Labeling visited locations based on contact information

• US 9,986,386 B2
• Filed: 01/06/2017
• Issued: 05/29/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Hawkins, Dale Kris, Stamm, Thomas Carl, Kirmse, Andrew, Udeshi, Tushar
• Primary Examiner(s): RAMPURIA, SHARAD K
• Application Number:
  US15/400,477
• Publication Number:
  US 20170118598A1
• Time in Patent Office: 508 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/222 using geographical location information, e.g. messages transmitted or received in proximity of a certain spot or area
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• 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 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

The systems and techniques disclosed herein provide the ability to determine locations visited by a user and associate relevant location labels with the locations visited based on contact information. In some examples, a location label can be applied based on a match between a location visited and information stored in a user'"'"'s contact list. In other examples, a user can efficiently designate a contact and location label to be associated with a location visited. In still other examples, if a location visited by a user is not listed in the user'"'"'s contact list, but is otherwise known to the system, the location visited can be appropriately labeled and the corresponding contact in the user'"'"'s contact list can be updated to include the location visited.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

collecting, by a computing device, a plurality of location history data points associated with a user, each location history data point of the plurality of location history data points specifying a respective geographic position, a respective time associated with the respective geographic position, and a respective date associated with the respective geographic position;

filtering, by the computing device, the plurality of location history data points based at least in part on the respective times and the respective dates specified by each respective location history data point from the plurality of location history data points to generate filtered location history data comprising a cluster of location history data points;

determining, by the computing device, based on the filtered location history data associated with the user, a location visited by the user;

associating, by the computing device, based on the location visited by the user and contact information, the location visited by the user with a location label; and

outputting, by the computing device, an indication of the location label.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

calculating, by the computing device, a geographic center and an accuracy radius for the cluster of location history data points from the filtered location history data, and

wherein determining the location visited by the user is further based on the geographic center and the accuracy radius.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining, by the computing device, whether an address indicated by the contact information is positioned within the accuracy radius,

wherein associating the location visited by the user with the location label is in response to determining that the address indicated by the contact information is positioned within the accuracy radius.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the contact information includes a contact list entry, the method further comprising:

determining, by the computing device, whether the location visited by the user corresponds to location information in the contact list entry; and

responsive to determining that the location visited by the user corresponds to the location information in the contact list entry, determining, by the computing device, based on the contact list entry, the location label.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the contact information includes an email, the method further comprising:

determining, by the computing device, whether the location visited by the user corresponds to location information in the email; and

responsive to determining that the location visited by the user corresponds to the location information in the email, determining, by the computing device, based on the email, the location label.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the contact information includes a contact list associated with the user, the method further comprising:

determining, by the computing device, whether the location visited by the user corresponds to location information in the contact list associated with the user; and

responsive to determining that the location visited by the user corresponds to the location information in the contact list associated with the user, determining, by the computing device, based on the contact list associated with the user, the location label.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the user is a first user, wherein the contact list is a first contact list, and wherein the contact information further includes a second contact list associated with a second user, the method further comprising:

responsive to determining that the location visited by the first user does not correspond to the location information in the first contact list associated with the first user, determining, by the computing device, whether the location visited by the first user corresponds to location information in the second contact list associated with the second user; and

responsive to determining that the location visited by the first user corresponds to the location information in the second contact list associated with the second user, determining, by the computing device, based on the second contact list associated with the second user, the location label.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting the location history data points associated with the user comprises receiving, by the computing device, from one or more mobile computing devices associated with the user, the location history data points.

9. A computing device comprising:

at least one processor; and

a memory that stores instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to;

collect a plurality of location history data points associated with a user, each location history data point of the plurality of location history data points specifying a respective geographic position, a respective time associated with the respective geographic position, and a respective date associated with the respective geographic position;

filter the plurality of location history data points based at least in part on the respective times and the respective dates specified by each respective location history data point from the plurality of location history data points to generate filtered location history data comprising a cluster of location history data points;

determine, based on the filtered location history data associated with the user, a location visited by the user;

associate, based on the location visited by the user and contact information, the location visited by the user with a location label; and

output an indication of the location label.

10. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to:

calculate a geographic center and an accuracy radius for the cluster of location history data points from the filtered location history data, and

wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to determine the location visited by the user based on the geographic center, the accuracy radius, and location history data associated with the user.

11. The computing device of claim 10, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to:

determine whether an address indicated by the contact information is positioned within the accuracy radius; and

wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to associate the location visited by the user with the location label in response to determining that the address indicated by the contact information is positioned within the accuracy radius.

12. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the contact information includes a contact list entry and wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to:

determine whether the location visited by the user corresponds to location information in the contact list entry; and

responsive to determining that the location visited by the user corresponds to the location information in the contact list entry, determine based on the contact list entry, the location label.

13. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the contact information includes an email and wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to:

determine whether the location visited by the user corresponds to location information in the email; and

responsive to determining that the location visited by the user corresponds to the location information in the email, determine, based on the email, the location label.

14. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the contact information includes a contact list associated with the user and wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to:

determine whether the location visited by the user corresponds to location information in the contact list associated with the user; and

responsive to determining that the location visited by the user corresponds to the location information in the contact list associated with the user, determine, based on the contact list associated with the user, the location label.

15. The computing device of claim 14, wherein the user is a first user, wherein the contact list is a first contact list, wherein the contact information further includes a second contact list associated with a second user, and wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to:

responsive to determining that the location visited by the first user does not correspond to the location information in the first contact list associated with the first user, determine whether the location visited by the first user corresponds to location information in the second contact list associated with the second user; and

responsive to determining that the location visited by the first user corresponds to the location information in the second contact list associated with the second user, determine, based on the second contact list associated with the second user, the location label.

16. The computing device of claim 9, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to:

collect respective portions of the location history data associated with the user from each of one or more mobile computing devices associated with the user.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable memory encoded with instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing device, cause the at least one processor to:

collect a plurality of location history data points associated with a user, each location history data point of the plurality of location history data points specifying a respective geographic position, a respective time associated with the respective geographic position, and a respective date associated with the respective geographic position;

filter the plurality of location history data points based at least in part on the respective times and the respective dates specified by each respective location history data point from the plurality of location history data points to generate filtered location history data comprising a cluster of location history data points;

determine, based on the filtered location history data associated with the user, a location visited by the user;

associate, based on the location visited by the user and contact information, the location visited by the user with a location label; and

output an indication of the location label.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 17, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to:

determine, based on the location history data, a plurality of location history data points associated with the user, each location history data point of the plurality of location history data points specifying a respective geographic position, a respective time associated with the respective geographic position, and a respective date associated with the respective geographic position;

filter the plurality of location history data points based at least in part on the respective times and the respective dates specified by each respective location history data point from the plurality of location history data points to generate filtered location history data comprising a cluster of location history data points; and

calculate a geographic center and an accuracy radius for the cluster of location history data points from the filtered location history data,

wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to determine the location visited by the user based on the geographic center, the accuracy radius, and the location history data associated with the user.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 18, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to:

determine whether an address indicated by the contact information is positioned within the accuracy radius; and

wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to associate the location visited by the user with the location label in response to determining that the address indicated by the contact information is positioned within the accuracy radius.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable memory of claim 17, wherein the contact information includes a contact list entry and wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the at least one processor to:

determine whether the location visited by the user corresponds to location information in the contact list entry; and

responsive to determining that the location visited by the user corresponds to the location information in the contact list entry, determine based on the contact list entry, the location label.