Patent ID: 8878670

Claim:
A method of saving power in a tracking device attached to an asset when the asset is intentionally removed from a first safe-zone area, comprising: determining whether the tracking device can receive a safe-zone beacon signal with at least a predetermined threshold signal strength; determining whether the safe-zone beacon signal is received from a base safe-zone beacon or a portable safe-zone beacon; placing the tracking device in a low-power mode in response to receiving the safe-zone beacon signal, wherein the low power mode is either a base low-power mode when it is determined that the safe-zone beacon signal is received from the base safe zone beacon or a portable low power mode when it is determined that the safe-zone beacon signal is received from the portable safe zone beacon; configuring the portable low-power mode to cause the tracking device to transmit data to and receive data from the portable safe-zone beacon; transmitting tracking device data to the portable safe-zone beacon when the tracking device is placed in the portable low-power mode, wherein the tracking device data is relayed from the portable safe-zone beacon to a mobile device via an established communication link and further relayed from the mobile device to an external network via a wireless data network; and placing the tracking device in an alarm mode in response to the tracking device not receiving the safe-zone beacon signal, wherein the alarm mode is configured in response to receiving the safe-zone beacon signal from the portable safe-zone beacon in a manner that is different from how the alarm mode is configured in response to receiving the safe-zone beacon signal from the base safe-zone beacon.