Location-based profile

• US 8,886,178 B2
• Filed: 12/09/2013
• Issued: 11/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Chatterjee, Shuvo
• Primary Examiner(s): Georgewill, Opiribo
• Application Number:
  US14/100,612
• Publication Number:
  US 20140106730A1
• Time in Patent Office: 337 Days
• Field of Search: 455/424, 455/67.11, 455/456.1, 455/423, 455/422.1, 370/241, 370/254
• US Class Current: 455/424
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/18 Network planning tools
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences

Abstract

A location determination subsystem of a mobile device can determine a location of the mobile device. A monitoring subsystem of the mobile device can be configured, using a profile, to monitor states of a wireless connection between the mobile device and a communications network. When the monitoring subsystem detects an interruption of the wireless connection, a virtual geofence can be constructed around the location of the mobile device when the interruption occurred. The geofence can indicate a boundary of an enclosed geographic area. The geofence can be associated with a diagnostics profile stored on the mobile device or dynamically retrieved from a server upon occurrence of the interruption. When the mobile device enters the area enclosed by the geofence, the monitoring subsystem can be configured using the diagnostics profile in anticipation of interruptions of connections. Information relating to the interruptions can be anonymously sent to a server for analysis.

Claims

1. A method executed by a mobile device, comprising:

receiving, from one or more mobile devices, connection information, the connection information including a respective location of each of the one or more mobile device, each location including geographic coordinates of a place where a communication event occurred, the communication event including a communication interruption between a corresponding mobile device and another device;

determining a geographic area enclosing each location in the connection information;

defining a geofence around the geographic area, including associating the geographic area with a diagnostic profile,

the diagnostic profile including a parameter to configure a monitoring system of a mobile device, the parameter specifying an aspect of wireless communication to monitor in anticipation of a next communication interruption that is expected to occur within the geographic area; and

providing a representation of the geofence and the associated diagnostic profile to each of the one or more mobile devices before the next communication interruption occurs,

wherein the method is performed by one or more computers.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising sharing the geofence with another mobile device that is not among the one or more mobile devices.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each communication interruption includes a call drop, a message service error, a handover failure, or an activation failure.

4. A method comprising:

receiving event notifications from one or more mobile devices, each of the event notifications including anonymized information describing a communication event occurred on a corresponding mobile device, the anonymized information including a location of the corresponding mobile device where the communication event occurred;

determining that a category of communication events occur at a frequency that satisfies a frequency threshold;

in response, creating an event-monitoring profile for configuring an event-monitoring subsystem of at least one of the one or more mobile devices, the event-monitoring profile specifying an aspect of the category of communication events to monitor;

associating the event-monitoring profile with a geofence that encloses at least one location in the event notifications; and

providing the event-monitoring profile and a representation of the associated geofence to the at least one mobile device,

wherein the method is performed by one or more computers.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the communication event is a data or voice wireless communication interruption.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the aspect of the category of communication events includes at least one of a cell snapshot of a cellular network, a call start, an on-call failure, a call end, a radio frequency, or a monitoring location granularity.

7. The method of claim 6, where the monitoring location granularity includes a global positioning system granularity, a wireless access point granularity, or a cell identifier granularity.

8. The method of claim 4, comprising creating the geofence based on a statistical analysis of the received event notifications.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein providing the event-monitoring profile and associated geofence to the at least one mobile device comprises providing the event-monitoring profile and associated geofence for download.

10. A non-transitory storage device storing computer instructions operable to cause one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

receiving event notifications from one or more mobile devices, each of the event notifications including anonymized information describing a communication event occurred on a corresponding mobile device, the anonymized information including a location of the corresponding mobile device where the communication event occurred;

determining that a category of communication events occur at a frequency that satisfies a frequency threshold;

in response, creating an event-monitoring profile for configuring an event-monitoring subsystem of at least one of the one or more mobile devices, the event-monitoring profile specifying an aspect of the category of communication events to monitor;

associating the event-monitoring profile with a geofence that encloses at least one location in the event notifications; and

providing the event-monitoring profile and a representation of the associated geofence to the at least one mobile device.

11. The non-transitory storage device of claim 10, wherein the communication event is a data or voice wireless communication interruption.

12. The non-transitory storage device of claim 10, wherein the aspect of the category of communication events includes at least one of a cell snapshot of a cellular network, a call start, an on-call failure, a call end, a radio frequency, or a monitoring location granularity.

13. The non-transitory storage device of claim 12, where the monitoring location granularity includes a global positioning system granularity, a wireless access point granularity, or a cell identifier granularity.

14. The non-transitory storage device of claim 10, the operations comprising creating the geofence based on a statistical analysis of the received event notifications.

15. The non-transitory storage device of claim 10, wherein providing the event-monitoring profile and associated geofence to the at least one mobile device comprises providing the event-monitoring profile and associated geofence for download.

16. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a storage device storing a computer program product operable to cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving event notifications from one or more mobile devices, each of the event notifications including anonymized information describing a communication event occurred on a corresponding mobile device, the anonymized information including a location of the corresponding mobile device where the communication event occurred;

determining that a category of communication events occur at a frequency that satisfies a frequency threshold;

in response, creating an event-monitoring profile for configuring an event-monitoring subsystem of at least one of the one or more mobile devices, the event-monitoring profile specifying an aspect of the category of communication events to monitor;

associating the event-monitoring profile with a geofence that encloses at least one location in the event notifications; and

providing the event-monitoring profile and a representation of the associated geofence to the at least one mobile device.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the communication event is a data or voice wireless communication interruption.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the aspect of the category of communication events includes at least one of a cell snapshot of a cellular network, a call start, an on-call failure, a call end, a radio frequency, or a monitoring location granularity.

19. The system of claim 18, where the monitoring location granularity includes a global positioning system granularity, a wireless access point granularity, or a cell identifier granularity.

20. The system of claim 16, the operations comprising creating the geofence based on a statistical analysis of the received event notifications.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein providing the event-monitoring profile and associated geofence to the at least one mobile device comprises providing the event-monitoring profile and associated geofence for download.