Systems, Methods, and Computer Program Products for Estimating Crowd Sizes Using Information Collected From Mobile Devices in a Wireless Communications Network

• US 20110295577A1
• Filed: 06/01/2010
• Published: 12/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ramachandran, Jayaraman
• Granted Patent: US 8,442,807 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 703/6
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/022 with dynamic range variability
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer program products are for estimating crowd size at a location. An exemplary method includes determining, at a crowd size analyzer, a number of wireless service users at the location, and estimating, at the crowd size analyzer, a total number of people at the location based upon the number of wireless service users determined to be at the location.

Claims

1. A method for estimating crowd size at a location, the method comprising:

determining, at a crowd size analyzer, a number of wireless service users at the location; and

estimating, at the crowd size analyzer, a total number of people at the location based upon the number of wireless service users determined to be at the location.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, at the crowd size analyzer, the number of wireless service users at the location comprises determining, at the crowd size analyzer, the number of wireless users at the location based at least in part upon call detail record (CDR) information retrieved from a wireless communications network.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the CDR information is aggregated in a CDR database that is in communication with the crowd size analyzer to provide the CDR information to the crowd size analyzer.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, at the crowd size analyzer, the number of wireless service users at the location comprises determining, at the crowd size analyzer, the number of wireless users at the location based at least in part upon signaling message information retrieved from a wireless communications network.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the signaling message information is aggregated in a signaling messages database that is in communication with the crowd size analyzer to provide the signaling message information to the crowd size analyzer.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, at the crowd size analyzer, the number of wireless service users at the location comprises determining, at the crowd size analyzer, the number of wireless service users at the location from a specified start time to a specified end time.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating, at the crowd size analyzer, a report comprising the total number of people at the location based upon the number of wireless service users determined to be at the location.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising, the crowd size analyzer sending the report to one of:

a mobile device via one of a short messaging service (SMS) message, a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message, and an unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) message,

a television over-the-air for presentation via audio and/or video to a user;

a television service provider for distribution to subscribers of television service provided by the television service provider;

a television broadcasting station for distribution to one of televisions over-the-air, television service providers, Internet websites for encoding in an Internet-compatible format;

a terrestrial radio network for distribution over one of frequency modulation (FM), amplitude modulation (AM), and in-band on-channel (IBOC) transmission methods to radio systems;

a satellite radio network for distribution to satellite radio systems;

a public safety answering point (PSAP) for distribution to one of law enforcement, firefighter, and ambulance services;

one of police personnel, firefighter personnel, EMT personnel, hospital personnel, armed forces personnel, and disaster recovery response personnel;

an emergency broadcast system;

an email address;

a physical address;

a website;

a social networking application;

a news outlet;

a web log;

an Internet message forum;

an Internet relay chat; and

an instant messaging application.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein estimating the total number of people at the location based upon the number of wireless service users determined to be at the location comprises estimating the total number of people at the location based upon an analytical model and a statistical model.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

calibrating the statistical model based upon market research on operator coverage in the location.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the crowd size analyzer is a master crowd size analyzer; and

determining, at the master crowd size analyzer, the number of wireless service users at the location comprises, determining at the master crowd size analyzer, the number of wireless service users at the location based upon receiving a subset of the number of wireless service users at the location from each of a plurality of wireless service operators serving the location.

12. A system for estimating crowd size at a location, the system comprising:

a network interface configured to communicate with a wireless communications network to receive data used to estimate a total number of people at the location;

a processor in communication with the network interface;

a memory in communication with the processor, the memory comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform steps comprising;

determining a number of wireless service users at the location; and

estimating the total number of people at the location based upon the number of wireless service users determined to be at the location.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising a call detail record (CDR) database in communication with the network interface, the CDR database comprising CDR information for voice, data, and messaging sessions conducted between the wireless service users at the location and the wireless communications networks.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the memory further comprises instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the step of determining the number of wireless service users at the location based at least in part upon the CDR information received via the network interface from the CDR database.

15. The system of claim 12, further comprising a signaling message database comprising signaling message information retrieved from the wireless communications network.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the memory further comprises instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the step of determining the number of wireless service users at the location based at least in part upon the signaling information received via the network interface from the signaling message database.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the memory further comprises instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform an additional step of generating a report comprising the total number of people at the location based upon the number of wireless service users determined to be at the location.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the memory further comprises instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the step of estimating the total number of people at the location based upon the number of wireless service users determined to be at the location by executing an analytical model and a statistical model.

19. A tangible computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a crowd size analyzer, cause the processor to perform steps comprising:

determining a number of wireless service users at the location; and

estimating the total number of people at the location based upon the number of wireless service users determined to be at the location.

20. The tangible computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the instructions causing the processor to estimate the total number of people at the location based upon the number of wireless service users determined to be at the location causes the processor to estimate the total number of people by executing an analytical model and a statistical model.