WO2016172759A1

WO2016172759A1 - Method and system for returning lost objects from finders to owners

Info

Publication number: WO2016172759A1
Application number: PCT/AU2016/000150
Authority: WO
Inventors: Thomas Stewart CLARK; Peter VAN
Original assignee: Findit.Id Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2015-04-29
Filing date: 2016-04-29
Publication date: 2016-11-03

Abstract

A method, comprising: registering, by one or more computing devices, an object, an owner of the object, and a unique identifier associated with the object, wherein the unique identifier is associated with lost-and-found instructions for a finder of the object to use a lost-and-found service when the object is lost by the owner; associating, by the one or more computing devices, the unique identifier with the object and the owner in one or more databases; receiving, by the one or more computing devices, a found report from the finder of the object using the lost-and-found service, wherein the found report comprises the unique identifier and a found message comprising information to facilitate return of the object to the owner; identifying, by the one or more computing devices, the object and the owner in the one or more databases using the unique identifier; sending, by the one or more computing devices, the found message to the owner to facilitate return of the object while preserving privacy and anonymity of the owner.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR RETURNING LOST OBJECTS FROM FINDERS TO

OWNERS

Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a method and system for returning lost objects from finders to owners.

Background

[0002] It is difficult for finders of lost objects to return them to their owners, even if the objects themselves have been personalised with their owners' name. Owners are reluctant to personalise objects with their personal contact details due to concerns about privacy, security and personal safety.

[0003] One existing solution to returning lost objects from finders to owners comprises owners posting lost notices describing their lost object and giving their telephone number or email address. Lost notices are disadvantageous because they depend on the finders finding them.

[0004] In this context, there is a need for improved solutions for returning lost objects from finders to owners.

Summary

[0005] According to the present invention, there is provided a method, comprising: registering, by one or more computing devices, an object, an owner of the object, and a unique identifier associated with the object, wherein the unique identifier is associated with lost-and-found instructions for a finder of the object to use a lost-and-found service when the object is lost by the owner;

associating, by the one or more computing devices, the unique identifier with the object and the owner in one or more databases; receiving, by the one or more computing devices, a found report from the finder of the object using the lost-and-found service, wherein the found report comprises the unique identifier and a found message comprising information to facilitate return of the object to the owner;

identifying, by the one or more computing devices, the object and the owner in the one or more databases using the unique identifier;

sending, by the one or more computing devices, the found message to the owner to facilitate return of the object while preserving privacy and anonymity of the owner.

[0006] The method may further comprise providing, by the one or more computing devices, access to information in the one or more databases about the owner, object or both, to a supplier of the object or a licensee service provider. The licensee service provider may comprise a mobile telecommunications service provider or a marketing service provider.

[0007] The method may further comprise:

receiving, by the one or more computing devices, a lost message from the owner when the object is lost, wherein the lost message comprises information to facilitate return of the object to the owner when the object is lost and found by the finder;

associating, by the one or more computing devices, the lost message with the unique identifier, object and owner in the one or more databases;

sending, by the one or more computing devices, the lost message to the finder in response to receiving the found report.

[0006] The unique identifier and associated lost-and-found instructions may be associated with the object physically, visibly, electronically, or a combination thereof. For example, the unique identifier and associated lost-and-found instructions may be applied or affixed to the object directly, for example, by marking, engraving, embossing, printing, painting, coating, and combinations thereof. Alternatively, the unique identifier and associated lost-and-found instructions may be applied to the object indirectly, for example via a tag, label, sticker, case, RFID tag, RFID chip, RFID band, wide area chip, smart chip, smart card, Bluetooth tracker, ultra-wideband (UWB) chip, and combinations thereof.

[0009] The object may comprise a display screen, wherein the unique identifier and associated lost-and-found instructions are displayed on the display screen when the finder attempts to use or access the object. For example, the object may comprise a smartphone, a tablet or a laptop comprising a display screen comprising a login screen, a PIN failure screen, or a lock screen, wherein the unique identifier and associated lost-and-found instructions are displayed on the login screen, PIN failure screen, or lock screen.

[0010] The unique identifier and associated lost-and-found instructions may be associated with the object before or after the object has been supplied to the owner. The method may further comprise providing, by the one or more computing devices, the unique identifier to one or more of the owner, supplier and licensee service provider.

[0011] The lost-and-found instructions may comprise a web address, a mobile application name, or a combination thereof. The lost-and-found service may comprise a web service, a mobile application service, or a combination thereof.

[0012] The unique identifier may comprise a serial number, a bar code, a QR code, an alphabetic code, a numeric code, a RFID signal, a UWB signal, and combinations thereof.

