Monitoring movement transitions via cellular network data

• US 9,854,396 B2
• Filed: 11/23/2015
• Issued: 12/26/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/23/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sap Portals Israel Ltd (SAP SE)
• Original Assignee: Sap Portals Israel Ltd (SAP SE)
• Inventors: Himmelreich, Evgeny, Cohen-Zur, Nirit, Ebner, Rachel
• Primary Examiner(s): HTUN, SAN A
• Application Number:
  US14/949,183
• Publication Number:
  US 20170150307A1
• Time in Patent Office: 764 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/012 from other sources than vehicle or roadside beacons, e.g. mobile networks
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0133 for classifying traffic situation
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0141 for traffic information dissemination
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/056 with provision for distinguishing direction of travel
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/065 by counting the vehicles in a section of the road or in a parking area, i.e. comparing incoming count with outgoing count
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/144 on portable or mobile units, e.g. personal digital assistant [PDA]
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/147 where the parking area is within an open public zone, e.g. city centre
• 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 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Systems and methods for receiving cellular network data including a plurality of device identifiers and, for each of the plurality of device identifiers, determining a first cell border crossing associated with a device identifier, determining a second cell border crossing associated with the device identifier, determining a speed of movement of the device associated with the device identifier between the first cell border crossing and the second cell border crossing, determining, based on the speed of movement of the device, that a movement transition for the device associated with the device identifier has occurred between a first movement category and a second movement category, and storing movement data related to the movement transition and associated with a location of the device associated with the device identifier.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a server computer, from one or more server computers associated with one or more cellular network operators, cellular network data including a plurality of device identifiers, and geographic coordinates and time information of one or more border crossing by the plurality of device identifiers between a plurality of cells in a cellular network;

for each device identifier of the plurality of device identifiers, determining, by the server computer, a speed of movement of a device associated with each device identifier of the plurality of device identifiers based on the geographic coordinates and time information of one or more border crossing by the plurality of device identifiers between the plurality of cells in the cellular network;

determining, by the server computer, based on the speed of movement of each device associated with each device identifier of the plurality of device identifiers, that a movement transition for one or more devices associated with one or more device identifiers has occurred between a first movement category of driving and a second movement category of walking, or a first movement category of walking and a second movement category of driving;

determining, by the server computer, whether a location of the movement transition for each of the one or more devices associated with the one or more device identifiers is near one or more parking spaces;

determining, by the server computer, that one or more parking spaces is vacant based on a movement transition of one or more devices associated with the one or more identifiers near the one or more parking spaces occurring between a first movement category of walking and a second movement category of driving;

determining, by the server computer, that one or more parking spaces is occupied based on a movement transition of one or more devices associated with the one or more identifiers near the one or more parking spaces occurring between a first movement category of driving and a second movement category of walking;

storing, by the server computer, data indicating a status of vacant or occupied for the one or more parking spaces;

receiving, by the server computer, a request from a third party server for parking data associated with a specified location; and

sending, by the server computer, the parking data including the status of vacant or occupied for one or more parking spaces for the specified location to the third party server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the cellular network data includes data from active devices and idle devices.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the location of the movement transition for each of the one or more devices.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for parking data is a request for a heat map of probability to find street parking in the specified location, and wherein sending the parking data includes:

calculating at least one probability of street parking on at least one street segment within the specified location;

sending the at least one street segment, the at least one probability of street parking on the at least one street segment, and a probability time stamp; and

wherein the at least one probability is shown in the heat map of probability to find street parking in the specified location.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the request for parking data is a request for an estimated time to park and wherein sending parking data includes:

calculating an estimated time to park within the specified location; and

sending the estimated time to park.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the cellular network data further comprises a timestamp for the reception of the cellular network data.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a direction of movement of a device associated with each device identifier of the plurality of identifiers based on the geographic coordinates and time information of the one or more border crossing by the plurality of device identifiers between the plurality of cells in the cellular network; and

wherein determining that a movement transition has occurred is further based on the direction of movement.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that a movement transition has occurred is also based on movement data for other devices associated with the plurality of device identifiers.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving geographical data comprising at least one of street layouts, driving direction, and allowed parking and regulations;

storing the geographical data; and

wherein determining that a movement transition has occurred is further based on the geographical data.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the request for parking data associated with a specified location is a request for a best route to find parking; and

sending, to the third party server, the parking data including a route to find a parking location within the specified location.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

verifying that the movement transition occurred between the first movement category and the second movement category based on movement data of other devices in a similar location to the first device.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein determining, based on the speed of movement of the first device, that a movement transition has occurred between the first movement category and the second movement category, is based on a change in speed associated with the device.

