DETECTING MOBILE DEVICE USAGE WITHIN WIRELESS NETWORKS

• US 20120149387A1
• Filed: 12/13/2010
• Published: 06/14/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.), Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Chang, Patricia Ruey-Jane, Chiang, David, Rawat, Vikram K., Bao, Derek Hongwei H.
• Granted Patent: US 8,442,556 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information

Abstract

A device sends, to a mobile device, instructions to collect location-based data associated with calls conducted by the mobile device over a wireless access network and receives, from the mobile device, the location-based data, where the location-based data includes a three-dimensional location and a time associated with each of multiple calls conducted by the mobile device over the wireless access network. The device combines the location-based data with other location-based data from other mobile devices and identifies, based on the combined location-based data and other location-based data, a localized area of congestion for the wireless access network.

Claims

1. A method implemented by a mobile device, the method comprising:

receiving, by the mobile device, instructions to collect location-based data associated with calls conducted by the mobile device over an access network;

collecting, by the mobile device, location-based data associated with a particular call conducted by the mobile device over the access network, where the location-based data includes a three-dimensional location and a time of the call;

storing, by the mobile device and in a local memory, the location-based data associated with the particular call; and

sending, by the mobile device and to a data server, the location-based data associated with the particular call.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting, to the user and via a user interface, a request for authorization to collect the location-based data; and

receiving, from a user and via the user interface, authorization to collect the location-based data.

3. The method of claim 1, where collecting the location-based data associated with the particular call conducted by the mobile device over the access network includes one or more of:

determining location and/or elevation coordinates based on information from a global positioning system (GPS) satellite;

determining location and/or elevation coordinates based on assistance from a position determining entity (PDE);

or

determining elevation coordinates based on an altimeter associated with the mobile device.

4. The method of claim 1, where collecting the location-based data associated with the particular call conducted by the mobile device over the access network further comprises one or more of:

determining location and/or elevation coordinates based on a physical address associated with a location registration station where the mobile device is currently located;

or

determining location and/or elevation coordinates based on a physical location associated with a wireless local area network that is detected by the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 4, where determining location and/or elevation coordinates based on a physical location associated with a wireless local area network includes triangulating among multiple service set identifiers (SSIDs) detected by the mobile device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting, on a display of the mobile device, a tracking indicator to show to the user that the mobile device is in a location tracking mode.

7. The method of claim 1, where sending, by the mobile device and to a data server, the location-based data associated with the particular call includes one or more of:

sending the location-based data based on a configurable periodic setting;

sending the location-based data in response to a request from the data server;

or

sending the location-based data when a memory capacity threshold of the mobile device is reached.

8. A mobile device, comprising:

a memory to store a plurality of instructions; and

a processor to execute instructions in the memory to;

receive instructions to collect location-based data associated with calls conducted by the mobile device over an access network;

collect location-based data associated with multiple calls conducted by the mobile device over the access network, where the location-based data includes a three-dimensional location and a time associated with each of the multiple calls; and

send, to a data server and based on the instructions, the location-based data associated with the multiple calls.

9. The device of claim 8, where the processor is further to execute instructions in the memory to:

store, in the memory, the location-based data associated with the multiple calls.

10. The device of claim 8, where the location-based data includes one or more of:

global positioning system (GPS) location coordinates,

latitude and longitude coordinates,

elevation coordinates,

a service set identifier (SSID) associated with a physical location, or

a physical address of a building where the mobile device is located.

11. The device of claim 8, where, when sending the location-based data associated with the multiple calls, the processor is further to execute instructions in the memory to on or more of:

send the location-based data based on a configurable periodic setting;

send the location-based data in response to a request from the data server;

or

send the location-based data when a memory capacity threshold of the mobile device is reached.

12. The device of claim 8, where the mobile device includes one or more of:

a radiotelephone,

a personal communications system (PCS) terminal,

a personal digital assistant (PDA),

a wireless device,

a smart phone,

a laptop computer, or

a global positioning system (GPS) device.

13. A method implemented by one or more computing devices, the method comprising:

sending, by one of the computing devices and to a mobile device, instructions to collect location-based data associated with calls conducted by the mobile device over a wireless access network;

receiving, by one of the computing devices and from the mobile device, the location-based data, where the location-based data includes a three-dimensional location and a time associated with each of multiple calls conducted by the mobile device over the wireless access network;

combining, by one of the computing devices, the location-based data with other location-based data from other mobile devices;

identifying, based on the combined location-based data and other location-based data, a localized area of congestion for the wireless access network; and

adjusting, by one of the computing devices, one or more parameters of the wireless access network in order to minimize or eliminate the localized area of congestion.

14. The method of claim 13, where the localized area of congestion is defined by an upper elevation and a lower elevation.

15. The method of claim 13, where the location-based data includes one or more of:

global positioning system (GPS) location coordinates,

latitude and longitude coordinates,

elevation coordinates,

a service set identifier (SSID) associated with a physical location, or

a physical address of a building where the mobile device is located.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

converting the location-based data into a common format.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving, from a location registration station, a device count of a number of mobile devices within a building associated with the location registration station; and

combining the device count from the location registration station with the location-based data and other location-based data.

18. A computing device, comprising:

a memory to store a plurality of instructions; and

a processor to execute instructions in the memory to;

send, to a mobile device, instructions to collect location-based data associated with calls conducted by the mobile device over a wireless access network;

receive, from the mobile device, the location-based data, where the location-based data includes a three-dimensional location and a time associated with each of multiple calls conducted by the mobile device over the wireless access network;

combine the location-based data with other location-based data from other mobile devices;

identify, based on the combined location-based data and other location-based data, a localized area of congestion for the wireless access network; and

adjust one or more parameters of the wireless access network in order to mitigate the localized area of congestion.

19. The computing device of claim 18, where the location-based data includes one or more of:

global positioning system (GPS) location coordinates,

latitude and longitude coordinates,

elevation coordinates,

a service set identifier (SSID) associated with a physical location, or

a physical address of a building where the mobile device is located.

20. The computing device of claim 18, where the instructions to collect location-based data include instruction to send the location-based data to the computing device based on or more of:

a configurable periodic setting,

a request from the data server, or

a memory capacity threshold of the mobile device.