Femto cell visitation history for location based services

• US 10,051,431 B2
• Filed: 02/28/2017
• Issued: 08/14/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Brisebois, Arthur Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Danh
• Application Number:
  US15/445,158
• Publication Number:
  US 20170171716A1
• Time in Patent Office: 532 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561, 4554351, 4555501, 455418, 370338
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/28 with correlation of data from several navigational instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 60/00 Affiliation to network, e.g. registration; Terminating affiliation with the network, e.g. de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/11 Allocation or use of connection identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/10 between location register and external networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/045 using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B

Abstract

Collection and communication of data are provided on handset attachment procedure, or visitation, to one or more femto cells to provide location information. A mobility component receives actual subscriber and femto access point (AP) attachment signaling and extracts visitation data that facilitates generation of real-time or historical visitation reports. Location information is conveyed through visitation reports which can include mobile device identifier(s), femto AP location, and a timestamp. Visitation reports also can include processed visitation data such as mobility matrices, historical mobility patterns or profiles, and predicted mobility events. Provision of location information occurs without the need for dedicated handset functionality, and associated hardware, or additional battery draw.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

generating, by a system comprising a processor, mobility matrices based on aggregated visitation data, wherein a mobility matrix of the mobility matrices comprises integer matrix elements indicative of a number of attachment attempts from a mobile device of mobile devices to a femto access point device of femto access point devices; and

determining, by the system, that an accuracy level of the integer matrix elements increases with an increase in the number of the attachment attempts.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating, by the system, a report that comprises information indicative of the mobility matrices.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the report comprises information indicative of a determination regarding a visitation event.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the visitation event represents a visitation of the mobile device to the femto access point device.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the report comprises information associated with a mobility pattern.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobility matrix comprises information indicative of an identifier of the mobile device in a portion of the mobility matrix.

7. A machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:

combining visitation information generated by mobile devices and femto access point devices resulting in combined visitation information; and

generating mobility matrices based on the combined visitation information, wherein an accuracy level of integer matrix elements of a mobility matrix of the mobility matrices increases with an increase in the number of attachment attempts from a mobile device of the mobile devices to a femto access point device.

8. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the mobility matrix comprises information indicative of an identifier of the mobile device in a defined portion of the mobility matrix.

9. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 7, wherein the operations further comprise generating a report that comprises information indicative of the mobility matrices.

10. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the report comprises information indicative of an inference regarding a visitation event representing a connection of the mobile device to the femto access point device.

11. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the report comprises information associated with a mobility pattern, and wherein the mobility pattern represents geographical information for the mobile device over a defined amount of time.

12. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the report further comprises additional information associated with a location of the femto access point device and timestamp information for a visitation event for the femto access point device.

13. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the visitation event represents an initial communication between the mobile device and the femto access point device.

14. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise generating driving direction information associated with a selected driving route from a starting location to an ending location based on the mobility pattern.

15. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise determining that a geographical area has coverage that satisfies a defined criterion.

16. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the determining is based on visitation data for the mobile device.

17. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

aggregating visitation information associated with mobile devices and femto access point devices resulting in aggregated visitation information; and

generating mobility matrices based on the aggregated visitation information, wherein an accuracy level of integer matrix elements of the mobility matrices increases with an increase in the number of the attachment attempts from a mobile device of the mobile devices to a femto access point device of the femto access point devices.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise:

generating a report that comprises information indicative of the mobility matrices, wherein the report comprises information associated with a mobility pattern, and wherein the mobility pattern represents location information for the mobile device at different points in time.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise generating driving direction information associated with a selected driving route from a starting location to an ending location based on the mobility pattern.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise determining that transmission from the femto access point device satisfies a defined condition related to interference, and wherein the determining is based on visitation data for the mobile device.