Selecting beacons for location inference
First Claim
1. A system for selecting beacons from which to infer a location of a mobile computing device, said system comprising:
- a memory area for storing a set of beacon identifiers, said beacon identifiers corresponding to beacons observed by a mobile computing device, said beacons being located within a first geographic area as observed by the mobile computing device, said memory area further storing beacon reference data and a confidence circle associated with each of the beacon identifiers, the confidence circle representing a degree of confidence in the beacon reference data corresponding to the beacon; and
a processor programmed to;
receive the set of beacon identifiers from the mobile computing device;
identify, based on the beacon reference data stored in the memory area, one or more of the beacon identifiers corresponding to outlying beacons located on an edge of the first geographic area, the outlying beacons being identified based on the beacon reference data associated with the beacons;
remove the identified beacon identifiers from the set of beacon identifiers stored in the memory area;
select, from the set of beacon identifiers and based on the confidence circles associated therewith stored in the memory area, a subset of beacon identifiers corresponding to beacons whose confidence circles each overlap with each other; and
determine a second geographic area based on the selected beacon identifiers and the beacon reference data and the confidence circles associated therewith, said mobile computing device being within the second geographic area, wherein the second geographic area is smaller than the first geographic area.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Location inference using selected beacons. Data is received representing a set of beacons observed by a computing device. The beacons are located within a first geographic area. A subset (e.g., a clique) of the beacons is selected based on a coverage area of each of the beacons, where each of the beacons in the selected subset has a coverage area that overlaps with the coverage area of each of the other beacons in the selected subset. Using known or estimated positions of the beacons, a second geographic area is defined based on the selected subset of beacons and the beacon reference data and the coverage areas associated therewith. The second geographic area, smaller than the first geographic area, represents an approximate location of the computing device. In some embodiments, the computing device is calculated to be within the second geographic area with 95% probability.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A system for selecting beacons from which to infer a location of a mobile computing device, said system comprising:
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a memory area for storing a set of beacon identifiers, said beacon identifiers corresponding to beacons observed by a mobile computing device, said beacons being located within a first geographic area as observed by the mobile computing device, said memory area further storing beacon reference data and a confidence circle associated with each of the beacon identifiers, the confidence circle representing a degree of confidence in the beacon reference data corresponding to the beacon; and a processor programmed to; receive the set of beacon identifiers from the mobile computing device; identify, based on the beacon reference data stored in the memory area, one or more of the beacon identifiers corresponding to outlying beacons located on an edge of the first geographic area, the outlying beacons being identified based on the beacon reference data associated with the beacons; remove the identified beacon identifiers from the set of beacon identifiers stored in the memory area; select, from the set of beacon identifiers and based on the confidence circles associated therewith stored in the memory area, a subset of beacon identifiers corresponding to beacons whose confidence circles each overlap with each other; and determine a second geographic area based on the selected beacon identifiers and the beacon reference data and the confidence circles associated therewith, said mobile computing device being within the second geographic area, wherein the second geographic area is smaller than the first geographic area. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 19)
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8. A method comprising:
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receiving data representing a set of beacons from a computing device, said beacons being observed by the computing device, said beacons being located within a first geographic area as observed by the computing device; selecting a subset of the beacons based on confidence circles of each of the beacons, wherein the confidence circles of each of the beacons in the selected subset overlap with each other, the confidence circles representing a degree of confidence in beacon reference data corresponding to the respective beacon; accessing the beacon reference data associated with each of the beacons; and defining a second geographic area based on the selected subset of beacons and the beacon reference data and the confidence circles associated therewith, said computing device being within the second geographic area, wherein the second geographic area is smaller than the first geographic area. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. One or more computer storage media storing computer-executable components, said components comprising:
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an interface component that when executed by at least one processor causes the at least one processor to receive data representing a set of beacons, said beacons being observed by a computing device, said beacons being located within a first geographic area as observed by the computing device, said beacons having beacon reference data associated therewith describing a location of the beacons; a filter component that when executed by at least one processor causes the at least one processor to select no more than a first predefined quantity of the beacons based on a confidence circle of each of the beacons, the confidence circle representing a degree of confidence with which the computing device is located in the confidence circle; a clique component that when executed by at least one processor causes the at least one processor to identify no more than a second predefined quantity of the selected beacons whose confidence circles each overlap with each other; and an inference component that when executed by at least one processor causes the at least one processor to define a second geographic area based on the identified beacons and the beacon reference data and the confidence circles associated therewith, said computing device being within the defined second geographic area, and wherein the second geographic area is smaller than the first geographic area. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 20)
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Specification