CONTEXTUALLY AWARE MOBILE DEVICE

• US 20120289244A1
• Filed: 05/11/2012
• Published: 11/15/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amit Goyal
• Original Assignee: Amit Goyal
• Inventors: Goyal, Amit
• Granted Patent: US 8,543,135 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/36 Input/output arrangements for on-board computers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/34 Power consumption
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination

Abstract

A method for determining if a mobile device is in a vehicle includes monitoring an acceleration of the mobile device for a time interval during a period of time. The method also includes calculating one or more characteristics of the acceleration of the mobile device during the time interval and comparing the one or more characteristics of the acceleration to a set of threshold values. The method further includes determining the state of the mobile device based on the comparison of the one or more characteristics of the acceleration to the set of threshold values, wherein the state of the mobile device includes an in-vehicle state, a non-vehicle state.

Claims

1. A method for determining if a mobile device is in a vehicle comprising:

monitoring an acceleration of the mobile device for a time interval during a period of time;

calculating one or more characteristics of the acceleration of the mobile device during the time interval;

comparing the one or more characteristics of the acceleration to a set of threshold values; and

determining a state of the mobile device based on the comparison of the one or more characteristics of the acceleration to the set of threshold values, wherein the state of the mobile device comprises an in-vehicle state, a non-vehicle state.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the time interval is less than ten percent of the time period.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more characteristics include rotation, mean magnitude, maximum magnitude, minimum magnitude and standard deviation.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on determining that the mobile device is in the in-vehicle state, increasing the time interval during the period of time.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on determining that the mobile device is in the in-vehicle state, increasing a sampling rate for monitoring the acceleration of the mobile device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on determining that the mobile device is in the in-vehicle state, activating a GPS sensor and calculating a location and speed of the mobile device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on determining that the mobile device is in the in-vehicle state;

continuously monitoring the acceleration of the mobile device during the period of time;

calculating one or more characteristics of the acceleration of the mobile device during the period of time;

comparing the one or more characteristics of the acceleration to a second set of threshold values; and

determining the state of a vehicle based on the comparison of the one or more characteristics of the acceleration to the second set of threshold values, wherein the state of the vehicle comprises an traffic state.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

based on determining that the vehicle is in the traffic state, activating a GPS sensor and calculating the location and speed of the mobile device and transmitting a traffic alert message.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the traffic alert message includes a latitude, a longitude, a heading, and the speed of the vehicle.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring a rotation of the mobile device with a gyroscope for a time interval during a period of time;

comparing the rotation information to a third set of threshold values; and

determining the state of the mobile device based on the comparison of the one or more characteristics of the acceleration to the set of threshold values and the comparison of the rotation information to the third set of threshold values, wherein the state of the mobile device comprises an in-vehicle state and a non-vehicle state.

11. A method for determining a location of user associated with a mobile device comprising:

monitoring an acceleration of the mobile device for a time interval during a period of time;

calculating one or more characteristics of the acceleration of the mobile device during the time interval;

comparing the one or more characteristics of the acceleration to a set of threshold values;

determining the state of the mobile device based on the comparison of the one or more characteristics of the acceleration to the set of threshold values, wherein the state of the mobile device comprises an in-motion state, an in-vehicle state and a stationary state;

based on determining a change of the state of the mobile device, calculating and updating the location of the mobile device.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising updating the location of the user in a social networking application to the calculated location of the mobile device.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising updating the location of a user in a user tracking application to the calculated location of the mobile device.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein calculating of the location of the mobile device includes activating a GPS sensor.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein calculating of the location of the mobile device includes activating a Wifi positioning system.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the mobile device must be in a stationary state for a fixed amount of time prior to updating the location of the user in the social networking application to the calculated location of the mobile device.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the mobile device must be in a stationary state for a fixed amount of time prior to updating the location of the user in the user tracking application to the calculated location of the mobile device.

18. A method for determining if a mobile device is in a vehicle comprising:

monitoring an acceleration and a rotation of the mobile device for a time interval during a period of time;

comparing the acceleration and the rotation of the mobile device to a set of threshold values; and

determining a state of the mobile device based on the comparison of the acceleration and the rotation to the set of threshold values, wherein the state of the mobile device comprises an in-vehicle state, a non-vehicle state, a stationary state, and a traffic state.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

based on determining that the vehicle is in the traffic state, activating a GPS sensor and transmitting a message.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the message includes a location of the mobile device calculated based on signals received from the GPS sensor.