System and method for associating communication terminals to users based on spatial correlation

• US 8,290,469 B2
• Filed: 04/02/2010
• Issued: 10/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cognyte Technologies Israel Ltd. (Cognyte Software Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Verint Americas Incorporated (Verint Systems Incorporated)
• Inventors: Corem, Yochai
• Primary Examiner(s): Gelin, Jean
• Application Number:
  US12/753,137
• Publication Number:
  US 20100255857A1
• Time in Patent Office: 928 Days
• Field of Search: 455/404.1, 455/404.2, 455/410, 455/411, 455/414.1, 455/414.2, 455/456.1, 455/456.2, 455/456.3, 455/445, 455/432.3, 455/417
• US Class Current: 455/404.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles

Abstract

Methods for associating multiple communication terminals with a given user, based on the geographical locations of the terminals. A target user may be known to own or operate a certain communication terminal (e.g., cellular phone). To identify additional terminals associated with this user, historical location indications are obtained for the known terminal. Each location indication indicates the geographical location of the terminal at a given time. The location indications of the known terminal are correlated with location indications of other terminals. When significant spatial correlation is found between the known terminal and another terminal, the other terminal is assumed likely to be associated with the same target user.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

obtaining with a network interface first location indications of a first communication terminal that is associated with a given user;

using the first location indications, determining one or more candidate communication terminals that are suspected of being associated with the given user;

computing a correlation between the first location indications and second location indications of the identified candidate communication terminals; and

responsively to the correlation, identifying from among the candidate communication terminals at least one second communication terminal that is associated with the given user,

wherein computing the correlation comprises identifying a positive correlation indication between the first communication terminal and a given candidate communication terminal, which indicates that a distance between the first communication terminal and the given candidate communication terminal was less than a predefined value during a given time interval.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first and second location indications comprise location measurements received from at least one communication network with which one or more of the communication terminals communicate.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first location indications are received from a first communication network, and wherein the second location indications of the second communication terminal are received from a second communication network, different from the first communication network.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first location indications are measured using a first location measurement technique, and wherein the second location indications of the second communication terminal are measured using a second location measurement technique, different from the first location measurement technique.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the candidate communication terminals comprises selecting an initial set of the candidate communication terminals whose second location indications are correlative with the first location indications at a first time interval, and removing from the set at least one of the candidate communication terminals whose second location indications are not correlative with the first location indications at a second time interval, different from the first time interval.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein computing the correlation comprises identifying a negative correlation indication between the first communication terminal and a given candidate communication terminal, which indicates that a distance between the first communication terminal and the given candidate communication terminal was larger than a predefined value during a given time interval.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein identifying the negative correlation indication comprises assigning a confidence level to the negative correlation indication responsively to an activity of the first communication terminal and the given candidate communication terminal during the given time interval.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein computing the correlation comprises processing the first location indications to produce a first time series representing a first location of the first communication terminal as a function of time, processing the second location indications of one of the candidate communication terminals to produce a second time series representing a second location of the one of the candidate communication terminals as a function of the time, and comparing the first and second time series.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein processing the first and second location indications comprises interpolating the respective first and second location indications to produce the first and second time series.

10. The method according to claim 1, and comprising presenting the identified at least one second communication terminal to an operator.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein computing the correlation comprises computing respective correlation scores for at least some of the candidate communication terminals, and selecting the at least one second communication terminal responsively to the correlation scores.

12. The method according to claim 11, and comprising presenting the identified at least one second communication terminal and the respective correlation scores to an operator.

13. Apparatus, comprising:

an interface, which is coupled to accept location indications of communication terminals; and

a processor, which is configured to determine, using first location indications of a first communication terminal that is associated with a given user, one or more candidate communication terminals that are suspected of being associated with the given user, to compute a correlation between the first location indications and second location indications of the identified candidate communication terminals, and to identify from among the candidate communication terminals, responsively to the correlation, at least one second communication terminal that is associated with the given user,

wherein the processor is configured to identify a positive correlation indication between the first communication terminal and a given candidate communication terminal, which indicates that a distance between the first communication terminal and the given candidate communication terminal was less than a predefined value during a given time interval.

14. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the interface is coupled to accept the first and second location indications by receiving location measurements from at least one communication network with which one or more of the communication terminals communicate.

15. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the interface is coupled to receive the first location indications from a first communication network, and to receive the second location indications of the second communication terminal from a second communication network, different from the first communication network.

16. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the first location indications are measured using a first location measurement technique, and wherein the second location indications of the second communication terminal are measured using a second location measurement technique, different from the first location measurement technique.

17. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to select an initial set of the candidate communication terminals whose second location indications are correlative with the first location indications at a first time interval, and to remove from the set at least one of the candidate communication terminals whose second location indications are not correlative with the first location indications at a second time interval, different from the first time interval.

18. The apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to identify a negative correlation indication between the first communication terminal and a given candidate communication terminal, which indicates that a distance between the first communication terminal and the given candidate communication terminal was larger than a predefined value during a given time interval.