Location tracking for mobile computing device

• US 8,395,547 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2010
• Issued: 03/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. (HP Inc.)
• Inventors: Dhanani, Adil, Srivastava, Neeta, Kumar, Nitin, Paulson, Janell, Fong, Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Phan, Dao
• Application Number:
  US12/893,907
• Publication Number:
  US 20110054780A1
• Time in Patent Office: 895 Days
• Field of Search: 342/357.25, 342/357.46, 342/357.74, 342/419, 342/442, 342/451, 701/465, 701/468
• US Class Current: 342/451
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3697 Output of additional, non-guidance related information, e.g. low fuel level G01C21/3679 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/34 Power consumption
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/011 Identifying the radio environment
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/019 Energy consumption
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0244 Accuracy or reliability of position solution or of measurements contributing thereto
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02529 not involving signal parameters, i.e. only involving identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0295 Proximity-based methods, e.g. position inferred from reception of particular signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information

Abstract

A mobile computing device comprises a wireless transceiver and a processing circuit. The processing circuit is configured to store a data set for a predetermined location, the data set comprising location data and a location name. The processing circuit is further configured to compare a current location to the location data, to compare an updated location to the location data at a time calculated based on heuristic data, and to generate a notification message based on the mobile computing device arriving at or near the predetermined location.

Claims

1. A mobile computing device, comprising:

a wireless transceiver; and

a processing circuit configured to store a plurality of wireless access point identifiers associated with a predetermined location, to receive an indication of a wireless access point identifier received by the wireless transceiver, to determine whether the wireless access point identifier matches one of the plurality of stored wireless access point identifiers, and to generate a notification message based on the wireless access point identifier matching one of the stored wireless access point identifiers.

2. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to determine a current location of the mobile computing device and an expected travel time to the predetermined location, to calculate a delay time based on the expected travel time, to disable continuous location tracking, and upon expiration of the delay time to determine whether the mobile computing device is within a predetermined distance of the predetermined location.

3. The mobile computing device of claim 2, wherein the processing circuit is configured to operate a plurality of operating loops in parallel, wherein a first operating loop comprises receiving updated wireless access point identifiers and determining whether the updated wireless access point identifiers match one of the plurality of stored wireless access point identifiers, wherein the second operating loop comprises the calculation of the a delay time based on the expected travel time, the disabling of continuous location tracking, and upon expiration of the delay time the determining of whether the mobile computing device is within a predetermined distance of the predetermined location.

4. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is configured to update the plurality of wireless access point identifiers associated with the predetermined location after arriving at the predetermined location.

5. The mobile computing device of claim 3, wherein the processing circuit is configured to calculate a next time to poll for wireless access points after arriving at the predetermined location.

6. The mobile computing device of claim 3, wherein the processing circuit is configured to determine whether a period of time has passed and, if not, to continue to update the plurality of wireless access points associated with the predetermined location after arriving at the predetermined location.

7. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is configured to receive indications of new cellular access point identifiers and wi-fi access point identifiers.

8. The mobile computing device of claim 2, wherein the predetermined distance is based on at least one of a size of the predetermined location, a population density in the vicinity of the predetermined location, a received size input data, and a type of predetermined location.

9. The mobile computing device of claim 1, further comprising a memory configured to store a plurality of locations of interest, each location of interest comprising a plurality of wireless access point identifiers associated therewith, wherein the processing circuit is configured to determine whether the received wireless access point identifier matches a wireless access point identifier of any of the plurality of locations of interest.

10. The mobile computing device of claim 9, wherein at least one of the locations of interest comprises a textual message associated therewith, wherein the textual message is presented to a user interface device based on received wireless access point identifier matching one of the stored wireless access point identifiers of the at least one location of interest.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon machine-readable instructions for causing, when executed, one or more machines to perform the following:

storing a plurality of wireless access point identifiers associated with a predetermined location;

receiving an indication of a wireless access point identifier received by a wireless transceiver;

determining whether the received wireless access point identifier matches one of the plurality of stored wireless access point identifiers; and

generating a notification message based on the received wireless access point identifier matching one of the stored wireless access point identifiers.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, further comprising:

determining a current location of a mobile computing device and an expected travel time to the predetermined location;

calculating a delay time based on the expected travel time;

disabling continuous location tracking; and

upon expiration of the delay time, determining whether the mobile computing device is within a predetermined distance of the predetermined location.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 12, further comprising:

operating a plurality of operating loops in parallel, wherein a first operating loop comprises receiving updated wireless access point identifiers and determining whether the updated wireless access point identifiers match one of the plurality of stored wireless access point identifiers, wherein the second operating loop comprises the calculation of the a delay time based on the expected travel time, the disabling of continuous location tracking, and upon expiration of the delay time the determining of whether the mobile computing device is within a predetermined distance of the predetermined location.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, further comprising updating the plurality of wireless access points associated with the predetermined location after arriving at the predetermined location.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, further comprising calculating a next time to poll for wireless access points after arriving at the predetermined location.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 13, further comprising determining whether a period of time has passed and, if not, continuing to update the plurality of wireless access points associated with the predetermined location after arriving at the predetermined location.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 11, further comprising receiving indications of new cellular access point identifiers and wi-fi access point identifiers.

18. A method comprising:

storing a plurality of wireless access point identifiers associated with a predetermined location in memory of a mobile computing device;

receiving an indication of a wireless access point identifier received by a wireless transceiver of the mobile computing device;

determining whether the received wireless access point identifier matches one of the plurality of stored wireless access point identifiers; and

provide a notification message to another computing device with the wireless transceiver based on the received wireless access point identifier matching one of the stored wireless access point identifiers.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

determining a current location of the mobile computing device and an expected travel time to the predetermined location;

calculating a delay time based on the expected travel time;

disabling continuous location tracking; and

upon expiration of the delay time, enabling continuous location tracking.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

updating the plurality of wireless access points associated with the predetermined location after arriving at the predetermined location.