Systems and methods for geo-staging of sensor data through distributed global (cloud) architecture

• US 9,894,590 B2
• Filed: 08/22/2016
• Issued: 02/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fedex Corporate Services Incorporated (FedEx Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fedex Corporate Services Incorporated (FedEx Corporation)
• Inventors: Skaaksrud, Ole-Petter, Ainsworth, Miley
• Primary Examiner(s): Brandt, Christopher M
• Application Number:
  US15/243,119
• Publication Number:
  US 20170013535A1
• Time in Patent Office: 540 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/3065 for real time traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/101 based on network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1021 based on client or server locations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1023 based on a hash applied to IP addresses or costs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• 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 4/38 for collecting sensor information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/12 based on transmission quality or channel quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/18 based on predicted events
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/20 based on geographic position or location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination

Abstract

There is disclosed a method of staging real-time data in proximity to a mobile device. The method includes determining a geographic location associated with the mobile device and identifying a storage device located in proximity to the determined geographic location. The method also includes enabling real-time data published by the mobile device or provided to the mobile device to be stored on the identified storage device.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of staging real-time data in proximity to a mobile device, the method comprising the following operations performed via one or more processors:

identifying a set of expected routes associated with the mobile device based on location data associated with the mobile device;

identifying a set of potential storage devices based on the set of expected routes, wherein each potential storage device is associated with at least one expected route;

determining a set of latency factors for each potential storage device based on a geographical distance between the potential storage device and an expected route;

selecting a set of storage devices at which to stage real-time data, wherein the set of selected storage devices are selected from among the set of potential storage devices as a function of the set of latency factors for each potential storage device; and

staging real-time data proximate to the mobile device by transmitting the real-time data to a selected storage device and enabling the mobile device to access the real-time data.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing an indication to the mobile device to publish sensor-collectable data collected by the mobile device to the selected storage device; and

retrieving the sensor-collectable data from the selected storage device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of latency factors is further based on:

a set of communication links between the potential storage device and an expected route; and

a network speed associated with each communication link.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the set of latency factors is further based on a processing speed associated with the potential storage device.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the set of latency factors is further based on:

a probability that the mobile device will travel to a location along the expected route; and

a cost associated with staging the real-time data at the potential storage device.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the set of expected routes based on a source location and destination location associated with the mobile device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising polling the mobile device and receiving the location data from the mobile device based on the poll.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the staged real-time data includes a current temperature of a warehouse for a physical object associated with the mobile device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of expected routes is further based on one or more predicted traffic delays.

10. The method of claim 5, further comprising calculating a weight for the selected storage device as a function of the probability and the cost, and wherein staging the real-time data occurs when the weight exceeds a threshold.

11. A system for staging real-time data in proximity to a mobile device, the system comprising:

a memory for storing instructions; and

one or more processors coupled to the memory for executing the instructions to perform a set of operations, the set of operations comprising;

identifying a set of expected routes associated with the mobile device based on location data associated with the mobile device;

identifying a set of potential storage devices based on the set of expected routes, wherein each potential storage device is associated with at least one expected route;

determining a set of latency factors for each potential storage device based on a geographical distance between the potential storage device and an expected route;

selecting a set of storage devices at which to stage real-time data, wherein the set of selected storage devices are selected from among the set of potential storage devices as a function of the set of latency factors for each potential storage device; and

staging real-time data proximate to the mobile device by transmitting the real-time data to a selected storage device and enabling the mobile device to access the real-time data.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise:

providing an indication to the mobile device to publish sensor-collectable data collected by the mobile device to the selected storage device; and

retrieving the sensor-collectable data from the selected storage device.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the set of latency factors is further based on:

a set of communication links between the potential storage device and an expected route; and

a network speed associated with each communication link.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the set of latency factors is further based on a processing speed associated with the potential storage device.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the set of latency factors is further based on:

a probability that the mobile device will travel to a location along the expected route; and

a cost associated with staging the real-time data at the potential storage device.

16. The system of claim 11, further comprising polling the mobile device and receiving the location data from the mobile device based on the poll.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the staged real-time data includes a current temperature of a warehouse for a physical object associated with the mobile device.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the set of expected routes is further based on one or more predicted traffic delays.

19. The system of claim 15, further comprising calculating a weight for the selected storage device as a function of the probability and the cost, and wherein staging the real-time data occurs when the weight exceeds a threshold.

20. A mobile sensor for staging real-time data proximate to the mobile sensor, the mobile sensor comprising:

a sensor for collecting sensor-collectable data, wherein the sensor-collectable data includes location data and environmental data;

a memory for storing instructions; and

a processor coupled to the memory for executing the instructions such that, when executed, cause the processor to perform a set of operations, the set of operations comprising;

receiving a poll from a host system for the location data collected by the sensor;

transmitting the location data to the host system based on the poll;

receiving an identification of a set of selected storage devices from the host system, wherein the set of storage devices are selected from among a set of potential storage devices based on a set of latency factors, wherein the set of latency factors is based on a geographical distance between a potential storage device and a predicted future location of the mobile sensor, and wherein the predicted future location is based on the location data collected by the sensor; and

providing the environmental data collected by the sensor to a selected storage device based on the identification of the set of selected storage devices from the host system.