Identifying an entity associated with wireless network access point

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9241252-B2
Application number	US-201314136264-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 20, 2013
Priority date	Dec 20, 2013
Publication date	Jan 19, 2016
Grant date	Jan 19, 2016

Abstract

Systems and methods for identifying an entity associated with a wireless network access point are provided. An estimated location of a wireless network access point and a network name associated with a wireless network access point can be accessed. The network name can be analyzed to identify at least one text signal. An entity associated with the wireless network access point can be identified based at least in part on the text signal. For instance, a confidence score for a plurality of candidate entities identified using the estimated location of the wireless network access point can be determined based on the text signal. The confidence score can be used to identify the entity associated with the wireless network access point. Information associated with the entity can be presented in a graphical user interface.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method of identifying an entity associated with a wireless network access point, comprising:
accessing, by one or more computing devices, an estimated location of a wireless network access point;
accessing, by the one or more computing devices, a network name associated with the wireless network access point;
analyzing, by the one or more computing devices, the network name using textual analysis techniques to identify at least one text signal, the at least one text signal comprising a set of one or more characters;
identifying, by the one or more computing devices, an entity associated with the wireless network access point based at least in part on the text signal and the estimated location of the wireless access point, the entity identified based at least in part by matching the text signal with at least a portion of a semantic entity name corresponding to the entity associated with the wireless network access point;
providing, by the one or more computing devices, the semantic entity name associated with the entity for display in a graphical user interface.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the method comprises determining, by the one or more computing devices, a semantic location of a user device based at least in part on the entity associated with the wireless network access point.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein determining, by the one or more computing devices, a semantic location of a user device based at least in part on the entity associated with the wireless network access point comprises:
receiving, by the one or more computing devices, a signal indicative of a user device connection to the wireless network access point; and
determining, by the one or more computing devices, the semantic location of the user device based at least in part on the entity associated with the wireless network access point.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the connection is an authenticated connection.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein identifying, by the one or more computing devices, an entity associated with the wireless network access point based at least in part on the text signal and the estimated location of the wireless access point comprises:
accessing, by the one or more computing devices, a database of entity information;
identifying, by the one or more computing devices, a plurality of candidate entities based at least in part on the estimated location of the wireless network access point;
determining, by the one or more computing devices, a confidence score for each of the plurality of candidate entities based at least in part on the text signal; and
identifying, by the one or more computing devices, at least one of the plurality of candidate entities as the entity associated with the wireless network access point based at least in part on the confidence score.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , wherein identifying, by the one or more computing devices, a plurality of candidate entities based at least in part on the estimated location of the wireless network access point comprises identifying, by the one or more computing devices, the plurality of candidate entities located within a radius of the estimated location of the wireless network access point.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the radius is determined as a function of one or more of an uncertainty associated with the estimated location of the wireless network access point, an uncertainty associated with the location of the entity in the database of entity information, and an estimated range of the wireless network access point.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein the confidence score is determined, by the one or more computing devices, for each of the plurality of candidate entities based at least in part on the text signal using a scoring function, the scoring function providing the confidence score for each of the plurality of candidate entities as a function of the text signal.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the scoring function is configured to provide the confidence score based at least in part on a popularity of the text signal.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the scoring function is configured to provide the confidence score based at least in part on a distance between the estimated location of the wireless network access point and a location of the candidate entity.

11. The computer implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the scoring function is configured to provide the confidence score based at least in part on a user presence signal indicative of a user being present at the entity.

12. A computing system, comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more computer-readable media, the one or more computer-readable media storing computer-readable instructions for execution by the one or more processors to cause the one or more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:
accessing an estimated location of a wireless network access point;
accessing a network name associated with the wireless network access point;
analyzing the network name using textual analysis techniques to identify at least one text signal, the at least one text signal comprising a set of one or more characters;
identifying an entity associated with the wireless network access point based at least in part on the text signal and the estimated location of the wireless access point, the entity identified based at least in part by matching the text signal with at least a portion of semantic entity name corresponding to the entity associated with the wireless network access point; and
providing the semantic entity name associated with the entity for display in a graphical user interface.

13. The computing system of claim 12 , wherein the operations further comprise:
receiving a signal indicative of a user device connection to the wireless network access point; and
determining a semantic location of the user device based at least in part on the entity associated with the wireless network access point.

14. The computing system of claim 12 , wherein the operation of identifying an entity associated with the wireless network access point based at least in part on the text signal and the estimated location of the wireless access point comprises the operations of:
accessing a database of entity information;
identifying a plurality of candidate entities based at least in part on the estimated location of the wireless network access point;
determining a confidence score for each of the plurality of candidate entities based at least in part on the text signal; and
identifying at least one of the plurality of candidate entities as the entity associated with the wireless network access point based at least in part on the confidence score.

15. The computing system of claim 14 , wherein the operation of identifying a plurality of candidate entities based at least in part on the estimated location of the wireless network access point comprises identifying the plurality of candidate entities located within a radius of the estimated location of the wireless network access point.

16. The computing system of claim 15 , wherein the radius is determined as a function of one or more of an uncertainty associated with the estimated location of the wireless network access point, an uncertainty associated with the location of the entity in the database of entity information, and an estimated range of the wirel

Assignees

• Google Inc

Inventors

• Dua Robin
• Fabrikant Alexander

Classifications

• H04W88/08

  Access point devices · CPC title

• H04W48/18

  Selecting a network or a communication service · CPC title

• H04W4/021

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

• H04W48/16

  Discovering, processing access restriction or access information · CPC title

• H04W8/005 Primary

  Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals · CPC title