Quantifying mobility of mobile devices via a privacy preserving mobility metric

• US 10,178,505 B1
• Filed: 06/15/2018
• Issued: 01/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Quantcast
• Original Assignee: Quantcast
• Inventors: Murff, Scott Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Dung
• Application Number:
  US16/009,580
• Time in Patent Office: 207 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• 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 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/02 Processing of mobility data, e.g. registration information at HLR [Home Location Register] or VLR [Visitor Location Register]; Transfer of mobility data, e.g. between HLR, VLR or external networks

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention generate metrics quantifying the mobility of a mobile device without persisting information related to the device'"'"'s specific location at any given time. Specifically, at multiple intervals, a value of a mobility metric is computed based on the distance between the current location of the mobile device and a previously identified origin location of the mobile device. The values of the mobility metric computed over a period of time quantify the overall mobility of the mobile device. The mobility metric does not provide any information regarding the specific location of the mobile device at any given time.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing instructions to a mobile device, the instructions comprising instructions for;

determining, at the mobile device, distances between an origin location and locations of the mobile device at the plurality of points in time, each respective determined distance associated with a respective measurement time;

computing, at the mobile device, at least one value of a mobility metric according to the determined distances and measurement times within a time interval, the mobility metric indicating a number of time sub-intervals including at least one determined distance more than a minimum distance from the origin location;

and

transmitting to a server system the at least one value of the mobility metric, from the mobile device, wherein the mobility metric does not provide information regarding the determined locations of the mobile device at any of the plurality of points in time;

receiving, at the server system, the at least one value of the mobility from the mobile device;

selecting content according to the at least one value of the mobility metric, regardless of mobile device location; and

sending the selected content to the mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

determining the location of the mobile device at each of a plurality of points in time comprises requesting coordinates from a global positioning system included in the mobile device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the time sub-interval comprises one or more days and the time interval comprises one or more months.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the mobility metric is selected from a plurality of classifications, at least two classifications reflecting different minimum distances.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing instructions to a plurality of mobile devices.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

generating a cohort mobility metric by aggregating a plurality of mobility metrics received from the plurality of mobile devices.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein selecting comprises:

selecting content according to the cohort mobility metric.

8. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing processor-executable system instructions, the system instructions configured to be executed by the processor to implement a method comprising:

providing mobile device instructions to a mobile device, the mobile device instructions comprising instructions for;

determining, at the mobile device, distances between an origin location and locations of the mobile device at the plurality of points in time, each respective determined distance associated with a respective measurement time;

computing, at the mobile device, at least one value of a mobility metric according to the determined distances and measurement times within a time interval, the mobility metric indicating a number of time sub-intervals including at least one determined distance more than a minimum distance from the origin location;

and

transmitting to a server system the at least one value of the mobility metric, from the mobile device, wherein the mobility metric does not provide information regarding the determined locations of the mobile device at any of the plurality of points in time;

receiving, at the server system, the at least one value of the mobility from the mobile device;

selecting content according to the at least one value of the mobility metric, regardless of mobile device location; and

sending the selected content to the mobile device.

9. The medium of claim 8, wherein:

the time sub-interval comprises one or more days and the time interval comprises one or more months.

10. The medium of claim 8, wherein:

the mobility metric is selected from a plurality of classifications, at least two classifications reflecting different minimum distances.

11. The medium of claim 8, the method further comprising:

providing mobile device instructions to a plurality of mobile devices.

12. The medium of claim 11, the method further comprising:

generating a cohort mobility metric by aggregating a plurality of mobility metrics received from the plurality of mobile devices.

13. The medium of claim 12, wherein selecting comprises:

selecting content according to the cohort mobility metric.

14. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a computer readable storage medium storing processor-executable computer program instructions, the computer program instructions comprising system instructions for;

providing mobile device instructions to a mobile device, the mobile device instructions comprising instructions for;

determining, at the mobile device, distances between an origin location and locations of the mobile device at the plurality of points in time, each respective determined distance associated with a respective measurement time;

computing, at the mobile device, at least one value of a mobility metric according to the determined distances and measurement times within a time interval, the mobility metric indicating a number of time sub-intervals including at least one determined distance more than a minimum distance from the origin location;

and

transmitting to the system the at least one value of the mobility metric, from the mobile device, wherein the mobility metric does not provide information regarding the determined locations of the mobile device at any of the plurality of points in time;

receiving, at the system, the at least one value of the mobility from the mobile device;

selecting content according to the at least one value of the mobility metric, regardless of mobile device location; and

sending the selected content to the mobile device.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein:

the time sub-interval comprises one or more days and the time interval comprises one or more months.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein:

the mobility metric is selected from a plurality of classifications, at least two classifications reflecting different minimum distances.

17. The system of claim 14, the system instructions further comprising:

providing mobile device instructions to a plurality of mobile devices.

18. The system of claim 17, the system instructions further comprising:

generating a cohort mobility metric by aggregating a plurality of mobility metrics received from the plurality of mobile devices.

19. The system of claim 18, the system instructions further comprising:

selecting content according to the cohort mobility metric.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein:

determining the location of the mobile device at each of a plurality of points in time comprises requesting coordinates from a global positioning system included in the mobile device.