Selective crowdsourcing of location-related data

• US 9,503,858 B2
• Filed: 08/28/2014
• Issued: 11/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Palanki, Ravi, Naguib, Ayman Fawzy
• Primary Examiner(s): Hua, Quan M
• Application Number:
  US14/472,196
• Publication Number:
  US 20160066151A1
• Time in Patent Office: 817 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02525 Gathering the radio frequency fingerprints
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02526 using non-dedicated equipment, e.g. user equipment or crowd-sourcing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters

Abstract

Example methods, apparatuses, or articles of manufacture are disclosed herein that may be utilized, in whole or in part, to facilitate or support one or more operations or techniques for selective crowdsourcing of location-related data, such as within an indoor or like environment, for example, for use in or with a mobile communication device.

Claims

1. A method of crowdsourcing at a mobile device, comprising:

receiving, prior to collecting measurements of transmissions of one or more wireless transmitters, a published list of a plurality of designated areas where measurement reports are not desired;

collecting, at said mobile device, said measurements of transmissions of said one or more wireless transmitters while traveling within a first area in a venue, wherein said first area is not contained within said published list;

determining, at said mobile device, that said mobile device is located within a second area in said venue, and said second area is contained in said plurality of designated areas;

inhibiting collection of measurements within said second area; and

communicating one or more messages to said crowdsourcing server comprising said collected measurements from said first area for use in computing positioning assistance data based, at least in part, on said one or more wireless transmitters.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more messages comprise said collected measurements paired with estimated “

ground truth”

locations in said venue.

3. The method of claim 1, and further comprising determining whether said mobile device is located within said at least one portion based, at least in part, on a comparison of an estimated location of said mobile device with a geofence.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said inhibiting collection of said measurements further comprises inhibiting collection in one or more areas identified in a “

blacklist”

published by said crowdsourcing server.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said inhibiting collection of said measurements further comprises decreasing a transmission rate of said one or more messages communicated from said at least one portion of said venue.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said measurements comprise:

an RSSI-related measurement, or an RTT-related measurement;

or any combination thereof.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more wireless transmitters comprise one or more IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi access points.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said collecting said measurements is based, at least in part, on a “

whitelist”

published by said crowdsourcing server.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more messages comprise one or more geo-tagged messages.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said communicating said one or more messages is based, at least in part, on detected signal strengths of said one or more wireless transmitters.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said communicating said one or more messages to said crowdsourcing server is based, at least in part, on a “

whitelist”

published by said crowdsourcing server;

a “

blacklist”

published by said crowdsourcing server, or a geofence;

or any combination thereof.

12. A mobile device for crowdsourcing, comprising:

a wireless transceiver to;

communicate, through said wireless transceiver, with a crowdsourcing server via an electronic communications network;

receive, prior to a collection of measurements of transmissions of one or more wireless transmitters, a published list of a plurality of designated areas where measurement reports are not desired;

collect said measurements of transmissions of said one or more wireless transmitters while traveling within a first area in a venue, wherein said first area is not contained within said published list;

determine, at said mobile device, that said mobile device is located within a second area in said venue, and said second area is contained in said plurality of designated areas; and

communicate, through said wireless transceiver, one or more messages to said crowdsourcing server comprising said collected measurements from said first area for use in computing positioning assistance data based, at least in part, on said one or more wireless transmitters; and

one or more processors configured to;

inhibit collection of measurements within said second area.

13. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein said one or more messages comprise said collected measurements paired with estimated “

ground truth”

locations in said venue.

14. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein said one or more processors are further configured to determine whether said mobile device is located within said at least one portion based, at least in part, on a comparison of an estimated location of said mobile device with a geofence.

15. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein said one or more processors configured to inhibit collection of said measurements are further configured to inhibit collection in one or more areas identified in a “

blacklist”

published by said crowdsourcing server.

16. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein said one or more processors configured to inhibit collection of said measurements are further configured to decrease a transmission rate of said one or more messages communicated from said at least one portion of said venue.

17. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein said one or more processors configured to collect said measurements are further configured to collect said measurements based, at least in part, on a “

whitelist”

published by said crowdsourcing server.

18. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein said one or more messages comprise one or more geo-tagged messages.

19. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein said one or more processors configured to communicate said one or more messages are further configured to communicate said one or more messages based, at least in part, on detected signal strengths of said one or more wireless transmitters.

20. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein said one or more processors configured to communicate said one or more messages are further configured to communicate said one or more messages based, at least in part, on:

a “

whitelist”

published by said crowdsourcing server;

a “

blacklist”

published by said crowdsourcing server, or a geofence;

or any combination thereof.

21. A mobile device comprising:

means for receiving, prior to collecting measurements of transmissions of one or more wireless transmitters, a published list of a plurality of designated areas where measurement reports are not desired;

means for collecting, at said mobile device, said measurements of transmissions of said one or more wireless transmitters while traveling within a first area in a venue, wherein said first area is not contained within said published list;

means for determining, at said mobile device, that said mobile device is located within a second area in said venue, and said second area is contained in said plurality of designated areas;

means for inhibiting collection of measurements within said second area; and

means for communicating one or more messages to said crowdsourcing server comprising said collected measurements from said first area for use in computing positioning assistance data based, at least in part, on said one or more wireless transmitters.

22. The mobile device of claim 21, wherein said means for inhibiting collection of said measurements further comprise means for inhibiting collection in one or more areas identified in a “

blacklist”

published by said crowdsourcing server.

23. The mobile device of claim 21, wherein said means for inhibiting collection of said measurements further comprise means for decreasing a transmission rate of said one or more messages communicated from said at least one portion of said venue.

24. The mobile device of claim 21, wherein said means for collecting said measurements further comprise means for collecting said measurements based, at least in part, on a “

whitelist”

published by said crowdsourcing server.

25. The mobile device of claim 21, wherein said means for communicating said one or more messages further comprise means for communicating said one or more messages based, at least in part, on detected signal strengths of said one or more wireless transmitters.

26. The mobile device of claim 21, wherein said means for communicating said one or more messages to said crowdsourcing server further comprise means for communicating said one or more messages based, at least in part, on at least one of the following:

a “

whitelist”

published by said crowdsourcing server;

a “

blacklist”

published by said crowdsourcing server, or a geofence;

or any combination thereof.

27. A non-transitory storage medium having code executable by a processor thereon, comprising:

code to receive, prior to a collection of measurements of transmissions of one or more wireless transmitters, a published list of a plurality of designated areas where measurement reports are not desired;

code to collect, at said mobile device, said measurements of transmissions of said one or more wireless transmitters while traveling within a first area in a venue, wherein said first area is not contained within said published list;

code to determine, at said mobile device, that said mobile device is located within a second area in said venue, and said second area is contained in said plurality of designated areas;

code to inhibit collection of measurements within said second area; and

code to communicate one or more messages to said crowdsourcing server comprising said collected measurements from said first area for use in computing positioning assistance data based, at least in part, on said one or more wireless transmitters.

28. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 27, wherein said code to inhibit collection of said measurements further comprises code to inhibit collection in one or more areas identified in a “

blacklist”

published by said crowdsourcing server.

29. The non-transitory storage medium of claim 27, wherein said code to inhibit collection of said measurements further comprises code to decrease a transmission rate of said one or more messages communicated from said at least one portion of said venue.