Adaptive Location Determination

• US 20110177832A1
• Filed: 01/15/2010
• Published: 07/21/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Huang, Ronald K.
• Granted Patent: US 8,660,576 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/457
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment

Abstract

Methods, program products, and systems for adaptive location determination are described. A server computer can receive location information from location-aware mobile devices (e.g., GPS-enabled devices) located in a cell of a cellular communications network. The server computer can calculate an average geographic location using the received locations and distance between each location and the calculated average. The server computer can exclude locations that are sufficiently far away from the average. The server computer can repeat the calculation and exclusion until a level of precision is achieved for the average geographic location. The average geographic location and an error margin can be associated with the cell. The server computer can provide the average geographic location and the error margin to a mobile device (e.g., a non-GPS-enabled device) that is in the cell. The mobile device can display the information on a map display of the mobile device.

Claims

1. A method of determining a geographic area associated with a cell of a cellular communications network, comprising:

(a) receiving a set of locations from mobile devices in the cell;

(b) calculating an average geographic location using the set of locations;

(c) calculating distances between the average geographic location and locations in the set;

(d) excluding at least one location from the set based on a distance between the average geographic location and the at least one location;

(e) repeating (b), (c), and (d) until an exit condition is satisfied; and

(f) determining the geographic area as a circle having the average geographic location as a center and a radius based on at least one calculated distance.

2. The method of claim 1, where the radius is calculated based on a longest distance between the average geographic location and the set.

3. The method of claim 1, where the exit condition is satisfied when a number of repetitions reaches a threshold number.

4. The method of claim 1, where the exit condition is satisfied when the radius of the circle reaches below a threshold radius.

5. The method of claim 1, where excluding the at least one location from the set includes:

determining a threshold distance to the average geographic location within which a percentage of the locations in the set are located; and

excluding the at least one location from the set when the distance between the average geographic location and the at least one location exceeds the threshold distance.

6. The method of claim 1, where each of the locations in the set includes a latitude and a longitude.

7. The method of claim 6, where each of the locations in the set further includes an altitude.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing the geographic area for displaying on a map display of a mobile device.

9. A system, comprising:

one or more computers configured to perform operations of determining a geographic area associated with a cell of a cellular communications network, the operations comprising;

(a) receiving a set of locations from mobile devices in the cell;

(b) calculating an average geographic location using the set of locations;

(c) calculating distances between the average geographic location and locations in the set;

(d) excluding at least one location from the set based on a distance between the average geographic location and the at least one location;

(e) repeating (b), (c), and (d) until an exit condition is satisfied; and

(f) determining the geographic area as a circle having the average geographic location as a center and a radius based on at least one calculated distance.

10. The system of claim 9, where the radius is calculated based on a longest distance between the average geographic location and the set.

11. The system of claim 9, where the exit condition is satisfied when a number of repetitions reaches a threshold number.

12. The system of claim 9, where the exit condition is satisfied when the radius of the circle reaches below a threshold radius.

13. The system of claim 9, where excluding the at least one location from the set includes:

determining a threshold distance to the average geographic location within which a percentage of the locations in the set are located; and

excluding the at least one location from the set when the distance between the average geographic location and the at least one location exceeds the threshold distance.

14. The system of claim 9, where each of the locations in the set includes a latitude and a longitude.

15. The system of claim 14, where each of the locations in the set further includes an altitude.

16. The system of claim 9, the operations further comprising:

providing the geographic area for displaying on a map display of a mobile device.

17. A computer program product tangibly stored on a storage device, operable to cause data processing apparatus to perform operations of determining a geographic area associated with a cell of a cellular communications network, the operations comprising:

(a) receiving a set of locations from mobile devices in the cell;

(b) calculating an average geographic location using the set of locations;

(c) calculating distances between the average geographic location and locations in the set;

(d) excluding at least one location from the set based on a distance between the average geographic location and the at least one location;

(e) repeating (b), (c), and (d) until an exit condition is satisfied; and

(f) determining the geographic area as a circle having the average geographic location as a center and a radius based on at least one calculated distance.

18. The product of claim 17, where the radius is calculated based on a longest distance between the average geographic location and the set.

19. The product of claim 17, where the exit condition is satisfied when a number of repetitions reaches a threshold number.

20. The product of claim 17, where the exit condition is satisfied when the radius of the circle reaches below a threshold radius.

21. The product of claim 17, where excluding the at least one location from the set includes:

determining a threshold distance to the average geographic location within which a percentage of the locations in the set are located; and

excluding the at least one location from the set when the distance between the average geographic location and the at least one location exceeds the threshold distance.

22. The product of claim 17, where each of the locations in the set includes a latitude and a longitude.

23. The product of claim 22, where each of the locations in the set further includes an altitude.

24. The product of claim 17, the operations further comprising:

providing the geographic area for displaying on a map display of a mobile device.