Systems and Techniques for Colocation and Context Determination

• US 20150080011A1
• Filed: 09/13/2013
• Published: 03/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/13/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Zelinka, Stephen David, Kadous, Mohammed Waleed, Stogaitis, Marc
• Granted Patent: US 9,179,251 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 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/38 for collecting sensor information

Abstract

Methods and systems for grouping computing devices together based on the devices being colocated with one another or being associated with complementary usage contexts, and then using the location or usage context of one device in the group to estimate the location or usage context of another device in the group are described. An example method may include receiving first sensor data from sensors of a first computing device; receiving second sensor data from sensors of a second computing device; determining, based on the received sensor data, that the first and second computing devices are colocated with one another; identifying, based on the first sensor data, a context associated with the first computing device; and determining, based at least in part on the context associated with the first computing device, a context associated with the second computing device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving first sensor data from one or more sensors of a first computing device;

receiving second sensor data from one or more sensors of a second computing device;

determining, based on the first and second sensor data, that the first and second computing devices are colocated with one another;

identifying, based on the first sensor data, a context associated with the first computing device; and

identifying, based at least in part on the context associated with the first computing device, a context associated with the second computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the context associated with the second computing device includes identifying a context that is complementary to the context associated with the first computing device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the context associated with the second computing device includes associating the second computing device with the same context associated with the first computing device.

4. The method of claim 1,

wherein identifying the context associated with the first computing device includes selecting a most probable one of a plurality of possible contexts based on the first sensor data, and

wherein identifying the context associated with the second computing device includes selecting a most probable one of a subset of the plurality of possible contexts based on the second sensor data, wherein the subset includes contexts that are complementary to the context associated with the first computing device.

5. The method of claim 1,

wherein the one or more sensors of the first computing device includes a WiFi sensor, a GPS sensor, an accelerometer, or a gyroscope, and

wherein the one or more sensors of the second computing device includes a WiFi sensor, a GPS sensor, an accelerometer, or a gyroscope.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination that the first and second computing devices are colocated includes (i) determining respective geographic locations of the first and second computing devices, and (ii) comparing the respective geographic locations to determine a separation distance between the first and second computing devices.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination that the first and second computing devices are colocated includes determining that the first and second computing devices are non-transiently geographically proximate.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination that the first and second computing devices are colocated includes determining that one of the first and second computing devices detects signals transmitted by the other of the first and second computing devices.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising modifying a setting of the second computing device based on the context associated with the second computing device.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising, responsive to identifying the context associated with the second computing device, updating one or more expected sensor measurement values associated with the identified context for use in a subsequent context identification, wherein the one or more expected sensor measurement values are updated based on the second sensor data.

11. A method comprising:

receiving first sensor data from one or more sensors of a first computing device;

receiving second sensor data from one or more sensors of a second computing device;

determining, based on the first and second sensor data, that the first and second computing devices are associated with complementary contexts; and

determining, based at least in part on the determination that the first and second computing devices are associated with complementary contexts, that the first and second computing devices are colocated with one another.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining, based on the first sensor data, a first geographic location of the first computing device; and

estimating a second geographic location of the second computing device based on the determined first geographic location.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising, prior to estimating the second geographic location, making a determination that the geographic location of the second computing device cannot be resolved to within a predetermined amount of accuracy using the second sensor data.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein determining that the first and second computing devices are associated with complementary contexts includes determining that the context associated with the first computing device is sufficiently similar to the context associated with the second computing device.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the one or more sensors of the first computing device includes a WiFi sensor, a GPS sensor, an accelerometer, or a gyroscope, and wherein the one or more sensors of the second computing device includes a WiFi sensor, a GPS sensor, an accelerometer, or a gyroscope.

16. A system comprising:

a computing system including one or more processors; and

a computer-readable medium having stored therein instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors of the computing system, cause the computing system to perform operations comprising;

receiving first sensor data from one or more sensors of a first computing device;

receiving second sensor data from one or more sensors of a second computing device;

determining, based on the first and second sensor data, that the first and second computing devices are colocated with one another;

identifying, based on the first sensor data, a context associated with the first computing device; and

identifying, based at least in part on the context associated with the first computing device, a context associated with the second computing device.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein identifying the context associated with the second computing device includes identifying a context that is complementary to the context associated with the first computing device.

18. The system of claim 16,

wherein identifying the context associated with the first computing device includes selecting a most probable one of a plurality of possible contexts based on the first sensor data, and

wherein identifying the context associated with the second computing device includes selecting a most probable one of a subset of the plurality of possible contexts based on the second senor data, wherein the subset includes contexts that are complementary to the context associated with the first computing device.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the determination that the first and second computing devices are colocated includes determining that the first and second computing devices are non-transiently geographically proximate.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise, responsive to identifying the context associated with the second computing device, updating one or more expected sensor measurement values associated with the identified context for use in a subsequent context identification, wherein the one or more expected sensor measurement values are updated based on the second sensor data.