Skyhook Wireless, Inc.

Qualcomm Incorporated

Christopher Steger

Farshid Alizadeh-Shabdiz

Nicolas Brachet

Russel Kipp Jones

Andrei Dancus

Gerald Cavanaugh

Andrew Broadstone

Edward James Morgan

Richard Sutton

George Polak

Thomas Jason Dytko

Joel Morrin

Russel Jones

In one example embodiment, a certified location service enables a mobile device to access a location-based service when a determined location meets a location requirement and an overall confidence score for the determined location exceeds a confidence threshold. A data package is received including identifiers of beacons observed by the mobile device, and a location of the mobile device is determined based on a calculated location of one or more of the beacons. An overall confidence score for the determined location is calculated based on one or more individual confidence scores for the one or more beacons used in determining the location or composite confidence scores for types of the one or more beacons. The determined location and the overall confidence score are provided to one or more provider servers that allow the mobile device to access a location-based service based thereon.

Certified location for mobile devices

In one embodiment, a technique is provided for propagating network address to attribute associations between network addresses. One or more profiles are obtained that maintain an association between a first network address and one or more attributes, the association produced from network address observations of the first network address by one or more source devices in communication with a network. A second network address is determined that is associated with the first network address based on a similarity criteria. The second network address initially lacks an association with the one or more attributes. The one or more attributes are propagated from the first network address to the second address, to form an association between the second network address and the one or more attributes. The association between the second network address and the one or more attributes is then stored in an updated profile.

Propagating attributes between network addresses

In one embodiment, a processing technique is provided that utilizes multiple network address observations. One or more records are obtained that maintain network address observations, each network address observation associating one or more attributes with a network address observed by one or more source devices. Multiple network addresses from the network address observations are clustered into one or more discrete groups of network addresses based on a clustering criteria. For a selected group of network addresses, an association is formed associating one or more refined attributes derived from the selected group with an individual network address that is a member of the selected group.

Processing multiple network address observations

In one embodiment, a processing technique is provided for determining a refined attribute of a network address based on one or more other attributes. A network address associated with a source device in communication with a network is observed. One or more first attributes of the network address are determined, where the one or more first attributes indicate at least a spatial or temporal property of the network address. The one or more first attributes are processed to determine a second attribute to be associated with the network address, where the second attribute indicates whether the network address is a fixed or mobile network address, or is a proxy or non-proxy network address. A record is stored that maintains the association between the second attribute and the network address.

Determining fixed/mobile and proxy/non-proxy network addresses

In one embodiment, a mapping/translation technique is provided for generating an association between an observed network address and one or more attributes that are not directly observed. A network address is observed that is associated with a source device. A first attribute is determined, the first attribute being a directly observed attribute. The first attribute is mapped to a second attribute based on at least a predefined spatial, temporal, or identity-related correspondence between the first attribute and the second attribute, wherein the second attribute was not directly observed in connection with the network address. An association is generated between the second attribute and the network address. A record that maintains the association between the second attribute and the network address is stored.

Mapping/translation techniques for generating associations between network addresses and attributes that were not directly observed

In one embodiment, a filtering technique is provided for ensuring data quality of network address observations. A network address observation is obtained of a network address associated with a source device, the network address observation associating the network address with one or more directly observed attributes. The network address observation is filtered based on a comparison of a selected one of the one or more directly observed attributes to a predetermined criteria, and using a result of the comparison as indicative of whether the network address observation should be used for association of the network address with one or more directly observed attributes. The filtering either associates one or more indicators with the network address observation, or removes the network address observation. A network address to attribute association system executed on one or more electronic devices stores a record that maintains any network address observation that has not been removed and any indicator.

Ensuring data quality by filtering network address observations

In one embodiment, a technique is provided for detecting that a wireless beacon is pathological. Data points captured by mobile devices or specialized scanning devices are received at software executing on an electronic device, each data point containing information about beacon attributes. A set of disjoint regions are defined in one or more dimensions and each data point is associated with a corresponding region based on at least one element of the information of the data point lying within the boundaries of the corresponding region. An aggregate attribute is determined for each region based on the information of data points associated with the corresponding region. Then the aggregate attribute of one or more regions is used to determined whether the wireless beacon is pathological, and if determined to be pathological, the wireless beacon is excluded from use by a beacon-based positioning system.

