Method and apparatus to utilize location data to enhance safety

Description

FIELD

A method and apparatus related to global positioning systems, and more specifically to using GPS data to enhance safety.

BACKGROUND

More personal devices, such as smart phones and hand-held communications systems, include global positioning system (GPS) chips in addition to communications capability.

However, coverage is still intermittent. Network connections, are not always available. Cellular network coverage may not always be available either. In these cases, the hand-held communications system or smart phone becomes useless.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings and in which like reference numerals refer to similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 is an exemplary system diagram of one embodiment a system.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the mobile system and server.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of one embodiment of using the flagging system.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of one embodiment of flagging using the system.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of one embodiment of server interactions.

FIG. 6 is a diagram one embodiment of a user interface.

FIG. 7 is one embodiment of computer system that may be used with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present invention is concerned with enabling a system to flag a location, and provide guidance to that location. The location may be automatically or manually flagged because it is the starting point of a path, for example a hike. A location may be automatically flagged when the signal quality of one of a plurality of signals that can be received by a mobile device decreases. By flagging a location corresponding to the last known good quality signal, the user can be guided back to that location, if access to signal becomes a priority. For example, in case of emergency, the ability to call for assistance may be urgent. Using the flagging system, the user can quickly be guided to a location which highly likely has good quality signal. The signals may wireless network signals, cellular network signals, or other signals.

In one embodiment, when the system flags a location, it automatically maintains directions to return to the flagged location. In one embodiment, only the “last known good” flag is maintained for each type of signal. In one embodiment, the system collects flag data from multiple users, in a global database. In one embodiment, the data from the global database may be made available to the users, to provide information about expected signal coverage. The data from this database may be sold or shared with service providers, device providers, in one embodiment.

The following detailed description of embodiments of the invention makes reference to the accompanying drawings in which like references indicate similar elements, showing by way of illustration specific embodiments of practicing the invention. Description of these embodiments is in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention. One skilled in the art understands that other embodiments may be utilized and that logical, mechanical, electrical, functional and other changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims.

FIG. 1 is an exemplary system diagram of one embodiment a system. The mobile device 110 receives data from one or more of a GPS network 120, a wireless network 130, a cellular network 150, and another type of Internet connection 160. The GPS network 120 may include GPS satellites 122, 124, 126 and/or ground based GPS stations 128. The wireless network 130 may be a wireless signal in accordance with the Wi-Fi standard (IEEE 802.11). The cellular network 150 may be a cellular network service, such as the cellular services provided by AT&T, Verizon, or another company. The Internet connection 160 may be another type of network connection, such as a wired network connection, or a connection through an intermediary device such as a computer system.

The mobile device 110 may track the availability of wireless network signal and/or cellular signal, and flag the last known good location of the signal(s). In one embodiment, the mobile device 110 may also access flags previously recorded, by the user or by others, via flag server 140. Mobile device 110 may connect to flag server in various ways, e.g. through cellular, wireless, Internet, or through an intermediary such as a computer system to which the mobile device may be occasionally coupled. In one embodiment, the system may also store GPS signal strength data flags. Since GPS signal strength varies based on the current satellite configuration data, this information is associated with a time and date, so that it can be aligned with the known satellite configuration. The satellite configuration data is publicly available.

The flag server 140 receives flags from the mobile device 110, placed as loss of signal quality is detected. In one embodiment, the flags are received periodically, when placed, or when the mobile device 110 is again connected a high bandwidth network.

In one embodiment, flag server 140 may make the flagging data available to a website 170 or third party systems 180. This may be used to refine coverage areas, determine coverage holes, or otherwise assess locations of interest.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of one embodiment of the mobile system and server. The mobile system 250 is coupled through occasional connection 245 to server system 210.

Server system 210 includes a stored flag database 215, in which flag data received from various mobile systems is stored. In one embodiment, database 215 may be a distributed database. In one embodiment, database 215 may further include data obtained from other sources. For example, cellular providers make their coverage maps available. In one embodiment, flag database 215 may include data obtained from such coverage maps, or other third party sources. In one embodiment, if GPS signal quality is tracked, the GPS satellite path data is also obtained from a third party source.

Mapping system 220 enables server 210 to display a map of flags from database 215. In one embodiment, this map may be made available though a website interface, or other interface.

Mobile communication logic 225 receives flag data form mobile systems, and makes flag data available to mobile systems. Third party communications logic 230 makes the flag data available to other systems, including in one embodiment through a website. The third party communication logic 230 may also, in one embodiment, obtain data from third parties, as noted above. Third party communications logic 230 may be available to users, network signal providers, hardware device manufacturers, government entities, or other third parties. In one embodiment, the data may be made available on a subscription basis. The data may further be exported in various formats.

