Systems, methods, and computer program products for estimating crowd sizes using information collected from mobile devices in a wireless communications network

• US 8,442,807 B2
• Filed: 06/01/2010
• Issued: 05/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ramachandran, Jayaraman
• Primary Examiner(s): JONES, HUGH M
• Application Number:
  US12/791,463
• Publication Number:
  US 20110295577A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,078 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 703/2
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/022 with dynamic range variability
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer program products are for estimating crowd size at a location. An exemplary method includes determining, at a crowd size analyzer, a number of wireless service users at the location, and estimating, at the crowd size analyzer, a total number of people at the location based upon the number of wireless service users determined to be at the location.

Claims

1. A method for estimating crowd size at a location, the method comprising:

determining, at a crowd size analyzer, a number of wireless service users at the location;

estimating, at the crowd size analyzer, a total number of people at the location based upon the number of wireless service users determined to be at the location, wherein estimating the total number of people comprises estimating the total number of people at the location based upon an analytical model and a statistical model; and

calibrating the statistical model based upon market research relating to operator coverage in the location and a known number of wireless service users, per operator, at the location by comparing the estimated total number of people at the location with the known number of wireless service users, per operator, at the location.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, at the crowd size analyzer, the number of wireless service users at the location comprises determining, at the crowd size analyzer, the number of wireless users at the location based upon call detail record (CDR) information retrieved from a wireless communication network.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the CDR information is aggregated in a CDR database that is in communication with the crowd size analyzer to provide the CDR information to the crowd size analyzer.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, at the crowd size analyzer, the number of wireless service users at the location comprises determining, at the crowd size analyzer, the number of wireless users at the location based upon signaling records associated with signaling operations of a wireless communications network.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the signaling records are aggregated in a signaling messages database that is in communication with the crowd size analyzer to provide the signaling records to the crowd size analyzer.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, at the crowd size analyzer, the number of wireless service users at the location comprises determining, at the crowd size analyzer, the number of wireless service users at the location during a time period having a duration within a time window between a specified start time to a specified end time.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating, at the crowd size analyzer, a report comprising the total number of people at the location based upon the number of wireless service users determined to be at the location.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising, the crowd size analyzer sending the report to at least one of:

a mobile device via one of a short messaging service (SMS) message, a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message, and an unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) message;

a television over-the-air for presentation via audio and/or video to a user;

a television service provider for distribution to subscribers of television service provided by the television service provider;

a television broadcasting station for distribution to one of televisions over-the-air, television service providers, Internet websites for encoding in an Internet-compatible format;

a terrestrial radio network for distribution over one of frequency modulation (FM), amplitude modulation (AM), and in-band on-channel (IBOC) transmission methods to radio systems;

a satellite radio network for distribution to satellite radio systems;

a public safety answering point (PSAP) for distribution to one of law enforcement, firefighter, and ambulance services;

one of police personnel, firefighter personnel, EMT personnel, hospital personnel, armed forces personnel, and disaster recovery response personnel;

an emergency broadcast system;

an email address;

a physical address;

a website;

a social networking application;

a news outlet;

a web log;

an Internet message forum;

an Internet relay chat; and

an instant messaging application.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the crowd size analyzer is a master crowd size analyzer; and

determining, at the crowd size analyzer, the number of wireless service users at the location comprises, determining at the master crowd size analyzer, the number of wireless service users at the location based upon receiving a subset of the number of wireless service users at the location from each of a plurality of wireless service operators serving the location.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein the signaling operations with which the signaling records are associated include at least one of call setup signaling, call transfer signaling, call terminal signal, data session initiation, short messaging service, multimedia messaging service, packet data protocol context requests and other control plane activity.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, at the crowd size analyzer, the number of wireless service users at the location comprises determining, at the crowd size analyzer, the number of wireless users at the location based upon network performance data provided by probes included on wireless network components of a wireless communication network.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the wireless network components include at least one of radio access components, circuit core components, and packet core components.

13. A system for estimating crowd size at a location, the system comprising:

a network interface configured to communicate with a wireless communications network to receive data used to estimate a total number of people at the location;

a processor in communication with the network interface; and

a memory in communication with the processor, the memory comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

determining a number of wireless service users at the location;

estimating the total number of people at the location based upon the number of wireless service users determined to be at the location by executing an analytical model and a statistical model; and

calibrating the statistical model based upon market research relating to operator coverage in the location and a known number of wireless service users, per operator, at the location by comparing the estimated total number of people at the location with the known number of wireless service users, per operator, at the location.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the memory further comprises instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the operation of determining the number of wireless service users at the location based upon call detail record (CDR) information received via the network interface from a CDR database.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the memory further comprises instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the operation of determining the number of wireless service users at the location based upon signaling records associated with signaling operations of the wireless communications network received via the network interface from a signaling message database.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the memory further comprises instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform an additional operation of generating a report comprising the total number of people at the location based upon the number of wireless service users determined to be at the location.

17. A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, excluding propagation media, comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a crowd size analyzer, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

determining a number of wireless service users at the location;

estimating the total number of people at the location, based upon the number of wireless service users determined to be at the location, by executing an analytical model and a statistical model; and

calibrating the statistical model based upon market research relating to operator coverage in the location and a known number of wireless service users, per operator, at the location by comparing the estimated total number of people at the location with the known number of wireless service users, per operator, at the location.

18. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the operation of determining the number of wireless service users at the location based upon call detail record (CDR) information received from a CDR database.

19. The tangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium system of claim 17, further comprising instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform the operation of determining the number of wireless service users at the location based upon signaling records associated with signaling operations of the wireless communications network received from a signaling message database.