Location determination using historical data

• US 20040162090A1
• Filed: 02/18/2003
• Published: 08/19/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 02/18/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SBC Properties, L.P.
• Original Assignee: SBC Properties, L.P.
• Inventors: Patron, David, Suryanarayana, Lalitha
• Granted Patent: US 7,242,950 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.5
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0269 Inferred or constrained positioning, e.g. employing knowledge of the physical or electromagnetic environment, state of motion or other contextual information to infer or constrain a position
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0295 Proximity-based methods, e.g. position inferred from reception of particular signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A plurality of wireless network access points (NAPs) each having a known location are provided. The wireless NAPs comprise shorter-range NAPs and longer-range NAPs. An associated precedence is assigned to each of the NAPs. A history database is to track a sequence of the NAPs accessed by a wireless device in a session. If a request for information from the wireless device is received by at least two of the NAPs, a processor determines which of the at least two NAPs has a greatest precedence and assigns same as a current NAP. The processor estimates a current location of the wireless device based on the known location of the current NAP and the known location of a previously-current NAP for the wireless device from the history database.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing a plurality of wireless network access points (NAPs) each having a known location and,a unique identifier, the wireless NAPs comprising a plurality of shorter-range NAPs and a plurality of longer-range NAPs;

assigning an associated precedence to each of the NAPs;

providing a history database to track a sequence of the NAPs accessed by a wireless device in a session;

receiving, by at least two of the NAPs, a request for information from the wireless device;

determining which of the at least two NAPs has a greatest precedence and assigning same as a current NAP; and

estimating a current location of the wireless device based on the known location of the current NAP and the known location of a previously-current NAP for the wireless device from the history database.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein each of the shorter-range NAPs located within a range of one of the longer-range NAPs is assigned a higher precedence than the one of the longer-range NAPs.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein each shorter-range NAP has a higher precedence than each longer-range NAP.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the current location is estimated to be in a sector of a range of the current NAP proximate to the known location of the previously-current Nap.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the sector comprises a quadrant proximate to the known location of the previously-current NAP.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein said estimating the current location is based on topological information of locations where the wireless device may not be located.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising updating the history database to record the current NAP.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising updating the history database to record the current location.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising updating the history database to record a time stamp.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising updating the history database to record NAP-to-NAP transition information.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the longer-range NAPs comprise a plurality of 802.11 NAPs.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the shorter-range NAPs comprise a plurality of Bluetooth NAPs.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising retrieving information associated with the current location and communicating the information to the wireless device in response to the request for information.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least two NAPs receiving the request comprise at least one of the shorter-range NAPs and at least one of the longer-range NAPs, and wherein the current NAP is assigned to be one of the shorter-range NAPs.

15. A method comprising:

providing a plurality of wireless network access points (NAPs) each having a known location;

providing a history database to track a sequence of the NAPs accessed by a wireless device in a session;

receiving a request for information from the wireless device by one of the NAPs and assigning same as a current NAP;

determining if a previously-current NAP for the wireless device from the history database is located outside a range of the current NAP; and

if the previously-current NAP is located outside the range of the current NAP, estimating a current location of the wireless device based on the known location of the current NAP and the known location of the previously-current NAP.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the current location is estimated to be within the range of the current NAP and biased toward the known location of the previously-current NAP.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

if the previously-current NAP is located within the range of the current NAP, estimating a current location of the wireless device based on the known location of the current NAP and topological information of locations where the wireless device may not be located.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein said estimating the current location is based on topological information of locations where the wireless device may not be located.

19. The method of claim 15 further comprising updating the history database to record the current NAP.

20. The method of claim 15 further comprising updating the history database to record the current location.

21. The method of claim 15 further comprising updating the history database to record a time stamp.

22. The method of claim 15 further comprising updating the history database to record NAP-to-NAP transition information.

23. The method of claim 15 wherein the current NAP comprises a Bluetooth NAP and the previously-current NAP comprises a Bluetooth NAP.

24. The method of claim 15 wherein the current NAP comprises a Bluetooth NAP and the previously-current NAP comprises an 802.11 NAP.

25. The method of claim 15 wherein the current NAP comprises an 802.11 NAP and the previously-current NAP comprises a Bluetooth NAP.

26. The method of claim 15 further comprising retrieving information associated with the current location and communicating the information to the wireless device in response to the request for information.

27. A system comprising:

a plurality of wireless network access points (NAPs) each having a known location and a unique identifier, the wireless NAPs comprising a plurality of shorter-range NAPs and a plurality of longer-range NAPs, each of the NAPs having an associated precedence;

a history database to track a sequence of the NAPs accessed by a wireless device in a session; and

a location determination component to determine which of at least two NAPs that receive a request for information from the wireless device has a greatest precedence and to assign same as a current NAP, and to estimate a current location of the wireless device based on the known location of the current NAP and the known location of a previously-current NAP for the wireless device from the history database.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein each of the shorter-range NAPs located within a range of one of the longer-range NAPs is assigned a higher precedence than the one of the longer-range NAPs.

