Method and system for capturing and providing typological and contextual information about a location based on wireless beacons

• US 9,037,160 B2
• Filed: 02/03/2014
• Issued: 05/19/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Skyhook Wireless Incorporated (Liberty Broadband Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Skyhook Wireless Incorporated (Liberty Broadband Corp.)
• Inventors: Jones, Russel Kipp, Sutton, Richard J.
• Primary Examiner(s): DOAN, PHUOC HUU
• Application Number:
  US14/171,031
• Publication Number:
  US 20140287778A1
• Time in Patent Office: 470 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.1, 455/456.3, 370/229, 370/230, 370/252
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• 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 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing contextual information about a place within a range of a wireless signal beacon are provided. A reference database of wireless beacons stores attributes associated with wireless beacons. Wireless-enabled devices and/or server systems receive information identifying wireless beacons in range of the wireless-enabled devices and determine a received signal strength indication of the wireless beacons. The wireless-enabled devices and/or server systems then retrieve from the reference database extended attributes that are associated with the wireless beacons and determine at least one associated contextual attribute about the place within range of the wireless beacons.

Claims

1. A method for providing contextual information about a location of a wireless-enabled mobile device, the method comprising:

receiving a request that includes information identifying wireless signal beacons range of the wireless-enabled mobile device;

determining, at the wireless enabled mobile device or a server in communication with the wireless-enabled mobile device, beacon attributes associated with the wireless signal beacons in range of the wireless-enabled mobile device, the beacon attributes retrieved from a database that maintains attribute data;

determining, at the wireless enabled mobile device or the server in communication with the wireless-enabled mobile device, one or more extended reverse geocoding attributes that describe a place of the wireless-enabled mobile device by filtering or clustering beacon attributes associated with the set of wireless signal beacons;

returning a response that includes the one or more extended reverse geocoding attributes,

wherein the one or more extended reverse geocoding attributes include at least one attribute other than a civil address.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless signal beacons are Wi-Fi access points.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the extended reverse geocoding attributes comprise at least one of a building, venue, floor or room.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, at the wireless-enabled mobile device, the server in communication with the wireless-enabled mobile device or another server in communication with the wireless-enabled mobile device, an estimate of the location of the wireless-enabled mobile device based on the wireless signal beacons in range of the wireless-enabled mobile device,

wherein the returned response is a combined output that includes the estimate of the location and the one or more extended reverse geocoding attributes.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, at the wireless-enabled mobile device, the server in communication with the wireless-enabled mobile device or another server in communication with the wireless-enabled mobile device, one or more reverse geocoding attributes that indicate a civil address of the wireless-enabled mobile device,

wherein the returned response is a combined output that includes the reverse geocoding attributes that indicate the civil address and the one or more extended reverse geocoding attributes.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

manually acquiring attribute data for the database based on a survey of an area.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

automatically acquiring attribute data for the database based on text within service set identifications (SSIDs) of wireless signal beacons.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the automatically acquiring further comprises:

filtering wireless signal beacons from the database to remove wireless signal beacons having default SSIDs; and

for each remaining wireless signal beacon after the filtering;

creating a spatial buffer around an estimated location of the remaining wireless signal beacon,

applying the spatial buffer to a spatial data set that contains points of interest (POIs),

applying one or more string matching algorithms to compare each of the SSIDs of the remaining wireless signal beacon to the POIs, and

in response to a match with a POI, assigning attributes from the matching POI to the wireless signal beacon.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the automatically acquiring further comprises:

selecting a venue radius for a venue;

applying a clustering algorithm to beacons from the database to identify a cluster of wireless signal beacons;

determining at least some of the wireless signal beacons of the cluster of wireless signal beacons are spatially within the venue radius; and

assigning attributes associated with the venue to all the wireless signal beacons of the cluster of wireless signal beacons.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the filtering or clustering beacon attributes further comprises:

determining a set of wireless signal beacons of the wireless signal beacons in range of the wireless-enabled mobile device based on received signal strength; and

determining the one or more extended reverse geocoding attributes based on the beacon attributes of a closest wireless signal beacon of the set of wireless signal beacons.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the filtering or clustering beacon attributes further comprises:

determining a set of wireless signal beacons of the wireless signal beacons in range of the wireless-enabled mobile device based on received signal strength; and

returning an intersection of places attributes of the set of wireless signal beacons.

12. An apparatus for providing contextual information about a location of a wireless-enabled mobile device comprising:

a wireless-enabled mobile device or a server in communication with the wireless-enabled mobile device configured to execute beacon attribute reverse geocoding extension software, the beacon attribute reverse geocoding extension software including;

a beacon attribute reverse geocoding extension service configured to process a received request that includes information identifying wireless signal beacons in range of the wireless-enabled mobile device,

a beacon attribute retrieval component configured to retrieve beacon attributes associated with the wireless signal beacons in range of the wireless-enabled mobile device, the beacon attributes retrieved from a database that maintains attribute data,

an attribute filter component configured to determine one or more extended reverse geocoding attributes that describe a place of the wireless-enabled mobile device by filtering or clustering beacon attributes associated with the set of wireless signal beacons, and

a beacon attribute response component configured to return a response that includes the one or more extended reverse geocoding attributes,

wherein the one or more extended reverse geocoding attributes include at least one attribute other than a civil address.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising:

the wireless-enabled mobile device, the server in communication with the wireless-enabled mobile device or another server in communication with the wireless-enabled mobile device configured to execute location software, the location software including;

a location determination component configured to determine an estimate of the location of the wireless-enabled mobile device based on the wireless signal beacons in range of the wireless-enabled mobile device.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising:

the wireless-enabled mobile device, the server in communication with the wireless-enabled mobile device or another server in communication with the wireless-enabled mobile device configured to execute reverse geocoding software, the reverse geocoding software including;

a reverse geocoding component configured to determine one or more reverse geocoding attributes that indicate a civil address of the wireless-enabled mobile device.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the wireless signal beacons are Wi-Fi access points.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the extended reverse geocoding attributes comprise at least one of a building, venue, floor or room.

17. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the beacon attribute reverse geocoding extension software is executed on the wireless-enabled mobile device.

18. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the beacon attribute reverse geocoding extension software is executed on the server and communicates with a client service on the wireless-enabled mobile device.

19. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the filtering or clustering beacon attributes further comprises determining a set of wireless signal beacons of the wireless signal beacons in range of the wireless-enabled mobile device based on received signal strength, and determining the one or more extended reverse geocoding attributes based on the beacon attributes of a closest wireless signal beacon of the set of wireless signal beacons.

20. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the filtering or clustering beacon attributes further comprises determining a set of wireless signal beacons of the wireless signal beacons in range of the wireless-enabled mobile device based on received signal strength, and determining an intersection of beacon attributes of the set of wireless signal beacons.