INTELLIGENT LOCATION-TO-CELL MAPPING USING ANNOTATED MEDIA

• US 20080189028A1
• Filed: 02/05/2007
• Published: 08/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: King, Simon P., Naaman, Mor, Nair, Rahul, Ahern, Shane P.
• Granted Patent: US 8,055,271 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/200
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• 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

Disclosed are apparatus and methods for providing location information for a current location of a portable device, such as a camera-phone. In general, a current, generic location, e.g., cell ID, of the portable device is mapped to a more specific location description, e.g., the name of a specific city, that is defined by one or more users. In a specific implementation, one or more users of portable devices may be encouraged to contribute specific location descriptions with respect to media objects or the like that are managed on their portable devices. When a particular user ties a specific location to a media object or the like, the media object serves to also tie the particular user'"'"'s current generic location or cell ID to the media object. Thus, a plurality of media objects and their associated specific and generic location descriptions can be analyzed to determine a most relevant specific location description for a particular generic location or cell ID. The specific location that is tied to a generic location may be used in any number of applications, such as automatically associating such specific location with any media objects that are captured in the corresponding generic location, e.g., cell ID.

Claims

1. A method for mapping a specific location to a particular generic location of a mobile device, comprising:

providing a generic location for a particular user of a mobile device; and

determining a specific location, based on analysis of one or more locations entered by one or more users for such same generic location, and mapping the specific location to the generic location, wherein the analysis to determine the specific location is personalized with respect to the particular user.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the generic location is a cellular tower identity (ID).

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the analysis of the user-entered location(s) is prioritized in the following order:

(i) one or more locations entered by the particular user for the same generic location, (ii) one or more locations entered by the particular user'"'"'s social network for the same generic location, and (iii) one or more locations entered by the general public for the same generic location.

4. A method as recited in claim 3, wherein the analysis of the user-entered location(s) is further based on location data for the same generic location that is obtained from an external source.

5. A method as recited in claim 4, wherein the external source is a global positioning satellite (GPS) system.

6. A method as recited in claim 4, wherein the generic location is in the form of a cellular tower ID and the external source is a cellular phone provider service that provides location data that is mapped to cellular tower ID'"'"'s.

7. A method as recited in claim 3, wherein the analysis includes performing (a) text analysis on at least one user-entered location to translate it from a free form string into one or more proper nouns, which together identify a specific location, and/or (b) collision control so as to select the specific location, which is most likely to be accurate, from a plurality of specific locations that conflict with each other.

8. A method as recited in claim 7, wherein collision control includes selecting the majority user-entered location as the specific location for mapping to the generic location.

9. A method as recited in claim 8, wherein the analysis further includes downgrading the selected user-entered location to a less specific location based on the other user-entered locations.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more locations entered by one or more users for the generic location include a location that was entered by a user for a media object captured on a camera-phone device, wherein such location and the generic location, which is in the form of a cell ID, are associated with the media object.

11. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the generic location is the particular user'"'"'s triangulation cellular position with respect to a plurality cellular towers or is the one or more cellular loops that the particular user is experiencing with respect to a plurality of cellular towers.

12. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising presenting one or more points to a user each time the user enters a location for a particular generic location so as to motivate users to enter locations.

13. An apparatus for mapping a specific location to a particular generic location of a mobile device, comprising

at least one processor;

and

at least one memory, wherein at least one of the processor or memory is configured for;

providing a generic location for a particular user of a mobile device; and

determining a specific location, based on analysis of one or more locations entered by one or more users for such same generic location, and mapping the specific location to the generic location, wherein the analysis to determine the specific location is personalized with respect to the particular user.

14. An apparatus as recited in claim 13, wherein the generic location is a cellular tower identity (ID).

15. An apparatus as recited in claim 13, wherein the analysis of the user-entered location(s) is prioritized in the following order:

(i) one or more locations entered by the particular user for the same generic location, (ii) one or more locations entered by the particular user'"'"'s social network for the same generic location, and (iii) one or more locations entered by the general public for the same generic location.

16. An apparatus as recited in claim 15, wherein the analysis includes performing (a) text analysis on at least one user-entered location to translate it from a free form string into one or more proper nouns, which together identify a specific location, and/or (b) collision control so as to select the specific location, which is most likely to be accurate, from a plurality of specific locations that conflict with each other.

17. An apparatus as recited in claim 16, wherein collision control includes selecting the majority user-entered location as the specific location for mapping to the generic location.

18. An apparatus as recited in claim 17, wherein the analysis further includes downgrading the selected user-entered location to a less specific location based on the other user-entered locations.

19. An apparatus as recited in claim 13, wherein the generic location is the particular user'"'"'s triangulation cellular position with respect to a plurality cellular towers or is the one or more cellular loops that the particular user is experiencing with respect to a plurality of cellular towers.

20. At least one computer readable storage medium having computer program instructions stored thereon that are arranged to perform the following operations:

providing a generic location for a particular user of a mobile device; and

determining a specific location, based on analysis of one or more locations entered by one or more users for such same generic location, and mapping the specific location to the generic location, wherein the analysis to determine the specific location is personalized with respect to the particular user.

21. At least one computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 20, wherein the generic location is a cellular tower identity (ID).

22. At least one computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 20, wherein the analysis of the user-entered location(s) is prioritized in the following order:

(i) one or more locations entered by the particular user for the same generic location, (ii) one or more locations entered by the particular user'"'"'s social network for the same generic location, and (iii) one or more locations entered by the general public for the same generic location.

23. At least one computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 22, wherein the analysis of the user-entered location(s) is further based on location data for the same generic location that is obtained from an external source.

24. At least one computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 23, wherein the external source is a global positioning satellite (GPS) system.

25. At least one computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 23, wherein the generic location is in the form of a cellular tower ID and the external source is a cellular phone provider service that provides location data that is mapped to cellular tower ID'"'"'s.

26. At least one computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 22, wherein the analysis includes performing (a) text analysis on at least one user-entered location to translate it from a free form string into one or more proper nouns, which together identify a specific location, and/or (b) collision control so as to select the specific location, which is most likely to be accurate, from a plurality of specific locations that conflict with each other.

27. At least one computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 26, wherein collision control includes selecting the majority user-entered location as the specific location for mapping to the generic location.

28. At least one computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 27, wherein the analysis further includes downgrading the selected user-entered location to a less specific location based on the other user-entered locations.

29. At least one computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 20, wherein the one or more locations entered by one or more users for the generic location include a location that was entered by a user for a media object captured on a camera-phone device, wherein such location and the generic location, which is in the form of a cell ID, are associated with the media object.

30. At least one computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 20, wherein the generic location is the particular user'"'"'s triangulation cellular position with respect to a plurality cellular towers or is the one or more cellular loops that the particular user is experiencing with respect to a plurality of cellular towers.

31. At least one computer readable storage medium as recited in claim 20, wherein the computer program instructions stored thereon that are further arranged to present one or more points to a user each time the user enters a location for a particular generic location so as to motivate users to enter locations.