Relevance assessment for location information received from multiple sources

• US 6,845,241 B2
• Filed: 01/07/2002
• Issued: 01/18/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Myllymaki, Jussi Petri, Edlund, Stefan B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Trost, William
• Assistant Examiner(s): ZEWDU, MELESS NMN
• Application Number:
  US10/036,407
• Publication Number:
  US 20030130987A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,107 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414.1, 455/414.2, 455/414.3, 455/418, 455/419, 455/420, 455/404.2, 455/456.1, 455/456.2, 455/456.3, 455/456.5, 455/456.6, 342/357.07, 342/357.08, 342/357.09, 342/357.01, 709/223
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2477 Temporal data queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases

Abstract

Rather than attempting to compute an average position where the mobile object might reside, location reports are ranked according to their relevance using a combination of spatial, temporal, and associative factors. This is particularly beneficial when the number of location information sources is large due to many independent trackable mobile objects (mobile phone, car, credit cards, identity cards, etc.) one might be associated with.

Claims

1. A system for assessing relevance location information received from multiple sources, said system comprising:

a. at least one database;

b. a location receiver receiving location related data and storing said location related data in said database, each of said location related data associated with a precision value;

c. a client association manager associating one or more tracking clients with one or more users, said client association manager calculating a stationary confidence value and a moving confidence value for combinations of tracking clients and users, said calculated values stored in said database, and

d. a location query engine receiving a request for identifying a location of a client, said location query engine extracting and sorting current location data associated with said client, and said location query engine identifying and resolving temporal or spatial conflicts in said sorted location data based on at least said calculated confidence values.

2. A system for assessing relevance location information received from multiple sources, as per claim 1, wherein said spatial conflicts are resolved via comparing location reports and picking location data with a smallest precision value.

3. A system for assessing relevance location information received from multiple sources, as per claim 1, wherein said temporal conflicts are resolved via comparing time stamps of conflicting location reports and picking a location report with the most recent time stamp.

4. A system for assessing relevance location information received from multiple sources, as per claim 1, wherein said spatial and temporal conflicts are resolved via picking a location report with a largest computed relevance, said computed relevance based upon at least said precision value, motion confidence value, and stationary confidence value.

5. A system for assessing relevance location information received from multiple sources, as per claim 4, wherein said relevance is computed via:

relevance=(motion confidence×

precision value) for mobile clients, or

relevance=(stationary confidence×

precision value) for stationary clients.

6. A system for assessing relevance location information received from multiple sources, as per claim 1, wherein said location related data is received using a simple object access protocol (SOAP).

7. A system for assessing relevance location information received from multiple sources, as per claim 1, wherein said location related data is in a markup language format.

8. A system for assessing relevance location information received from multiple sources, as per claim 7, wherein said markup language is extended markup language (XML).

9. A system for assessing relevance location information received from multiple sources, as per claim 4, wherein said location information comprises one or more of the following information:

latitude, longitude, physical address, network address, generic spatial information, or virtual locations.

10. A system for assessing relevance location information received from multiple sources, as per claim 9, wherein said virtual location is a uniform resource locator (URL).

11. A system for assessing relevance location information received from multiple sources, as per claim 1, wherein said database is a relational database.

12. A system for assessing relevance location information received from multiple sources, as per claim 1, wherein said database is accessible over a network.

13. A method for combining temporal and associative factors to form a single relevance assessment, said method comprising the steps of:

a. receiving a request for one or more location records associated with a client;

b. extracting one or more location records related to said client, each of said location records having an error value associated with it;

c. sorting said extracted location records and identifying spatial and temporal conflicts in said extracted location records;

d. computing associative confidence values with each of said conflicting location records, and

e. resolving spatial conflicts via picking a location record with a smallest error, and resolving temporal conflicts via picking location record with most recent timestamp, and resolving both temporal and spatial conflicts via picking location record with greater computed associative confidence value.

14. A method for combining temporal and associative factors to form a single relevance assessment, as per claim 13, wherein said associative confidence values are computed via:

confidence value=(motion confidence×

precision value) for mobile clients, or

confidence value=(stationary confidence×

precision value) for stationary clients.

15. A method for combining temporal and associative factors to form a single relevance assessment, as per claim 13, wherein said extracted location records are in a markup language format.

16. A method for combining temporal and associative factors to form a single relevance assessment, as per claim 15, wherein said markup language is extended markup language (XML).

17. A method for combining temporal and associative factors to form a single relevance assessment, as per claim 16, wherein said location records comprises any of the following information:

latitude, longitude, physical address, network address, generic spatial information, or virtual locations.

18. A method for combining temporal and associative factors to form a single relevance assessment, as per claim 17, wherein said virtual location is a uniform resource locator (URL).

19. A method for combining temporal and associative factors to form a single relevance assessment, as per claim 13, wherein said location records are stored in a relational database.

20. A method for combining temporal and associative factors to form a single relevance assessment, as per claim 19, wherein said relational database is accessible over a network.

21. An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein which combines temporal and associative factors to form a single relevance assessment, said medium further comprising:

a. computer readable program code receiving a request for location records associated with a client;

b. computer readable program code extracting one or more location records related to said client, each of said location records having an error value associated with it;

c. computer readable program code sorting said extracted location records and identifying spatial and temporal conflicts in said extracted location records;

d. computer readable program code computing associative confidence values with each of said conflicting location records, and

e. computer readable program code resolving spatial conflicts via picking location record with least error, and computer readable program code resolving temporal conflicts via picking location record with most recent timestamp, or computer readable program code resolving both temporal and spatial conflicts via picking location record with greater computed associative confidence value.

22. A system for assessing relevance location information received from multiple sources, said system comprising:

a. a location database;

b. a location receiver receiving location related data and storing said location related data in said location database, each of said location related data associated with a precision value;

c. a client association database;

d. a client association manager associating one or more tracking clients with one or more clients, said client association manager calculating a stationary confidence value and a moving confidence value for combinations of said tracking clients and said clients, said identified values stored in said client association database, and

e. a location query engine receiving a request for identifying a location of a client, said location query engine accessing, extracting, and sorting current location data associated with said client from said location database, and said location query engine resolving temporal or spatial conflicts in said sorted location data via said identified stationary or moving confidence.

23. A system for assessing the relevance location information received from multiple sources, as per claim 22, wherein said location database stores any of the following parameters;

source identification, time stamp, user identification, location, speed, error, or confidence.

24. A system for assessing the relevance location information received from multiple sources, as per claim 22, wherein said client association database stores any of the following parameters:

source identification, user identification, stationary confidence, or moving confidence.