Monitoring a geofence using wireless access points

• US 8,750,895 B2
• Filed: 06/03/2011
• Issued: 06/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Grosman, Yefim, Marti, Lukas M., Grainger, Morgan, Mayor, Robert, Huang, Ronald K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Gonzalez, Amancio
• Application Number:
  US13/153,377
• Publication Number:
  US 20120309413A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,103 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561-4566
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0269 Inferred or constrained positioning, e.g. employing knowledge of the physical or electromagnetic environment, state of motion or other contextual information to infer or constrain a position
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

Methods, program products, and systems for monitoring a geofence using wireless access points are disclosed. In general, in one aspect, a mobile device receives data defining a geofence. The mobile device can select, from multiple wireless access points, one or more wireless access points for monitoring the geofence. The selected wireless access points can be monitored by a wireless processor of the mobile device. The wireless processor can detect a potential entry of the geofence when at least one of the selected one or more wireless access points is detected. Upon a detection of the potential entry of the geofence by the wireless processor, the mobile device can use an application processor of the mobile device to determine whether the mobile device entered the geofence.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a mobile device, data defining a geofence;

identifying, by the mobile device, one or more wireless access points for monitoring the geofence;

determining, by the mobile device and based on the one or more identified wireless access points, a tentative location of the mobile device relative to the geofence, wherein determining the tentative location comprises;

receiving a signal from a wireless access point, the signal being associated with a wireless access point identifier;

determining that the wireless access point identifier matches one of a list of one or more wireless access point identifiers, each wireless access point identifier in the list being associated with one of the one or more identified wireless access points;

in response, determining a potential entry of the mobile device into the geofence; and

determining the tentative location based on the potential entry; and

upon determining the tentative location of the mobile device relative to the geofence, determining whether the mobile device is inside of the geofence.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data defining the geofence include a fence location and a fence dimension.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the fence location is a center point, and the fence dimension is a radius.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein:

determining the tentative location of the mobile device is performed by a wireless processor of the mobile device; and

determining whether the mobile device is inside of the geofence is performed by an application processor of the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 4, comprising scanning, by the wireless processor and on one or more channels, one or more signals from each of the one or more identified wireless access points.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein each wireless access point identifier comprises a media access control (MAC) address of a corresponding wireless access point.

7. The method of claim 4, comprising:

after tentatively determining that the mobile device is inside of the geofence, determining that the mobile device is located at a distance away from the geofence, the distance exceeding an error threshold; and

then

designating a detected wireless access point as a non-reliable wireless access point, including decreasing an access point score associated with the wireless access point.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising:

determining, by the mobile device, a second tentative location of the mobile device relative to the geofence, wherein determining the second tentative location includes;

determining that none of the one or more identified wireless access points is detected by the mobile device for a threshold number of consecutive scans; and

in response, determining a potential exit of the mobile device from the geofence.

9. The method of claim 8, comprising tentatively determining that the mobile device is inside of the geofence before determining the potential exit of the mobile device from the geofence.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein the wireless processor is a wireless chip that consumes less power than the application processor.

11. A computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions operable to cause a mobile device to perform operations comprising;

receiving data defining a geofence;

identifying one or more wireless access points for monitoring the geofence;

determining, based on the one or more identified wireless access points, a tentative location of the mobile device relative to the geofence, wherein determining the tentative location comprises;

receiving a signal from a wireless access point, the signal being associated with a wireless access point identifier;

determining that the wireless access point identifier matches one of a list of one or more wireless access point identifiers, each wireless access point identifier in the list being associated with one of the one or more identified wireless access points;

in response, determining a potential entry of the mobile device into the geofence; and

determining the tentative location based on the potential entry; and

upon determining the tentative location of the mobile device relative to the geofence, determining whether the mobile device is inside of the geofence.

12. The product of claim 11, wherein the data defining the geofence include a fence location and a fence dimension.

13. The product of claim 12, wherein the fence location is a center point, and the fence dimension is a radius.

14. The product of claim 11, wherein:

determining the tentative location of the mobile device is performed by a wireless processor of the mobile device; and

determining whether the mobile device is inside of the geofence is performed by an application processor of the mobile device.

15. The product of claim 14, the operations comprising scanning, by the wireless processor and on one or more channels, one or more signals from each of the one or more identified wireless access points.

16. The product of claim 14, wherein each wireless access point identifier comprises a media access control (MAC) address of a corresponding wireless access point.

17. The product of claim 14, the operations comprising:

after tentatively determining that the mobile device is inside of the geofence, determining, that the mobile device is located at a distance away from the geofence, the distance exceeding an error threshold; and

then

designating a detected wireless access point as a non-reliable wireless access point, including decreasing an access point score associated with the wireless access point.

18. The product of claim 11, the operations comprising:

determining by the mobile device, a second tentative location of the mobile device relative to the geofence, wherein determining the second tentative location includes;

determining that none of the one or more identified wireless access points is detected by the mobile device for a threshold number of consecutive scans; and

in response, determining a potential exit of the mobile device from the geofence.

19. The product of claim 18, the operations comprising tentatively determining that the mobile device is inside of the geofence before determining the potential exit of the mobile device from the geofence.

20. The product of claim 14, wherein the wireless processor is a wireless chip that consumes less power than the application processor.

21. A system, comprising:

a mobile device; and

a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions operable to cause the mobile device to perform operations comprising;

receiving data defining a geofence;

identifying one or more wireless access points for monitoring the geofence;

determining, based on the one or more identified wireless access points, a tentative location of the mobile device relative to the geofence, wherein determining the tentative location comprises;

receiving a signal from a wireless access point, the signal being associated with a wireless access point identifier;

determining that the wireless access point identifier matches one of a list of one or more wireless access point identifiers, each wireless access point identifier in the list being associated with one of the one or more identified wireless access points;

in response, determining a potential entry of the mobile device into the geofence; and

determining the tentative location based on the potential entry; and

upon determining the tentative location of the mobile device relative to the geofence by the wireless processor, determining whether the mobile device is inside of the geofence using an application processor of the mobile device.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the data defining the geofence include a fence location and a fence dimension.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the fence location is a center point, and the fence dimension is a radius.

24. The system of claim 21, wherein:

determining the tentative location of the mobile device is performed by a wireless processor of the mobile device; and

determining whether the mobile device is inside of the geofence is performed by an application processor of the mobile device.

25. The system of claim 24, the operations comprising scanning, by the wireless processor and on one or more channels, one or more signals from each of the one or more identified wireless access points.

26. The system of claim 24, wherein each wireless access point identifier comprises a media access control (MAC) address of a corresponding wireless access point.

27. The system of claim 24, the operations comprising:

after tentatively determining that the mobile device is inside of the geofence, determining, that the mobile device is located at a distance away from the geofence, the distance exceeding an error threshold; and

then

designating a detected wireless access point as a non-reliable wireless access point, including decreasing an access point score associated with the wireless access point.

28. The system of claim 21, the operations comprising:

determining by the mobile device, a second tentative location of the mobile device relative to the geofence, wherein determining the second tentative location includes;

determining that none of the one or more identified wireless access points is detected by the mobile device for a threshold number of consecutive scans; and

in response, determining a potential exit of the mobile device from the geofence.

29. The system of claim 28, the operations comprising tentatively determining that the mobile device is inside of the geofence before determining the potential exit of the mobile device from the geofence.

30. The system of claim 24, wherein the wireless processor is a wireless chip that consumes less power than the application processor.