Harvesting labels for significant locations based on candidate points of interest and contextual data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11470443-B2
Application number	US-201916672370-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 1, 2019
Priority date	Jun 10, 2016
Publication date	Oct 11, 2022
Grant date	Oct 11, 2022

Abstract

In an example method, a computer system receives a query from a mobile device, including an indication of a location of the mobile device, and an environmental measurement obtained by the mobile device at the location. A set of candidate points of interest in geographical proximity to the location is determined. For each of one or more candidate points of interest of the set, a location fingerprint of the candidate point of interest and contextual data regarding the candidate point of interest are obtained. A similarity between the environmental measurement and each location fingerprint is determined. A particular candidate point of interest is selected from among the set based on the similarity, and based on an assessment of the contextual data. A label of the selected point of interest is associated with the location and transmitted to the mobile device.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, at a computer system, a location database regarding a plurality of points of interest, the database comprising, for each point of interest:

a respective geographical boundary associated with the point of interest,
a respective location fingerprint associated with the point of interest, and
a respective label associated with the point of interest;
determining, by the computer system, that a first location fingerprint associated with a first point of interest is similar to a second location fingerprint associated with a second point of interest; and
responsive to determining that the first location fingerprint is similar to the second location fingerprint, modifying at least one of a first geographical boundary associated with the first point of interest or a second geographical boundary associated with the second point of interest in the location database, the modifying comprising merging the first point of interest and the second point of interest into a common point of interest having a common geographical boundary.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the common geographical boundary encloses a geographical area enclosed by at least one of the first geographical boundary or the second geographical boundary.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining a common location fingerprint based on the first location fingerprint and the second location fingerprint, and
associating the common location fingerprint with the common point of interest in the location database.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the computer system, a query from a mobile device remote from the computer system, the query comprising an indication of a location of the mobile device, and an environmental measurement obtained by the mobile device at the location;
identifying, by the computer system, a set of candidate points of interest among the plurality of points of interest in geographical proximity to the location; and
determining, by the computer system, a similarity between the environmental measurement and each location fingerprint of the set.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
selecting, by the computer system, a particular candidate point of interest from among the set, wherein the particular candidate point of interest is selected based on the similarity between the environmental measurement and each location fingerprint of the set;
associating, by the computer system, the label of the selected point of interest with the location; and
transmitting, from the computer system to the mobile device, the label of the selected point of interest.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
determining, by the computer system, a likelihood that the location is associated with each candidate point of interest of the set based on the similarity between the environmental measurement and each location fingerprint of the set.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
determining, by the computer system, that a first likelihood that the location is associated with a first candidate location is substantially equal to a second likelihood that the location is associated with a second candidate location, and
responsive to determining that the first likelihood and the second likelihood are substantially equal, modifying at least one of the geographical boundary of the first candidate location or the geographical boundary of the second candidate location in the location database.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein modifying at least one of the geographical boundary of the first candidate location or the geographical boundary of the second candidate location comprises:
modifying at least one of the geographical boundary of the first candidate location or the geographical boundary of the second candidate location to pass through the location.

9. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media including one or more sequences of instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, causes:
receiving, at a computer system, a location database regarding a plurality of points of interest, the database comprising, for each point of interest:
a respective geographical boundary associated with the point of interest,
a respective location fingerprint associated with the point of interest, and
a respective label associated with the point of interest;
determining, by the computer system, that a first location fingerprint associated with a first point of interest is similar to a second location fingerprint associated with a second point of interest; and

responsive to determining that the first location fingerprint is similar to the second location fingerprint, modifying at least one of a first geographical boundary associated with the first point of interest or a second geographical boundary associated with the second point of interest in the location database, the modifying comprising merging the first point of interest and the second point of interest into a common point of interest having a common geographical boundary.

10. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9 , wherein the common geographical boundary encloses a geographical area enclosed by at least one of the first geographical boundary or the second geographical boundary.

11. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9 , further comprising:
determining a common location fingerprint based on the first location fingerprint and the second location fingerprint, and
associating the common location fingerprint with the common point of interest in the location database.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 9 , further comprising:
receiving, by the computer system, a query from a mobile device remote from the computer system, the query comprising an indication of a location of the mobile device, and an environmental measurement obtained by the mobile device at the location;
identifying, by the computer system, a set of candidate points of interest among the plurality of points of interest in geographical proximity to the location; and
determining, by the computer system, a similarity between the environmental measurement and each location fingerprint of the set.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 12 , further comprising:
selecting, by the computer system, a particular candidate point of interest from among the set, wherein the particular candidate point of interest is selected based on the similarity between the environmental measurement and each location fingerprint of the set;
associating, by the computer system, the label of the selected point of interest with the location; and
transmitting, from the computer system to the mobile device, the label of the selected point of interest.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 13 , further comprising:
determining, by the computer system, a likelihood that the location is associated with each candidate point of interest of the set based on the similarity between the environmental measurement and each location fingerprint of the set.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 14 , further comprising:
determining, by the computer system, that a first likelihood that the location is associated with a first candidate location is substantially equal to a second likelihood that the location is associated with a second candidate location, and
responsive to determining that the first likelihood and the second likelihood are subs

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Warren Richard B
• Zvyagintsev Danil Yuryevich
• Dal Santo Michael P
• Popescu Liviu T
• Kazemi Pejman Lotfali
• Shin Hyo Jeong
• Zhou Zehua

Classifications

• G06F16/9537

  Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries · CPC title

• G06F16/29

  Geographical information databases · CPC title

• G06F16/24578

  using ranking · CPC title

• H04W4/025

  using location based information parameters · CPC title

• H04W4/021

  Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences · CPC title