Resource location through location history
View Patent ↗A system and method are disclosed for locating resources available to portable electronic devices which are enabled for short range wireless communications. The system and method include creating and accessing a resource and access location history database accessible via the portable electronic device.
1. A computing device, comprising:
a radio frequency transceiver configured to detect a plurality of nearby wireless local area network access points;
a location determination circuit; and
a processing circuit configured to receive an address via the radio frequency transceiver from each of the detected plurality of nearby access points, to provide a location of each of the access points based on signals from the location determination circuit, and to store the addresses and associated locations in a database.
2. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the radio frequency transceiver operates according to an IEEE 802.11 standard and the addresses are MAC addresses.
3. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the location determination circuit comprises a global positioning system receiver.
4. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the location determination circuit is configured to triangulate the location of the access points.
5. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to provide signal strengths of signals received from the access points.
6. The computing device of claim 5 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to store a timestamp of detection of the nearby access points.
7. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to compress the addresses and associated locations in the database.
8. The computing device of claim 1 , further comprising the database, wherein the database is coupled to the computing device.
9. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the computing device is configured to transmit the addresses and associated locations through a wireless network to a remote site.
10. A method, comprising:
detecting wireless local area network access points using a radio frequency transceiver;
receiving address data from each of the detected access point via the radio frequency transceiver;
calculating location data for the access points using a location determination circuit; and
storing the location data and associated address data in a database.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the step of detecting comprises receiving signals according to an IEEE 802.11 standard and wherein the address data comprises MAC addresses.
12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the step of calculating location data comprises receiving signals from global positioning system satellites.
13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the step of calculating location data comprises triangulating a location.
14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising calculating signal strengths of signals received from the access points.
15. The method of claim 10 , further comprising storing timestamps based on times of detection of the wireless access points.
16. The method of claim 10 , further comprising compressing the addresses and associated locations in the database.
17. The method of claim 10 , further comprising storing the database of location data and associated address data on a network-based memory.
18. A mobile computing device configured to query a database generated by:
detecting wireless local area network access points using a radio frequency transceiver;
receiving address data from each of the detected access point via the radio frequency transceiver
calculating location data for the access points using a location determination circuit; and
storing the location data and associated address data in a database.
19. The mobile computing device of claim 18 , further comprising a mobile telephony circuit.
20. The mobile computing device of claim 18 , further comprising a housing configured to be carried in a hand during use.
21. The mobile computing device of claim 18 , wherein the mobile computing device is configured to query the database for location data.
22. The mobile computing device of claim 21 , wherein the mobile computing device is configured to display the location data on a graphical navigation tool.