29. The system of claim 27 wherein each shorter-range NAP has a higher precedence than each longer-range NAP.

30. The system of claim 27 wherein the current location is estimated to be in a sector of a range of the current NAP proximate to the known location of the previously-current NAP.

31. The system of claim 30 wherein the sector comprises a quadrant proximate to the known location of the previously-current NAP.

32. The system of claim 27 wherein the location determination component is to estimate the current location based on topological information of locations where the wireless device may not be located.

33. The system of claim 27 wherein the location determination component is to update the history database to record the current NAP.

34. The system of claim 27 wherein the location determination component is to update the history database to record the current location.

35. The system of claim 27 wherein the location determination component is to update the history database to record a time stamp.

36. The system of claim 27 wherein the location determination component is to update the history database to record NAP-to-NAP transition information.

37. The system of claim 27 wherein the longer-range NAPs comprise a plurality of 802.11 NAPs.

38. The system of claim 37 wherein the shorter-range NAPs comprise a plurality of Bluetooth NAPs.

39. The system of claim 27 further comprising a content server component to retrieve information associated with the current location, and to communicate the information to the wireless device in response to the request for information.

40. The system of claim 27 wherein the at least two NAPs receiving the request comprise at least one of the shorter-range NAPs and at least one of the longer-range NAPs, and wherein the current NAP is assigned to be one of the shorter-range NAPs.

41. A system comprising:

a plurality of wireless network access points (NAPs) each having a known location and a unique identifier;

a history database to track a sequence of the NAPs accessed by a wireless device in a session; and

a location determination component to assign one of the NAPs that receive a request for information from the wireless device as a current NAP, to determine if a previously-current NAP for the wireless device from the history database is located outside a range of the current NAP, and to estimate a current location of the wireless device based on the known location of the current NAP and the known location of the previously-current NAP if the previously-current NAP is located outside the range of the current NAP.

42. The system of claim 41 wherein the current location is estimated to be within the range of the current NAP and biased toward the known location of the previously-current NAP.

43. The system of claim 41 wherein the location determination component is to estimate a current location of the wireless device based on the known location of the current NAP and topological information of locations where the wireless device may not be located if the previously-current NAP is located within the range of the current NAP.

44. The system of claim 41 wherein the location determination component is to estimate the current location based on topological information of locations where the wireless device may not be located.

45. The system of claim 41 wherein the location determination component is to update the history database to record the current NAP.

46. The system of claim 41 wherein the location determination component is to update the history database to record the current location.

47. The system of claim 41 wherein the location determination component is to update the history database to record a time stamp.

48. The system of claim 41 wherein the location determination component is to update the history database to record NAP-to-NAP transition information.

49. The system of claim 41 wherein the current NAP comprises a Bluetooth NAP and the previously-current NAP comprises a Bluetooth NAP.

50. The system of claim 41 wherein the current NAP comprises a Bluetooth NAP and the previously-current NAP comprises an 802.11 NAP.

51. The system of claim 41 wherein the current NAP comprises an 802.11 NAP and the previously-current NAP comprises a Bluetooth NAP.

52. The system of claim 41 further comprising a content server to retrieve information associated with the current location and to communicate the information to the wireless device in response to the request for information.

53. A method comprising:

providing a plurality of wireless network access points (NAPs), the wireless NAPs comprising a plurality of shorter-range NAPs and a plurality of longer-range NAPs;

providing a history database to track locations of a wireless device in a session;

receiving, by at least one of the wireless NAPs, a request for information from the wireless device;

if the request is received by one of the shorter-range NAPs;

assigning the one of the shorter-range NAPs as a current NAP;

if the history database is absent previous location data for the wireless device in the session, estimating a current location of the wireless device based on a location of the current NAP; and

if the history database includes previous location data for the wireless device in the session, estimating a current location of the wireless device based on a location of the current NAP and a last-estimated location of the wireless device;

if the request is not received by any of the shorter-range NAPs;

assigning one of the longer-range NAPs that received the request as the current NAP;

if the history database is absent previous location data for the wireless device in the session, estimating a current location of the wireless device based on a location of the current NAP;

if the history database includes previous location data for the wireless device in the session and if a last request from the wireless device was received from one of the NAPs outside a range of the current NAP, estimating a current location of the wireless device within a range of the current NAP and biased toward a location of the one of the NAPs; and

if the history database includes previous location data for the wireless device in the session and if a last request from the wireless device was received from one of the NAPs within a range of the current NAP, estimating a location of the wireless device within a range of the current NAP and not within a range of the one of the NAPs;

updating the history database to record the current location of the wireless device.

54. The method of claim 53 wherein the longer-range NAPs comprise a plurality of 802.11 NAPs.

55. The method of claim 53 wherein the shorter-range NAPs comprise a plurality of Bluetooth NAPs;

56. The method of claim 53 further comprising retrieving information associated with the current location and communicating the information to the wireless device in response to the request for information.

57. The method of claim 53 wherein if the history database is absent previous location data for the wireless device in the session, said estimating the current location of the wireless device comprises querying the history database to retrieve areas where other users have been most likely located at the current NAP, and determining a location of highest likelihood within the range of the current NAP based thereon.