Method and system for selecting and providing a relevant subset of Wi-Fi location information to a mobile client device so the client device may estimate its position with efficient utilization of resources
First Claim
1. A method of selecting and providing, to at least one mobile client device, a subset of WiFi access point information to be used to estimate a position of the mobile client device, the method comprising:
- providing access to a reference database of Wi-Fi access point information recorded in a non-transitory computer-readable medium and containing information about Wi-Fi access points within a target region;
providing a set of geographical regions, each geographical region being a subdivision of the target region, and each geographical region containing a plurality of the Wi-Fi access points;
selecting at least one geographical region from the set of geographical regions;
selecting from the reference database a subset of Wi-Fi access points that are contained in the at least one selected geographic region; and
providing to the mobile client device information from said reference database about the subset of Wi-Fi access points that are located within the at least one selected geographical region, the information including identifiers for corresponding Wi-Fi access points in the at least one selected geographical region and including estimated geographic locations of the corresponding Wi-Fi access points so the mobile client device may subsequently estimate its position using the estimated geographic location of at least one of the Wi-Fi access points in the at least one geographical region.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method of providing a relevant subset of information to a client device is based in part on scanning for Wi-Fi access points within range of the client device, using a Wi-Fi database that covers a large target region to retrieve information about these access points, using this information to estimate the position of the mobile client device, selecting a limited region in the vicinity of the estimated location of the client device, and providing information about Wi-Fi access points within this limited region to the client. For efficient transfer and maintenance of data, the target region may be divided into a hierarchy of fixed geographical tiles.
358 Citations
17 Claims
-
1. A method of selecting and providing, to at least one mobile client device, a subset of WiFi access point information to be used to estimate a position of the mobile client device, the method comprising:
-
providing access to a reference database of Wi-Fi access point information recorded in a non-transitory computer-readable medium and containing information about Wi-Fi access points within a target region; providing a set of geographical regions, each geographical region being a subdivision of the target region, and each geographical region containing a plurality of the Wi-Fi access points; selecting at least one geographical region from the set of geographical regions; selecting from the reference database a subset of Wi-Fi access points that are contained in the at least one selected geographic region; and providing to the mobile client device information from said reference database about the subset of Wi-Fi access points that are located within the at least one selected geographical region, the information including identifiers for corresponding Wi-Fi access points in the at least one selected geographical region and including estimated geographic locations of the corresponding Wi-Fi access points so the mobile client device may subsequently estimate its position using the estimated geographic location of at least one of the Wi-Fi access points in the at least one geographical region. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
-
Specification