MOBILITY TRACKING METHOD AND USER LOCATION TRACKING DEVICE
First Claim
1. A mobility tracking method used by a device which tracks a travel range of a tracking object using radio waves sent from wireless devices which are ubiquitously available, said mobility tracking method comprising:
- detecting wireless device information identifying wireless devices out of the ubiquitously available wireless devices when the radio waves are received at a location where the tracking object is situated;
storing the wireless device information detected in said detecting as historical data; and
estimating a topology which shows a positional relation and a connection relation of a travel path taken by the tracking object, from the historical data stored in said storing,wherein, in said estimating of the topology, the topology is estimated as the tracking object is moving, on the basis that the location of the tracking object has deviated from a previously tracked path which has been traveled before by the tracking object and that the location of the tracking object has returned to the previously tracked path.
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Abstract
A user location tracking method allows a topology of a travel path taken by a user to be estimated without the use of location information such as GPS coordinates, so that a travel range of the user who only carries a small-sized terminal can be tracked at all times. The mobility tracking method is employed by a user location tracking device which uses radio waves sent from wireless devices distributed ubiquitously, the mobility tracking method including: detecting wireless device information identifying wireless devices out of the ubiquitously available wireless devices when the radio waves are received at a location where the user location tracking device is situated; storing the detected wireless device information as historical data; and estimating a topology, as the user location tracking device is moving, that shows a positional relation and a connection relation of a travel path taken by the user location tracking device, the estimation being performed on the basis that the location of the user location tracking device has deviated from a previously tracked path which has been traveled before by the user location tracking device and that the location of the user location tracking device has returned to the previously tracked path, using the stored historical data.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A mobility tracking method used by a device which tracks a travel range of a tracking object using radio waves sent from wireless devices which are ubiquitously available, said mobility tracking method comprising:
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detecting wireless device information identifying wireless devices out of the ubiquitously available wireless devices when the radio waves are received at a location where the tracking object is situated; storing the wireless device information detected in said detecting as historical data; and estimating a topology which shows a positional relation and a connection relation of a travel path taken by the tracking object, from the historical data stored in said storing, wherein, in said estimating of the topology, the topology is estimated as the tracking object is moving, on the basis that the location of the tracking object has deviated from a previously tracked path which has been traveled before by the tracking object and that the location of the tracking object has returned to the previously tracked path. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A user location tracking device for tracking a travel range of said user location tracking device using radio waves sent from wireless devices which are ubiquitously available, said user location tracking device comprising:
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a detection unit configured to detect wireless device information identifying wireless devices out of the ubiquitously available wireless devices when the radio waves are received; a storage unit configured to store the wireless device information detected by said detection unit, as historical data; and a topology estimation unit configured to estimate a topology which shows a positional relation and a connection relation of a travel path taken by said user location tracking device, from the historical data stored in said storage unit, wherein said topology estimation unit is configured to estimate the topology as said user location tracking device is moving, on the basis that the location of said user location tracking device has deviated from a previously tracked path which has been traveled before by said user location tracking device and that the location of said user location tracking device has returned to the previously tracked path. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20)
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21. A user location tracking system in which a travel range of a tracking object is tracked using radio waves sent from wireless devices which are ubiquitously available, said user location tracking system comprising:
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a user location tracking device which is the tracking object; and a user location tracking server, wherein said user location tracking device includes; a detection unit configured to detect wireless device information identifying wireless devices out of the ubiquitously available wireless devices when the radio waves are received; a storage unit configured to store the wireless device information detected by said detection unit, as historical data; a history sending unit configured to send the historical data to said user location tracking server; and a tracked-path receiving unit configured to receive a hidden Markov model from said user location tracking server, and said user location tracking server includes; a history receiving unit configured to receive the historical data from said user location tracking device; a path estimation unit configured to generate the hidden Markov model of a travel path taken by said user location tracking device, using the historical data received by said history receiving unit; and a tracked-path sending unit configured to send the hidden Markov model generated by said path estimation unit to said user location tracking device.
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Specification