CROWD DETECTION AND GUIDANCE ON MOBILE DEVICES

• US 20130157684A1
• Filed: 12/16/2011
• Published: 06/20/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAP SE
• Original Assignee: SAP AG (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Moser, Martin
• Granted Patent: US 8,855,669 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• 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 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

Systems and methods to detect an overcrowded area and to provide guidance to people in and in the vicinity of the overcrowded area are provided. A census module is configured to determine a number of mobile client machines located in a defined geographical area. A capacity module is configured to determine that a capacity assigned to the defined geographical area is exceeded. The capacity is a number of people that is used to provide an indication that the defined geographical area is overcrowded. The determination is based on the number of mobile client machines located in the defined geographical area. An exit module is configured to assign an exit route to an exit of the defined geographical area to a client machine of the mobile client machines within the defined geographical area. A navigation module is configured to transmit instructions comprising the exit route to the client machine.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a census module to determine a number of mobile client devices located in a defined geographical area;

a capacity module to determine that a capacity assigned to the defined geographical area is exceeded based on the number of mobile client machines located in the defined geographical area, the capacity being a number of people that is used to provide an indication that the defined geographical area is overcrowded;

an exit module to assign at least one exit route to an exit of the defined geographical area to a client device of the mobile client device within the defined geographical area; and

a navigation module to transmit instructions comprising the exit route to the client machine.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile client machines are selected from the group consisting of cellular telephones, smart phones, GPS navigation devices, and tablet computers.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the defined geographical area is a cell of a cellular telephone network.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the defined geographical area is defined by a plurality of global positioning system (GPS) coordinates.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the census module is further to provide an estimate of the number of people in the defined geographical area based on an assumed number of people associated with each mobile client machine of the mobile client machines.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the capacity module is further to determine the capacity of the defined geographical area based on a present date and time.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the capacity module is further to determine the capacity of the defined geographical area based on a defined function.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the exit module is to assign the exit route based on one or more temporary features within the defined geographical area.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions are selected from the group consisting of an email, an short message service(SMS) message, an Instant Message (IM), a multimedia message service (MMS) message, an application or an application notification on a smart phone, or a navigation alert on a GPS navigation device.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions include a map of the overcrowded area.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the map includes an indication of a location of one or more temporary features.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the map includes an indication of the assigned exit route.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the exit module is to receive the exit route from a second mobile client machine of the mobile client machines.

16. The system of claim 1, further comprising an alert module configured to transmit an alert to a second set of client machines approaching the defined geographical area.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the alert module is further to determine a velocity of the second set of client machines and select the alert from a plurality of available alerts based on the velocity.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the alert includes a map indicating a location of the defined geographical area.

5. The system of claim I, wherein the census module is further to determine the number of mobile client machines based on a number of client machines registered to a cell tower or based on GPS coordinates on the mobile client machines.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein, if the client machine is registered with the cell tower and has provided GPS coordinates, the census module is further to discount the number of client machines by one.

19. A method comprising:

determining a number of mobile client devices located in a defined geographical area;

determining that a capacity assigned to the defined geographical area is exceeded based on the number of mobile client machines located in the defined geographical area, the capacity being a number of people that is used to provide an indication that the defined geographical area is overcrowded;

assigning at least one exit route to an exit of the defined geographical area to a client device of the mobile client device within the defined geographical area; and

transmitting instructions comprising the exit route to the client machine.

20. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions embodied thereon, the instructions executed by one or more machines to perform operations comprising:

determining a number of mobile client devices located in a defined geographical area;

determining that a capacity assigned to the defined geographical area is exceeded based on the number of mobile client machines located in the defined geographical area, the capacity being a number of people that is used to provide an indication that the defined geographical area is overcrowded;

assigning at least one exit route to an exit of the defined geographical area to a client device of the mobile client device within the defined geographical area; and

transmitting instructions comprising the exit route to the client machine.