Evaluating location based on multiple data sources

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9571970-B2
Application number	US-201414292799-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 30, 2014
Priority date	May 30, 2014
Publication date	Feb 14, 2017
Grant date	Feb 14, 2017

Abstract

Among other things, we describe a method that includes, on an electronic device, receiving, from a first location system of the electronic device, first data indicative of a first location of the device at a first time, comparing the first data to second data indicative of a second location of the device at a second time, the second data having been received from a second location system of the electronic device, and based on the comparison, determining whether the first data meets a threshold of location data integrity.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
on an electronic device:
receiving, from a first location system of the electronic device, first data indicative of a first location of the device at a first time;
comparing the first data to second data indicative of a second location of the device at a second time, the second data having been received from a second location system of the electronic device, wherein comparing includes determining a difference between a value of the first data indicative of the first location and a value of the second data indicative of the second location;
based on the comparison, determining whether the first data meets a threshold of location data integrity, wherein determining whether the first data meets a threshold of location data integrity includes determining whether the difference meets a threshold expected deviation; and
in response to the determination whether the first data meets a threshold of location data integrity, determining whether to discard either of the first data or the second data, and determining whether to store either of the first data or the second data in a buffer of location data.

2. The method of claim 1 where the expected deviation is determined based on a classification of activity engaged in by a user of the device.

3. The method of claim 2 where the expected deviation is determined based on a maximum speed value associated with the activity engaged in by the user of the device.

4. The method of claim 1 where the expected deviation is determined based on a current expected uncertainty metric provided by the first location system.

5. The method of claim 1 comprising receiving the second data from a buffer containing recently determined location information received from location systems of the electronic device.

6. The method of claim 1 where the first location data comprises latitude, longitude, a timestamp, and an uncertainty metric.

7. The method of claim 1 , where determining whether the first data meets a threshold of location data integrity includes determining whether the first data indicates that, between the first time and the second time, the device has traveled an expected distance.

8. The method of claim 7 , where the expected distance is determined based on a classification of activity engaged in by a user of the device.

9. The method of claim 1 , comprising discarding the first data if the first data is determined to not meet the threshold of location data integrity.

10. The method of claim 1 , comprising adjusting an uncertainty metric associated with the first data if the first data is determined to not meet the threshold of location data integrity.

11. A computer program product stored on a non-transitory storage device and configured to cause an electronic device to perform operations comprising:
receiving, from a first location system of the electronic device, first data indicative of a first location of the device at a first time;
comparing the first data to second data indicative of a second location of the device at a second time, the second data having been received from a second location system of the electronic device, wherein comparing includes determining a difference between a value of the first data indicative of the first location and a value of the second data indicative of the second location;
based on the comparison, determining whether the first data meets a threshold of location data integrity, wherein determining whether the first data meets a threshold of location data integrity includes determining whether the difference meets a threshold expected deviation; and
in response to the determination whether the first data meets a threshold of location data integrity, determining whether to discard either of the first data or the second data, and determining whether to store either of the first data or the second data in a buffer of location data.

12. The computer program product of claim 11 where the expected deviation is determined based on a classification of activity engaged in by a user of the device.

13. The computer program product of claim 12 where the expected deviation is determined based on a maximum speed value associated with the activity engaged in by the user of the device.

14. The computer program product of claim 11 where the expected deviation is determined based on a current expected uncertainty metric provided by the first location system.

15. The computer program product of claim 11 , the operations comprising receiving the second data from a buffer containing recently determined location information received from location systems of the electronic device.

16. The computer program product of claim 11 where the first location data comprises latitude, longitude, a timestamp, and an uncertainty metric.

17. The computer program product of claim 11 , where determining whether the first data meets a threshold of location data integrity includes determining whether the first data indicates that, between the first time and the second time, the device has traveled an expected distance.

18. The computer program product of claim 17 , where the expected distance is determined based on a classification of activity engaged in by a user of the device.

19. The computer program product of claim 11 , comprising discarding the first data if the first data is determined to not meet the threshold of location data integrity.

20. The computer program product of claim 11 , comprising adjusting an uncertainty metric associated with the first data if the first data is determined to not meet the threshold of location data integrity.

21. An electronic device comprising:
a first location system configured to determine a current location of the electronic device;
a second location system configured to determine a current location of the electronic device; and
one or more processors configured for:
receiving, from the first location system of the electronic device, first data indicative of a first location of the device at a first time;
comparing the first data to second data indicative of a second location of the device at a second time, the second data having been received from the second location system of the electronic device, wherein comparing includes determining a difference between a value of the first data indicative of the first location and a value of the second data indicative of the second location;
based on the comparison, determining whether the first data meets a threshold of location data integrity, wherein determining whether the first data meets a threshold of location data integrity includes determining whether the difference meets a threshold expected deviation; and
in response to the determination whether the first data meets a threshold of location data integrity, determining whether to discard either of the first data or the second data, and determining whether to store either of the first data or the second data in a buffer of location data.

22. The electronic device of claim 21 , wherein the buffer comprises a memory storing at least one element of data representing a current location of the electronic device.

23. The electronic device of claim 21 , the processor configured for determining a current location of the electronic device based on at least two elements of location data stored in the buffer.

24. The electronic device of claim 21 , wherein the location data of the buffer comprises elements of location da

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Kazemi Pejman Lotfali
• Macgougan Glenn Donald
• Mayor Robert

Classifications

• H04W4/023 Primary

  using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds · CPC title

• H04W4/028

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W4/029

  Location-based management or tracking services · CPC title