System and method for aggregating information to determine users' locations
View Patent ↗Provided is a system and method that acquires and aggregates information to determine the location of a user. Information from multiple sources is collected and evaluated. Location sources include mobile electronic devices such as mobile telephones, cell phones, hand-held computers, personal digital assistants, pagers, Global Positioning System (GPS) devices, and other pervasive computing devices. Satellite-based or network-based positioning technologies make it possible to determine the geographic location of these wireless electronic devices and their corresponding user. Location sources also include computer-based models, schedules or calendars that give a particular user's expected location depending on the date and time. Provided is a method for aggregating information to determine a user's location. Also provided is a system for executing the claimed method. Also provided is as a set of instructions on a computer-usable medium, or resident in a computer system, for executing the claimed method.
1. A method for aggregating location information, said method comprising:
acquiring location data from a plurality of location sources, wherein each location source of the plurality of location sources corresponds to a different mobile device of a plurality of mobile devices and each mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices corresponds to a particular user;
creating a collection of said location data regarding said user;
calculating a location of said user from the collection of said location data; and
converting said location data from said location sources to a single format.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of said location sources is a two-way pager, and said single format is one implemented in extensible markup language (XML).
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of said location sources is a wireless LAN hub, and said single format is one implemented in extensible markup language (XML).
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein said location data are updated continuously.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
said acquiring further comprises acquiring location data regarding more than one user;
said creating further comprises creating collections of said location data regarding more than one user, organized by user; and
said calculating a location further comprises calculating a location of each user of the more than one users.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein said acquiring further comprises converting said location data from said location sources to a single format.
7. The method of claim 6 , wherein at least one of said location sources is a two-way pager, and said single format is one implemented in XML.
8. The method of claim 6 , wherein at least one of said location sources is a wireless LAN hub, and said single format is one implemented in XML.
9. The method of claim 5 , wherein said location data are updated continuously.
10. An information handling system for aggregating location information, said information handling system comprising:
means for acquiring location data regarding a user from a plurality of location sources, wherein each location source of the plurality of location sources corresponds to a different mobile device of a plurality of mobile devices and each mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices corresponds to said user;
means for creating a collection of said location data regarding said user;
means for calculating a location of said user from the collection of said location data and;
means for converting said location data from said location sources to a single format.
11. The information handling system of claim 10 , wherein at least one of said location sources is a two-way pager, and said single format is one implemented in XML.
12. The information handling system of claim 10 , wherein at least one of said location sources is a wireless LAN hub, and said single format is one implemented in XML.
13. The information handling system of claim 10 , wherein said location data are updated continuously.
14. The information handling system of claim 10 , wherein:
said means for acquiring further comprises means for acquiring location data regarding more than one user;
said means for creating further comprises means for creating collections of said location data regarding more than one user, organized by user; and
said means for calculating a location of said user further comprises means for calculating a location for each user of the more than one user.
15. The information handling system of claim 14 , wherein said means for acquiring further comprises means for converting said location data from said location sources to a single format.
16. The information handling system of claim 15 , wherein at least one of said location sources is a two-way pager, and said single format is one implemented in XML.
17. The information handling system of claim 15 , wherein at least one of said location sources is a wireless LAN hub, and said single format is one implemented in XML.
18. The information handling system of claim 14 , wherein said location data are updated continuously.
19. An information handling system for aggregating location information, said information handling system comprising:
a communication device communicating with a network;
a storage device;
an output device;
a system bus; and
a processor, coupled by said system bus to said communication device, said storage device, and said output device, said processor programmed to implement a method comprising:
acquiring location data regarding a user from a plurality of location sources, wherein each location source of the plurality of location sources corresponds to a different mobile device of a plurality of mobile devices and each mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices corresponds to said user;
converting said location data from said location sources to a single format;
creating a collection of said location data regarding said user; and
updating said location data continuously.
20. The information handling system of claim 19 , said processor being programmed to implement a method wherein:
said acquiring further comprises acquiring location data regarding more than one user, and;
said creating further comprises creating collections of said location data regarding more than one user, organized by user.
21. A computer-usable medium having computer-executable instructions, comprising:
means for acquiring location data regarding a user from a plurality of location sources, wherein each location source of the plurality of location sources corresponds to a different mobile device of a plurality of mobile devices and each mobile device of the plurality of mobile devices corresponds to said user;
means for creating a collection of said location data regarding said user;
means for calculating a location of said user based upon the collection of said location data; and
means for converting said location data from said location sources to a single format.
22. The computer-usable medium of claim 21 , wherein at least one of said location sources is a two-way pager, and said single format is one implemented in XML.
23. The computer-usable medium of claim 21 , wherein at least one of said location sources is a wireless LAN hub, and said single format is one implemented in XML.
24. The computer-usable medium of claim 21 , wherein said location data are updated continuously.
25. The computer-usable medium of claim 21 , wherein:
said means for acquiring further comprises means for acquiring location data regarding more than one user;
said means for creating further comprises means for creating collections of said location data regarding more than one user, organized by user; and
said means for calculating a location of said user further comprises means for calculating a location for each user of the more than one user.
26. The computer-usable medium of claim 25 , wherein said means for acquiring further comprises means for converting said location data from said location sources to a single format.
27. The computer-usable medium of claim 26 , wherein at least one of said location sources is a two-way pager, and said single format is one implemented in XML.
28. The computer-usable medium of claim 26 , wherein at least one of said location sources is a wireless LAN hub, and said single format is one implemented in XML.
29. The computer-usable medium of claim 25 , wherein said location data are updated continuously.