System and method for identifying correlations between geographic locations

• US 8,229,464 B1
• Filed: 12/30/2009
• Issued: 07/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Wu, Ping
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Ajit
• Assistant Examiner(s): NGUYEN, KHAI MINH
• Application Number:
  US12/649,967
• Time in Patent Office: 937 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.1, 455/456.2, 455/456.3, 455/456.5, 455/456.6, 455/414.1, 455/414.2
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A system and method identifies correlations between locations. A server may receive information identifying an action and a location from a plurality of users. The server may assign a weighted value to each action and store the weighted value and location in a database. The database may be used to generate vector data for each location identifying the weighted values for a number of users. In response to receiving a location from a particular user device, the server may identify a vector associated with the received location. The location vector may be compared to other location vectors to determine if there is any correlation between the vectors. Where the server identifies a correlated vector, the server may send the identification of the corresponding location or information associated with the corresponding location to the particular user device.

Claims

1. A method of identifying correlated locations based on information received from a plurality of client devices over a network, the method comprising:

receiving, from each client device, information indicating a geographic location and at least one action taken at that geographic location;

for each action associated with a particular client device, identifying a weighted value based on that action for the particular client device at the geographic location;

for each client device, storing in a database an association between the weighted value and the geographic location; and

identifying a correlation between a first geographic location and a second geographic location based on the stored associations, wherein identifying the correlation includes;

generating, from the stored associations, a plurality of vectors, each vector associated with a given geographic location and including at least some of the plurality of client devices and the weighted value associated with each of the at least some of the plurality of client devices at that given location;

receiving information identifying the first geographic location from a first client device;

identifying a vector of the plurality of vectors associated with the first geographic location; and

comparing the identified vector and other vectors of the plurality of vectors to determine if a correlation exists.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the second geographic location to the first client device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying content information associated with the second geographic location; and

transmitting the identified content information to the first client device.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the identified content information is an advertisement associated with the second geographic location.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first geographic location is identified in a request for information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first geographic location is identified in a visual search request.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first geographic location is identified in a map search request.

8. A method of identifying correlated locations based on information received from a plurality of client devices each associated with a user over a network, the method comprising:

receiving, from each client device, information identifying a particular user associated with the client device, information indicating a geographic location, and at least one action associated with the particular user taken at that geographic location;

for each action associated with the particular user, identifying a weighted value based on that action for the particular user at the geographic location;

for each particular user, storing in a database an association between the weighted value and the geographic location; and

identifying a correlation between a first geographic location and a second geographic location based on the stored associations wherein identifying the correlation includes;

generating, from the stored associations, a plurality of vectors, each vector associated with a given geographic location and including at least some of the plurality of client devices and the weighted value associated with each of the at least some of the plurality of client devices at that given location;

receiving information identifying the first geographic location from a first client device;

identifying a vector of the plurality of vectors associated with the first geographic location; and

comparing the identified vector and other vectors of the plurality of vectors to determine if a correlation exists.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the information identifying a particular user is user login information.

10. A device for identifying correlated locations based on information received from a plurality of client devices over a network, the device comprising:

a memory; and

a processor configured to;

receive, from each client device of the plurality of client devices, information indicating a geographic location and at least one action taken at that geographic location;

identify, for each action associated with a particular client device, a weighted value based on that action for the particular client device at the geographic location;

for each client device, store in the memory an association between the weighted value and the geographic location;

identify a correlation between a first geographic location and a second geographic location based on the stored associations;

generate, from the stored associations, a plurality of vectors, each vector associated with a given geographic location and including at least some of the plurality of client devices and the weighted value associated with each of the at least some of the plurality of client devices at the given location;

receive information identifying the first geographic location from a first client device;

identify a vector of the plurality of vectors associated with the first geographic location; and

compare the identified vector and other vectors of the plurality of vectors to determine if a correlation exists.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to transmit the second geographic location to the first client device.

12. The device of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to:

identify content information associated with the second geographic location; and

transmit the identified content information to the first client device.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the identified content information is an advertisement associated with the second geographic location.

14. The device of claim 10, wherein the first geographic location is identified in a request for information.

15. The device of claim 10, wherein the first geographic location is identified in a visual search request.

16. The device of claim 10, wherein the first geographic location is identified in a map search request.

17. The device of claim 10, wherein the at least one action received from each of the plurality of client devices is selected from the group consisting of capturing an image, capturing video, capturing audio, or a request for information.

18. The device of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to identify the weighted value based on the sum of all of the actions for the particular client device at the geographic location.