Determination of a route of a mobile device in a mobile network

• US 10,228,255 B2
• Filed: 07/17/2014
• Issued: 03/12/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/21/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation, Vodafone IP Licensing Limited (Vodafone Group PLC)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation, Vodafone IP Licensing Limited (Vodafone Group PLC)
• Inventors: Brennan, Damian F., Hickman, Nichola Jane Inglis, Pollington, David, Scarr, Kevin T.
• Primary Examiner(s): Antonucci, Anne M
• Application Number:
  US14/333,609
• Publication Number:
  US 20160069692A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,699 Days
• Field of Search: 701540
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/012 from other sources than vehicle or roadside beacons, e.g. mobile networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A method and system for determining a traveled route of a mobile device in a mobile network. A determination is made of a series of consecutive movements of the mobile device along a path of locations from an origin location of the path at an earliest activity of a plurality of activities of the mobile device to a destination location of the path at a latest activity of the plurality of activities. Historical sets of routes of the mobile device are accessed from storage. At least one common route is ascertained from the set of routes, wherein the locations in each common route include all of the locations on the path. A common route of the at least one common route is designated as the traveled route of the mobile device.

Claims

1. A method, said method comprising:

determining, by a processor of a computer system, a series of consecutive movements of a mobile device in a mobile network along a path of locations from an origin location of the path at an earliest activity of a plurality of activities of the mobile device to a destination location of the path at a latest activity of the plurality of activities;

said processor accessing from storage a historical set of routes of the mobile device;

said processor ascertaining at least one common route from the historical set of routes, wherein the locations in each common route include all of the locations on the path;

said processor designating a common route of the at least one common route as a traveled route of the mobile device with respect to the series of consecutive movements of the mobile device along the path;

said processor communicating, to a traffic planning system, the designated common route and other common routes relating to all network activity records generated by a user of the mobile device accessing the mobile network;

in response to said communicating, said traffic planning system obtaining a real-time view of traffic density along journey paths in a transport infrastructure;

in response to the real-time view of traffic density along journey paths in the transport infrastructure, said traffic planning system making informed decisions about traffic planning comprising traffic alerts, redirecting traffic, closing roads, and opening new roads along new routes;

said traffic planning system implementing the informed decisions, said implementing comprising issuing traffic alerts, redirecting traffic, closing roads, and opening new roads along new routes;

said processor computing a ratio of (i) a sum of a coverage area of a start cell in which one activity of the mobile device was initiated and a coverage area of an end cell in which the one activity of the mobile device was terminated to (ii) a distance between a centroid of the start cell and a centroid of the end cell such that the distance has a positive value; and

said processor determining a confidence value as a function of the computed ratio.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the origin location of each common route is the origin location of the path, and wherein the destination location of each common route is the destination location of the path.

3. The method of claim 1, said method further comprising:

said processor analyzing a network usage record that identifies the plurality of activities of the mobile device and associated activity information pertaining to each activity, wherein for each activity the associated activity information identified in the network usage record includes a start cell in which the activity was initiated, an end cell in which the activity was terminated, a start time at which the activity was initiated, and a time duration of the activity, said plurality of activities comprising the one activity,

wherein said determining the series of consecutive movements of the mobile device along the path of locations comprises determining the series of consecutive movements of the mobile device along the path of locations from the activity information of the activities.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the start time and duration for each activity defines a time interval that does not overlap the time interval defined for each other activity.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said ascertaining ascertains that the locations on the common route comprise at least one intermediate location not on the path.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said ascertaining ascertains that the at least one common route consists of a plurality of routes, and wherein the plurality of routes include routes of varying length.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said designating designates a longest route of the plurality of routes as the common route.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the longest route comprises all other routes of the plurality of routes.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining the series of consecutive movements of the mobile device along the path comprises determining that a longest time interval between consecutive activities of the consecutive movements is less than a specified time interval threshold.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein an activity of the plurality of activities of the mobile device is selected from the group consisting of a voice call, a video call, a Short Message (SMS), a Service Multimedia Message Service (MMS), and a data access and download.

