Systems and methods for building and updating a wireless node database service

• US 10,051,476 B2
• Filed: 12/14/2017
• Issued: 08/14/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Single Digits Connection, LLC
• Original Assignee: BSG Wireless Limited (Single Digits, Inc.)
• Inventors: Carter, Mark Ian, Allgrove, Charles Nicholas
• Primary Examiner(s): Karikari, Kwasi
• Application Number:
  US15/842,706
• Publication Number:
  US 20180176784A1
• Time in Patent Office: 243 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/211 Schema design and management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2365 Ensuring data consistency and integrity
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/00 Network planning, e.g. coverage or traffic planning tools; Network deployment, e.g. resource partitioning or cells structures
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention are directed to a system and method that can obtain a collection of wireless node data from different sources. The system and method involves a wireless location data service (WLDS) platform including a data management and a feedback module. The data management is configured to receive wireless node data through importation by a service provider. The feedback module is configured to receive wireless node data from mobile devices, engineering systems, systems generating activity logs, and third party service partners. The system and method also involves an end-user module configured to collect wireless node data and user reported corrections and transmit the collected data and corrections to the platform. A wireless node database in the platform is built and updated from the wireless node data and corrections received from the data management module and the feedback module.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented system for providing a wireless node database service to a plurality of service providers that each owns or operates a set of wireless nodes located in a geographically dispersed area and for improving quality of information delivered as part of the wireless node database service, comprising:

a wireless location data service platform comprising one or more servers and associated software stored in non-transitory memory, wherein the software configures the servers to provide the platform as a service to the plurality of service providers over a network, wherein on the servers, the platform;

communicates and interacts with particular types of external systems including (a) computer terminals of at least some of the service providers, (b) engineering systems managing wireless nodes of one or more of the service providers, (c) maintenance system associated with engineer responsible for installing new wireless nodes or responsible for repairing or replacing existing wireless nodes of the service providers, (d) end-user mobile devices that are subscribed to the service providers'"'"' service, and (d) systems of third party service partners whose service is engaged by service providers to maintain wireless node data collected by the service providers or the engineering systems, wherein as part of communications and interactions the platform receives files containing wireless node data from the different types of external systems and each file includes a number of fields and specific type of wireless node data in each field;

harmonizes the wireless node data in the received files that has conflicting information with respect to individual nodes by comparing the wireless node data in the received files to determine inconsistencies in the wireless node data in the received files with respect to individual nodes and providing a user interface for manual review and selection of data or automatic conflict resolution based on a criteria, wherein the data being harmonized is from different types of external systems with respect to the individual nodes;

adds a new wireless node, removes an existing wireless node, or updates an existing node from the set of wireless nodes owned or operated by a particular service provider by identifying a new wireless node or an existing wireless node from wireless node data received from the external systems other than that of the service provider and evaluating whether a threshold amount of reliable information has been received to verify the existence of the new wireless node, the removal of the existing wireless node, or the update of the existing wireless node; and

produces updated wireless node data that includes the new wireless node, that is without the removed existing wireless node, or that includes the updated wireless node for a corresponding one of the service providers, wherein the wireless node data is converted to be in a format that is compatible with the external system of the corresponding service provider; and

publishes the updated wireless node data so they are available to service providers other than the service provider supplied the data and to other users of the platform.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the platform further validates the received files by checking whether the number of fields in each file matches to a predetermined number of fields and whether the specific type of wireless node data in each field matches to the type of wireless node data assigned to that field, the file with matching number of fields and matching type of data in all the fields is a validated file.

3. The system according to claim 2, wherein the platform further validates the wireless node data in each validated file by checking whether the wireless node data in each validated file includes all fields required by the platform and whether the wireless node data in each field of each validated file is within a range specified by the platform for that field, the wireless node data including all the required fields and data within the specified range is a validated data.

4. The system according to claim 3, wherein the data being harmonized is from the validated data.

5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the wireless node data comprises geographical location data for identifying the location of the wireless node, identification data for identifying the wireless node, accuracy of the geographical location data, signal strength received from the wireless node, the date the wireless node data was obtained or observed, or a combination thereof.

6. The system according to claim 5 wherein the geographical location data includes latitude, longitude, and altitude of the wireless node and the identification data includes SSID and BSSID of the wireless node.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein the wireless node is a Wi-Fi access point, a Bluetooth beacon, or a cellular node.