[0013] The object may comprise a portable physical product, good or item selected from a sporting good, a consumer electronics good, a mobile computing device, a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop, luggage, a luxury good, shoes, footwear, clothing, jewellery, a watch, and combinations thereof. For example, the object may comprise a sports bail, such as a basketball.

[0014] The unique identifier and associated lost-and-found instructions may be associated with a personal identifier of the owner, wherein the personal identifier is physically or visibly associated with the object before or after the object is supplied to the owner.

[0015] The present invention also provides a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium including a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to:

register an object, an owner of the object, and a unique identifier associated with the object, wherein the unique identifier is associated with lost-and-found instructions for a finder of the object to use a lost-and-found service when the object is lost by the owner;

associate the unique identifier with the object and the owner in one or more databases;

receive a found report from the finder of the object using the lost-and-found service, wherein the found report comprises the unique identifier and a found message comprising information to facilitate return of the object to the owner;

identify the object and the owner in the one or more databases using the unique identifier,

send the found message to the owner to facilitate return of the object while preserving privacy and anonymity of the owner.

[0016] The present invention further provides a method, comprising providing a lost- and-found service or a data brokering service using the method or computer program product described above.

Brief Description of Drawings

[0017] Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a block diagram of a system for returning lost objects from finders to owners according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a flowchart of a method implemented by the system;

Figure 3 is a photo of an example object marked with a personal identifier, a unique identifier and a webpage identifier; Figure 4 is an example use case diagram of the system; and

Figures 5 to 11 are example user interfaces presented by the system during implementation of the method.

Detailed Description

[0018] Figure 1 is a block diagram of a computer system 100 for implementing a method 200 for providing services for returning lost (or misplaced) objects (or items or products) from finders to owners ("lost-and-found services") according to an embodiment of the present invention. The system 100 may generally comprise one or more computing devices that implement one or more computer program products (ie, software comprising one or more modules of computer program instructions) to perform the method 200. The one or more computing devices of the system 100 may comprise one or more client devices 110 connected via a network to one or more application servers 120. The application servers 120 may be associated with one or more databases 130. The client devices 110 may comprise smartphones, tablets, laptop computers, desktop computers, and combinations thereof. The application servers 120 and associated databases 130 may comprise cloud servers, cloud data storages, and combinations thereof.

[0019] The application servers 120 may be configured to implement web and/or mobile applications that provide web and/or mobile lost-and-found services to the client devices 110. The web and/or mobile services provides by the application server software may comprise data collection, data analysis, data management and data brokering (or data selling) relating to lost-and-found services. The web and/or mobile applications may provide the online lost-and-found services as SaaS (software-as-a service) services to subscribers. The subscribers to the SaaS may comprise owners, object suppliers, licensee service providers, and combinations thereof The object suppliers may comprise participants in object supply chains, for example, manufacturers, wholesalers, marketers, retailers, customisers, recyclers, resellers, and combinations thereof. The licensee service providers may, for example, comprise licenses of the provider of the lost-and-found service, such as object suppliers, mobile telecommunications service providers, marketing service providers, etc. The web and/or mobile applications may provide application programming interfaces (APIs) to interface with other web and/or mobile applications or data stores associated with, or used by, owners, object suppliers and licensee service providers.

[0020] In the example embodiment of the system 100 illustrated in Figure 1 , the client devices 110 may comprise an object owner ("Item Owner") client device 110 and an object finder ("Item Finder") client device 110. The application servers 120 may comprise a licensee service server 120 ("Marketing Licensee Server") connected via an API to a lost-and-found service server 120 ("Findit.id Server"). The lost-and-found service server 120 may be associated with a data store ("Findit.id database") comprising a unique identifier ("Unique ID") database 130 and an object owner ("Item owner") database 130.

[0021] Figure 2 is flowchart of a method 200 implemented by the hardware and software components of the system 100. The method 200 starts by registering an object, an owner of the object, and a unique identifier associated with the object (210). The unique identifier may be associated with lost-and-found instructions for a finder of the object to use a lost-and-found service when the object is lost by the owner. Figures 5 and 6 are example user interfaces for registering the owner, object and unique identifier. The owner information may comprise basic information such as name, email address and password, while the object information may comprise basic information such as object unique identifier and object description. As illustrated in Figure 7, an owner may register multiple objects and associated unique identifiers.

[0022] Next, the unique identifier may be associativeiy stored with the object and the owner in a database (220). If the object is lost, the method 200 may optionally further comprise receiving a lost message from the owner. The lost message may comprise information to facilitate return of the object to the owner when the object is found by a finder. The lost message may then be associativeiy stored with the unique identifier, object and owner in the database. Figure 8 illustrates an example lost message associated with a unique identifier and associated object. [0023] When the object is found, the method 200 may proceed by receiving a found report from the finder using the iost-and-found service (230). The found report may comprise the unique identifier, and a found message comprising information to facilitate return of the object to the owner. An example found report for an object is illustrated in Figure 9.

