Hybrid tracking device

摘要

Apparatus and methods for tracking various assets. The apparatus includes a hybrid tracking device (HTD) for tracking an associated asset. The HTD includes a personal area network (PAN) transceiver to couple the HTD to a gateway, proxy or slave HTDs. The HTD may include a sensor to generate sensor information. Alternatively, the sensor information is generated remotely. The sensor information includes a determined location and/or information characteristic of an HTD or its environment. Sensor information from one sensor is used to represent HTDs separated by the PAN. The HTD may also include a wide area network (WAN) transceiver to communicate with an asset tracking server.

主权项

1. A hybrid tracking device (HTD) associated with an asset to track, the HTD comprising:
a sensor configured to generate first sensor information related to a characteristic of the HTD, wherein the first sensor information comprises a location of the HTD, additional sensor information, or a combination thereof; a personal area network transceiver coupled to a personal area network (PAN) and configured to receive a first presence report message from a second HTD; a controller to configure the HTD to communicate over the PAN with the second HTD and to communicate over a wide area network (WAN) with an asset tracking server; and a wide area network transceiver coupled to the WAN and configured to transmit the first sensor information over the WAN to the asset tracking server, the WAN transceiver further configured to transmit a reporting message based on a determination that a second presence report message is not received within a threshold time period after receipt of the first presence report message.