Discrete location classification

• US 10,117,046 B2
• Filed: 09/21/2016
• Issued: 10/30/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Ledvina, Brent M., Mayor, Robert W., Marti, Lukas M., Stites, David R., Bhatti, Jahshan A., Duffy, Kevin
• Primary Examiner(s): Eng, George
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ahsan, Umair
• Application Number:
  US15/272,394
• Publication Number:
  US 20170359680A1
• Time in Patent Office: 769 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02526 using non-dedicated equipment, e.g. user equipment or crowd-sourcing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A method for identifying a location of a mobile device is disclosed. The method includes during each of a plurality of instances of time: measuring one or more signal properties of one or more other devices across a time interval; obtaining an identifier from each of the one or more other devices; creating a data point to include the one or more signal properties; and storing the data point in a database. The method further includes analyzing the plurality data points in the database to determine clusters of data points; detecting an event at an input device of the mobile device; measuring one or more new signal properties of one or more of the plurality of other devices at one or more new times; creating a new data point from the one or more new signal properties; and identifying a first cluster corresponding to the new data point.

Claims

1. A method for identifying a location of a mobile device, the method comprising:

during each of a plurality of instances of time;

measuring, by the mobile device, one or more signal properties of one or more other devices across a time interval;

obtaining, by the mobile device, an identifier from each of the one or more other devices;

creating, by the mobile device, a data point to include the one or more signal properties, wherein each dimension of the data point corresponds to respective one of the one or more other devices and a value for the dimension corresponds to a signal property for that dimension; and

storing, by the mobile device, the data point in a database of the mobile device, the database storing a plurality of data points corresponding to the plurality of instances of time;

analyzing, by the mobile device, the plurality data points in the database to determine clusters of data points, wherein different clusters of data points correspond to different locations in physical space;

after determining the clusters of data points, detecting, by the mobile device, an event at an input device of the mobile device;

in response to detecting the event, measuring, by the mobile device, one or more new signal properties of one or more of the plurality of other devices at one or more new times;

creating, by the mobile device, a new data point from the one or more new signal properties; and

identifying, by the mobile device, a first cluster of the clusters of data points corresponding to the new data point by comparing the new data point with one or more data points in the first cluster and determining that the new data point is within a threshold distance of the one or more data points in the first cluster, thereby determining the location of the mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the new data point is a multi-dimensional data point, each sensor value corresponding to a respective dimension of the first data point.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal property is a signal strength of a signal emitted from a stationary device associated with the identifier.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the signal property is data transmitted by the signal that is indicative of a distance between the mobile device and the stationary device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more other devices comprise one or more network devices configured to emit wireless network communication signals of which the one or more signal properties are measured.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

during each of the plurality of instances of time, associating the identifier with the one or more signal properties measured from the one or more other devices.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier is a MAC address, UUID, truncated UUID, Bluetooth device address, or an IP address.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more signal properties are signal properties of an emitted signal that changes with respect to a distance between the mobile device and the one or more other devices.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more signal properties include at least one of received signal strength indication (RSSI) and time-of-flight (TOF).

10. The method of claim 1, wherein a cluster of data points is determined by identifying data points that are within a threshold distance of each other.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein each of the clusters of data points in sensor space corresponds to a respective location in physical space.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising suggesting an application to a user based on the location of the mobile device, wherein the application is associated with the first cluster.

13. A computer product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a plurality of instructions that when executed control a mobile device including one or more processors, the instructions comprising:

during each of a plurality of instances of time;

measuring, by the mobile device, one or more signal properties of one or more other devices across a time interval;

obtaining, by the mobile device, an identifier from each of the one or more other devices;

creating, by the mobile device, a data point to include the one or more signal properties, wherein each dimension of the data point corresponds to respective one of the plurality of other devices and a value for the dimension corresponds to a signal property for that dimension; and

storing, by the mobile device, the data point in a database of the mobile device, the database storing a plurality of data points corresponding to the plurality of instances of time;

analyzing, by the mobile device, the plurality of data points to determine clusters of the data points, wherein different clusters of data points correspond to different locations in physical space;

after determining the clusters, detecting, by the mobile device, an event at an input device of the mobile device;

in response to detecting the event, measuring, by the mobile device, one or more new signal properties of one or more of the plurality of other devices at one or more new times;

creating, by the mobile device, a new data point from the one or more new signal properties; and

identifying, by the mobile device, a first cluster of the clusters of data points corresponding to the new data point by comparing the new data point with one or more data points in the first cluster and determining that the new data point is within a threshold distance of the one or more data points in the first cluster, thereby determining the location of the mobile device.

14. The computer product of claim 13, wherein the signal property is a signal strength of a signal emitted from a stationary device associated with the identifier.

15. The computer product of claim 14, wherein the signal property is data transmitted by the signal that is indicative of a distance between the mobile device and the stationary device.

16. The computer product of claim 13, wherein the one or more other devices comprise one or more network devices configured to emit wireless signals.

17. A mobile device comprising:

a database for storing data points;

one or more input devices; and

one or more processors configured to;

during each of a plurality of instances of time;

measure one or more signal properties of one or more other devices across a time interval;

obtain an identifier from each of the one or more other devices;

create a data point to include the one or more signal properties, wherein each dimension of the data point corresponds to respective one of the plurality of other devices and a value for the dimension corresponds to a signal property for that dimension; and

store the data point in the database of the mobile device, the database storing a plurality of data points corresponding to the plurality of instances of time;

analyze the plurality of data points to determine clusters of the data points, wherein different clusters of data points correspond to different locations in physical space;

after determining the clusters, detect an event at one of the one or more input devices of the mobile device;

in response to detecting the event, measure one or more new signal properties of one or more of the plurality of other devices at one or more new times;

create a new data point from the one or more new signal properties; and

identify a first cluster corresponding to the new data point by comparing the new data point with one or more data points in the first cluster and determining that the new data point is within a threshold distance of the one or more data points in the first cluster, thereby determining the location of the mobile device.

18. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the signal property is a signal strength of a signal emitted from a stationary device associated with the identifier.

19. The mobile device of claim 18, wherein the signal property is data transmitted by the signal that is indicative of a distance between the mobile device and the stationary device.