Crowd sourced location determination

• US 9,712,963 B2
• Filed: 12/03/2015
• Issued: 07/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Belkin International Incorporated (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Belkin International Incorporated (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Shao, David, Plummer, Jon, Kim, Ryan Yong
• Primary Examiner(s): Ho, Huy C
• Application Number:
  US14/958,685
• Publication Number:
  US 20160165570A1
• Time in Patent Office: 593 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02526 using non-dedicated equipment, e.g. user equipment or crowd-sourcing
• 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 4/023 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

Abstract

Techniques and systems for determining locations of devices using location data sources are provided. For example, a network device, method, and computer-program product may be provided. In one example, a method may include receiving, on a computing device, a request to locate a device, wherein the request includes an identifier of the device. The method may further include receiving a communication from the device, wherein the communication includes the identifier of the device, and obtaining a location of the device. The method may further include transmitting the location of the device and the identifier of the device to a server, wherein the server is configured to use the location of the device and the identifier of the device to send a response to the requestor of the request.

Claims

1. A computing device on a mesh network, comprising:

one or more data processors;

a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium containing instructions which when executed on the one or more data processors, cause the one or more data processors to perform operations including;

receiving a communication identifier from a new device, wherein the communication identifier is associated with the new device;

receiving a request to locate a device on the mesh network, wherein the request includes a request identifier associated with the device, wherein the request is transmitted from outside the mesh network, and wherein when the request is received by a first location device on the mesh network, the request is communicated to one or more other location devices on the mesh network that share location communications with the first location device;

identifying the new device as the device in the request, wherein identifying the new device includes matching the communication identifier with the request identifier;

calculating a location of the new device, wherein calculating includes using the mesh network and one or more location communications to calculate the location of the new device, and wherein the calculation is based on locations of one or more of the location devices on the mesh network; and

transmitting, in response to the request, the location of the new device and the communication identifier associated with the new device, wherein the location of the new device is received outside the mesh network.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the request identifier is communicated to the one or more other location devices when the request is communicated to the one or more other location devices on the mesh network.

3. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the request is received as a broadcast request that is receivable by location devices in an identified geographical area.

4. The computing device of claim 1, further comprising instructions which when executed on the one or more data processors, cause the one or more data processors to perform operations including:

calculating the location of the new device using the communication identifier received from the new device.

5. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the location of the new device is received from the new device, wherein the location of the new device is determined by the new device using at least one or more of a location of the computing device or locations of one or more of the location devices on the mesh network.

6. The computing device of claim 5, wherein the location of the new device is determined by the new device using signals received from one or more of the location devices on the mesh network.

7. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the computing device includes an access device, a network device, or a tracking device.

8. The computing device of claim 1, wherein a location of the computing device is determined as the location of the new device.

9. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, by a computing device on a mesh network, a communication identifier from a new device, wherein the communication identifier is associated with the new device;

receiving, by the computing device, a request to locate a device on the mesh network, wherein the request includes a request identifier associated with the device, wherein the request is transmitted from outside the mesh network, and wherein when the request is received by a first location device on the mesh network, with the request is communicated to one or more other location devices on the mesh network that share location communications with the first location device;

identifying the new device as the device in the request, wherein identifying the new device includes matching the communication identifier with the device identifier;

calculating a location of the new device, wherein calculating includes using the mesh network and one or more location communications to calculate the location of the new device, and wherein the calculation is based on locations of one or more of the location devices on the mesh network; and

transmitting, in response to the request, the location of the new device and the communication identifier associated with the new device, wherein the location of the new device is received outside the mesh network.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising transmitting the request identifier to the one or more other location devices on the mesh network when the request is communicated to the one or more other location devices.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the request is received as a broadcast request that is receivable by location devices in an identified geographical area.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising calculating the location of the new device using the communication identifier received from the new device.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving the location of the new device from the new device, wherein the location of the new device is determined by the new device using at least one or more of a location of the computing device or locations of one or more of the location devices on the mesh network.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the location of the new device is determined by the new device using signals received from one or more of the location devices on the mesh network.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the computing device includes an access device.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the computing device includes a network device.

17. The method of claim 9, wherein the computing device includes a tracking device.

18. The method of claim 9, wherein a location of the computing device is determined as the location of the new device.

19. A computer-program product tangibly embodied in a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of a computing device on a mesh network, including instructions configured to cause one or more data processors to:

receive a communication identifier from a new device, wherein the communication identifier is associated with the new device;

receive a request to locate a device on the mesh network, wherein the request includes a request identifier associated with the device, wherein the request is transmitted from outside the mesh network, and wherein when the request is received by a first location device on the mesh network, the request is communicated to one or more other location devices on the mesh network that share location communications with the first location device;

identify the new device as the device in the request, wherein identifying the new device includes matching the communication identifier with the request identifier;

calculate a location of the new device, wherein calculating includes using the mesh network and one or more location communications to calculate the location of the new device, and wherein the calculation is based on locations of one or more of the location devices on the mesh network; and

transmit, in response to the request, the location of the new device and the communication identifier associated with the new device, wherein the location of the new device is received outside the mesh network.

20. The computer-program product of claim 19, further comprising instructions configured to cause the one or more data processors to:

transmit the request identifier to the one or more other location when the request is communicated to one or more other location devices on the mesh network.