8. A computer-implemented system for providing a wireless node database service to a plurality of service providers that each owns or operates a set of wireless nodes located in a geographically dispersed area and for improving quality of information delivered as part of the wireless node database service, comprising:

a wireless location data service platform comprising one or more servers and associated software stored in non-transitory memory, wherein the software configures the servers to provide the platform as a service to the plurality of service providers over a network, wherein on the servers, the platform;

communicates and interacts with particular types of external systems including (a) computer terminals of at least some of the service providers, (b) engineering systems managing wireless nodes of one or more of the service providers, (c) maintenance system associated with engineer responsible for installing new wireless nodes or responsible for repairing or replacing existing wireless nodes of the service providers, (d) end-user mobile devices that are subscribed to the service providers'"'"' service, and (d) systems of third party service partners whose service is engaged by service providers to maintain wireless node data collected by the service providers or the engineering systems, wherein as part of communications and interactions the platform receives files containing wireless node data from the different types of external systems and each file includes a number of fields and specific type of wireless node data in each field;

validates the files by checking whether the number of fields in each file matches to a predetermined number of fields and whether the specific type of wireless node data in each field matches to the type of wireless node data assigned to that field, the file with matching number of fields and matching type of data in all the fields is a validated file;

validates the wireless node data in each validated file by checking whether the wireless node data in each validated file includes all fields required by the platform and whether the wireless node data in each field of each validated file is within a range specified by the platform for that field, the wireless node data including all the required fields and data within the specified range is a validated data;

stores validated wireless node data in a wireless node database maintained by the platform;

harmonizes the validated data that has conflicting information with respect to individual nodes by comparing validated data to determine inconsistencies in the validated data with respect to individual nodes and providing a user interface for manual review and selection of data or automatic conflict resolution based on a criteria, wherein the data being harmonized is from different types of external systems with respect to the individual nodes;

adds a new wireless node, removes an existing wireless node, or updates an existing wireless node from the set of wireless nodes owned or operated by a particular service provider by identifying a new wireless node or an existing wireless node from wireless node data received from the external systems other than that of the service provider and evaluating whether a threshold amount of reliable information has been received to verify the existence of the new wireless node, the removal of the existing wireless node, or the update of the existing wireless node; and

produces updated wireless node data that includes the new wireless node, that is without the removed existing wireless node, or that includes the updated wireless node for a corresponding one of the service providers, wherein the wireless node data is converted to be in a format that is compatible with the external system of the corresponding service provider; and

publishes the updated wireless node data so they are available to service providers other than the service provider supplied the data and to other users of the platform.

9. A computer-implemented method for providing a wireless node database service to a plurality of service providers that each owns or operates a set of wireless nodes located in a geographically dispersed area and for improving quality of information delivered as part of the wireless node database service, comprising:

communicating and interacting with particular types of external systems including (a) computer terminals of at least some of the service providers, (b) engineering systems managing wireless nodes of one or more of the service providers, (c) maintenance system associated with engineer responsible for installing new wireless nodes or responsible for repairing or replacing existing wireless nodes of the service providers, (d) end-user mobile devices that are subscribed to the service providers'"'"' service, and (d) systems of third party service partners whose service is engaged by service providers to maintain wireless node data collected by the service providers or the engineering systems, wherein as part of the communications and interactions step, the step includes receiving files containing wireless node data from the different types of external systems and each file includes a number of fields and specific type of wireless node data in each field;

validating the files by checking whether the number of fields in each file matches to a predetermined number of fields and whether the specific type of wireless node data in each field matches to the type of wireless node data assigned to that field, the file with matching number of fields and matching type of data in all the fields is a validated file;

validating the wireless node data in each validated file by checking whether the wireless node data in each validated file includes all fields required by the platform and whether the wireless node data in each field of each validated file is within a range specified by the platform for that field, the wireless node data including all the required fields and data within the specified range is a validated data;

storing validated wireless node data in a wireless node database maintained by the platform;

harmonizing the validated data that has conflicting information with respect to individual nodes by comparing validated data to determine inconsistencies in the validated data with respect to individual nodes and providing a user interface for manual review and selection of data or automatic conflict resolution based on a criteria, wherein the data being harmonized is from different types of external systems with respect to the individual nodes;

adding a new wireless node, removes an existing wireless node, or updates an existing wireless node from the set of wireless nodes owned or operated by a particular service provider by identifying a new wireless node or an existing wireless node from wireless node data received from the external systems other than that of the service provider and evaluating whether a threshold amount of reliable information has been received to verify the existence of the new wireless node, the removal of the existing wireless node, or the update of the existing wireless node; and

producing updated wireless node data that includes the new wireless node, that is without the removed existing wireless node, or that includes the updated wireless node for a corresponding one of the service providers, wherein the wireless node data is converted to be in a format that is compatible with the external system of the corresponding service provider; and

publishing the updated wireless node data so they are available to service providers other than the service provider supplied the data and to other users of the platform.