Abstract:
Systems for and methods of determining likelihood of relocation of reference points in a positioning system are disclosed. A method of determining a measure of likelihood that an estimated geographic location of a designated wireless device is not its accurate present location includes determining a set of reference points associated with the device, which are a geographic position at which signals from the device were detected and/or other devices having a relationship with the designated device. The existence of the relationship is based on the devices being within signal reception range of a same position within a selected period of time. The method includes retrieving attributes of the reference points and/or of the relationships and determining a measure of likelihood that an estimated geographic location associated with the designated device is not its present location based on the attributes of the reference points of the set and/or of the relationships.
Abstract:
In various embodiments, techniques are provided for determining and associating multiple locations with beacons, and estimating a location of an electronic device based on beacons having multiple associated locations. To determine multiple locations of a beacon, observations are grouped into observation clusters, a probability is calculated that each observation cluster accurately describes the beacon, multiple observation clusters are selected as representative of the beacon based on the calculated probabilities, characteristics are derived for the beacon (including multiple locations) based on the selected multiple observation clusters, and at least the multiple locations for the beacon are stored in a reference database. To estimate a location of an electronic device, a list of detected beacons is created, one or more locations are accessed from a reference database for each of the beacons on the list of detected beacons with at least one of the beacons having multiple locations, the locations are grouped into location clusters, a probability each location cluster represents a location of the electronic device is calculated, an location cluster is selected to represent the location of the beacon based on the calculated probabilities, and a location of the electronic device is estimated based on the selected location cluster.
Abstract:
In various embodiments, techniques are provided for determining one or more zones in which mobile devices are presently located and identifying or updating characteristics of on or more zones. Samples that include beacon information and/or sensor information collected by mobile devices are aggregated and dynamically organized into sample classes that are associated with zero, one or more zones. A venue is characterized by a set of zones and associated tags, which may be informed based on samples for the venue, a venue group to which the venue belongs, or all venues. To determine if a mobile device is located in one or more zones, the samples are compared to zone characteristics, and based thereon (and optionally history information) one or more zones are selected having determined likelihoods, and at least a zone having the highest likelihood of the one or more selected zones is returned.
Abstract:
In one embodiment, techniques are provided to establish and use semantic associations between location profiles and ambient profiles. One or more location profiles are selected from a location database. A first plurality of ambient profiles is selected for a first area surrounding one or more geographic locations of the location profiles. One or more patterns are extracted from the first plurality of ambient profiles and are used to generate associations between location profiles and ambient profiles in an association database which semantically associates location profiles with ambient profiles independent of geographic location. The associations may be used, among other things, to service requests from mobile devices and/or update ambient profiles or location profiles.
Abstract:
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.
Abstract:
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.
Abstract:
In one embodiment, techniques are provided to establish and use semantic associations between location profiles and ambient profiles. One or more location profiles are selected from a location database. A first plurality of ambient profiles is selected for a first area surrounding one or more geographic locations of the location profiles. One or more patterns are extracted from the first plurality of ambient profiles and are used to generate associations between location profiles and ambient profiles in an association database which semantically associates location profiles with ambient profiles independent of geographic location. The associations may be used, among other things, to service requests from mobile devices and/or update ambient profiles or location profiles.
Abstract:
In one embodiment, characteristics of signals of a plurality of Wi-Fi access points within a target area are determined at least in part from observing the signals during a traversal of a programmatic route through the target area by a scanning device. A location is calculated for each of the plurality of Wi-Fi access points based on the characteristics of the signals of the Wi-Fi access point, and stored in records of a reference database. A request from an application or service executing on a mobile device is received for a current location of the mobile device. Positioning software obtains characteristics of signals of one or more Wi-Fi access points observed by the mobile device from the current location. The positioning software computes the current location of the mobile device using at least the characteristics of signals observed by the mobile device and the location of Wi-Fi access points stored in the reference database, and provides the computed current location to the application or service.
Abstract:
A method of providing a relevant subset of information to a client device is based in part on scanning for Wi-Fi access points within range of the client device, using a Wi-Fi database that covers a large target region to retrieve information about these access points, using this information to estimate the position of the mobile client device, selecting a limited region in the vicinity of the estimated location of the client device, and providing information about Wi-Fi access points within this limited region to the client. For efficient transfer and maintenance of data, the target region may be divided into a hierarchy of fixed geographical tiles.
Abstract:
In one embodiment, in response to a user application request to determine a location of a user-device having a Wi-Fi radio, the Wi-Fi radio is triggered to transmit a request to Wi-Fi access points within range. Messages are received from the Wi-Fi access points, each message identifying the Wi-Fi access point sending the message. Signal strength of the messages received from the Wi-Fi access points is calculated. A reference database of stored locations for Wi-Fi access points in a target area is accessed to obtain the stored locations for the identified Wi-Fi access points. Based on the number of the identified Wi-Fi access points identified via received messages, a corresponding location-determination algorithm is chosen from a plurality of location-determination algorithms. The location of the user-device is determined using the stored locations for the identified Wi-Fi access points, the signal strengths of the received messages and the chosen location-determination algorithm.