Hybrid location using a weighted average of location readings and signal strengths of wireless access points

• US 8,738,032 B2
• Filed: 06/22/2012
• Issued: 05/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Plainsight Technologies Incorporated
• Original Assignee: ZOS Communications LLC
• Inventors: Ziskind, Russell, McKechney, Chris, Seaman, Jeffrey, Patel, Ankur, Pastuszek, Brandon, Impellizzieri, Joseph, Gottfried, Samuel
• Primary Examiner(s): Ajayi, Joel
• Application Number:
  US13/531,358
• Publication Number:
  US 20130172006A1
• Time in Patent Office: 704 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.1
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02955 by computing a weighted average of the positions of the signal transmitters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

A query device scans radio frequencies for visible transmitting devices. The querying device receives at least a signal strength and identifier information associated with each of the transmitting devices. The list of visible devices is used to query a database containing location information for a plurality of visible devices. The list may be sent to a locationing system that may perform a location analysis on the resulting data to return a location to the query device. The weighted average of the locations returned in the database query may be computed to determine the location of the querying device, with the weight for each of the locations being the current signal strength detected by the querying device. Neural network analysis may also be used to determine the location of the querying device. Learning and seeding operations many also be used to populate the database with location information for transmitting devices.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for determining a location of a device, comprising the steps of:

scanning with the device one or more radio frequencies for visible transmitting devices;

receiving at the device a signal strength and an identifier for each visible transmitting device among the visible transmitting devices;

using the identifier to query a database containing location points for a plurality of visible transmitting devices;

and

for visible transmitting devices having location points within the database, performing a weighted average analysis of those location points to determine the location of the device based on an average of those location points, wherein a weight assigned to each location point is based on the signal strength for the visible transmitting device corresponding to that location point.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the identifier includes at least one of a media access control address, a service set identifier, or another unique identifier.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the location includes a longitude coordinate and a latitude coordinate.

4. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein the location further includes an altitude coordinate.

5. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the location is a label representative of the location of the device.

6. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the signal strength is a received signal strength indicator.

7. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of ranking each signal strength among a plurality of signal strengths for the one or more visible transmitting devices by assigning a ranking value to each signal strength, wherein the weight of each location point among the location points is based on the ranking value assigned to each signal strength.

8. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of using a response time of each visible transmitting device in place of the signal strength.

9. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of using a response time of the each visible transmitting device in combination with the signal strength.

10. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of combining the weights assigned to each location point to form a compound weight that is used in place of the weights.

11. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising the step of applying one or more functions to the signal strength prior to the step of performing the weighted average analysis.

12. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the one or more functions include normalizing values to a range between 0 and 1.

13. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the one or more functions include applying the inverse square law to the signal strength.

14. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the database is populated with location points from one or more seeding devices.

15. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein the one or more seeding devices are location-aware devices.

16. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the weighted average analysis step is performed by using the location points with the n highest signal strengths.

17. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the weighted average analysis step is performed by using the location points with the signal strength greater than a threshold.

18. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the one or more radio frequencies are wireless channels and the visible transmitting devices are one or more visible wireless access points.

19. A system for determining a location of a device, comprising:

a computer processor;

a memory in communication with the computer processor when the system is activated, the memory comprising computer readable instructions that upon execution by the computer processor cause the system to scan with the device one or more radio frequencies for visible transmitting devices, receive with the device a signal strength and an identifier for each visible transmitting device among the visible transmitting devices, use the identifier to query a database containing location points for a plurality of visible transmitting devices, and for all visible transmitting devices having a location point within the database, perform a weighted average analysis of those location points, wherein a weight assigned to each location point is based on the signal strength for the visible transmitting device corresponding to that location point.