Method and apparatus to utilize location-related data

• US 8,049,614 B2
• Filed: 04/21/2010
• Issued: 11/01/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: DP Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Kahn, Philippe, Kinsolving, Arthur
• Primary Examiner(s): Pope, Daryl
• Application Number:
  US12/764,097
• Publication Number:
  US 20100238023A1
• Time in Patent Office: 559 Days
• Field of Search: 340/521, 340/539.13, 340/539.1, 340/539.11
• US Class Current: 340/521
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/80 for detecting, monitoring or modelling epidemics or pandemics, e.g. flu
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation

Abstract

A method and apparatus to collect user location data over time, correlating user location data with outbreak data. The method and apparatus further comprising an alert mechanism to indicate to a user if there was a potential exposure.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving user location data;

processing the location data to generate location-related data, the location-related data including a point of contact between the user and another;

storing the location-related data in a memory;

receiving data indicating a disease vector;

correlating the location-related data and the disease vector to determine whether the user was in contact with the disease vector; and

alerting the user of a potential point of contact with an outbreak, when appropriate.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing the location-related data for a period; and

pruning the location-related data periodically.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein pruning comprises one or more of the following:

removing location-related data having a low risk, removing time ranges, removing location-related data associated with a location where the user was for a short time, removing location-related data associated with the location where the user did not have a point of contact, and removing data from a particular date.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the information indicating a particular disease from a user patient;

determining an incubation period for the particular disease;

retrieving location-related data for the user patient during an infectious phase of the particular disease; and

utilizing the location-related data during the infection period to identify other users who had been in contact with the user patient.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving a confirmation of infection from an alerted user; and

performing the tracing and alerting for the confirmed ill alerted user.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

maintaining user privacy while performing these processes.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating a map of a spread of the outbreak based on the outbreak data and the identified user patients.

8. An outbreak notification system comprising:

a location receiving logic to receive location data from a mobile device carried by a user;

a location correlation logic to process the location data and generate location-related data, including a point of contact between the user and another;

a user data store to store the location-related data; and

a contact trace logic to determine if the user has had a point of contact with an outbreak.

9. The outbreak notification system of claim 8, wherein the location correlation logic is to process the location data and generate map locations.

10. The outbreak notification system of claim 8, wherein the location correlation logic is to generate descriptive locations.

11. The outbreak notification system of claim 8, further comprising:

a pruning logic to prune data in the user data store, the pruning to reduce a volume of data.

12. The outbreak notification system of claim 11, wherein the pruning comprises one or more of:

removing locations having a low risk, removing time ranges, removing locations where the user was for a short time, removing locations with no point-of-contact, and removing data completely from a particular date.

13. The outbreak notification system of claim 8, further comprising:

outbreak notification receiving logic to receive notification of an outbreak; and

outbreak location processor to determine one or more locations at which the outbreak can be identified as infectious.

14. The outbreak notification system of claim 13, wherein the notification may be received from one or more of the following:

a news report, a press release, a notification by a system user, a notification from a healthcare provider, a notification from the Center for Disease Control or other appropriate agency.

15. The outbreak notification system of claim 13, wherein when the notification is received from a user,

the contact trace logic to determine the points of contact of the patient while the patient was infectious.

16. The outbreak notification system of claim 8, further comprising:

an alert logic to alert a user when the location-related data of the user indicates that the user has been in contact with the outbreak.

17. The outbreak notification system of claim 8, further comprising:

an alert logic to alert appropriate authorities of the outbreak spread.

18. The outbreak notification system of claim 8, wherein the alert logic maintains the users'"'"' privacy in notifying the appropriate authorities.

19. The outbreak notification system of claim 8, further comprising:

a mapping logic to map a spread of the outbreak.

20. An system comprising:

a location receiving logic to receive location data from a mobile device carried by a user;

a location correlation logic to process the location data and generate point of contact data;

a user data store to store the point of contact data; and

a pruning logic to prune the point of contact data to reduce data volume.