Global-positioning system (GPS) update interval based on sensor

• US 9,088,865 B2
• Filed: 02/06/2013
• Issued: 07/21/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Vaccari, Andrea, Gris, Gabriel, Tretti, Alberto, Lahiri, Mayank
• Primary Examiner(s): Shen, Qun
• Application Number:
  US13/760,692
• Publication Number:
  US 20130331119A1
• Time in Patent Office: 895 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• 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 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0261 managing power supply demand, e.g. depending on battery level
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method includes transmitting at a pre-determined polling frequency an activation signal waking from a sleep mode an application on a mobile computing device and causing the application to activate a location service of the mobile computing device for a pre-determined sampling duration. The pre-determined polling frequency and the pre-determined sampling duration are determined at least in part by detecting a movement of the mobile computing device. The method also includes receiving location data from the mobile computing device after the pre-determined sampling duration. The location data is responsive to a transmission signal.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

by a server, sending at a pre-determined polling frequency an activation signal waking from a sleep mode an application on a mobile computing device and causing the application to activate a location service of the mobile computing device for a time period of a pre-determined sampling duration;

by the server, receiving location data from the mobile computing device after the pre-determined sampling duration to determine a travel distance of the mobile computing device;

by the server, determining the travel distance of the mobile computing device based on the received location data; and

by the server, adaptively adjusting the pre-determined polling frequency and pre-determined sampling duration based at least in part on the determined travel distance of the mobile computing device such that;

when the travel distance is determined to be more than a pre-determined travel distance, increasing the pre-determined polling frequency and decreasing the time period of the pre-determined sampling duration, and sending, by the server, the activation signal with the adjusted pre-determined polling frequency and activating the location service for the adjusted pre-determined sampling duration;

when the travel distance is determined to be less than or equal to the pre-determined travel distance, decreasing the pre-determined polling frequency and increasing the time period of the pre-determined sampling duration, and sending, by the server, the activation signal with the adjusted pre-determined polling frequency and activating the location service for the adjusted pre-determined sampling duration; and

when the determined travel distance is below a measurement accuracy of a global positioning system (GPS) function of the mobile computing device, decreasing the pre-determined polling frequency and increasing the time period of the pre-determined sampling duration.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the travel distance by comparing a position of the mobile computing device from a most-recent location reading to a position of the mobile computing device from a second-most-recent location reading.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the travel distance is determined based at least in part on output from an accelerometer or gyroscope of the mobile computing device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the location service comprises polling a location of a cellular tower, a location of a WI-FI hotspot, or a GPS function of the mobile computing device.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising polling the location of the cellular tower or the location of the WI-FI hotspot in response to a failure of the GPS function to acquire GPS data.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending a location-service activation signal during the pre-determined sampling duration.

7. One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying software configured when executed to:

send at a pre-determined polling frequency an activation signal waking from a sleep mode an application on a mobile device and causing the application to activate a location service of the mobile device for a time period of a pre-determined sampling duration;

receive location data from the mobile computing device after the pre-determined sampling duration to determine a travel distance of the mobile computing device;

determine the travel distance of the mobile computing device based on the received location data; and

adaptively adjust the pre-determined polling frequency and pre-determined sampling duration based at least in part on the determined travel distance of the mobile computing device such that;

when the travel distance is determined to be more than a pre-determined travel distance, increase the pre-determined polling frequency and decrease the time period of the pre-determined sampling duration, and send the activation signal with the adjusted pre-determined polling frequency and activate the location service for the adjusted pre-determined sampling duration;

when the travel distance is determined to be less than or equal to the pre-determined travel distance, decrease the pre-determined polling frequency and increase the time period of the pre-determined sampling duration, and send the activation signal with the adjusted pre-determined polling frequency and activate the location service for the adjusted pre-determined sampling duration; and

when the determined travel distance is below a measurement accuracy of a global positioning system (GPS) function of the mobile computing device, decrease the pre-determined polling frequency and increase the time period of the pre-determined sampling duration.

8. The media of claim 7, wherein the software is further configured to determine the travel distance by comparing a position of the mobile computing device from a most-recent location reading to a position of the mobile computing device from a second-most-recent location reading.

9. The media of claim 7, wherein the travel distance is determined based at least in part on output from an accelerometer or gyroscope of the mobile computing device.

10. The media of claim 7, wherein the location service comprises polling a location of a cellular tower, a location of a WI-FI hotspot, or a GPS function of the mobile computing device.

11. The media of claim 10, wherein the software is further configured to poll the location of the cellular tower or the location of the WI-FI hotspot in response to a failure of the GPS function to acquire GPS data.

12. The media of claim 7, wherein the software is further configured to send a location-service activation signal during the pre-determined sampling duration.

13. A device comprising:

a processor coupled to a storage; and

one or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media coupled to the processor and embodying software configured when executed to;

send at a pre-determined polling frequency an activation signal waking from a sleep mode an application on a mobile computing device and causing the application to activate a location service of the mobile device for a time period of a pre-determined sampling duration;

receive location data from the mobile computing device after the pre-determined sampling duration to determine a travel distance of the mobile computing device;

determine the travel distance of the mobile computing device based on the received location data; and

adaptively adjust the pre-determined polling frequency and pre-determined sampling duration based at least in part on the determined travel distance of the mobile computing device such that;

when the travel distance is determined to be more than a pre-determined travel distance, increase the pre-determined polling frequency and decrease the time period of the pre-determined sampling duration, and send the activation signal with the adjusted pre-determined polling frequency and activate the location service for the adjusted pre-determined sampling duration;

when the travel distance is determined to be less than or equal to the pre-determined travel distance, decrease the pre-determined polling frequency and increase the time period of the pre-determined sampling duration, and send the activation signal with the adjusted pre-determined polling frequency and activate the location service for the adjusted pre-determined sampling duration; and

when the determined travel distance is below a measurement accuracy of a global positioning system (GPS) function of the mobile computing device, decrease the pre-determined polling frequency and increase the time period of the pre-determined sampling duration.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the software is further configured to determine a travel distance associated with the movement by comparing a position of the mobile computing device from a most-recent location reading to a position of the mobile computing device from a second-most-recent location reading.

15. The device of claim 13, wherein the travel distance is determined based at least in part on output from an accelerometer or gyroscope of the mobile computing device.