Device location determined by wireless signals

• US 10,353,047 B2
• Filed: 06/19/2015
• Issued: 07/16/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lenovo PC International Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Lenovo Singapore Pte Limited (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Luna, Joaquin F., Waltermann, Rod D., Morris, Joseph Bryan, Acquesta, Erin Carolyn Solfiell, Kingsbury, Timothy Winthrop
• Primary Examiner(s): Holliday, Jaime M
• Application Number:
  US14/744,739
• Publication Number:
  US 20160373897A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,488 Days
• Field of Search: 4554141, 4554561-4566
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02521 using a radio-map
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02524 Creating or updating the radio-map
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• 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

Abstract

One embodiment provides a method, including: obtaining a list of detected wireless signals; determining, using a processor, that a previous list of detected wireless signals shares at least some commonality with the list of detected wireless signals; for common entries in the list, analyzing with a processor, a characteristic of an entry of the list of detected wireless signals and a characteristic of an entry of the previous list of detected wireless signals; establishing, if the similarity metric meets a criterion, an estimated location of a device; and requesting, from a third party location service, a device location if the similarity metric does not meet the criterion. Other aspects are described and claimed.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

obtaining a list of wireless signals detected at an information handling device;

comparing, using a processor, the detected list of wireless signals against a database stored at a data storage location locally accessible by the information handling device and containing at least one list of previously detected wireless signals each having an associated location;

determining, using a processor, a similarity metric between the detected list of wireless signals and the database, wherein the determining comprises identifying a predetermined number of entries within the database, the predetermined number of entries being associated with a location, having a similarity to the list of obtained wireless signals and identifying at least one of entry associated with the location does not match the obtained list of wireless signals;

identifying, based upon the similarity metric meeting a criterion, an estimated location of the information handling device based upon the identified predetermined number of entries having a similarity to the obtained wireless signals and identifying the location associated with the identified entries in common;

identifying, based upon the similarity metric not meeting a criterion, a location of the information handling device by requesting the location from a third party service provider; and

updating, the data storage location locally accessible by the information handling device, the at least one entry associated with the location using at least one of;

information received with the obtained list of wireless signals and information received from the third party service provider.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the database is stored on the device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the device is a cloud server.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the database is shared with other devices.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the comparing comprises identifying entry overlap.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the similarity is based upon signal strength.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the criterion comprises a threshold.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the threshold is a statistical threshold and the statistical threshold includes two standard deviations.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of detectable wireless signals comprises a MAC address.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of detectable wireless signals comprises a wireless access point SSID.

11. An information handling device, comprising:

a processor;

a memory device that stores instructions executable by the processor to;

obtain a list of wireless signals detected at an information handling device;

compare the detected list of wireless signals against a database stored at a data storage location locally accessible by the information handling device and containing at least one list of previously detected wireless signals each having an associated location;

determine a similarity metric between the detected list of wireless signals and the database, wherein the determining comprises identifying a predetermined number of entries within the database, the predetermined number of entries being associated with a location, having a similarity to the list of obtained wireless signals and identifying at least one of entry associated with the location does not match the obtained list of wireless signals;

identify, based upon the similarity metric meeting a criterion, an estimated location of the information handling device based upon the identified predetermined number of entries having a similarity to the obtained wireless signals and identifying the location associated with the identified entries in common;

identify, based upon the similarity metric not meeting a criterion, a location of the information handling device by requesting the location from a third party service provider; and

update, the data storage location locally accessible by the information handling device, the at least one entry associated with the location using at least one of;

information received with the obtained list of wireless signals and information received from the third party service provider.

12. The information handling device of claim 11, wherein the database is stored on the device.

13. The information handling device of claim 12, wherein the device is a cloud server.

14. The information handling device of claim 13, wherein the database is shared with other devices.

15. The information handling device of claim 11, wherein the comparing comprises identifying entry overlap.

16. The information handling device of claim 11, wherein the similarity is based upon signal strength.

17. The information handling device of claim 11, wherein the criterion comprises a threshold.

18. The information handling device of claim 17, wherein the threshold is a statistical threshold and the statistical threshold includes two standard deviations.

19. The information handling device of claim 11, wherein the list of detectable wireless signals comprises at least one of a MAC address and a SSID.

20. A product, comprising:

a storage device having code stored therewith, the code being executable by a processor and comprising;

code that obtains a list of wireless signals detected at an information handling device;

code that compares the detected list of wireless signals against a database associated with the information handling device and containing at least one list of previously detected wireless signals each having an associated location;

code that determines a similarity metric between the detected list of wireless signals and the database, wherein the determining comprises identifying a predetermined number of entries within the database, the predetermined number of entries being associated with a location, having a similarity to the list of obtained wireless signals and identifying at least one of entry associated with the location does not match the obtained list of wireless signals;

code that identifies, based upon the similarity metric meeting a condition, an estimated location of the information handling device based upon the identified predetermined number of entries having a similarity to the obtained wireless signals and identifying the location associated with the identified entries in common;

code that identifies, based upon the similarity metric not meeting a criterion, a location of the information handling device by requesting the location from a third party service provider; and

code that updates, the data storage location locally accessible by the information handling device, the at least one entry associated with the location using at least one of;

information received with the obtained list of wireless signals and information received from the third party service provider.