[0024] Next, the method 200 unique identifier in the found report is used to identify the associated object and owner in the database (240). The found message is then sent to the owner to facilitate return of the object while preserving privacy, confidentiality and anonymity of the owner (250). Further, the privacy, confidentiality and anonymity of the finder may also be maintained by providing the owner with only objective information in the found message to facilitate return of the object without disclosing information about the finder. If the owner optionally registered a lost message associated with the object as described above, the lost message may also be sent to the finder in response to receiving the found report. Optionally, the finder or the owner may at their own discretion voluntarily provide as much or as little personal information as they deem appropriate or feel comfortable with in their respective found and lost messages. The default approach, however, taken by the method 200 is that the owner's personal details are not shared with the finder.

[0025] The owner may comprise a purchaser or an authorised user of the object. The object may comprise a portable, mobile or movable physical product, good or item, for example, a sporting good, a consumer electronics good, a mobile computing device, a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop, luggage, a luxury good, shoes, footwear, clothing, jewellery, a watch, and combinations thereof. For example, the object may comprise a sports ball, such as a basketball.

[0026] The unique identifier and associated Iost-and-found instructions may be associated with the object physically, visibly, electronically, or a combination thereof. For example, the unique identifier and associated Iost-and-found instructions may be applied or affixed to the object directly, for example, by marking, engraving, embossing, printing, painting, coating, and combinations thereof. Alternatively, the unique identifier and associated iost-and-found instructions may be applied to the object indirectly, for example via a tag, label, sticker, case, RFIO tag, RFID chip, RFID band, wide area chip, smart chip, smart card, Bluetooth tracker, ultra-wideband (UWB) chip, and combinations thereof.

[0027] The object may comprise a display screen, and the unique identifier and associated iost-and-found instructions may be displayed on the display screen when the finder attempts to use or access the object. For example, the object may comprise a smartphone, a tablet or a laptop comprising a display screen comprising a login screen, a PIN failure screen, or a lock screen. The unique identifier and associated iost-and-found instructions may be displayed on the login screen, PIN failure screen, or lock screen of the smartphone when the finder activates or attempts to use it.

[0028] The unique identifier and associated Eost-and-found instructions may be associated with the object before or after the object has been supplied to the owner by a supplier. The unique identifier may therefore be provided to the supplier before supply of the object, or to the owner after the object has been supplied. For example, the unique identifier may be provided to the object supplier, and then supplied together with the object to the owner by the supplier. Alternatively, the unique identifier may be provided separately to the owner after the object has been supplied to the owner by the supplier. Figure 11 is an example user interface presented by the system 100 for users (eg, owners, suppliers or licensee service providers) to make online purchases of unique identifiers to be associated with objects using the method 200.

[0029] The unique identifier may comprise a serial number, a bar code, a QR code, an alphabetic code, a numeric code, a RFID signal, a UWB signal, and combinations thereof. The Iost-and-found instructions may comprise instructions to register the object when found at a web address, a mobile application name, or a combination thereof.

[0030] Optionally, the unique identifier and associated Iost-and-found instructions may be associated with a personal identifier of the owner. The personal identifier may physically or visibly associated with the object before or after the object is supplied to the owner. The personal identifier may be selected by the owner from a name, a nickname, a moniker, a pseudonym, a logo, a colour, or a combination thereof. The personal identifier may comprise text, graphics, an image, indicia, or a combination thereof. The personal identifier may further comprise a group identifier. The group identifier may be selected by the owner from a team identifier, a club identifier, a school identifier, a university identifier, an organisation identifier, a company identifier, a social network identifier, or a combination thereof.

[0031] Figure 3 illustrates an example object 300 (eg, a basketball) bearing a unique identifier 310 (eg, serial number "1000258"), associated lost-and-found instructions 320 (eg, "If found go to http://www.findit.id and enter [serial number]"), and an associated personal identifier 330 (eg, owner's name "Renee Smith"). The basketball may further bear a logo or brand 340 of the lost-and-found service provider (eg, "FINDIT.ID"). After purchasing the basketball 300, the owner may register themselves, the object, and the associated unique identifier 310 as described above. Figure 4 is an example use case for returning the basketball 300 from a finder to the owner using the system 100 and method 200.

[0032] It will be appreciated that further and more detailed information about the owner and the object may also be received when registering the owner, object and unique identifier for the iost-and-found service. Further owner information collected by the lost-and-found service at registration may, for example, comprise mobile telephone number, social media username, instant messaging service usemame, user profile, age, sex, mailing address, buying history, buying preferences, customer feedback, owner geo-location, etc. For example, further object information may comprise object purchase price, object condition, unique or distinctive identifying markings or attributes of the object, object age, object model, object name or brand, object geo-location, etc.

