Patent ID: 8396453

Claim:
A method for collecting data for purposes of recovering a lost wireless communications device, comprising: receiving at said lost wireless communications device a wireless transmission comprising a first trigger signal; responsive to said first trigger signal, operating said lost wireless communications device in an auto-location mode; selecting said auto-location mode to include automatically collecting audio and video data obtained at a location of said lost wireless communications device; automatically evaluating said video data, for the purpose of recovering the lost wireless communications device, when a GPS location fix or location of cell tower is detected as unavailable by the lost wireless communications device; automatically communicating said audio and video data in response to evaluation of the video data; entering a standby mode after said automatically collecting and communicating step, and repeating said automatically collecting and communicating step responsive to a second trigger signal, said second trigger signal comprising a detected change in state of said lost wireless communications device exclusive of a wireless transmission comprising said first trigger signal; said change in state is a manipulation of said lost wireless communications device, and is selected from a group consisting of: opening a cover of said lost wireless communications device, grasping said lost wireless communications device, and detecting a human pulse.