Mobile device sensor data subscribing and sharing

• US 9,301,082 B2
• Filed: 12/06/2013
• Issued: 03/29/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Meyers, Libo C., Kandangath, Anil K., Tu, Xiaoyuan
• Primary Examiner(s): Pwu, Jeffrey
• Assistant Examiner(s): Anderson, Michael D
• Application Number:
  US14/099,516
• Publication Number:
  US 20150163210A1
• Time in Patent Office: 844 Days
• Field of Search: 726/4
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/082 using revocation of authorisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup

Abstract

Techniques for mobile devices to subscribe and share raw sensor data are provided. The raw sensor data associated with sensors (e.g., accelerometers, gyroscopes, compasses, pedometers, pressure sensors, audio sensors, light sensors, barometers) of a mobile device can be used to determine the movement or activity of a user. By sharing the raw or compressed sensor data with other computing devices, the other computing devices can determine a motion state based on the sensor data. Additionally, in some instances, the other computing devices can determine a functional state based on the sensor data and the motion state. For example, functional state classification can be associated with each motion state (e.g., driving, walking) by further describing each motion state (e.g., walking on rough terrain, driving while texting).

Claims

1. A method for sharing sensor data, the method comprising:

receiving, at a computing device, an authorization to receive sensor data from a first mobile device, the authorization including an identifier associated with the first mobile device;

receiving, at the computing device, information from the first mobile device, the information including the identifier and compressed sensor data from the first mobile device, wherein the compressed sensor data is derived from raw sensor data from one or more sensors in the first mobile device, the one or more sensors including at least one motion sensor and the raw sensor data including motion data from the at least one motion sensor;

analyzing, with the computing device, the information to detect the identifier and to decompress the compressed sensor data to obtain the raw sensor data; and

determining, by the computing device, a motion state of the first mobile device and a functional state associated with the motion state based on an analysis of the raw sensor data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the functional state corresponds to one of a plurality of activities associated with the motion state.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

requesting, by the computing device, the authorization to receive the sensor data from the first mobile device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the motion state includes a stationary state, a walking state, a running state, or a driving state.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the compressed sensor data is unprocessed sensor data that is derived from the raw sensor data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device is a server.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

transmitting, by the server, to one or more mobile devices at least one of;

the raw sensor data, the motion state, and the functional state.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the server only transmits to the one or more mobile devices that have been granted authorization, by the first mobile device, to receive the raw sensor data.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

transmitting, by the server, to the first mobile device at least one of;

the motion state, the functional state, and a timeline that replays activities based on the raw sensor data.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

storing, by the server, a permission table that includes a list of one or more mobile devices authorized to receive the raw sensor data from the first mobile device;

receiving, by the server, a second authorization associated with a second mobile device authorized to receive the raw sensor data from the first mobile device;

updating, by the server, the permission table by adding the second mobile device to the list of the one or more mobile devices authorized to receive the raw sensor data; and

transmitting, by the server, to the one or more mobile devices, based on the updated permission table, at least one of;

the raw sensor data, the motion state, and the functional state.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the computing device is another mobile device.

12. A server for sharing sensor data, the server comprising:

a receiver configured to receive unprocessed sensor data, wherein the unprocessed sensor data includes compressed sensor data received from one or more sensors in a first mobile device, the one or more sensors including at least one motion sensor and the unprocessed sensor data including motion data from the at least one motion sensor;

a processor configured to;

decompress the compressed sensor data to obtain raw sensor data; and

determine a motion state of the first mobile device and a functional state associated with the motion state by analyzing the raw sensor data;

memory that stores a permission table that includes a list of one or more mobile devices authorized to receive information from the one or more sensors in the first mobile device; and

a transmitter configured to transmit to the one or more mobile devices based on the permission table at least one of;

the unprocessed sensor data, the motion state, and the functional state.

13. The server of claim 12, wherein:

the receiver is further configured to receive an authorization authorizing a second mobile device to receive information from the one or more sensors in the first mobile device;

the processor is further configured to update the permission table by adding the second mobile device to the list of the one or more mobile devices authorized to receive information from the one or more sensors in the first mobile device.

14. The server of claim 12, the server further comprising:

a decompression module configured to decompress the compressed sensor data included in the received unprocessed sensor data.

15. The server of claim 12, the server further comprising:

a compression module configured to compress the unprocessed sensor data before transmitting the unprocessed sensor data.

16. The server of claim 12, wherein the permission table includes access rights for each mobile device in the one or more mobile devices, and wherein the access rights is chosen from a plurality of access levels.

17. The server of claim 12, wherein the permission table determines a type of sensor data to be transmitted to the one or more mobile devices, wherein the type of sensor data includes the unprocessed sensor data, the motion state and the functional state.

18. A method for transmitting sensor data, the method comprising:

receiving, by a first mobile device, raw sensor data from one or more sensors in the first mobile device, the one or more sensors including at least one motion sensor and the raw sensor data including motion data from the at least one motion sensor, wherein the raw sensor data is represented by a first number of datapoints, each datapoint including a sensor value and a time value;

compressing, by the first mobile device, the received raw sensor data into compressed sensor data represented by a second number of datapoints, wherein the second number of datapoints is less than the first number of datapoints; and

transmitting, by the first mobile device, the second number of datapoints to a computing device, wherein the computing device is configured to;

decompress the compressed sensor data into decompressed raw sensor data; and

determine, based on the decompressed raw sensor data, a motion state of the first mobile device and a functional state associated with the motion state.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the computing device determines activities associated with the first mobile device based on the decompressed raw sensor data.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the compression includes separating the first number of datapoints into a specific number of time intervals, and wherein one or more sensor values associated with one or more datapoints in each time interval is averaged.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein when the sensor value associated with each datapoint, from the first number of datapoints, are similar during a specific time duration, then the compression includes using a single sensor value for the specific time duration.

22. The method of claim 18, wherein the compression includes using a dependency relationship between the one or more sensors to filter out one or more datapoints from the first number of datapoints that are not relevant in determining activities associated with the first mobile device.

23. The method of claim 18, wherein the compression includes keeping a datapoint from the first number of datapoints, when the sensor value associated with the datapoint varies above a specific threshold in relations to the sensor value of a previous datapoint.