[0033] it will also be appreciated that, apart from being used for the lost-and-found service, the owner and object information collected when registering unique identifiers may be valuable and useful for other services provided by third party vendors, such as marketing, warranties, customer loyalty programmes, etc. The method 200 may therefore further comprise brokering or selling access to stored information about owners, objects or both, to third party vendors, such as object suppliers or iicensee service providers. Figure 10 is an example user interface showing information about owners, unique identifiers and objects collected by the lost-and-found service and shared with subscribing vendors.

[0034] Embodiments of the present invention provide methods and systems for providing web and/or mobile lost-and-found services that may be useful for returning lost objects from finders to owners. Embodiments of the invention may provide online lost-and-found services that preserve and protect the privacy and anonymity of owners. Embodiments of the invention provide web and/or mobile lost-and-found services that may be a valuable complement to other online services relating to objects, such as online marketing, warranties, customer loyalty programmes, ordering, purchasing, customising, personalising, etc. The online lost-and-found services of embodiments of the invention may advantageously be seamlessly integrated wholly or partially into conventional marketing, ordering, manufacturing and supply processes for any and ail objects or items, such as sports products, or mobile computing devices including smartphones, tablets and laptops.

[0035] For the purpose of this specification, the word "comprising^,, means "including but not limited to," and the word "comprises" has a corresponding meaning.

[0036] The above embodiments have been described by way of example only and modifications are possible within the scope of the claims that follow.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

registering, by one or more computing devices, an object, an owner of the object, and a unique identifier associated with the object, wherein the unique identifier is associated with lost-and-found instructions for a finder of the object to use a iost-and-found service when the object is lost by the owner;

associating, by the one or more computing devices, the unique identifier with the object and the owner in one or more databases;

receiving, by the one or more computing devices, a found report from the finder of the object using the lost-and-found service, wherein the found report comprises the unique identifier and a found message comprising information to facilitate return of the object to the owner;

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprise providing, by the one or more computing devices, access to information in the one or more databases about the owner, object or both, to a supplier of the object or a licensee service provider.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the licensee service provider comprises a mobile telecommunications service provider or a marketing service provider.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

associating, by the one or more computing devices, the lost message with the unique identifier, object and owner in the one or more databases; sending, by the one or more computing devices, the lost message to the finder in response to receiving the found report.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the unique identifier and associated lost-and- found instructions are associated with the object physically, visibly, electronically, or a combination thereof.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the unique identifier and associated lost-and- found instructions are applied or affixed to the object directly by marking, engraving, embossing, printing, painting, coating, and combinations thereof.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the unique identifier and associated lost-and- found instructions are applied to the object indirectly via a tag, label, sticker, case, RFID tag, RFID chip, RFID band, wide area chip, smart chip, smart card, Bluetooth tracker, ultra-wideband (UWB) chip, and combinations thereof.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the object comprises a display screen, and wherein the unique identifier and associated lost-and-found instructions are displayed on the display screen when the finder attempts to use or access the object.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the object comprises a smartphone, a tablet or a laptop comprising a display screen that comprises a login screen, a PIN failure screen, or a lock screen, and wherein the unique identifier and associated lost-and- found instructions are displayed on the login screen, PIN failure screen, or lock screen.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the unique identifier and associated lost-and- found instructions are associated with the object before or after the object has been supplied to the owner.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing, by the one or more computing devices, the unique identifier to one or more of the owner, supplier and licensee service provider.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the lost-and-found instructions comprise a web address, a mobile application name, or a combination thereof.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the lost-and-found service comprises a web service, a mobile application service, or a combination thereof.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the unique identifier comprises a serial number, a bar code, a QR code, an alphabetic code, a numeric code, a RFID signal, a UWB signal, and combinations thereof.

15. The method of ciaim 1, wherein the object comprises a portable physical product, good or item selected from a sporting good, a consumer electronics good, a mobile computing device, a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop, luggage, a luxury good, shoes, footwear, clothing, jewellery, a watch, and combinations thereof.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the unique identifier and associated lost-and- found instructions are associated with a personal identifier of the owner, and wherein the personal identifier is physically or visibly associated with the object before or after the object is supplied to the owner.

17. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium including a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to:

receive a found report from the finder of the object using the lost-and-found service, wherein the found report comprises the unique identifier and a found message comprising information to facilitate return of the object to the owner; identify the object and the owner in the one or more databases using the unique identifier;

send the found message to the owner to facilitate return of the object whiie preserving privacy and anonymity of the owner.

18. A method, comprising providing a lost-and-found service or a data brokering service using the method of claim 1 or the computer program product of ciaim 17.