11. A computer program product, comprising a one or more computer readable hardware storage devices having computer readable program code stored therein, said program code containing instructions which, upon being executed by one or more processors of a computer system, implement a method, said method comprising:

said one or more processors determining a series of consecutive movements of a mobile device in a mobile network along a path of locations from an origin location of the path at an earliest activity of a plurality of activities of the mobile device to a destination location of the path at a latest activity of the plurality of activities;

said one or more processors accessing from storage a historical set of routes of the mobile device;

said one or more processors ascertaining at least one common route from the historical set of routes, wherein the locations in each common route include all of the locations on the path;

said processor designating a common route of the at least one common route as a traveled route of the mobile device with respect to the series of consecutive movements of the mobile device along the path;

said one or more processors communicating, to a traffic planning system, the designated common route and other common routes relating to all network activity records generated by a user of the mobile device accessing the mobile network;

in response to said communicating, said traffic planning system obtaining, via the one or more processors, a real-time view of traffic density along journey paths in a transport infrastructure;

in response to the real-time view of traffic density along journey paths in the transport infrastructure, said traffic planning system making, via the one or more processors, informed decisions about traffic planning comprising traffic alerts, redirecting traffic, closing roads, and opening new roads along new routes;

said traffic planning system implementing, via the one or more processors, the informed decisions, said implementing comprising issuing traffic alerts, redirecting traffic, closing roads, and opening new roads along new routes;

said one or more processors computing a ratio of (i) a sum of a coverage area of a start cell in which one activity of the mobile device was initiated and a coverage area of an end cell in which the one activity of the mobile device was terminated to (ii) a distance between a centroid of the start cell and a centroid of the end cell such that the distance has a positive value; and

said one or more processors determining a confidence value as a function of the computed ratio.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the origin location of each common route is the origin location of the path, and wherein the destination location of each common route is the destination location of the path.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, said method further comprising:

said one or more processors analyzing a network usage record that identifies the plurality of activities of the mobile device and associated activity information pertaining to each activity, wherein for each activity the associated activity information identified in the network usage record includes a start cell in which the activity was initiated, an end cell in which the activity was terminated, a start time at which the activity was initiated, and a time duration of the activity, said plurality of activities comprising the one activity,

wherein said determining the series of consecutive movements of the mobile device along the path of locations comprises determining the series of consecutive movements of the mobile device along the path of locations from the activity information of the activities.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein the start time and duration for each activity defines a time interval that does not overlap the time interval defined for each other activity.

15. A computer system comprising one or more processors, one or more memories, and one or more computer readable storage devices, said one or more storage devices containing program code configured to be executed by the one or more processors via the one or more memories to implement a method, said method comprising:

said one or more processors determining a series of consecutive movements of a mobile device in a mobile network along a path of locations from an origin location of the path at an earliest activity of a plurality of activities of the mobile device to a destination location of the path at a latest activity of the plurality of activities;

said one or more processors accessing from storage a historical set of routes of the mobile device;

said one or more processors ascertaining at least one common route from the historical set of routes, wherein the locations in each common route include all of the locations on the path;

said one or more processors designating a common route of the at least one common route as a traveled route of the mobile device with respect to the series of consecutive movements of the mobile device along the path;

said one or more processors communicating, to a traffic planning system, the designated common route and other common routes relating to all network activity records generated by a user of the mobile device accessing the mobile network;

in response to said communicating, said traffic planning system obtaining, via the one or more processors, a real-time view of traffic density along journey paths in a transport infrastructure;

in response to the real-time view of traffic density along journey paths in the transport infrastructure, said traffic planning system making, via the one or more processors, informed decisions about traffic planning comprising traffic alerts, redirecting traffic, closing roads, and opening new roads along new routes;

said traffic planning system implementing, via the one or more processors, the informed decisions, said implementing comprising issuing traffic alerts, redirecting traffic, closing roads, and opening new roads along new routes;

said one or more processors computing a ratio of (i) a sum of a coverage area of a start cell in which one activity of the mobile device was initiated and a coverage area of an end cell in which the one activity of the mobile device was terminated to (ii) a distance between a centroid of the start cell and a centroid of the end cell such that the distance has a positive value; and

said one or more processors determining a confidence value as a function of the computed ratio.

16. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the origin location of each common route is the origin location of the path, and wherein the destination location of each common route is the destination location of the path.

17. The computer system of claim 15, said method further comprising:

said one or more processors analyzing a network usage record that identifies the plurality of activities of the mobile device and associated activity information pertaining to each activity, wherein for each activity the associated activity information identified in the network usage record includes a start cell in which the activity was initiated, an end cell in which the activity was terminated, a start time at which the activity was initiated, and a time duration of the activity, said plurality of activities comprising the one activity,

wherein said determining the series of consecutive movements of the mobile device along the path of locations comprises determining the series of consecutive movements of the mobile device along the path of locations from the activity information of the activities.

18. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the start time and duration for each activity defines a time interval that does not overlap the time interval defined for each other activity.