Quantifying mobility of mobile devices via a privacy preserving mobility metric

• US 9,648,465 B1
• Filed: 12/21/2016
• Issued: 05/09/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Quantcast
• Original Assignee: Quantcast
• Inventors: Murff, Scott Michael
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Dung
• Application Number:
  US15/387,245
• Time in Patent Office: 139 Days
• Field of Search: 4554041, 4554561-4566, 455457, 705 1449, 705 145, 705 1452, 705 1453, 705 1457, 705 1458, 705 1466, 705 1467
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• 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 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• 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 64/003 locating network equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/02 Processing of mobility data, e.g. registration information at HLR [Home Location Register] or VLR [Visitor Location Register]; Transfer of mobility data, e.g. between HLR, VLR or external networks

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention generate metrics quantifying the mobility of a mobile device without persisting information related to the device'"'"'s specific location at any given time. Specifically, at multiple intervals, a value of a mobility metric is computed based on the distance between the current location of the mobile device and a previously identified origin location of the mobile device. The values of the mobility metric computed over a period of time quantify the overall mobility of the mobile device. The mobility metric does not provide any information regarding the specific location of the mobile device at any given time.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining, at a mobile device, a location of the mobile device at each of a plurality of points in time;

computing, at the mobile device, at least one value of a mobility metric based at least in part on a first delta distance between an origin location and a first determined location at a first point in time and on a second delta distance between the origin location and a second determined location at a second point in time, the mobility metric indicating how frequently the mobile device travels from the origin location;

transmitting the at least one value of the mobility metric from the mobile device to a server system, wherein the mobility metric does not provide information regarding the determined locations of the mobile device at any of the plurality of points in time; and

receiving, responsive to the transmitted mobility metric, customized content at the mobile device, the customized content customized for the mobile device based at least in part on the at least one value of the mobility metric, regardless of the location of the mobile device at each of the plurality of points in time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a location of the mobile device at each of a plurality of points in time comprises requesting coordinates from a global positioning system included in the mobile device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobility metric is selected from an index of values.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobility metric is selected from an index of classifications.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein computing at least one value of the mobility metric comprises computing by a motion quantifying module.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting the at least one value of the mobility metric from the mobile device to a server system comprises transmitting from a mobile software development kit.

7. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing processor-executable instructions, the instructions configured to be executed by the processor to implement a method comprising:

determining, at a mobile device, a location of the mobile device at each of a plurality of points in time;

computing, at the mobile device, at least one value of a mobility metric based at least in part on a first delta distance between an origin location and a first determined location at a first point in time and on a second delta distance between the origin location and a second determined location at a second point in time, the mobility metric indicating how frequently the mobile device travels from the origin location;

transmitting the at least one value of the mobility metric from the mobile device to a server system, wherein the mobility metric does not provide information regarding the determined locations of the mobile device at any of the plurality of points in time; and

receiving, responsive to the transmitted mobility metric, customized content at the mobile device, the customized content customized for the mobile device based at least in part on the at least one value of the mobility metric, regardless of the location of the mobile device at each of the plurality of points in time.

8. The medium of claim 7, wherein determining a location of the mobile device at each of a plurality of points in time comprises requesting coordinates from a global positioning system included in the mobile device.

9. The medium of claim 7, wherein the mobility metric is selected from an index of values.

10. The medium of claim 7, wherein the mobility metric is selected from an index of classifications.

11. The medium of claim 7, wherein computing at least one value of the mobility metric comprises computing by a motion quantifying module.

12. The medium of claim 7, wherein transmitting the at least one value of the mobility metric from the mobile device to a server system comprises transmitting from a mobile software development kit.

13. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a computer readable storage medium storing processor-executable computer program instructions, the computer program instructions comprising instructions for;

determining, at a mobile device, a location of the mobile device at each of a plurality of points in time;

computing, at the mobile device, at least one value of a mobility metric based at least in part on a first delta distance between an origin location and a first determined location at a first point in time and on a second delta distance between the origin location and a second determined location at a second point in time, the mobility metric indicating how frequently the mobile device travels from the origin location;

transmitting the at least one value of the mobility metric from the mobile device to a server system, wherein the mobility metric does not provide information regarding the determined locations of the mobile device at any of the plurality of points in time; and

receiving, responsive to the transmitted mobility metric, customized content at the mobile device, the customized content customized for the mobile device based at least in part on the at least one value of the mobility metric, regardless of the location of the mobile device at each of the plurality of points in time.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein determining a location of the mobile device at each of a plurality of points in time comprises requesting coordinates from a global positioning system included in the mobile device.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the mobility metric is selected from an index of values.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the mobility metric is selected from an index of classifications.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein computing at least one value of the mobility metric comprises computing by a motion quantifying module.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein transmitting the at least one value of the mobility metric from the mobile device to a server system comprises transmitting from a mobile software development kit.