Determining geographic location of network hosts

• US 8,837,360 B1
• Filed: 12/13/2010
• Issued: 09/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Mishra, Arunesh, Ji, Zhengrong, Stogaitis, Marc, Chen, Tsuwei
• Primary Examiner(s): Gillis, Brian J
• Assistant Examiner(s): TOKUTA, SHEAN S
• Application Number:
  US12/966,659
• Time in Patent Office: 1,373 Days
• Field of Search: 370/254, 370/255, 370/328, 370/338, 370/346, 455/422.1, 455/435.1, 455/456.1, 455/456.2, 455/456.3, 455/456.5, 455/457, 709217-219, 709/224, 709/225, 715/760
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0295 Proximity-based methods, e.g. position inferred from reception of particular signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/6418 Hybrid transport
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• 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 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention are directed to determining the geographic location of network entities. An embodiment is a method of determining the geographic location of a host including, identifying at least one gateway communicatively coupled to the host, determining a geographic location of the at least one gateway based upon a proximity relationship between the gateway and a localizable entity, and determining the geographic location of the host based upon the determined geographic location of the at least one gateway. Another embodiment is a method for a host to determine its geographic location by determining reachability information to communicatively coupled network entities, sending the reachability information to a location server, and by receiving geographic location information from the location server.

Claims

1. A method of determining a geographic location of a host, comprising:

identifying at least one gateway communicatively coupled to the host via a network;

determining a geographic location of the at least one gateway based upon an indirect proximity relationship between the gateway and a localizable entity, wherein the gateway is located at a predetermined percentage portion of the maximum range of the network, wherein the geographic location is based on a center point of a wireless network coverage area of the localizable entity as modified by the range of a wired network communicatively coupling the gateway to the localizable entity; and

determining the geographic location of the host based upon the determined geographic location of the at least one gateway.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifying at least one gateway, comprises:

receiving information from one or more hosts identifying related network entities; and

processing the related network entities to identify at least one gateway.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the related network entities include network entities communicatively coupled to the host.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the related network entities include network entities collocated with the host.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the geographic location of the at least one gateway, comprises:

identifying the proximity relationship comprising the gateway and the localizable entity; and

analyzing the proximity relationship to determine the geographic location of the at least one gateway.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the creating at least one proximity relationship comprises:

determining the localizable entity that is a geographically related to the gateway; and

estimating a geographic distance from the gateway to the localizable entity.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the determining the localizable entity, comprises:

determining one or more network entities communicatively coupled to the gateway; and

selecting, from the one or more network entities, the localizable entity based upon availability of geographic location information.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the determining the localizable entity, comprises:

determining one or more network entities co-located with the gateway; and

selecting, from the one or more network entities, the localizable entity based upon availability of geographic location information.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the analyzing the proximity relationship, comprises:

correlating one or more proximity relationships.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the correlating comprises:

clustering the at least one gateway and one or more localizable entities coupled to the at least one gateway.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the geographic location of the host, comprises:

estimating the geographic location of the host based upon tri-laterating geographic locations of the at least one gateway.

12. A method for determining a geographic location of a host, comprising:

determining reachability information from a host to communicatively coupled network entities, wherein the reachability information includes reachability via a wired network to a gateway within the coverage area of a wireless network of a wireless base station, wherein the gateway is located at a predetermined percentage portion of the maximum range of the wired network;

sending the reachability information to a location server, wherein the location server determines the geographic location of the host based on the reachability information and a location of the wireless base station; and

receiving the geographic location information of the host from the location server.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein reachability information includes information on one or more gateways communicatively coupled to the host.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein reachability information includes information on one or more localizable entities communicatively coupled to the host.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining network entities co-located with the host; and

sending information regarding the co-located network entities to the location server.

16. A system for determining a geographic location of a host, comprising:

at least one processor;

a network interface coupled to the processor;

at least one memory coupled to the processor, the memory comprising;

a location server, configured to;

identify at least one gateway coupled to the host via a network;

determine a geographic location of the at least one gateway based upon a proximity relationship between the gateway and a localizable entity, wherein the gateway is located at a predetermined percentage portion of the maximum range of the network, wherein the geographic location is based on a center point of a wireless network coverage area of the localizable entity as modified by the range of a wired network communicatively coupling the gateway to the localizable entity;

determine the geographic location of the host based upon the determined geographic location of the at least one gateway; and

transmit the geographic location of the host.

17. The system of claim 16, comprising:

one or more hosts communicatively coupled to the location server, each said one or more hosts configured to;

determine reachability information to communicatively coupled network entities;

transmit the reach ability information to a location server; and

receive a geographic location information from the location server.

18. The system of claim 16, the memory further comprising:

a database configured to store proximity relationships, each proximity relationship comprising a gateway from the one or more gateways and a respective localizable entity.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the localizable entity is a component of a wireless network.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the respective localizable entity is a component of a wired network.