LOCATION TAGGING

• US 20120191512A1
• Filed: 11/04/2011
• Published: 07/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Stratacache Limited
• Original Assignee: Mobio OY
• Inventors: WUOTI, Tuomas, SJOLUND, Bjorn, NYMAN, Gabriel, JERN, Niclas, MARJALAAKSO, Mika
• Granted Patent: US 9,026,144 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A method and system for verifying an indoor position using Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN), access points (AP), and Assisted Global Positioning System (A-GPS). The goal of this method is to determine if a user is in the place where he claims to be by using a mobile device. When a user wants his location to be verified he activates a scanning process on his mobile device that reads all the requested signals (WLAN, A-GPS). When the recording process is complete the information is sent to a server where it is processed and the user location is either confirmed to be true or false.

Claims

1. An apparatus configured to verify a desired location of a mobile terminal comprising:

a positioning device coupled to the mobile terminal, the positioning device configured to obtain coarse location information corresponding to a current position of the mobile terminal; and

a controller coupled to the mobile terminal, the controller having a memory in communication with a processor, the memory including program instructions for execution by the processor to;

collect the coarse positioning data corresponding to the current location of the mobile terminal;

verify that the coarse location information approximately corresponds to relative position of the desired location;

collect precise location data corresponding to the current location of the mobile terminal if the coarse location information corresponds to the relative position of the desired location; and

verify that the precise location data corresponds to the desired location.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the position device comprises an A-GPS device.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, further comprising a Wi-Fi scanner or an acoustic scanner for providing the precise location data.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the memory includes program instructions for execution by the processor to:

scan available wireless access points corresponding to the current location;

record signal output data corresponding to each available wireless access point; and

verify the precise location data using the recorded signal output data corresponding to the available wireless access points.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein verifying the precise location comprises RSSI fingerprint matching.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, the memory further including program instructions for execution by the processor to download at least one coupon corresponding to the verified current location.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, the memory further including program instructions for execution by the processor to transmit the coarse location data to a verification service and receive verified coarse location data information from the verification service.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, the memory further including program instructions for execution by the processor to transmit the precise location data to a verification service and receive data from the verification service comparing the precise location data to the desired location.

9. (canceled)

16. A method, comprising:

receiving a location identification verification request, the request including a location identification parameter;

comparing the identification parameter with one or more pre-stored identification parameters;

if a match exists, sending a corresponding location identifier to verify the location;

or

if no match exists, requesting additional location identification information.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the location identification parameter comprises a Wi-Fi fingerprint, GPS data, audio data or router data.

18. The method of claim 17, where the corresponding location identifier includes a location name, a location place, a location tag and a confidence level associated with the identified location.

19. The method of claim 16, comprising:

receiving a first communication including location related information;

identifying a location identifier associated with the location related information;

storing the first communication with the location identifier; and

providing the first communication responsive to the location identification verification request.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein identifying the location identifier associated with the location related information comprises comparing fingerprint data associated with location related information to stored fingerprint data to identify a match.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein the location identification verification request includes a request for location context information, the method comprising retrieving context information associated with the matched location parameter, and transmitting the context information to a mobile terminal.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein the location identification verification request includes a message, the method comprising:

compare the identification parameter to a database of identification parameters;

determine if the identification parameter is associated with a new location;

associate the identification parameter to the database if new; and

associate the message with identification parameter associated to the database.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the message is a hashtag.

24. The method of claim 23, comprising generating a new hashtag including the identification parameter from the database and transmitting the new hashtag and identification parameter to the mobile terminal.

25. A system for verifying a location of a mobile terminal, comprising:

a verification server; and

a verification database coupled to the server, wherein the verification server comprises a memory in communication with a processor, the memory including program instructions for execution by the processor to;

detect a location verification request for a desired location of the mobile terminal;

receive coarse location data corresponding to a current location of the mobile terminal;

determine if the coarse location data corresponds to a general area of the desired location;

receive precise location data corresponding to the current position of the mobile terminal; and

determine that current location is the desired location if the precise location data corresponds to the desired location.

10. The system of claim 26, wherein validating the current location as the desired location comprises comparing at least one other received precise location data to the stored precise location data and determining that the at least one other received precise location is substantially the same as the stored precise location data.

11. The system of claim 26,

wherein the location verification request includes a location identifier and a message, the memory includes program instructions for execution by the processor to:

compare the location identifier to a database of location identifiers;

determine if the location identifier is new;

associate the location identifier to the database if new; and

associate the message with a corresponding location identifier in the database.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the message is a hashtag.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the memory includes program instructions for execution by the processor to generate a new hashtag including the location identifier from the database and transmit the new hashtag and location identifier to the mobile terminal.

14. The system of claim 26, wherein the location verification request includes a request for location context information, and wherein the memory includes program instructions for execution by the processor to associate a location identifier of the desired location, retrieve context information associated with the location identifier, and transmit the context information to the mobile terminal.

15. The system of claim 26, wherein the memory includes program instructions for execution by the processor to:

receiving a first communication including location related information;

identifying a location identifier associated with the location related information;

storing the first communication with the location identifier; and

providing the first communication responsive to a location verification request upon determining that the current location corresponds to the location identifier.

26. The system of claim 25 comprising storing the precise location data corresponding to the current location of the mobile terminal;

assigning an identifier to the precise location data corresponding to the current location; and

validating the current location as the desired location.