Device location determined by wireless signals
View Patent ↗One embodiment provides a method, including: obtaining a list of detected wireless signals; determining, using a processor, that a previous list of detected wireless signals shares at least some commonality with the list of detected wireless signals; for common entries in the list, analyzing with a processor, a characteristic of an entry of the list of detected wireless signals and a characteristic of an entry of the previous list of detected wireless signals; establishing, if the similarity metric meets a criterion, an estimated location of a device; and requesting, from a third party location service, a device location if the similarity metric does not meet the criterion. Other aspects are described and claimed.
1. A method, comprising:
obtaining a list of wireless signals detected at an information handling device;
comparing, using a processor, the detected list of wireless signals against a database stored at a data storage location locally accessible by the information handling device and containing at least one list of previously detected wireless signals each having an associated location;
determining, using a processor, a similarity metric between the detected list of wireless signals and the database, wherein the determining comprises identifying a predetermined number of entries within the database, the predetermined number of entries being associated with a location, having a similarity to the list of obtained wireless signals and identifying at least one of entry associated with the location does not match the obtained list of wireless signals;
identifying, based upon the similarity metric meeting a criterion, an estimated location of the information handling device based upon the identified predetermined number of entries having a similarity to the obtained wireless signals and identifying the location associated with the identified entries in common;
identifying, based upon the similarity metric not meeting a criterion, a location of the information handling device by requesting the location from a third party service provider; and
updating, the data storage location locally accessible by the information handling device, the at least one entry associated with the location using at least one of: information received with the obtained list of wireless signals and information received from the third party service provider.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the database is stored on the device.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the device is a cloud server.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the database is shared with other devices.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the comparing comprises identifying entry overlap.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the similarity is based upon signal strength.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the criterion comprises a threshold.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the threshold is a statistical threshold and the statistical threshold includes two standard deviations.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the list of detectable wireless signals comprises a MAC address.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the list of detectable wireless signals comprises a wireless access point SSID.
11. An information handling device, comprising:
a processor;
a memory device that stores instructions executable by the processor to:
obtain a list of wireless signals detected at an information handling device;
compare the detected list of wireless signals against a database stored at a data storage location locally accessible by the information handling device and containing at least one list of previously detected wireless signals each having an associated location;
determine a similarity metric between the detected list of wireless signals and the database, wherein the determining comprises identifying a predetermined number of entries within the database, the predetermined number of entries being associated with a location, having a similarity to the list of obtained wireless signals and identifying at least one of entry associated with the location does not match the obtained list of wireless signals;
identify, based upon the similarity metric meeting a criterion, an estimated location of the information handling device based upon the identified predetermined number of entries having a similarity to the obtained wireless signals and identifying the location associated with the identified entries in common;
identify, based upon the similarity metric not meeting a criterion, a location of the information handling device by requesting the location from a third party service provider; and
update, the data storage location locally accessible by the information handling device, the at least one entry associated with the location using at least one of: information received with the obtained list of wireless signals and information received from the third party service provider.
12. The information handling device of claim 11 , wherein the database is stored on the device.
13. The information handling device of claim 12 , wherein the device is a cloud server.
14. The information handling device of claim 13 , wherein the database is shared with other devices.
15. The information handling device of claim 11 , wherein the comparing comprises identifying entry overlap.
16. The information handling device of claim 11 , wherein the similarity is based upon signal strength.
17. The information handling device of claim 11 , wherein the criterion comprises a threshold.
18. The information handling device of claim 17 , wherein the threshold is a statistical threshold and the statistical threshold includes two standard deviations.
19. The information handling device of claim 11 , wherein the list of detectable wireless signals comprises at least one of a MAC address and a SSID.
20. A product, comprising:
a storage device having code stored therewith, the code being executable by a processor and comprising:
code that obtains a list of wireless signals detected at an information handling device;
code that compares the detected list of wireless signals against a database associated with the information handling device and containing at least one list of previously detected wireless signals each having an associated location;
code that determines a similarity metric between the detected list of wireless signals and the database, wherein the determining comprises identifying a predetermined number of entries within the database, the predetermined number of entries being associated with a location, having a similarity to the list of obtained wireless signals and identifying at least one of entry associated with the location does not match the obtained list of wireless signals;
code that identifies, based upon the similarity metric meeting a condition, an estimated location of the information handling device based upon the identified predetermined number of entries having a similarity to the obtained wireless signals and identifying the location associated with the identified entries in common;
code that identifies, based upon the similarity metric not meeting a criterion, a location of the information handling device by requesting the location from a third party service provider; and
code that updates, the data storage location locally accessible by the information handling device, the at least one entry associated with the location using at least one of: information received with the obtained list of wireless signals and information received from the third party service provider.