METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GEOLOCATION OF A NETWORK USER
First Claim
1. A geographic location determination system, comprising:
- a database;
a communications interface that is coupled to a communications network;
a computing resource that is coupled to each of the communications interface and the database, wherein the computing resource is configured to;
receive, from a user device through the communications network via the communications interface, geographic locations that are each associated with the same communications network identifier;
store the geographic locations in the database;
store the communications network identifier in the database;
correlate the stored geographic locations with the stored communications network identifier to generate predictive data identifying a predicted geographic location for the communications network identifier based on the stored geographic locations; and
store the predictive data in the database.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A database correlating the geographic locations of users of a network to the network address through which the users access the network is maintained and used to infer the geographic location of other users of the network that access the website through the same IP addresses. An Internet website operator may generate such a database from home or business address information self-reported by users of the website. If a plurality of users that access a website through the same IP address have self-reported information as to their geographic location to a website operator, that information collectively provides information as to the likely geographic location and the geographic diversity of other users that access the network through that IP address. Accordingly, such information is used to infer the extent to which a given IP address is likely to correlate to any particular geographic area and the particular area. Additionally, a website operator that has information indicative of the veracity of the self-reported location information may use that information to rate the likelihood that the self-reported location information for a given user is truthful and then use that rating to provide an even more accurate rating of the likelihood that an inferred location of a user is in a given location.
6 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A geographic location determination system, comprising:
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a database; a communications interface that is coupled to a communications network; a computing resource that is coupled to each of the communications interface and the database, wherein the computing resource is configured to; receive, from a user device through the communications network via the communications interface, geographic locations that are each associated with the same communications network identifier; store the geographic locations in the database; store the communications network identifier in the database; correlate the stored geographic locations with the stored communications network identifier to generate predictive data identifying a predicted geographic location for the communications network identifier based on the stored geographic locations; and store the predictive data in the database. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A method for determining a geographic location, comprising:
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receiving, by a server machine from a client machine through a communications network, geographic locations that are each associated with the same communications network identifier; storing, by the server machine in a non-transitory memory system, the geographic locations; storing, by the server machine in a non-transitory memory system, the communications network identifier; correlating, by the server machine, the stored geographic locations with the stored communications network identifier to generate predictive data identifying a predicted geographic location for the communications network identifier based on the stored geographic locations; and storing, by the server machine in a non-transitory memory system, the predictive data. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A computer-implemented method performed by a computer system having an operatively interconnected processor, memory and communications interface, the method comprising:
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receiving, from a user device through a communications network via the communications interface, geographic locations that are each associated with the same communications network identifier; storing the geographic locations in the memory of the computer system; storing the communications network identifier in the memory of the computer system; operating the processor of the computer system to correlate the stored geographic locations with the stored communications network identifier to generate predictive data identifying a predicted geographic location for the communications network identifier based on the stored geographic locations; and storing the predictive data in the memory. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification