corresponding to the instantaneous location;
a secret reference point within said two-dimensional array, the secret reference point and two-dimensional array being privately shared with said monitoring apparatus; and
a data exchange apparatus (<NUM>) configured to transmit an offset between said location within the two dimensional array and said secret reference point;
said monitoring apparatus (<NUM>) having:
a data exchange apparatus (<NUM>) configured to receive said offset between said location within the two dimensional array and said secret reference point from said portable location tracking device data exchange apparatus (<NUM>); and
memory (<NUM>; <NUM>) containing a two-dimensional data array corresponding to said portable location tracking device two-dimensional array and said privately shared secret reference point within said monitoring apparatus two-dimensional array corresponding to said portable location tracking device secret reference point; and
said monitoring apparatus (<NUM>) configured to apply said received offset to said privately shared reference point within said monitoring apparatus two-dimensional array and thereby determine said instantaneous latitude-longitude location of said portable location tracking device (<NUM>).