Methods and systems of assigning estimated positions and attributes to wireless access points in a positioning system

In one embodiment, techniques approximate concurrent monitoring of a large number of geo-fences, potentially beyond a number supported by a mobile device, The mobile device may obtain a set of geo-fences and maintain a first subset of the geo-fences as an active subset of geo-fences and a second subset of the geo-fences as an inactive subset of geo-fences. The mobile device may also establish and monitor an envelope geo-fences that excluded the inactive subset of geo-fence. In response to detecting that the mobile device has moved to a new location proximate to the envelope geo-fence, one or more geo-fences are moved between the active subset of geo-fences and the inactive subset of geo-fences to produce a new active subset of geo-fences and a new inactive subset of geo-fences.

Active geo-fence management

In one example embodiment, a Wi-Fi based location determination technique both determines one or more locations of a mobile device, and calculates a confidence score for each determined location. A request is received at a certified location service executing on a server for one or more locations of the mobile device and a data package. The data package may include an indication of a plurality of beacons observed by the mobile device. The certified location service determines one or more locations of the mobile device based on a calculated location of at least some of the plurality of beacons. The certified location service also determines a confidence score for each beacon used in determining each location. An overall confidence score for each determined location may be calculated based on a combination of the confidence scores for each of the beacons used in the determination of the location.

In one embodiment, techniques approximate concurrent monitoring of a large number of geo-fences, potentially beyond a number supported by a mobile device, The mobile device may activate a subset of geo-fences to be monitored, the subset of geo-fences selected from the set of geo-fences based on proximity to a current location of the mobile device. The mobile device may also establish and monitor an envelope geo-fence that encompasses the subset of geo-fences. In response to detecting that the mobile device has moved to a new location proximate to the envelope geo-fence, a new subset of geo-fences is activated to be monitored. Geo-fences of the subset of geo-fences that are not part of the new subset of geo-fences are deactivated.

In one embodiment, a system determines a designated wireless device lacks a fixed geographic location, and uses the determination that the designated wireless device lacks a fixed geographic location to improve location estimates. The system determines one or more neighboring wireless devices have relationships with the designated wireless device, wherein a relationship is established when wireless signals from a neighboring wireless device and the designated wireless device are detected by a same receiver. A measure of likelihood is calculated that the designated wireless device lacks a fixed geographic location based at least in part on a number of the relationships or a duration of the relationships. Based on the measure of likelihood, the designated wireless device is excluded from being used in the wireless positioning system as a beacon for estimating the location of a client device.

Determining a designated wireless device lacks a fixed geographic location and using the determination to improve location estimates

In one embodiment, techniques approximate use of geo-fences of shapes and/or sizes other than those natively support by a mobile device. Upon receiving an initial geo-fence (e.g., a non-supported geo-fence), the mobile device may generate a group of geo-fences (e.g., a group of supported geo-fences) whose union approximates the initial geo-fence, where the group includes one or more geo-fences. The mobile device may treat the group of supported geo-fence as an equivalent to the non-supported geo-fence. When the mobile device crosses one of the supported geo-fences of the group of supported geo-fences, and does not enter into another supported geo-fence of the group of supported geo-fences, a notification may be sent to an application that utilizes the non-supported geo-fence that the non-supported geo-fence has been triggered.

Geo-fence splitting

Method of and systems for assigning estimated positions and attributes to wireless access points in a positioning system are disclosed. A method of estimating a characteristic of a wireless beacon includes receiving a set of data points. Each data point contains information about characteristics of a wireless beacon. The method also includes dividing at least one dimension into a set of regions in which each region of the set has region boundaries that do not overlap with other regions. The method further includes associating each data point with one corresponding region based on at least one element of the information of the data point lying within the boundaries of the corresponding region and determining an aggregate characteristic for each region based on the information of the data points associated with the corresponding region. The method estimates a characteristic of the wireless beacon based on at least one aggregate characteristic.

Growing community of inventors

Boston, MA, United States of America

Christopher Steger