Information collection and processing method, client terminal and server

• US 10,382,589 B2
• Filed: 01/05/2016
• Issued: 08/13/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/08/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
• Inventors: Wang, Shijiang, Wang, Shubin
• Primary Examiner(s): Dalencourt, Yves
• Application Number:
  US14/988,633
• Publication Number:
  US 20160205219A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,316 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A client terminal receives a collection strategy from a server, collects position information according to the received collection strategy, and sends the collected position information to the server. After receiving and storing the collected position information, the server performs an analysis of the collected position information according to a preset rule to form configuration data of the collection strategy, updates the collection strategy according to the configuration data formed by the analysis, and sends the updated collection strategy to the client terminal. The client terminal receives the updated collection strategy sent by the server, and collects the position information according to the updated strategy.

Claims

1. A method implemented by a client terminal, the method comprising:

collecting position information through a Global Positioning System (GPS) according to a first collection strategy;

sending the collected position information to a server;

receiving a second collection strategy from the server, the second collection strategy comprising;

reducing a first time interval for collecting and reporting the position information for one or more overlapping time periods during which daily changes in positions reach a preset frequency, and

increasing a second time interval for collecting and reporting the position information for another one or more overlapping time periods during which the daily changes in positions do not reach the preset frequency; and

collecting the position information through the GPS according to the second collection strategy.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the first collection strategy prior to collecting the position information according to the first collection strategy.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein receiving the first collection strategy comprises:

sending a notification message to the server in response to the client terminal initiating or switching to a specified application;

receiving the first collection strategy from the server after sending the notification message to the server.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein receiving the first collection strategy comprises one or more of:

receiving the first collection strategy from the server in response to a preset push time being reached;

or

receiving the first collection strategy from the server based on a push trigger instruction.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the collected position information to the server comprises:

obtaining a time for reporting information from the first collection strategy; and

sending the collected position information to the server in response to the time for reporting information being reached.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the collected position information to the server comprises:

obtaining a time interval for reporting information from the information collection strategy; and

sending the collected position information to the server in response to determining that a time lapse from a previous time of reporting position information is greater than the time interval for reporting information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the second collection strategy comprises:

receiving and storing a plurality of collection policies of different priority levels for positional regions; and

selecting a collection strategy having a highest priority level from among the plurality of collection policies corresponding to a current positional region where the client terminal is located as the second collection strategy.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising setting up an indicator state of whether an information collection or an information report is allowed at the client terminal.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein collecting the position information according to the first collection strategy is performed when the indicator state shows that the information collection is allowed, and wherein sending the collected position information to the server is performed when the indicator state shows that the information report is allowed.

10. One or more computer-readable media storing executable instructions that, when executed by a server, cause the server to perform acts comprising:

receiving and storing position information that is sent from a client terminal, the position information being obtained by a Global Positioning System (GPS) of the client terminal;

performing an analysis of the collected position information according to a preset rule to form configuration data of a collection strategy, wherein performing the analysis of the collected position information comprises;

periodically extracting position information data in N days, wherein N≥

1;

calculating one or more overlapping time periods during which positions of the client terminal changes on a daily basis at a frequency that reaches a preset frequency within the N days based on the position information data;

setting up respective one or more activity weights for the one or more overlapping time periods that are obtained, and setting up one or more information collection time intervals corresponding to the respective one or more activity weights; and

setting the configuration data of the collection strategy based on the respective one or more activity weights of the one or more overlapping time periods and the one or more information collection time intervals corresponding to the respective one or more activity weights;

updating the collection strategy according to the configuration data that is formed by the analysis; and

sending the updated collection strategy to the client terminal.

11. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 10, the acts further comprising performing at least one of longitude and latitude conversion, information compensation, and data format calibration on the position information.

12. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 10, the acts further comprising:

obtaining different positional regions by partitioning, and setting up corresponding regional weights for the different positional regions; and

obtaining a current position of the client terminal based on the position information, and setting the configuration data of the collection strategy according to a regional weight of a positional region corresponding to the current position of the client terminal.

13. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 10, the acts further comprising:

obtaining different positional regions by partitioning, and obtaining at least first-level positional sub-regions from the positional regions;

setting up priority levels for positional regions of different levels in advance, or setting up priority levels for the positional regions of different levels based on degrees of activity of the positional regions of different levels; and

setting up collection policies with corresponding priority levels according to the priority levels of the positional regions of different levels, and sending the collection policies with different priority levels to the client terminal.

14. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 10, wherein, the updated collection strategy comprises:

reducing a first time interval for collecting and reporting the position information for one or more overlapping time periods during which daily changes in positions reach a preset frequency; and

increasing a second time interval for collecting and reporting the position information for another one or more overlapping time periods during which the daily changes in positions do not reach the preset frequency.

15. An apparatus comprising:

one or more processors;

memory;

a Global Positioning System (GPS);

a strategy receiving module stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to receive a collection strategy from a server;

an information collection module stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to collect position information through the GPS according to the collection strategy received by the strategy receiving module;

an information reporting module stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to send the collected position information to the server; and

a strategy synchronization module stored in the memory and executable by the one or more processors to synchronize with the server to update the collection strategy, the updated collection strategy comprising;

reducing a first time interval for collecting and reporting the position information for one or more overlapping time periods during which daily changes in positions reach a preset frequency, and

increasing a second time interval for collecting and reporting the position information for another one or more overlapping time periods during which the daily changes in positions do not reach the preset frequency.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the strategy receiving module comprises a status monitoring module to send a notification message to the server in response to detecting that a particular application is started or switched.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the information reporting module comprises:

a periodic reporting unit to obtain one or more times for reporting information from the collection strategy, and send the collected position information to the server in response to a time of the one or more times being reached; and

an interval reporting unit to obtain a time interval for reporting information from the collection strategy, and send the collected position information to the server in response to determining that a time lapse from a previous time of reporting position information is greater than the time interval for reporting information.