Formulating predicted locations for a mobile device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10264403-B2
Application number	US-201815939134-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 28, 2018
Priority date	Jun 12, 2016
Publication date	Apr 16, 2019
Grant date	Apr 16, 2019

Abstract

Some embodiments of the invention provide a method for displaying a map. The method provides a first display area to display a map, and a second display area to overlap a portion of the first display area to display (i) a field to receive a search parameter and (ii) a set of predicted locations to view on the map. The second display area is moveable over the first display area in order to decrease its size to allow a larger portion of the map to be displayed in the first display area, or to increase its size to allow a larger number of predicted locations to be displayed in the second display area. In some embodiments, the second display area overlaps a bottom portion of the first display area. In some embodiments, the method is implemented by a map application that executes on a mobile device. The set of predicted locations displayed in the second display area in some embodiments include addresses harvested from applications executing on the mobile device. Examples of such applications include electronic mail applications, text messaging applications, the map application, ticket applications, restaurant reservation applications, social media applications, real estate applications, etc. The set of predicted locations includes in some embodiments addresses associated with previous destinations traveled to by the mobile device.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of formulating predicted destinations for a location data client executing on a mobile device, the method comprising:
collecting a plurality of candidate locations from one or more computer applications executing on the mobile device;
filtering the plurality of candidate locations to remove at least one undesirable location, wherein the at least one undesirable location includes one of an irrelevant address and an uninteresting address;
scoring each candidate location in the filtered plurality of candidate locations based on one or more scoring parameters;
sorting the filtered plurality of candidate locations based on one or more sorting criteria that are specific to the location data client;
based on the sorting, generating a sorted and filtered predicted destination list; and
providing the predicted destination list to the location data client.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the scoring parameters include a location source parameter, a time of collection parameter, and a proximity to current location parameter.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
using a plurality of filters to filter the plurality of candidate locations;
iteratively executing each filter of the plurality of filters; and
stopping the iterative execution when one filter of the plurality of filters returns a decision to remove a candidate location of the plurality of candidate locations.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein scoring each candidate location further comprises:
receiving a confidence score associated with each candidate location from the one or more computer applications;
determining a parameter score for each scoring parameter of the scoring parameters to determine a plurality of parameter scores;
determining a weight parameter for each parameter score based on the confidence score; and
generating a weighted sum of the plurality of parameter scores.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
determining that a metadata value for the metadata parameter for the first candidate location is distinct from a metadata value for the metadata parameter for the second candidate location; and
declining to discard the first candidate location from the plurality of candidate locations.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that a first candidate location is a duplicate of a second candidate location; and
discarding, using a de-duplicator, the first candidate location from the plurality of candidate locations.

7. An electronic device comprising a non-transitory medium for storing a map application for displaying a map, the program comprising sets of instructions for:
collecting a plurality of candidate locations from one or more computer applications executing on the mobile device;
filtering the plurality of candidate locations to remove at least one undesirable location, wherein the at least one undesirable location includes one of an irrelevant address and an uninteresting address;
scoring each candidate location in the filtered plurality of candidate locations based on one or more scoring parameters;
sorting the filtered plurality of candidate locations based on one or more sorting criteria that are specific to the location data client;
based on the sorting, generating a sorted and filtered predicted destination list; and
providing the predicted destination list to the location data client.

8. The electronic device of claim 7 , wherein the scoring parameters include a location source parameter, a time of collection parameter, and a proximity to current location parameter.

9. The electronic device of claim 7 , further comprising:
using a plurality of filters to filter the plurality of candidate locations;
iteratively executing each filter of the plurality of filters; and
stopping the iterative execution when one filter of the plurality of filters returns a decision to remove a candidate location of the plurality of candidate locations.

10. The electronic device of claim 7 , wherein scoring each candidate location further comprises:
receiving a confidence score associated with each candidate location from the one or more computer applications;
determining a parameter score for each scoring parameter of the scoring parameters to determine a plurality of parameter scores;
determining a weight parameter for each parameter score based on the confidence score; and
generating a weighted sum of the plurality of parameter scores.

11. The electronic device of claim 10 , further comprising:
determining that a metadata value for the metadata parameter for the first candidate location is distinct from a metadata value for the metadata parameter for the second candidate location; and
declining to discard the first candidate location from the plurality of candidate locations.

12. The electronic device of claim 7 , further comprising:
determining that a first candidate location is a duplicate of a second candidate location; and
discarding, using a de-duplicator, the first candidate location from the plurality of candidate locations.

13. A non-transitory machine readable medium storing an application executable by at least one processing unit of a device, the application comprising sets of instructions for:
collecting a plurality of candidate locations from one or more computer applications executing on the mobile device;
filtering the plurality of candidate locations to remove at least one undesirable location, wherein the at least one undesirable location includes one of an irrelevant address and an uninteresting address;
scoring each candidate location in the filtered plurality of candidate locations based on one or more scoring parameters;
sorting the filtered plurality of candidate locations based on one or more sorting criteria that are specific to the location data client;
based on the sorting, generating a sorted and filtered predicted destination list; and
providing the predicted destination list to the location data client.

14. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the scoring parameters include a location source parameter, a time of collection parameter, and a proximity to current location parameter.

15. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13 , further comprising:
using a plurality of filters to filter the plurality of candidate locations;
iteratively executing each filter of the plurality of filters; and
stopping the iterative execution when one filter of the plurality of filters returns a decision to remove a candidate location of the plurality of candidate locations.

16. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13 , further comprising:
receiving a confidence score associated with each candidate location from the one or more computer applications;
determining a parameter score for each scoring parameter of the scoring parameters to determine a plurality of parameter scores;
determining a weight parameter for each parameter score based on the confidence score; and
generating a weighted sum of the plurality of parameter scores.

17. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 13 , further comprising:
determining that a first candidate location is a duplicate of a second candidate location; and
discarding, using a de-duplicator, the first candidate location from the plurality of candidate locations.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Aerts Tim A

Classifications

• H04W64/00

  Locating users or terminals {or network equipment} for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management · CPC title

• G01C21/362

  received from an external device or application, e.g. PDA, mobile phone or calendar application · CPC title

• G06F3/04883

  for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text · CPC title

• G01C21/00

  Navigation; Navigational instruments not provided for in groups G01C1/00 - G01C19/00 (measuring distance traversed on the ground by a vehicle G01C22/00; control of position, course, altitude or attitude of vehicles G05D1/00; traffic control systems for road vehicles involving transmission of navigation instructions to the vehicle G08G1/0968) · CPC title

• G01C21/3611

  using character input or menus, e.g. menus of POIs (character input methods in general G06F3/0233) · CPC title