Location visit confirmation services for wireless devices

• US 7,123,152 B2
• Filed: 09/20/2004
• Issued: 10/17/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Contractor, Sunil H.
• Primary Examiner(s): MULLEN, THOMAS J
• Application Number:
  US10/945,307
• Publication Number:
  US 20050043040A1
• Time in Patent Office: 757 Days
• Field of Search: 340/573.1, 340/539.1, 340/306, 340/3.3, 705 8- 11, 700/111, 455/456.1, 455/457
• US Class Current: 340/573.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 11/00 Arrangements, systems or apparatus for checking, e.g. the occurrence of a condition, not provided for elsewhere
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A location visit confirmation service includes a portable wireless device, a schedule of predetermined sites, a location identification system, and a central processor. The central processor periodically receives position data generated by the location identification system identifying the location of the portable wireless device. The central processor compares this position data to the schedule of predetermined sites. Using a threshold based on distance, or distance and time, it is determined whether a service person completed a visit to one of the sites in the schedule. At the end of the site visit confirmation evaluation period, a summary report is generated that confirms those scheduled site visits that were completed. The summary report is provided by the wireless carrier to the subscriber.

Claims

1. A system for confirming visits to sites, comprising:

a portable wireless device;

a schedule of predetermined sites to be visited by a service person associated with the portable wireless device on behalf of a subscriber;

a location identification means for acquiring location data of the portable wireless device; and

a processor operative to;

compare a position based on the location data to the schedule in order to confirm that the service person is present at a predetermined site;

if the service person is present at the predetermined site, determine a length of time that the service person is present at the predetermined site; and

compare the length of time that the service person is present at the predetermined site with a predetermined time threshold to confirm that the service person completed a visit to the predetermined site.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the location identification means acquires the location data based on the detection of a dedicated phone number.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the detection of a dedicated phone number is performed by a mobile telephone switching office.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a mobile telephone switching office operative to detect a dedicated phone number and an emergency phone number;

and

wherein location data is sent to a first device when the dedicated phone number is detected, and wherein location data is sent to a second device when the emergency phone number is detected.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the second device is one of a public service answering point, an emergency services router, and a database coupled to a public service answering point, and further wherein the first device is said processor.

6. The system if claim 1, wherein the location identification means performs one or more of a global positioning system (GPS) computation, a network-based time difference of arrival (TDOA) computation, an angle of arrival (AGA) computation, and a location pattern matching (LPM) computation.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the schedule of predetermined sites comprises a series of Cartesian pairs or latitude-longitude pairs.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the schedule is created by converting a plurality of street addresses to the series.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the conversion is performed by accessing a geographic information system (GIS).

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising a report generator module for generating a report identifying the predetermined sites from the schedule that were visited by the service person.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein comparisons performed by the processor are based on a threshold, and if the threshold is not satisfied the site visit is not considered confirmed.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the threshold comprises a distance.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the threshold comprises a distance and a time.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the location identification means acquires the location data on a periodic basis.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the location identification means acquires the location data based on a prediction algorithm that predicts when the service person is near one of the predetermined sites in the schedule.

16. A method for confirming visits to sites, comprising:

providing a portable wireless device to a service person;

providing a schedule of predetermined sites to be visited by the service person on behalf of a subscriber;

acquiring location data of the portable wireless device;

if the service person is present at a predetermined site, determining the length of time that the service person is present at the predetermined sited; and

,

comparing the length of time the service person is present at the predetermined site to confirm that the service person completed a visit to the predetermined site.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising detecting a specific phone number associated with tracking service persons, and wherein acquiring location data is based on detection of said phone number.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein detecting a specific phone number associated with tracking service persons is performed by a mobile telephone switching office.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the mobile telephone switching office performs the additional step of detecting an emergency phone number.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the location data is forwarded to a first device when the specific phone number is detected and the location data is forwarded to a second device when the emergency phone number is detected.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the first device is a processor that performs said comparing step and the second device is one of a public service answering point, an emergency services router, and a database coupled to a public service answering point.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein acquiring location data comprises performing one or more of a global positioning system (GPS) computation, a network-based time difference of arrival (TDOA) computation, an angle of arrival (AOA) computation, and a location pattern matching (LPM) computation.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the GPS computation is performed by the portable wireless device.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the GPS computation is performed by a processor.

25. The method of claim 16, wherein the schedule comprises a series of Cartesian pairs or latitude-longitude pairs.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the schedule is created by converting a plurality of street addresses to the series.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the conversion is performed by accessing a geographic information system (GIS).

28. The method of claim 25, wherein comparing is based on a time threshold, and if the time threshold is not satisfied the site visit is not considered confirmed.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the threshold further comprises a distance.

30. The method of claim 16, further comprising generating a report describing whether the predetermined sites from the schedule were visited by the service person.

31. The method of claim 16, wherein acquiring location data occurs on a periodic basis.

32. The method of claim 16, wherein acquiring location data occurs at a time based on a prediction algorithm that predicts the movement of the service person.

33. The method of claim 16, further comprising billing a predetermined site based on the length of time that the service person was present at the predetermined site.

34. A system for confirming visits to sites, comprising:

a memory storing a schedule of predetermined sites to be visited by a service person on behalf of a subscriber, the service person having a portable wireless device;

a first processing module for acquiring location data of the portable wireless device;

a second processing module operative to;

compare a position based on the location data to the schedule in order to confirm whether the service person is present at a particular predetermined site;

if the service person is present at the particular predetermined site, determine a length of time that the service person is present at the particular predetermined site; and

compare the length of time that the service person is present at the predetermined site with a predetermined time threshold to confirm that the service person completed a visit to the particular predetermined site.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the first processing module and the second processing module are located in a wireless carrier network.

36. The system of claim 34, wherein the first processing module is located in the wireless device.

37. The system of claim 34, wherein the first processing module performs one or more of the following computations:

time difference of arrival (TDOA);

angle of arrival (AOA);

location pattern matching (LPM), and global positioning system (GPS).

38. The system of claim 34, wherein the schedule is based on the conversion of a plurality of street addresses to a series of Cartesian pairs or longitude-latitude pairs.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein the conversion is performed by the subscriber.

40. The system of claim 38, wherein the conversion is performed by a wireless camera.

41. The system of claim 34, wherein the comparison performed by the second processing module is based on a threshold.

42. The system of claim 41, wherein the threshold comprises a distance.

43. The system of claim 41, wherein the threshold comprises a distance and a time.

44. The system of claim 34, wherein the first processing module is operative to acquire the location data based on a time period or a prediction algorithm.