Method and system for selecting and providing a relevant subset of wi-fl location information to a mobile client device so the client device may estimate its position with efficient utilization of resources

• US 9,392,407 B2
• Filed: 02/20/2015
• Issued: 07/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Skyhook Wireless Incorporated (Liberty Broadband Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Skyhook Wireless Incorporated (Liberty Broadband Corp.)
• Inventors: Brachet, Nicolas, Alizadeh-Shabdiz, Farshid, Nelson, Joel N., Jones, Russel K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Nimesh
• Application Number:
  US14/627,660
• Publication Number:
  US 20150172863A1
• Time in Patent Office: 508 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0236 Assistance data, e.g. base station almanac
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0295 Proximity-based methods, e.g. position inferred from reception of particular signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5683 Storage of data provided by user terminals, i.e. reverse caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/18 Network planning tools
• 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 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/14 using user query or user detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/20 Selecting an access point
• 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 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

In one embodiment, when it is determined that one or more Wi-Fi positioning system (WPS) tiles that are necessary to estimate a location of a mobile client device are not present in a WPS tile store on the mobile client device, or are present in the WPS tile store on the mobile client device but out of date, one or more new WPS tiles are requested from a remote server. Each WPS tile is a set of Wi-Fi access point data for Wi-Fi access points within a bounded geographical region. The one or more new WPS tiles are received from the remote server, and are cached in the WPS tile store on the mobile client device. Subsequent to the caching, one or more further locations of the mobile client device are estimated autonomously from the remote server, utilizing Wi-Fi access point data in the WPS tile store.

Claims

1. A method of utilizing Wi-Fi access point data on a mobile client device to estimate locations of the mobile client device, comprising:

determining one or more Wi-Fi positioning system (WPS) tiles necessary to estimate a location of the mobile client device are not present in a WPS tile store on the mobile client device, or are present in the WPS tile store on the mobile client device but out of date, wherein each WPS tile is a set of Wi-Fi access point data for Wi-Fi access points within a bounded geographical region, each bounded geographical region being a subdivision of a larger target region for which WPS access point data is maintained in a reference database of a remote server;

requesting one or more new WPS tiles from the remote server;

receiving the one or more new WPS tiles from the remote server; and

caching the one or more new WPS tiles in the WPS tile store on the mobile client device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

subsequent to the caching, estimating one or more further locations of the mobile client device utilizing Wi-Fi access point data in the WPS tile store.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the estimation is performed on the mobile client device autonomously from the remote server.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a location request from a client application executing on the mobile client device;

scanning for Wi-Fi access points, by a Wi-Fi radio of the mobile client device, to produce a list of Wi-Fi access points in range of the mobile client device; and

utilizing the list of Wi-Fi access points to attempt to estimate the location of the mobile client device using tiles in the WPS tile store on the mobile client device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the requesting further comprises:

providing the list of Wi-Fi access points to the remote server.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a location of the mobile client device and a list of WPS tiles from the remote server; and

selecting the one or more new WPS tiles to be requested from the remote server by selecting from the list of WPS tiles.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the selecting is based on priority estimates that indicate likelihood that the mobile client device will need each WPS tile to perform autonomous location estimation.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining determines that the one or more WPS tiles necessary to estimate the location of the mobile client device are not present in a WPS tile store on the mobile client device in response to a failed attempt to estimate the location of the mobile client.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining determines the one or more tiles are out of date in response to version information associated with each of the one or more tiles.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the version information includes a timestamp that indicates when Wi-Fi access point data in the respective WPS tile was last updated.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the version information includes metrics indicating how often changes occur to Wi-Fi access point data in the respective WPS tile.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the version information includes an identifier that indicates a set of access points within the bounded geographical region of in the respective WPS tile.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the location is a current location of the mobile client device.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the location is a future location of the mobile client device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the requesting the one or more new WPS tiles from the remote server is in response to determining that the mobile client device is within a threshold distance of a boundary of the bounded geographical regions covered by WPS tiles present in the WPS tile store on the mobile client device.

16. A non-transitory device readable medium having instruction stored thereon, the instructions when executed on a mobile client device being operable to:

request one or more Wi-Fi positioning system (WPS) tiles necessary to estimate a location of the mobile client device that are not present in a WPS tile store on the mobile client device, or that are present in the WPS tile store on the mobile client device but out of date, wherein each WPS tile is a set of Wi-Fi access point data for Wi-Fi access points within a bounded geographical region, each bounded geographical region being a subdivision of a larger target region for which WPS access point data is maintained in a reference database of a remote server; and

in response to receipt of the one or more WPS tiles from the remote server, cache the one or more WPS tiles in the WPS tile store on the mobile client device.

17. The non-transitory device readable medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions when executed are further operable to:

use the Wi-Fi access point data in the WPS tile store to estimate the location of the mobile client device autonomously from the remote server.

18. The non-transitory device readable medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions when executed are further operable to:

produce a list of Wi-Fi access points in range of the mobile client device; and

use the list of Wi-Fi access points to attempt to estimate the location of the mobile client device using tiles in the WPS tile store on the mobile client device.

19. The non-transitory device readable medium of claim 18, wherein the instructions when executed are further operable to:

provide the list of Wi-Fi access points to the remote server.

20. The non-transitory device readable medium of claim 19, wherein the instructions when executed are further operable to:

in response to receipt of the location of the mobile client device and a list of WPS tiles from the remote server, select the one or more WPS tiles to be requested from the remote server by selecting from the list of WPS tiles.

21. A mobile client device comprising:

a Wi-Fi radio; and

a memory storing Wi-Fi positioning system (WPS) client software that includes

a scanner module configured to use the Wi-Fi radio to detect Wi-Fi access points within range of the mobile client device;

a tile manager module configured to determine when one or more WPS tiles necessary to estimate a location of the mobile client device are not present in a WPS tile store on the mobile client device, or are present in the WPS tile store on the mobile client device but out of date, wherein each WPS tile is a set of Wi-Fi access point data for Wi-Fi access points within a bounded geographical region, each bounded geographical region being a subdivision of a larger target region for which WPS access point data is maintained in a reference database of a remote server; and

a data communications manager module configured to request WPS tiles from the remote server for updating the WPS tile store to contain Wi-Fi access point data usable in conjunction with the detected Wi-Fi access points to estimate the location of the mobile client device.

22. The mobile client device of claim 21, wherein the WPS client software further includes:

a location estimation module configured to use Wi-Fi access point data of tiles cached in the WPS tile store to estimate the location of the mobile client device autonomously from the remote server.

23. The mobile client device of claim 21 wherein the WPS client software further includes a location request manager module configured to process a location requests from a client application executing on the mobile device.