Inferring user equipment location data based on sector transition

• US 9,998,876 B2
• Filed: 07/27/2016
• Issued: 06/12/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/27/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mappus, Rudolph, Brotman, Herani Soewarto, White, James
• Primary Examiner(s): Karikari, Kwasi
• Application Number:
  US15/221,568
• Publication Number:
  US 20180098198A1
• Time in Patent Office: 685 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02529 not involving signal parameters, i.e. only involving identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0269 Inferred or constrained positioning, e.g. employing knowledge of the physical or electromagnetic environment, state of motion or other contextual information to infer or constrain a position
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0294 Trajectory determination or predictive filtering, e.g. target tracking or Kalman filtering
• 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 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/20 Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

Determining a location of a user equipment (UE) based on historical location data and historical sector transition data is disclosed. A correlation between historic location information and a historic sector transition can be determined. The correlation can be stored in a searchable data set. A location of a current UE can be inferred based on a sector transition of the current UE. The sector transition of the current UE can be searched against eh data set to indicate a likely location of the current UE based on historical information. The searchable data set can be based on sparse location data enabling location determinations for a current UE that can otherwise lack location services. Moreover, an order of a sector transition can imbue a directionality to stored location information such that a likely location in a sector can be correlated to a transition from a prior sector of a network session of the UE.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

determining a historical density of a plurality of user equipments in a region based on historical location data provided by the plurality of user equipments;

correlating the historical density with historical network session data comprising historical starting antenna sector data relating to a first historical antenna sector employed prior to a time period and historical ending antenna sector data relating to a second historical antenna sector employed prior to the time period;

receiving starting antenna sector data and ending antenna sector data for a network session of a user equipment, wherein the starting antenna sector data and the ending antenna sector data are employed in the time period;

determining a probable location of the user equipment based on the starting antenna sector data and the ending antenna sector data of the user equipment and a first correlation of the historical density with the historical network session data; and

in response to receiving a request from another system for access to the probable location of the user equipment, enabling access to the probable location of the user equipment.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the correlating further comprises correlating supplementary data to the historical density.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the supplementary data comprises geographical map information.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the geographical map information comprises roadway information.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the first correlation of the historical density with the historical network session data is related to a first historical antenna sector transition from the first historical antenna sector to the second historical antenna sector,

a second correlation of the historical density with the historical network session data is related to a second historical antenna sector transition from a third historical antenna sector to the second historical antenna sector, and

the first correlation and the second correlation are different.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the first correlation of the historical density with the historical network session data is related to a first historical antenna sector transition from the first historical antenna sector to the second historical antenna sector,

a second correlation of the historical density with the historical network session data is related to a second historical antenna sector transition from a third historical antenna sector to the second historical antenna sector, and

the first correlation and the second correlation are a same correlation.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the first correlation of the historical density with the historical network session data is related to a historical antenna sector transition from the first historical antenna sector to the second historical antenna sector.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the first correlation of the historical density with the historical network session data is related to a historical antenna sector transition from the first historical antenna sector to the second historical antenna sector via a historical intervening antenna sector.

9. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a device comprising a processor, historical location data related to a historical location of a first user equipment within a first time period prior to a second time period;

receiving, by the device, historical communication session data related to a historical antenna sector transition of the first user equipment within the first time period;

determining, by the device, a first correlation between the historical location data and the historical communication session data within the first time period, wherein the first correlation is related to a first transition between a first starting antenna sector and a first ending antenna sector within the first time period;

receiving, by the device, a second starting antenna sector and a second ending antenna sector of a communication session of a second user equipment within the second time period;

determining, by the device, a location of the second user equipment, based on the second starting antenna sector and the second ending antenna sector and the first correlation between the historical location data and the historical communication session data; and

enabling, by the device, access to location information for the location of the user equipment by a requesting device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the receiving further comprises receiving available supplemental data, and wherein the determining the correlation is further related to the supplemental data.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the supplemental data comprises a search term corresponding to the historical location data to be used to search network devices of a network for search results related to the search term.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the supplemental data comprises a billing address corresponding to the first user equipment.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the supplemental data comprises roadway topography information corresponding to the historical antenna sector transition of the first user equipment.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the first ending antenna sector is a same sector as a second ending antenna sector, wherein the first starting antenna sector is a different sector from a third starting antenna sector, and wherein the first correlation is a same correlation as a second correlation related to a second historical transition between the third starting antenna sector and the second ending antenna sector.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the first ending antenna sector is a same sector as a second ending antenna sector, wherein the first starting antenna sector is a different sector as a third starting antenna sector, and wherein the first correlation is a different correlation from a second correlation related to a second historical transition between the third starting antenna sector and the second ending antenna sector.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the determining the first correlation is related to the first transition between the first starting antenna sector and the first ending antenna sector, and wherein the first transition comprises an intervening historical antenna sector transition between the first starting antenna sector and the first ending antenna sector.

17. The method of claim 9, wherein the determining the first correlation is related to the first transition between the first starting antenna sector and the first ending antenna sector, and wherein the first transition does not comprise an intervening historical antenna sector transition between the first starting antenna sector and the first ending antenna sector.

18. A machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:

receiving historical location data related to a historical location of a first user equipment at a first time of a first time period and receiving historical network session data related to a historical sector transition of the first user equipment, wherein the historical sector transition relates to a first transition between a first starting antenna sector and a first ending antenna sector during the first time period;

determining a first correlation between the historical location data and the historical session data, wherein the first correlation is related to the first transition;

receiving current starting antenna sector data and current ending antenna sector data of a network session in which a second user equipment participates during a second time period ending after the first time period;

determining a first location of the second user equipment, based on an antenna sector transition of the second user equipment from a current starting antenna sector to a current ending antenna sector and the first correlation between the historical location data and the historical session data; and

enabling access by a requesting device to the location information related to the location of the second user equipment.

19. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the first ending antenna sector is a same sector as a second ending antenna sector, wherein the first starting antenna sector is a different sector as a second starting antenna sector, wherein the first location is a same location as a second location determined for a second antenna sector transition of the second user equipment and a second correlation between the historical location data and the historical session data, and wherein the second correlation is related to a second transition between the second starting antenna sector and the second ending antenna sector.

20. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the first ending antenna sector is a same sector as a second ending antenna sector, wherein the first starting antenna sector is a different sector as a second starting antenna sector, wherein the first location is different from a second location determined for a second antenna sector transition of the second user equipment and a second correlation between the historical location data and the historical session data, and wherein the second correlation is related to a second transition between the second starting antenna sector and the second ending antenna sector.