10. A server computer comprising:

a processor;

a communication interface; and

a computer readable medium coupled with the processor, the computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon that are executable by the processor to cause a computing device to perform operations comprising;

receiving, from one or more server computers associated with one or more cellular network operators, cellular network data including a plurality of device identifiers, and geographic coordinates and time information of one or more border crossing by the plurality of device identifiers between a plurality of cells in a cellular network;

for each device identifier of the plurality of device identifiers, determining a speed of movement of a device associated with each device identifier of the plurality of device identifiers based on the geographic coordinates and time information of one or more border crossing by the plurality of device identifiers between the plurality of cells in the cellular network;

determining, based on the speed of movement of each device associated with each device identifier of the plurality of device identifiers, that a movement transition for one or more devices associated with one or more device identifiers has occurred between a first movement category of driving and a second movement category of walking, or a first movement category of walking and a second movement category of driving;

determining whether a location of the movement transition for each of the one or more devices associated with the one or more device identifiers is near one or more parking spaces;

determining that one or more parking spaces is vacant based on a movement transition of one or more devices associated with the one or more identifiers near the one or more parking spaces occurring between a first movement category of walking and a second movement category of driving;

determining that one or more parking spaces is occupied based on a movement transition of one or more devices associated with the one or more identifiers near the one or more parking spaces occurring between a first movement category of driving and a second movement category of walking;

storing data indicating a status of vacant or occupied for the one or more parking spaces;

receiving a request from a third party server for parking data associated with a specified location; and

sending the parking data including the status of vacant or occupied for one or more parking spaces for the specified location to the third party server.

11. The server computer of claim 10, wherein the cellular network data includes data from active devices and idle devices.

12. The server computer of claim 10, the operations further comprising:

determining the location of the movement transition for each of the one or more devices.

13. The server computer of claim 10, wherein the request for parking data is a request for a heat map of probability to find street parking in the specified location, and wherein the operations further comprise:

calculating at least one probability of street parking on at least one street segment within the specified location; and

sending the at least one street segment, the at least one probability of street parking on the at least one street segment, and a probability time stamp.

14. The server computer of claim 10, wherein the request for parking data is a request for an estimated time to park and wherein the operations further comprise:

calculating an estimated time to park within the specified location; and

sending the estimated time to park.

15. The server computer of claim 10, wherein the cellular network data further includes a timestamp for the reception of the cellular network data.

16. The server computer of claim 10, the operations further comprising:

determining a direction of movement of a device associated with each device identifier of the plurality of identifiers based on the geographic coordinates and time information of the one or more border crossing by the plurality of device identifiers between the plurality of cells in the cellular network; and

wherein determining that a movement transition has occurred is further based on the direction of movement.

17. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon that are executable by at least one processor to cause a computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving, from one or more server computers associated with one or more cellular network operators, cellular network data including a plurality of device identifiers, and geographic coordinates and time information of one or more border crossing by the plurality of device identifiers between a plurality of cells in a cellular network;

for each device identifier of the plurality of device identifiers, determining a speed of movement of a device associated with each device identifier of the plurality of device identifiers based on the geographic coordinates and time information of one or more border crossing by the plurality of device identifiers between the plurality of cells in the cellular network;

determining, based on the speed of movement of each device associated with each device identifier of the plurality of device identifiers, that a movement transition for one or more devices associated with one or more device identifiers has occurred between a first movement category of driving and a second movement category of walking, or a first movement category of walking and a second movement category of driving;

determining whether a location of the movement transition for each of the one or more devices associated with the one or more device identifiers is near one or more parking spaces;

determining that one or more parking spaces is vacant based on a movement transition of one or more devices associated with the one or more identifiers near the one or more parking spaces occurring between a first movement category of walking and a second movement category of driving;

determining that one or more parking spaces is occupied based on a movement transition of one or more devices associated with the one or more identifiers near the one or more parking spaces occurring between a first movement category of driving and a second movement category of walking;

storing data indicating a status of vacant or occupied for the one or more parking spaces;

receiving a request from a third party server for parking data associated with a specified location; and

sending the parking data including the status of vacant or occupied for one or more parking spaces for the specified location to the third party server.