EVENT TAGGING FOR MOBILE NETWORKS

• US 20170150476A1
• Filed: 02/01/2017
• Published: 05/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Meredith, Sheldon Kent, Fix, Jeremy, Martinez, Francisco
• Granted Patent: US 9,955,451 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/30 Map- or contour-matching
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/017 Detecting state or type of motion
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0284 Relative positioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/185 by embedding added-value information into content, e.g. geo-tagging
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination

Abstract

Improved network event tagging for mobile communications is described herein. By way of example, a mobile network can be configured to take periodic geographic positions of a mobile terminal operating within the mobile network. Network events occurring between the periodic geographic positions, otherwise partially unknown in position, can be estimated by referencing topographical information and estimating a route of travel of the mobile device. Estimated speed of the mobile device can be utilized to place the mobile device on a road network, cycling route, pedestrian walkway, or the like, and refine the estimated position of the mobile device at the time of the network event. Such estimates can be refined from traffic information or other real-time travel data. An estimated position of the mobile device can be output as an approximation of the network event to facilitate event modeling for the mobile network.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

obtaining location data representing a group of known geographic locations for a mobile device;

obtaining time data representing a group of times that respectively correspond to the known geographic locations of the group of known geographic locations;

obtaining speed data representing a speed of the mobile device at a time of occurrence of a network event associated with the mobile device, wherein the time of occurrence of the network event is not a member of the group of times;

determining a location of the mobile device at the time of occurrence of the network event based on the location data, the time data and the speed data; and

outputting the location of the mobile device as an estimated position of the network event for the time of occurrence.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the determining the location of the mobile device comprises, in response to the time of occurrence of the network event being determined to occur between a first time of the group of times and a second time of the group of times, interpolating the location of the mobile device utilizing the speed of the mobile device.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein determining the location of the mobile device comprises, in response to the time of occurrence of the network event being determined to occur later in time than the group of times, extrapolating the location of the mobile device utilizing the speed of the mobile device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the location of the mobile device is a first location, and wherein a second location of the network event associated with the mobile device is exclusive of the group of known geographic locations.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the obtaining the location data comprises receiving a group of the location data from a network device that generates information pertaining to mobile location positioning, and wherein the network device enables services comprising an e911 location service for the mobile device, a location based service for the mobile device, and a timed fingerprint location service for the mobile device.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the group of the location data is a first group of the location data, wherein the network device is a first network device, wherein the information is first information pertaining to the mobile location positioning, wherein the obtaining the location data comprises receiving a second group of the location data from a second network device that generates second information pertaining to the mobile location positioning, and wherein the network device stores global positioning system data received from the mobile device.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the operations further comprise obtaining the first group of the location data from the first network device, obtaining the second group of the location data from the second network device, and combining the first group of the location data with the second group of the location data to obtain the location data.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the determining the location of the mobile device at the time of occurrence comprises referencing topographical information representative of a group of routes of travel, inferring, concurrent with the time of occurrence of the network event, a route of travel of the group of routes of travel on which the mobile device is estimated to have been located, and restricting the second location based on a boundary of the route of travel inferred from the group of routes of travel.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise retrieving traffic speed data pertinent to the route of travel inferred from the group of routes of travel from a traffic server device, and modifying the speed of the mobile device at the time of occurrence of the network event as a function of the traffic speed data.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the group of routes of travel are defined by respective modes of travel associated with respective ranges of speed,

wherein the inferring the route of travel comprises:

determining a range of speed of the respective ranges of speed that matches the speed of the mobile device at the time of occurrence of the network event, and

determining a mode of travel of the respective modes of travel that corresponds to the range of speed, and

wherein the mode of travel facilitates defining the route of travel inferred from the group of routes of travel.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the respective modes of travel comprise a vehicle mode of travel, a bicycle mode of travel and a pedestrian mode of travel, and wherein the respective modes of travel define the group of routes of travel respectively comprising road paths for vehicle traffic, cycling paths for bicycle traffic, and pedestrian walkway paths for pedestrian traffic.

12. A method, comprising:

employing, by a system comprising a processor, known geographic locations for a mobile device, respective times associated with the known geographic locations, and a speed of the mobile device at a time of a network event linked to the mobile device, to determine a supplemental location of the mobile device at the time of the network event, wherein the respective times exclude the time of the network event linked to the mobile device; and

outputting, by the system, the supplemental location of the mobile device at the time of the network event as an estimate of a geographic position of the network event.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

comparing, by the system, the speed of the mobile device at the time of the network event to speed ranges associated with defined modes of travel; and

inferring, by the system, a mode of travel of the defined modes of travel for the mobile device at the time of the network event, resulting in an inferred mode of travel.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising determining, by the system, the inferred mode of travel is a vehicular mode of travel, a cycling mode of travel, or a pedestrian mode of travel.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising referencing, by the system, topographical data indicative of a route of travel for the mobile device in a vicinity of the supplemental location of the mobile device, and determining, by the system, the route of travel based on the inferred mode of travel.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising refining, by the system, the supplemental location of the mobile device at the time of the network event according to a defined boundary of the route of travel.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising referencing, by the system, speed data indicative of a speed of traffic flow on the route of travel at the time of the network event.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising updating, by the system, the speed of the mobile device based on the speed data indicative of the speed of traffic flow on the route of travel.

19. A machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:

employing known geographic locations for a mobile device at respective times and a speed of the mobile device at a time of occurrence of a network event associated with the mobile device, to determine an additional location of the mobile device at the time of occurrence of the network event, wherein the respective times of the known geographic locations for the mobile device exclude the time of occurrence of the network event; and

outputting the additional location of the mobile device as an estimated geographic position of the network event.

20. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the operations further comprise:

comparing the speed of the mobile device to defined ranges of speed associated with modes of travel;

determining a mode of travel of the modes of travel based on a result of the comparing the speed of the mobile device to the defined ranges of speed, resulting in a determined mode of travel;

identifying routes of travel for the mobile device within a defined vicinity of the known geographic locations that satisfy a first function with respect to the determined mode of travel;

assigning the known geographic locations to the routes of travel;

determining a selected route of travel for the mobile device from the determined mode of travel and based on the assigning of the known geographic locations to the routes of travel;

acquiring traffic speed information relevant to the selected route of travel at the time of the occurrence of the network event;

refining the speed of the mobile device with the traffic speed information relevant to the selected route of travel at the time coinciding with the network event, resulting in a refined speed of the mobile device; and

modifying the additional location of the mobile device with the refined speed of the mobile device or with the selected route of travel at the time of the occurrence of the network event resulting in a modified additional location, wherein the outputting the additional location of the mobile device comprises outputting the modified additional location of the mobile device.