Harvesting labels for significant locations and updating a location fingerprint database using harvested labels

• US 10,356,559 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2018
• Issued: 07/16/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/04/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Dal Santo, Michael P., Rhee, Stephen J., Huang, Ronald K., Holt, Nicholas M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Osifade, Idowu O
• Application Number:
  US16/120,113
• Publication Number:
  US 20180376286A1
• Time in Patent Office: 319 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02524 Creating or updating the radio-map
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination

Abstract

This disclosure describes embodiments for harvesting and serving labels for locations. In an embodiment, a method comprises: receiving, by one or more server computers, location data including wireless access point data and location labels associated with significant locations, the location data being harvested from a plurality of devices operating at a plurality of geographic locations; and updating, by the one or more server computers, a plurality of fingerprints representing the plurality of geographic locations, the updating including associating at least one of the received location labels with at least one of the plurality of fingerprints.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by one or more server computers, location data including wireless access point data obtained by a requesting device operating at a significant location;

comparing, by the one or more server computers, the wireless access point data with a plurality of fingerprints;

responsive to the comparing, obtaining, by the one or more server computers, a matching fingerprint;

obtaining, by the one or more server computers and using the matching fingerprint, a location label for the significant location harvested from one or more additional devices operating at the significant location, the location label indicating an association with the significant location as determined by the one or more additional devices and comprising a description of the significant location as determined by the one or more additional devices; and

sending, by the one or more server computers to the requesting device, the location label for the significant location.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the location data further includes motion classification data classifying a movement detected by the one or more additional devices as a particular user activity type from among a plurality of user activity types, and

wherein the method further comprises associating at least one location label harvested from the one or more additional devices with at least one fingerprint of the plurality of fingerprints using the motion classification data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the location data further includes transaction data for the significant location, and

wherein the method further comprises associating at least one location label harvested from the one or more additional devices with the at least one fingerprint of the plurality of fingerprints using the transaction data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless access point data includes received signal strength values calculated from wireless radio frequency signals transmitted by one or more wireless access points at the significant locations.

5. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

memory coupled to the one or more processors and operable for storing instructions, which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving location data including wireless access point data obtained by a requesting device operating at a significant location;

comparing the wireless access point data with a plurality of fingerprints;

responsive to the comparing, obtaining a matching fingerprint;

obtaining, using the matching fingerprint, a location label for the significant location harvested from one or more additional devices operating at the significant location, the location label indicating an association with the significant location as determined by the one or more additional devices and comprising a description of the significant location as determined by the one or more additional devices; and

sending to the requesting device the location label for the significant location.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the location data further includes motion classification data classifying a movement detected by the one or more additional devices as a particular user activity type from among a plurality of user activity types, and

wherein the operations further comprise associating at least one location label harvested from the one or more additional devices with at least one fingerprinted of the plurality of fingerprints using the motion classification data.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the location data further includes transaction data for the significant location, and

wherein the operations further comprise associating at least one location label harvested from the one or more additional devices with the at least one fingerprint of the plurality of fingerprints using the transaction data.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the wireless access point data includes received signal strength values calculated from wireless radio frequency signals transmitted by one or more wireless access points at the significant locations.