REAL-TIME LOCATION AND PRESENCE USING A PUSH-LOCATION CLIENT AND SERVER

• US 20110159884A1
• Filed: 03/20/2010
• Published: 06/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: mPanion Incorporated
• Original Assignee: mPanion Incorporated
• Inventors: Chawla, Neeraj
• Granted Patent: US 8,489,111 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/34 Power consumption
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/48 by combining or switching between position solutions derived from the satellite radio beacon positioning system and position solutions derived from a further system
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/017 Detecting state or type of motion
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/019 Energy consumption
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0251 using monitoring of local events, e.g. events related to user activity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0254 detecting a user operation or a tactile contact or a motion of the device
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0258 controlling an operation mode according to history or models of usage information, e.g. activity schedule or time of day
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0274 by switching on or off the equipment or parts thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A system for providing real-time always-on location is presented for maintaining the current location of a mobile device, while saving the battery by managing the GPS in a power-saving mode while the device is considered to be stationary. The system also provides a real-time location in an indoor environment where a GPS signal may not be available. Additionally, methods for driving detection are also presented.

Claims

1. A system for determining location of a mobile device, comprising:

a push-client embedded in the mobile device maintaining a current location of the device, and;

a push-server on the network that receives location updates from the push-client;

whereby the push-client optimally send location updates only when the device'"'"'s location changes.

2. The system of claim 1, including:

the GPS or another embedded positioning system in the mobile device having a power-saving mode optimized for when the device is determined to be stationary.

3. The system of claim 1, including:

the push-client managing the frequency of location requests based on the speed of the mobile device.

4. The system of claim 1, including:

the push-client detecting the motion of the device using an accelerometer embedded in the device.

5. The system of claim 1, including:

the push-client detecting the motion of the device using activity detection methods available in the mobile operating system.

6. The system of claim 1, including:

the push-client detecting the motion of the device based on the speed of the device.

7. The system of claim 1, including:

the push-client detecting the driving status of the device based on “

in car”

detection methods, which may use one or more of;

a proximity sensor embedded in the device

an in-car accessory to determine proximity of the device connection status to an in-car accessory device.

8. A system for determining location of a mobile device, comprising:

push-client embedded in the mobile device maintaining a current location of the device and managing power saving modes of the embedded GPS or another positioning system;

push-server on the network that receives location updates from the push-client, and maintains real-time location of multiple devices;

the push-server further maintaining a location profile of pre-determined locations of a user;

the system enabling power save mode of the embedded GPS when the device is determined to be at one of these pre-determined locations until the mobile positioning system detects a change in location based on other positioning methods such as cell-ID and/or timing advance.

9. A system for determining location of a mobile device, comprising:

a push-client embedded in the mobile device maintaining a current location of the device;

a push-server on the network that receives location updates from the push-client;

an application server that maintains subscription information relative to each application with user-controlled permissions;

whereby the push-server and subscribing applications get real-time location updates only when the user'"'"'s location changes.

10. The system of claim 9, including:

a privacy manager that maintains the user or company specified criteria to specify further restrictions on which applications or users are authorized to receive location updates.

11. The system of claim 9, including:

a privacy manager that maintains the user or company specified criteria to determine when real-time location is enabled for sending location updates for each of the subscribing applications.

12. The system of claim 9, including:

a presence server that maintains a real-time location based presence status of the user based on the location updates received from the push-server.

13. A system for determining a location of device in an indoor environment, comprising:

an embedded position system maintaining a current location as the location changes, and;

the embedded positioning system maintaining the last known location when a valid location update is not received in an indoor environment.

14. The system of claim 13, including:

the embedded positioning system accessing indoor positioning methods when a valid GPS location is not available in an indoor environment.

15. A system for determining location of a mobile device, comprising:

a push-client embedded in the mobile device maintaining a current location of the device, and;

a push-server on the network that receives location updates from the push-client;

wherein the push-client optimally sends location updates to push-server to maintain the current location of the mobile device in order to minimize network utilization from the location updates.

16. The system of claim 15, including:

a GPS or another embedded positioning system in the mobile device having a power-saving mode optimized for when the device is determined to be stationary.

17. The system of claim 15, including:

the push-client maintaining the current location of the mobile device in a real-time, always-on mode;

18. The system of claim 15, including:

the push-server maintaining the current location of the mobile device in a real-time, always-on mode;

19. The system of claim 15, including:

the push-client optimally sends location updates to push-server only when there is a distinct new location while comparing to last known location based on a distance threshold;

20. The system of claim 15, including:

the push-client optimally reduces location updates to push-server when the device is determined to be in transit;