Mobile system 250 includes communication logic 255 to obtain data from, and send data to, server system 210. Communications logic 255 may include multiple types of signals, e.g. wireless, cellular, GPS, etc. Mobile system 250 may further include sensors 262 which may be used to add information for signal evaluation and direction logic. Sensors 262 may include one or more of: a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a barometer, a compass, a thermometer.

Signal quality evaluator 260 evaluates signal quality for one or more signals. As noted above, these signals can include one or more of GPS, wireless, cellular, or other signals. When the signal quality evaluator 260 detects a significant drop in signal quality, flagger 265 flags the location. Flagger 265 works with mapping logic 275, to locate the flag. In one embodiment, an alert system 270 may indicate to the user that signal quality has dropped, or that signal is no longer available. In one embodiment, flagger 265 maintains a flag for the last known good signal location. In one embodiment, separate flags may be maintained for each signal type. In one embodiment, the user may manually add flags, via flagger 265. When the user manually adds a flag, it may be a flag for routing, or a flag to manually indicate loss of signal quality.

Reverse direction logic 285, in one embodiment, tracks the user's motion past the last known good signal flag, and maintains directions back to that location. This can be useful in an emergency situation or if the user needs to reach signal for another reason. In one embodiment, the system ensures that even if the mobile system cannot receive signal, reverse direction logic 285 can provide guidance to the user to the last known good signal location.

In one embodiment, mobile system 250 may download flag data from server system 210, using flag downloader 280. In one embodiment, flags downloaded in this way are shown with mapping logic 275. In one embodiment, downloaded flags are differentiated from mobile system placed flags, by color, size, or another differentiator. However, having downloaded flags enables a user to see where signal loss may be expected.

Flag uploader 290 provides the flags placed by the mobile system 250 back to server system 210. In one embodiment, flag uploader 290 uploads flags whenever the mobile system 250 is coupled to the server system 210 through a high bandwidth connection. In another embodiment, the user may optionally initiate the uploading of flag data. In another embodiment, the mobile system may upload flag data when the mobile system 210 has placed one or more flags which do not correspond to existing flags obtained via flag downloader 280.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of one embodiment of using the flagging system. The process starts at block 310. In one embodiment, this process may be active whenever the mobile device is receiving signals. In one embodiment, the system may be activated by the user. In another embodiment, the system may be activated when certain conditions are met. In one embodiment, the user may manually activate the system. In another embodiment, the system may be activated when the user enters a new area for which the user does not already have a strong flagging data.

At block 315, the process determines whether the user downloaded any flags. If so, at block 320, the system adds the downloaded flags to the map. In one embodiment, the downloaded flags are used as the basis for testing, as well.

At block 325, the process adds a flag whenever one of the tested signals is significantly reduced in quality. The flag, in one embodiment, is added at the last known good signal location. In another embodiment, the flag may be added at the location when the signal is lost, with directionality. In another embodiment, the flagging may mark map areas with signal information, when available, instead of placing individual flags.

At block 330, the process determines whether the signal has been lost. In one embodiment, a signal is considered lost when the quality of the signal is sufficiently bad to keep a device from making use of the signal. For example, for a GPS signal, if the GPS circuitry cannot get at least three satellite fixes, it cannot calculate location. For a cellular signal, if the signal does not permit a telephone call to be placed or received, it is considered a lost signal. In one embodiment, if calls are dropped, the signal is considered dropped. For a wireless signal, if a significant percentage of packets or pings is not successfully received, it is considered lost. In one embodiment, the device has the capability of determining whether the signal is lost based on the automatic periodic pings built into to the protocol.

If the signal is not lost, the process returns to block 325, to flag and track the last known good signal.

If the signal is lost, the process continues to block 335. At block 335, the process determines whether the user has requested an alert when signal is lost. If so, at block 340, the user is alerted.

At block 345, the process continuously generates reverse directions to the last flag, in one embodiment. In one embodiment, this is only done if the signal lost is the cellular signal used to obtain mapping data, or GPS signal. If the signal lost is not a cellular or GPS signal, the system instead formats the last known good flag location such that the GPS system can route back to the flag.

At block 350, the process determines whether the signal has been regained. If the signal has not been regained, the process continues to block 345 to continue generating reverse directions. If the signal has been regained, the process returns to block 325, to flag & track the last known good signal. In one embodiment, this involves removing the last flag, and replaces it with a new flag when the signal is regained. Note that while the flag may be removed from the user's display (e.g. no longer shown) it remains in the user's system, and is available for later upload or use.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of one embodiment of flagging using the system. The process starts at block 410. In one embodiment, this flowchart corresponds to block 325, of FIG. 3.

Returning to FIG. 4, at block 415, signals are received in a normal check-in. The normal check in may be the ping sent according to each signal's protocol. In one embodiment, the system may do periodic check-ins. In one embodiment, if the system does independent checking, not protocol dependent, then in one embodiment, the testing depends on one or more of: time elapsed, distance moved, and previously recorded signal strength. At block 415, signals are received. Note that while this flowchart addresses “signals” each of the signals tested may be on a separate flowchart of testing, with separate timing and conditions.

At block 420, the process determines whether the signal is better than the previous signal. If the signal is better than previously, the process continues to block 425. At block 425, add a flag to the location, and remove the prior location. At this point, the new location marks a “known good” location. The process then ends, at block 440.

If the signal is not better than the previously marked signal, the process continues to block 430. At block 430, the process determines whether the signal is good enough to qualify as a “known good” signal. If so, at block 425, a flag is added to the location. In one embodiment, if the difference in signal quality is above a threshold, the new flag marks a “known good, but not excellent” level, e.g. is different from the prior marking flag, which is maintained. The process then ends.

If, at block 430, the process determined that the signal was not good enough, the process continues to block 435, where the last flag is marked as a “last known good location.” As noted above with respect to FIG. 3, the system uses this flag for guidance, and may make such flags available to the server.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of one embodiment of server interactions. The process starts at block 510. In one embodiment, the process is initiated when a mobile device that has the flagging application connects to the server, via a high bandwidth connection. In one embodiment, the process may be initiated when a computer device, which is designed to be coupled to the mobile device, is coupled to the server. In one embodiment, the high bandwidth connection is a wireline connection to a computer device, which in turn is coupled to the server.

At block 520, when the connection is established, the server requests the new flags recorded by the device. In one embodiment, the flags are free of identifying information (e.g. user data) so that only signal type, location, date/time is included with the flag. In another embodiment, the source device is identified, but no personally identifiable data is included. This may be useful when a particular device consistently produces different results than other devices. For example, if a mobile telephone's antenna is damaged, it may not find good quality cellular network connections in places where others do. By including device-identification data, such false data may be removed from the database.

At block 530, the server determines whether any flags were received. If no flags were received, the process continues directly to block 570. If flags were received, the process continues to block 540.

At block 540, the process determines whether a selected flag is new. A new flag indicate a location that has not previously been identified as a “last good signal” location. If the flag is new, the new flag is added to the database, at block 560. If the flag is not new, the flag confidence level for the existing flag is reinforced, at block 550. In one embodiment, flag confidence level simply indicates the number of times that someone found this flag to be accurate (e.g. last known good signal). In one embodiment, flags within a small distance of each other may be used to reinforce or weaken the value of a particular flag. For example, if a first user places a flag at point A, and the second user places the flag at point A+50 feet, the system would reinforce the first flag, at point A. This is to ensure that the system does not end up with a morass of flags, which would make it impossible to determine a last known good signal location.

At block 565, the process determines whether there are any more flags to evaluate. If so, the process returns to block 540, selecting the next flag to determine whether it is a new flag.

If there are no more flags to evaluate, the process, at block 570, makes the flag database available. Although this is shown as a flowchart, in one embodiment, the flag database is always available, and the updated flag database, including the newly added flags are made available.

At block 580, the process determines whether the system received a request for flag data. If so, at block 590, flag mapping data is sent to the user in response to the request. In one embodiment, the user may request flag data by directions/path, zip code, area, county, selected map view, or another selection. In one embodiment, the flag mapping data provides flags for a designated area, indicated by the request, with indications of the confidence interval in that flag. FIG. 6 shows one embodiment of such flag information. The process then ends at block 595.

FIG. 6 is a diagram one embodiment of a user interface. As can be seen, the map 610 shows the user's current location 620. A flag 630 shows “last known good signal” as marked by the user's system, for a cellular network signal. In contrast, downloaded flags 640 show other areas of good signal, which the user may reach. The confidence interval in the flag may be visually represented on the map. Here, it is shown by the thickness of the line. However, one of skill in the art would understand that such flags may be differentiated by color, pattern, label, or any other visual queue. Wireless signal flag 650 is also shown, indicating the last known good wireless signal. In one embodiment, the flags for different signal types are distinct, and the flags for marked flags and downloaded flags are also distinct. In one embodiment, start flag 670, manually added by the user, is also shown and distinct from the other flags.

In one embodiment, the map also shows a return path 660 (here indicated by a black line) to the nearest marked flag 630. In one embodiment, the return path 660 is designed to provide direction information, even if no signals are available. In one embodiment, if no signals are available, the return path 660 indications may be based on accelerometer measurements of the mobile device. This enables the directing of the user back to a last known good signal, even in a situation where all live signals are lost.

FIG. 7 is one embodiment of computer system that may be used with the present invention. FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a particular machine that may be used with the present invention. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art, however that other alternative systems of various system architectures may also be used.

The data processing system illustrated in FIG. 7 includes a bus or other internal communication means 740 for communicating information, and a processing unit 710 coupled to the bus 740 for processing information. The processing unit 710 may be a central processing unit (CPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), or another type of processing unit 710.

The system further includes, in one embodiment, a random access memory (RAM) or other volatile storage device 720 (referred to as memory), coupled to bus 740 for storing information and instructions to be executed by processor 710. Main memory 720 may also be used for storing temporary variables or other intermediate information during execution of instructions by processing unit 710.

The system also comprises in one embodiment a read only memory (ROM) 750 and/or static storage device 750 coupled to bus 740 for storing static information and instructions for processor 710. In one embodiment the system also includes a data storage device 730 such as a magnetic disk or optical disk and its corresponding disk drive, or Flash memory or other storage which is capable of storing data when no power is supplied to the system. Data storage device 730 in one embodiment is coupled to bus 740 for storing information and instructions.

The system may further be coupled to an output device 770, such as a cathode ray tube (CRT) or a liquid crystal display (LCD) coupled to bus 740 through bus 760 for outputting information. The output device 770 may be a visual output device, an audio output device, and/or tactile output device (e.g. vibrations, etc.)

An input device 775 may be coupled to the bus 760. The input device 775 may be an alphanumeric input device, such as a keyboard including alphanumeric and other keys, for enabling a user to communicate information and command selections to processing unit 710. An additional user input device 780 may further be included. One such user input device 780 is cursor control device 780, such as a mouse, a trackball, stylus, cursor direction keys, or touch screen, may be coupled to bus 740 through bus 760 for communicating direction information and command selections to processing unit 710, and for controlling movement on display device 770.

Another device, which may optionally be coupled to computer system 700, is a network device 785 for accessing other nodes of a distributed system via a network. The communication device 785 may include any of a number of commercially available networking peripheral devices such as those used for coupling to an Ethernet, token ring, Internet, or wide area network, personal area network, wireless network or other method of accessing other devices. The communication device 785 may further be a null-modem connection, or any other mechanism that provides connectivity between the computer system 700 and the outside world.

Note that any or all of the components of this system illustrated in FIG. 7 and associated hardware may be used in various embodiments of the present invention.

It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the particular machine which embodies the present invention may be configured in various ways according to the particular implementation. The control logic or software implementing the present invention can be stored in main memory 720, mass storage device 730, or other storage medium locally or remotely accessible to processor 710.

It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that the system, method, and process described herein can be implemented as software stored in main memory 720 or read only memory 750 and executed by processor 710. This control logic or software may also be resident on an article of manufacture comprising a computer readable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein and being readable by the mass storage device 730 and for causing the processor 710 to operate in accordance with the methods and teachings herein.

The present invention may also be embodied in a handheld or portable device containing a subset of the computer hardware components described above. For example, the handheld device may be configured to contain only the bus 715, the processor 710, and memory 750 and/or 720.

The handheld device may be configured to include a set of buttons or input signaling components with which a user may select from a set of available options. These could be considered input device #1 775 or input device #2 780. The handheld device may also be configured to include an output device 770 such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) or display element matrix for displaying information to a user of the handheld device. Conventional methods may be used to implement such a handheld device. The implementation of the present invention for such a device would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art given the disclosure of the present invention as provided herein.

The present invention may also be embodied in a special purpose appliance including a subset of the computer hardware components described above. For example, the appliance may include a processing unit 710, a data storage device 730, a bus 740, and memory 720, and no input/output mechanisms, or only rudimentary communications mechanisms, such as a small touch-screen that permits the user to communicate in a basic manner with the device. In general, the more special-purpose the device is, the fewer of the elements need be present for the device to function. In some devices, communications with the user may be through a touch-based screen, or similar mechanism. In one embodiment, the device may not provide any direct input/output signals, but may be configured and accessed through a website or other network-based connection through network device 785.

It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that any configuration of the particular machine implemented as the computer system may be used according to the particular implementation. The control logic or software implementing the present invention can be stored on any machine-readable medium locally or remotely accessible to processor 710. A machine-readable medium includes any mechanism for storing information in a form readable by a machine (e.g. a computer). For example, a machine readable medium includes read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash memory devices, or other storage media which may be used for temporary or permanent data storage. In one embodiment, the control logic may be implemented as transmittable data, such as electrical, optical, acoustical or other forms of propagated signals (e.g. carrier waves, infrared signals, digital signals, etc.).

In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.