Methods and apparatus for extrapolating person and device counts

• US 7,123,918 B1
• Filed: 08/20/2001
• Issued: 10/17/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Services Corporation (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Goodman, William D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Appiah, Charles N
• Assistant Examiner(s): Peaches, Randy
• Application Number:
  US09/933,063
• Time in Patent Office: 1,884 Days
• Field of Search: 455/2.01, 455/4, 455/446, 455/453, 455/456.2, 455/458, 455/436, 455/456.1, 455/456.3, 455/425, 455/426.1, 455/456, 455/11.1
• US Class Current: 455/446
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/00 Individual registration on entry or exit
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for providing statistics on the number, distribution and/or flow of people or devices in a geographic region based on active wireless device counts are described. Wireless devices may be of different types e.g., cell phones, PDAs, etc. Wireless communications centers report the number and type of active devices in the geographic region serviced by the wireless communications center and/or indicate the number of devices entering/leaving the serviced region. The active wireless device information is correlated to one or more targeted geographical areas. Population counts are extrapolated from the device information for the targeted geographic areas. Traffic and/or flow information is generated from changes in the device counts or population estimates over time and/or from information on the number of active devices entering/leaving a region. Reports may include predictions of crowd population characteristics based on information about the types and/or number of different wireless devices being used.

Claims

1. A method of processing active wireless device statistics, the method comprising:

receiving statistics indicating the number of active wireless devices in at least one communications cell;

processing the said received statistics to generate an estimated number of people in a geographic region of interest.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving statistics includes:

receiving information from a plurality of different communications cells, said information including at a first count corresponding to the number of active devices in a first communications cell and a second count corresponding to the number of active devices in a second communications cell.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein estimating the number of people in a geographic region of interest includes:

correlating the first and second counts corresponding to the first and second communications cells, respectively, to the geographic area of interest to generate a set of target area statistics including an estimate of the number of active wireless devices in the geographic area of interest.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein estimating the number of people in a geographic region of interest includes:

performing an extrapolation operation on the estimate of the number of active wireless devices in the geographic area of interest to produce the estimate of the number of people in the geographic area of interest.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

generating a report including the estimate of the number of people in the geographic area of interest; and

outputting said report.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

predicting the distribution of the estimated number of people in a geographic region of interest from the received statistics on the number of active wireless devices.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein active device counts from different wireless communications cells each at least partially overlapping said geographic area of interest are used in predicting the distribution of the estimated number of people.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

generating a report including the estimate of the number of people in the geographic area of interest and information on the predicted distribution of the estimated number of people.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein the first count is a count of a first type of wireless device and said second count is a count of a second type of wireless device which is different from said first type.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the first type of wireless device is a cell phone and the second type of wireless device is a personal data assistant.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of receiving statistics on the number of active wireless devices includes:

receiving active wireless device statistics corresponding to different points in time; and

generating, from received active wireless device statistics corresponding to at least two different points in time, information on the flow of traffic in the geographic region of interest.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of estimating the number of people includes taking into consideration a portion of the people in the geographic region that are likely to be utilizing multiple wireless devices.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of estimating the number of people includes multiplying the number of active wireless devices which are cell phones by a factor based on the percentage of a population in the geographic region which will have active cell phones.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein said step of estimating the number of people further includes multiplying the number of active wireless devices which are personal data assistants by a factor based on the percentage of a population in the geographic region which will have personal data assistants.

24. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a geographic region based person count and information report from the estimated number of people and information on the distribution of the estimated number of people within the geographic region of interest.

11. A method of processing active wireless device statistics, the method comprising:

receiving statistics on the number and type of active wireless devices in at least one communications cell;

processing the said received statistics to generate an estimate of the number of people in a geographic region of interest and;

predicting said characteristics of the said people from the type and number of people in a geographic region of interest.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of:

generating a report including the estimate of the number of people in the geographic area of interest and information on the predicted characteristics of the people.

14. A method comprising:

collecting active wireless device statistics from a communications cell over a period of time; and

detecting changes in the collected active wireless device statistics; and

generating a report including estimating the flow of people through said geographic area based on detected changes in the collected active wireless device statistics.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the detected changes include at least one of an increase and a decrease in the number of active wireless devices in a communications cell.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the detected changes include changes in the identity of the active wireless devices being serviced by the cell.

17. An apparatus for estimating the number of people in a geographic region, the apparatus comprising:

an interface for receiving an active wireless device count from at least one communications cell;

means for estimating based on the received active wireless device count the number of people in a geographic region including at least a portion of said communication cell.

18. The apparatus of claim 17,

wherein said interface receives wireless device count information including a first count corresponding to a first communications cell and a second count from a second communication cell;

and

wherein means for estimating includes;

means for correlating the first and second counts corresponding to the first and second communications cells, respectively, to a geographic area of interest to generate a set of target area statistics including an estimate of the number of active wireless devices in the geographic area of interest.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said means for estimating further includes:

means for performing an extrapolation operation on the estimate of the number of active wireless devices in the geographic area of interest to produce the estimate of the number of people in the geographic area of interest.

20. A wireless communications system, the system comprising:

a plurality of wireless communications centers, each wireless communications center collecting statistics on the number of active wireless devices being serviced at a point in time;

a processing center coupled to the plurality of wireless communications centers, the processing center receiving from said wireless communication centers the statistics on the number of active wireless devices being serviced, the processing center including;

means for estimating the number of people in a geographic region of interest from the number of active wireless devices being serviced by said wireless communications centers.