Kurt H Plarre

US Patent:

20130041623, Feb 14, 2013

Filed:

Oct 22, 2012

Appl. No.:

13/657472

Inventors:

The University of Memphis Research Foundation - Memphis TN, US
The Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor MI, US
Santanu Guha - Memphis TN, US
Kurt Plarre - Germantown TN, US
Daniel Lissner - Memphis TN, US
Somnath Mitra - Memphis TN, US
Bhagavathy Krishna - Memphis TN, US

Assignee:

THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN - Ann Arbor MI
THE UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS RESEARCH FOUNDATION - Memphis TN

International Classification:

G06F 15/00

US Classification:

702158

Abstract:

One aspect of the invention provides a theft detection node including: a power source; an accelerometer; a gyroscope; a transmitter; and a microcontroller in communication with the power source, the motion detector, and the transmitter. The microcontroller is programmed to determine whether the theft detection node is being transported and, if the theft detection node is being transported: estimate the distance traveled between successive stops and transmit the estimated distance to a server. Another aspect of the invention provides a method of determining a path traveled by a node. The method includes: generating a Hidden Markov Model having a plurality of hidden states, each hidden state corresponding to a road segment; receiving information from the node about one or more turns and the distance traveled between successive stops; and determining the most likely path for the distance between successive stops and a distance between successive turns.