Facilitating determination of reliability of crowd sourced information

• US 10,346,389 B2
• Filed: 09/24/2013
• Issued: 07/09/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2013
• 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: Davis, Braxton
• Primary Examiner(s): Burke, Jeff A
• Assistant Examiner(s): Dewan, Kamal K
• Application Number:
  US14/035,320
• Publication Number:
  US 20150088835A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,114 Days
• Field of Search: 707690, 707790, 701117, 701119, 714 26, 4554563, 45545603, 705319
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3492 employing speed data or traffic data, e.g. real-time or historical traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3691 Retrieval, searching and output of information related to real-time traffic, weather, or environmental conditions arrangements for giving variable traffic instructions G08G1/09
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/0709 in a distributed system consisting of a plurality of standalone computer nodes, e.g. clusters, client-server systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/08 Error detection or correction by redundancy in data representation, e.g. by using checking codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2365 Ensuring data consistency and integrity
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

Reliability of data reports can be determined by a device that receives a number of reports from different sources. One method includes: receiving data reports from devices. The data reports are associated with an occurrence of an event. The method also includes determining reliability data representing reliability of the data reports. The reliability can be determined based on one or more different defined characteristics such as the location at which a data report was generated relative to the location of the event, whether the data report was the most recently-received data report and/or the number of data reports reporting that an event is ongoing relative to the number of data reports reporting that the event is no longer ongoing. The method can also include determining whether a data report includes information indicative of a false positive report or a false negative report.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

transmitting, by a first device comprising a processor, via a first wireless channel, to an emergency vehicle device assisting with an event, a request for information about the event, resulting in the emergency vehicle device generating a first data report;

based on transmission of the request for information to the emergency vehicle device receiving, by the first device, via a second wireless channel, from the emergency vehicle device, the first data report, wherein the first data report is associated with an occurrence of the event;

determining, by the first device, first reliability data representing a reliability of a second data report of data reports, wherein the second data report of the data reports is received from a second device other than the emergency vehicle device, and wherein the determining the first reliability of the second data report is based on the first data report;

determining, by the first device, whether the event is continuing to occur based on the determining the first reliability data;

determining, by the first device, second reliability data for a third data report of the data reports, wherein the third data report is received from a third device other than the emergency vehicle device, and wherein the second data report and the third data report are crowdsourced; and

deleting, by the first device, the second data report of the data reports based on the first data report received from the emergency vehicle device and further based on a determination having been made from a group of determinations, the group of determinations comprising a first determination that the second data report received from the first vehicle other than the emergency vehicle device is a false positive report that the event is continuing to occur when the first data report from the emergency vehicle device indicates the event is no longer occurring, and a second determination that the second data report received from the second device other than the emergency vehicle device is a false negative report that the event is no longer occurring when the first data report from the emergency vehicle device indicates the event is continuing to occur.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second device comprises a vehicle.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first data report is received at a first time, and wherein the second data report is received at a second time.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the event comprises a weather condition.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the event comprises a public celebratory activity.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the defined condition being satisfied comprises the first data report or the second data report being determined to have been generated by the vehicle.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the second device comprises a mobile phone.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the second reliability data for the third data report comprises:

determining a first location from which the second data report was received and a second location from which the third data report was received.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the second reliability data for the third data report comprises determining a first time at which the second data report was received and a second time at which the third data report was received and determining which of the first time and the second time is later.

18. The method of claim 8, wherein the determining the second reliability data for the third data report further comprises:

determining whether the second location or the third location is closer to the event.

19. The method of claim 3, wherein the second time is prior to the first time.

10. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

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

facilitating, via a first wireless channel, to an emergency vehicle device assisting with an event, a transmission of a request for information about the event, resulting in the emergency vehicle device generating a first data report of data reports, wherein the first data report is associated with an occurrence of the event;

based on the transmission of the request for information to the emergency vehicle device, receiving, via a second wireless channel from the emergency vehicle device, the first data report;

based on the first data report, determining first reliability data representing a reliability of a second data report of the data reports, wherein the second data report is received from a second device other than the emergency vehicle device;

based on the reliability data, determining whether the event is continuing to occur;

determining second reliability data for a third data report of the data reports, wherein the third data report is received from a third device other than the emergency vehicle device, and wherein the second data report and the third data report are crowdsourced; and

deleting the second data report of the data reports based on the first data report received from the emergency vehicle device and in response to the second data report being determined to satisfy a condition of a group of conditions, the group of conditions comprising a first condition indicating that the second data report received from the first vehicle other than the emergency vehicle device is a false positive report that the event is continuing to occur when the first data report from the emergency vehicle device indicates the event is no longer occurring, and a second condition indicating that the second data report received from the second device other than the emergency vehicle device is a false negative report that the event is no longer occurring when the first data report from the emergency vehicle device indicates the event is continuing to occur.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the event comprises a traffic-related event.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the event comprises a security-related event.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the event comprises a national security event.

14. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a first device, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:

facilitating transmitting via a first wireless channel to an emergency vehicle device assisting with an event, a request for information about the event, resulting in the emergency vehicle device generating a first data report of data reports, wherein the first data report is associated with an occurrence of the event;

based on the request for information being transmitted to the emergency vehicle device, facilitating receiving, from the emergency vehicle device via a second wireless channel, the first data report;

based on the first data report, facilitating determining reliability data representative of a reliability of a second data report of the data reports, wherein the second data report is received from a second device other than the emergency vehicle device;

based on the determining the reliability data, facilitating determining whether the event is still occurring;

determining second reliability data for a third data report of the data reports, wherein the third data report is received from a third device other than the emergency vehicle device, and wherein the second data report and the third data report are crowdsourced; and

deleting the second data report of the data reports based on the first data report received from the emergency vehicle device and a first determination that the second data report received from the first vehicle other than the emergency vehicle device is a false positive report that the event is continuing to occur when the first data report from the emergency vehicle device indicates the event is no longer occurring, or deleting the second data report of the data reports based on the first data report received from the emergency vehicle device and a second determination that the second data report received from the second device other than the emergency vehicle device is a false negative report that the event is no longer occurring when the first data report from the emergency vehicle device indicates the event is continuing to occur.

15. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the first device comprises a connected car.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the first device comprises a bicycle.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the request for information about the event comprises a request for a type and location of the event.