This disclosure relates generally to tracking devices, and more specifically, to access point functionality in a tracking device environment.
Users can attach tracking devices to one or more personal objects, such as keys, a phone, a car, a briefcase, a laptop, and the like. The tracking device can communicatively couple to a mobile device of the user (or of a community member), and the mobile device can, in response to receiving a communication from the tracking device, determine a location of the mobile device (for instance, via a GPS receiver). The mobile device can then provide an identifier for the tracking device and the determined location of the mobile device to a cloud server, which can associate the tracking device with the determined location of the mobile device.
Tracking devices may move around with a user as they go about their daily activities, and can be coupled to user devices, such as a laptop, smart phone, or other mobile device, while moving with the user. The user may want to determine the location of the tracking device. Using the user's mobile device to determine the location may take several minutes and may be unreliable given the long communicative range of a mobile device. In addition, the mobile device may not be in a range of the tracking device, thereby leaving the user unable to determine the tracking device's location. Thus, there is a need to locate the tracking device without requiring coupling to the mobile device.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds