US009078230B2 (12) United States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 9,078,230 B2 Huang et al. (45) Date of Patent: *Jul. 7, 2015 (54) SELECTIVE LOCATION DETERMINATION (56) References Cited (71) Applicant: Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US) U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS 5,945.948 A 8, 1999 Buford et al. (72) Inventors: Ronald K. Huang, San Jose, CA (US); 6,584,314 B1* 6/2003 Haumont et al. .......... 455,435.1 Isabel Ge Mahe, Los Altos, CA (US); 7,627,545 B2 12/2009 Asher et al. Puneet Mishra, Santa Clara, CA (US) 2005/OO96991 A1 5/2005 Main, II et al. 2006/0O89157 A1 4/2006 Casey et al. (73) Assignee: Apple Inc., Cupertino, CA (US) 2006/0240840 A1 10/2006 Morgan et al. 2008/0200187 A1* 8, 2008 Lin et al. .................... 455,456.6 2009.0102712 A1 4/2009 Heffez (*) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this 2009/0177643 A1 7/2009 Gupta et al. patent is extended or adjusted under 35 2010, OO73229 A1 3/2010 Pattabiraman et al. U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days. This patent is Subject to a terminal dis FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS claimer. WO 2005/08.8991 9, 2005 (21) Appl. No.: 14/487,015 * cited by examiner Filed: Sep.15, 2014 (22) Primary Examiner — Marcos Batista (65) Prior Publication Data (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm — Fish & Richardson P.C. US 2015/OOO5O14 A1 Jan. 1, 2015 (57) ABSTRACT Related U.S. Application Data Methods, program products, and systems for selective loca (60) Continuation of application No. 13/801.934, filed on tion determination are described. A mobile device can deter Mar. 13, 2013, which is a division of application No. mine a location of the mobile device using various tech 12/851,500, filed on Aug. 5, 2010, now Pat. No. niques. When there is a conflict between the locations 8.447,326. determined using different techniques, the mobile device can select a most trustworthy location from the locations, and (60) Provisional application No. 61/321,838, filed on Apr. designate the most trustworthy location as a current location 7, 2010. of the mobile device. The mobile device can determine a first (51) Int. C. location of the mobile device (e.g., a coarse location) using a H04/24/00 (2009.01) cell identifier (cell ID) of a cellular network. The mobile H04764/00 (2009.01) device can determine a second location of the mobile device GOIS 5/02 (2010.01) (e.g., a fine location) using one or more media access control U.S. C. (MAC) addresses of a WLAN. The first location and second (52) location can be associated with confidence values that can CPC ............. H04 W 64/00 (2013.01); G0IS 5/0263 indicate trustworthiness of the first location and second loca (2013.01); H04W 24/00 (2013.01) tion. (58) Field of Classification Search USPC ........................................ 455/4.56.1; 370/338 See application file for complete search history. 12 Claims, 13 Drawing Sheets U.S. Patent Jul. 7, 2015 Sheet 1 of 13 US 9,078,230 B2 i. YaI 126 A 102 FIG. 1 U.S. Patent Jul. 7, 2015 Sheet 2 of 13 US 9,078,230 B2 FIG. 2A U.S. Patent Jul. 7, 2015 Sheet 4 of 13 US 9,078,230 B2 Baseband Subsystem Cellular TranSCeiver Cell LOCation Data Store 314 Baseband OS Application Subsystem Cell LOCation Calculator 308 Application Processor 304 Conflict ReSolver Application OS 306 WLAN LOCation Calculator WLAN Subsystem WLAN OS ACCeSS Point LOCation Data WLAN Transceiver Store 316 FIG. 3A U.S. Patent Jul. 7, 2015 Sheet 5 of 13 US 9,078,230 B2 342b U.S. Patent Jul. 7, 2015 Sheet 6 of 13 US 9,078,230 B2 ". Calculating an Average Geographic Location Using a Set of ACCess Point LOCations 352 Calculating Distances Between the Average Location and the ACCeSS Point LOCations in the Set 354 Excluding from the Set at Least One ACCess Point Location Based NO On a Distance Between the Average Geographic Location and the at Least One ACCeSS Point LOCation 356 ls Exit Condition Satisfied? YES Designating a Geographic Area as a WLAN LOcation of a Mobile Device 360 FIG. 3C U.S. Patent Jul. 7, 2015 Sheet 7 of 13 US 9,078,230 B2 ". Determining a first location of the mobile device using a first Subsystem of the mobile device, the first location being associated with a first confidence value 372 Determining a second location of the mobile device using a second Subsystem of the mobile device, the second location associated with a second confidence value 374 Based on the first confidence value and the second confidence value, designating one of the first location and the second location as the current location of the mobile device 376 FIG. 3D U.S. Patent Jul. 7, 2015 Sheet 8 of 13 US 9,078,230 B2 LOCation Server Data Collection Subsystem Raw LOCation Data Reception Data Store Component 404 410 Data Indexing Component Location Calculation Subsystem LOCation Calculator 416 Confidence Value Calculator 18 41 Data Distribution Subsystem Neighbor Locator 432 LOCation Data Store 430 FIG. 4A U.S. Patent Jul. 7, 2015 Sheet 9 of 13 US 9,078,230 B2 te, Receiving a set of raw locations from one or more location-aware mobile devices located in a cell of a cellular communications netw. Determining a cell location to be associated with the cell using the set of raw locations 444 Determining a confidence value of the cell location, the confidence value being a function of a number of device locations in the set 446 Providing the cell location in association with the confidence value to a mobile device 448 FIG. 4B U.S. Patent Jul. 7, 2015 Sheet 10 of 13 US 9,078,230 B2 l1 Carrier r 1234 PM 504 soa - 502 530 FIG. 5 U.S. Patent US 9,078,230 B2 S U1N (s)JOSS0001) Z09 909 U.S. Patent Jul. 7, 2015 Sheet 12 of 13 US 9,078,230 B2 700 Operating System Instructions 752 . Communication instructions 754. 717 756 ACCelerometer GUI Instructions 758 SensOr Processing Instructions 760 715 PhOne instructions 762 Electronic Messaging Instructions 764 716 Web Browsing Instructions 766 Media Processing Instructions 768 Magnetometer GPS/Navigation Instructions Cameraamera InstructiSUCIOS 772770 710 Magnetometer Data 774 Calibration Instructions 776 712 LOCation Instructions Light Sensor 714. Proximity Sensor 720 : Camera Subsystem 702 Peripherals Wireless 722 Interface Communication Subsystem(s) 704 728 Processor(s) 742 I/O Subsystem 744 740 TOUCh-SCreen COntroller Other input Controller(S) TOUCh SCreen Other input? Control Devices 746 748 FIG. 7 U.S. Patent Jul. 7, 2015 Sheet 13 of 13 US 9,078,230 B2 US 9,078,230 B2 1. 2 SELECTIVE LOCATION DETERMINATION The confidence value of the first location can be deter mined on a server. The server can include a location data store CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED that stores location identifiers (e.g., cell IDs), locations cor APPLICATIONS responding to the location identifiers, and confidence values corresponding to the locations. The server can determine the This application is a continuation of and claims priority to location for a location identifier using raw locations received U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/801,934, filed on Mar. 13, from location-aware mobile devices that are associated with 2013, which is a divisional of and claims the benefit under 35 the location identifier (e.g., mobile devices using a cell ID). U.S.C. S 120 of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/851,500, The server can determine a confidence value corresponding to filed Aug. 5, 2010, which claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. 10 the location based on a population of the raw locations, a S119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/321,838, stability of the location, a longevity of the location, and a filed on Apr. 7, 2010, the entire contents of each of which are freshness of the raw locations. incorporated herein by reference. The mobile device can determine the second location using 15 locations of access points that are within a communication TECHNICAL FIELD range of the mobile device. The mobile device can request This disclosure relates generally to determining a location and receive location information of the access points, loca of a mobile device. tions of other access points in a WLAN cell in which the access points are located, and locations of access points in BACKGROUND WLAN cells neighboring the WLAN cell. The mobile device can identify a WLAN location of the mobile device using the A modern mobile device can incorporate functions of a received location information and MAC addresses of the computer, of a cellular transceiver, or a wireless (e.g., access points that are within a communication range of the WiFiTM) transceiver. For example, the mobile device can per mobile device. form traditional computer functions, such as executing appli 25 Techniques of selective location determination can be cation programs, storing various data, and displaying digital implemented to achieve the following example advantages. A images. These functions can be performed in an application mobile device can determine a location of the mobile devices subsystem of the mobile device. The application subsystem using various reference points (e.g., cell towers of a cellular can include an application processor, an application operating communications network or access points of a WLAN) and system, and various input/output devices. 30 locations stored in association with location identifiers (e.g., When the mobile device functions as a cellular transceiver, identifiers of the reference points).