Crowd sourced location determination

• US 10,412,542 B2
• Filed: 08/22/2018
• Issued: 09/10/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Belkin International Incorporated (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Belkin International Incorporated (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Kim, Ryan Yong, Plummer, Jon, Shao, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Siu M
• Application Number:
  US16/109,527
• Publication Number:
  US 20180367947A1
• Time in Patent Office: 384 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• 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 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/0005 synchronizing of arrival of multiple uplinks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/001 Synchronization between nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment

Abstract

Techniques and systems for determining locations of devices using location data sources are provided. For example, a network device, method, and computer-program product may be provided. In one example, a method may include receiving, on a computing device, a request to locate a device, wherein the request includes an identifier of the device. The method may further include receiving a communication from the device, wherein the communication includes the identifier of the device, and obtaining a location of the device. The method may further include transmitting the location of the device and the identifier of the device to a server, wherein the server is configured to use the location of the device and the identifier of the device to send a response to the requestor of the request.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

one or more data processors of a computing device; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing instructions which, when executed on the one or more data processors, cause the one or more data processors to perform operations including;

identifying, by the computing device, a network device on a local network at a venue;

displaying, on the computing device, a graphical user interface associated with the venue;

receiving user input indicative of an approximate location on the graphical user interface for the network device;

identifying a new network device present on the local network;

receiving location information associated with the new network device, wherein the location information is derived from triangulation or trilateration of the new network device with respect to the network device;

generating an estimated location within the venue for the new network device in relation to the network device using the location information; and

updating the graphical user interface with the estimated location for the new network device.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving additional user input indicative of an additional approximate location on the graphical user interface associated with the new network device;

updating the estimated location for the new network device based on the additional user input; and

updating the graphical user interface with the updated estimated location.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the location information is derived from triangulation or trilateration of the new network device with respect to the network device and the computing device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the location information is derived from triangulation or trilateration of the new network device with respect to the network device and an additional network device on the local network.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the location information is derived from triangulation or trilateration of the new network device with respect to the network device through the use of wireless signals associated with the local network.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the location information is derived from triangulation or trilateration of the new network device with respect to the network device through the use of wireless signals not associated with the local network.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising associating a name or an image with the new network device, wherein generating the estimated location within the venue for the new network device further comprises predicting a portion of the venue in which the new network device may be located based on the name or the image associated with the new network device.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising sending location information associated with the computing device, wherein the location information associated with the computing device is usable by the new network device to perform a location-related function when the computing device is determined to be within a preset proximity of the new network device.

9. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

identifying, by a computing device, a network device on a local network at a venue;

displaying, on the computing device, a graphical user interface associated with the venue;

receiving user input indicative of an approximate location on the graphical user interface for the network device;

identifying a new network device present on the local network;

receiving location information associated with the new network device, wherein the location information is derived from triangulation or trilateration of the new network device with respect to the network device;

generating an estimated location within the venue for the new network device in relation to the network device using the location information; and

updating the graphical user interface with the estimated location for the new network device.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving additional user input indicative of an additional approximate location on the graphical user interface associated with the new network device;

updating the estimated location for the new network device based on the additional user input; and

updating the graphical user interface with the updated estimated location.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the location information is derived from triangulation or trilateration of the new network device with respect to the network device and the computing device.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the location information is derived from triangulation or trilateration of the new network device with respect to the network device and an additional network device on the local network.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the location information is derived from triangulation or trilateration of the new network device with respect to the network device through the use of wireless signals associated with the local network.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the location information is derived from triangulation or trilateration of the new network device with respect to the network device through the use of wireless signals not associated with the local network.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising associating a name or an image with the new network device, wherein generating the estimated location within the venue for the new network device further comprises predicting a portion of the venue in which the new network device may be located based on the name or the image associated with the new network device.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising sending location information associated with the computing device, wherein the location information associated with the computing device is usable by the new network device to perform a location-related function when the computing device is determined to be within a preset proximity of the new network device.

17. A computer-program product tangibly embodied in a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, including instructions configured to cause a data processing apparatus to perform operations including:

identifying, by a computing device, a network device on a local network at a venue;

displaying, on the computing device, a graphical user interface associated with the venue;

receiving user input indicative of an approximate location on the graphical user interface for the network device;

identifying a new network device present on the local network;

receiving location information associated with the new network device, wherein the location information is derived from triangulation or trilateration of the new network device with respect to the network device;

generating an estimated location within the venue for the new network device in relation to the network device using the location information; and

updating the graphical user interface with the estimated location for the new network device.

18. The computer-program product of claim 17, further comprising:

receiving additional user input indicative of an additional approximate location on the graphical user interface associated with the new network device;

updating the estimated location for the new network device based on the additional user input; and

updating the graphical user interface with the updated estimated location.

19. The computer-program product of claim 17, wherein the location information is derived from triangulation or trilateration of the new network device with respect to the network device and the computing device.

20. The computer-program product of claim 17, wherein the location information is derived from triangulation or trilateration of the new network device with respect to the network device and an additional network device on the local network.