Server orchestrated connectivity

• US 10,320,860 B1
• Filed: 06/24/2015
• Issued: 06/11/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Bunner, Andrew Ames, Gardner, III, Alan Lee, Kadous, Mohammed Waleed, Williams, Brian Patrick, Stogaitis, Marc, Aharony, Nadav, Duff, Brian, Getreuer, Pascal Tom, Sun, Zhentao, Alva, Daniel Estrada, Patel, Ami, Razon, Benjamin, Webb, Richard Daniel, Weber, Tony, Chao, Thomas Yuchin, Rifkin, Ryan Michael, Lyon, Richard Francis, Tran, Liem, Farfel, Joseph A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bates, Kevin T
• Assistant Examiner(s): McCray, Clarence D
• Application Number:
  US14/749,445
• Time in Patent Office: 1,448 Days
• Field of Search: 709204
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds

Abstract

The disclosure includes a system and method for detecting fine grain copresence between users. The system includes a processor and a memory storing instructions that when executed cause the system to: transmit a wakeup signal to a plurality of devices based on coarse grain location information; send a request to a first device of the plurality of devices to transmit a token using a first communication technology to determine fine grain copresence; receive a first token acknowledgment from a first subset of the plurality of devices; send a request to a second device of the first subset of the plurality of devices to transmit the token using a second communication technology to determine fine grain copresence; receive a second token acknowledgment from a second subset of the plurality of devices; and refine copresence based on receiving the first and second token acknowledgment.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

determining, using one or more processors, that a plurality of devices have a coarse grain copresence;

transmitting a wakeup signal to the plurality of devices responsive to the determination that the plurality of devices have the coarse grain copresence;

sending a first request to a first device of the plurality of devices to transmit a first token using a first communication technology to determine a first fine grain copresence, wherein the first token is a unique identifier with a server-enforced lifespan;

receiving a first token acknowledgment from a first subset of the plurality of devices;

sending a second request to a second device of the first subset of the plurality of devices to transmit a second token using a second communication technology to determine a second fine grain copresence, wherein the first and second fine grain copresence are each associated with a communication range that is smaller than that associated with the coarse grain copresence;

receiving a second token acknowledgment from a second subset of the plurality of devices;

refining the coarse grain copresence into refined copresence using the first fine grain copresence based on receiving the first token acknowledgement and the second fine grain copresence based on receiving the second token acknowledgment; and

performing an action based on the refined copresence.

2. A computer-implemented method comprising:

transmitting a wakeup signal to a plurality of devices responsive to a determination that the plurality of devices have a coarse grain copresence based on coarse grain location information;

sending a first request to a first device of the plurality of devices to transmit a first token using a first communication technology to determine a first fine grain copresence, wherein the first token is a unique identifier with a server-enforced lifespan;

receiving a first token acknowledgment from a first subset of the plurality of devices;

sending a second request to a second device of the first subset of the plurality of devices to transmit a second token using a second communication technology to determine a second fine grain copresence, wherein the first and second fine grain copresence are each associated with a communication range that is smaller than that associated with the coarse grain copresence;

receiving a second token acknowledgment from a second subset of the plurality of devices; and

refining the coarse grain copresence into refined copresence using the first fine grain copresence based on receiving the first token acknowledgement and the second fine grain copresence based on receiving the second token acknowledgment.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising:

maintaining a list of devices and their corresponding communication technology capabilities for determining which device to request to transmit the first or the second token.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein transmitting the wakeup signal comprises:

determining a first group of the plurality of devices configured to transmit and receive using the first communication technology;

transmitting a first wakeup signal to the first group;

determining a second group of the plurality of devices configured to transmit and receive using the second communication technology and not the first communication technology; and

transmitting a second wakeup signal to the second group.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the coarse grain location information is one or more of GPS data and Wi-Fi data.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the first or the second token is transmitted via one or more of inaudible audio, audible audio, Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Wi-Fi, and near field communication.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising:

maintaining, via a server, an indication of token acknowledgements from each device of the plurality of devices;

in response to the first request from the first device belonging to a first access control list, returning a first indication of devices from the first access control list for which the server has received the first token acknowledgement; and

in response to the second request from the second device belonging to a second access control list, returning a second indication of devices from the second access control list for which the server has received the second token acknowledgement.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein sending the first request to the first device to transmit the first token using the first communication technology comprises instructing the first device to transmit the first token using an audio signal multiplied by a code.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, further comprising performing an action based on the refined copresence.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein performing the action is based on privacy settings of the plurality of devices.

11. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer usable medium including a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to:

transmit a wakeup signal to a plurality of devices responsive to a determination that the plurality of devices have a coarse grain copresence based on coarse grain location information;

send a first request to a first device of the plurality of devices to transmit a first token using a first communication technology to determine a first fine grain copresence, wherein the first token is a unique identifier with a server-enforced lifespan;

receive a first token acknowledgment from a first subset of the plurality of devices;

send a second request to a second device of the first subset of the plurality of devices to transmit a second token using a second communication technology to determine a second fine grain copresence, wherein the first and second fine grain copresence are each associated with a communication range that is smaller than that associated with the coarse grain copresence;

receive a second token acknowledgment from a second subset of the plurality of devices; and

refining the coarse grain copresence into refined copresence using the first fine grain copresence based on receiving the first token acknowledgement and the second fine grain copresence based on receiving the second token acknowledgment.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the computer readable program is further configured to cause the computer to:

maintain a list of devices and their corresponding communication technology capabilities for determining which device to request to transmit the first or the second token.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein to transmit the wakeup signal, the computer readable program is further configured to cause the computer to:

determine a first group of the plurality of devices having a capability to transmit and receive using the first communication technology;

transmit a first wakeup signal to the first group;

determine a second group of the plurality of devices having the capability to transmit and receive using the second communication technology and not the first communication technology; and

transmit a second wakeup signal to the second group.

14. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the coarse grain location information is one or more of GPS data and Wi-Fi data.

15. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the first or the second token is transmitted via one or more of inaudible audio, audible audio, Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Wi-Fi, and near field communication.

16. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the computer readable program is further configured to cause the computer to:

maintain, via a server, an indication of token acknowledgements from each device of the plurality of devices;

in response to the first request from the first device belonging to a first access control list, return a first indication of devices from the first access control list for which the server has received the first token acknowledgement; and

in response to the second request from the second device belonging to a second access control list, return a second indication of devices from the second access control list for which the server has received the second token acknowledgement.

17. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein to send the first request to the first device to transmit the first token using the first communication technology, the computer readable program is further configured to cause the computer to instruct the first device to transmit the first token using an audio signal multiplied by a code.

18. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the computer readable program is further configured to cause the computer to perform an action based on the refined copresence.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein performing the action is based on privacy settings of the plurality of devices.

20. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the server-enforced lifespan of the first token is based on a time the first request was made.