Quantifying mobility of mobile devices via a privacy preserving mobility metric
First Claim
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1. A method comprising:
- providing instructions to each mobile device in a cohort comprising a plurality of mobile devices operating a mobile application, the instructions comprising instructions for;
determining, at the 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 according to a first delta distance between an origin location and a first determined location at a first point in time and according to 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; and
transmitting to a server system the at least one value of the mobility metric from the mobile device, 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;
receiving, at the server system, a plurality of mobility metrics from the plurality of mobile devices of the cohort;
generating an aggregate mobility metric for the cohort by aggregating the plurality of mobility metrics; and
sending customized content to a mobile device operating the mobile application, the customized content customized for the mobile device based at least in part on the aggregate mobility metric, regardless of the location of the mobile device operating the mobile application.
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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.
17 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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providing instructions to each mobile device in a cohort comprising a plurality of mobile devices operating a mobile application, the instructions comprising instructions for; determining, at the 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 according to a first delta distance between an origin location and a first determined location at a first point in time and according to 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; and transmitting to a server system the at least one value of the mobility metric from the mobile device, 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; receiving, at the server system, a plurality of mobility metrics from the plurality of mobile devices of the cohort; generating an aggregate mobility metric for the cohort by aggregating the plurality of mobility metrics; and sending customized content to a mobile device operating the mobile application, the customized content customized for the mobile device based at least in part on the aggregate mobility metric, regardless of the location of the mobile device operating the mobile application. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. 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:
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providing instructions to each mobile device in a cohort comprising a plurality of mobile devices operating a mobile application, the instructions comprising instructions for; determining, at the 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 according to a first delta distance between an origin location and a first determined location at a first point in time and according to 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; and transmitting to a server system the at least one value of the mobility metric from the mobile device, 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; receiving a plurality of mobility metrics from the plurality of mobile devices of the cohort; generating an aggregate mobility metric for the cohort by aggregating the plurality of mobility metrics; and sending customized content to a mobile device operating the mobile application, the customized content customized for the mobile device based at least in part on the aggregate mobility metric, regardless of the location of the mobile device operating the mobile application. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A system comprising:
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a processor; and a computer readable storage medium storing processor-executable computer program instructions, the computer program instructions comprising instructions for; providing instructions to each mobile device in a cohort comprising a plurality of mobile devices operating a mobile application, the instructions comprising instructions for; determining, at the 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 according to a first delta distance between an origin location and a first determined location at a first point in time and according to 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; and transmitting to the system the at least one value of the mobility metric from the mobile device, 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; receiving, at the system, a plurality of mobility metrics from the plurality of mobile devices of the cohort; generating an aggregate mobility metric for the cohort by aggregating the plurality of mobility metrics; and sending customized content to a mobile device operating the mobile application, the customized content customized for the mobile device based at least in part on the aggregate mobility metric, regardless of the location of the mobile device operating the mobile application. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification