Method and system for inferring a location of a mobile computing device

• US 7,786,935 B2
• Filed: 01/04/2008
• Issued: 08/31/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: ConnectSoft, Inc.
• Original Assignee: ConnectSoft, Inc.
• Inventors: Lankswert, Patrick C., Songer, Christopher M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tarcza; Thomas H
• Assistant Examiner(s): LIU, HARRY K
• Application Number:
  US11/969,274
• Publication Number:
  US 20080165060A1
• Time in Patent Office: 970 Days
• Field of Search: 342/451
• US Class Current: 342/451
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02521 using a radio-map
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0289 of multiple transceivers, e.g. in ad hoc networks
• 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 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

A computer-based method for inferring a location of a mobile computing device comprises the steps of using the mobile computing device to receive data about one or more devices present in a first location at a first time, including those devices available for connection; assigning an identification code to each device present in the first location; storing said data and identification code for each device present in the first location in a database; receiving new data about each device present in a location at a subsequent time, including those devices available for connection to the mobile computing device; and inferring that the mobile computing device is at the first location by comparing the new data to the stored data and identification codes.

Claims

1. A computer-based method inferring a location of a mobile computing device, comprising the steps of:

using the mobile computing device to receive data about one or more devices present in a first location at a first time;

assigning an identification code to each device present in the first location;

storing said data and the identification code for each device present in the first location in a database;

receiving new data about each device present in a location at a subsequent time; and

inferring that the mobile computing device is at the first location by comparing the new data to the stored data and identification codes.

2. The computer-based method as recited in claim 1, in which receiving data about each device present in the first location includes data from wireless devices and wired devices.

3. The computer-based method of claim 1, and further comprising defining a first physical location based on devices in the first location, and wherein inferring that the mobile computing device is at the first location comprises comparing the new data to the stored data and the identification codes, thereby inferring that the mobile device is at the first physical location if the new data for devices at the location at the subsequent time indicates that those devices are the same as the devices at the first physical location.

4. The computer-based method of claim 1, wherein the step of assigning an identification code comprises assigning a unique identification code to each device present in the first location upon receipt of the data.

5. A computer-based method inferring a location of a mobile computing device, comprising the steps of:

using the mobile computing device to periodically receive data from one or more wireless devices in radio communication with said mobile computing device;

assigning an identification code to uniquely identify a radio of each wireless device in radio communication with said mobile computing device;

storing each identification code in a database;

periodically analyzing the stored identification codes to identify one or more defined locations, each such defined location being associated with one or more stored identification codes;

receiving data from one or more wireless devices in radio communication with said mobile computing device in a given location at a subsequent time;

assigning an identification code to uniquely identify a radio of each wireless device in the given location at the subsequent time; and

comparing the identification codes in the given location at the subsequent time with those identification codes associated with each defined location in the database to determine if said mobile computing device is currently at one of the defined locations.

6. The computer-based method as recited in claim 5, in which received data from each wireless device includes:

an identification of a type of radio through which the wireless device is communicating with said mobile computing device; and

a unique identifier of each radio through which the wireless device is communicating with said mobile computing device.

7. The computer-based method as recited in claim 6, in which received data from each wireless device further includes signal strength information.

8. The computer-based method as recited in claim 6, in which received data is stored with the identification code for each wireless device in the database.

9. The computer-based method as recited in claim 6, in which each identification code is constructed by appending the unique identifier of the radio of the wireless device with a unique identifier for the type of radio through which the wireless device is communicating with said mobile computing device.

10. The computer-based method as recited in claim 6, in which the step of periodically analyzing the stored identification codes to identify one or more defined locations is based on a graphical analysis in which each identification code stored in the database is considered a node, with an edge then being defined between any two nodes representing radios of devices that have been seen at the same time.

11. The computer-based method of claim 5, wherein assigning an identification code comprises assigning an identification code to uniquely identify each wireless device in radio communication with said mobile computing device after said mobile computing device receives data from each respective wireless device in radio communication with said mobile computing device.

12. A computer-based system inferring a location of a mobile computing device, comprising:

a radio management module resident on a computer-readable medium of the mobile computing device for receiving data from one or more devices present in a given location;

an identification code generation module resident on the computer-readable medium of the mobile computing device for assigning an identification code to each such device,

a database interface module resident on the computer-readable medium of the mobile computing device for storing the identification code for each such device in a database;

a location definition module resident on the computer-readable medium of the mobile computing device for identifying and defining frequented locations, which are also stored in the database; and

an analysis module resident on the computer-readable medium of the mobile computing device for inferring that the mobile computing device is at a particular location based on comparing data received through said radio management module to frequented locations stored in the database.

13. The computer-based system of claim 12, wherein the identification code generation module assigns an unique identification code to each such device upon the radio management control module receiving data from each device present in the given location.