Human mobility rule-based device location tracking
Techniques are presented herein to provide human mobility pattern based modeling and tracking of a group of network enabled user devices associated with the same person. An association is made, at a tracking device, between a plurality of user devices and a user. Location information for each of the plurality of user devices is derived through network activity of the plurality of user devices. Locations for the plurality of user devices are derived from the location information. One or more predetermined user mobility pattern rules are applied to the plurality of user devices. User anomalies are detected when the tracked locations indicate that one or more of the plurality of user devices has violated one or more the predetermined user mobility rules.
1. A method comprising:
associating, at a tracking device, a plurality of network enabled user devices with a user;
deriving location information for each of the plurality of network enabled user devices through activity of the plurality of network enabled user devices on a network;
tracking locations for the plurality of network enabled user devices from the derived location information;
applying one or more predetermined user mobility pattern rules to the plurality of network enabled user devices; and
detecting a user anomaly when the tracked locations indicate that a first of the plurality of network enabled user devices has violated one or more of the predetermined user mobility rules; and
transferring application services from the first of the plurality of network enabled user devices to a second of the plurality of network enabled user devices in response to detecting the user anomaly.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein associating the plurality of network enabled user devices with the user comprises determining that one or more of the plurality of network enabled user devices has logged into the network with a login associated with the user.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein associating the plurality of network enabled user devices with the user comprises clustering the plurality of network enabled user devices based on mobility cross entropy.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a device type for each of the plurality of network enabled user devices.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein applying the one or more predetermined user mobility rules comprises applying a rule indicating that mobile network enabled user devices associated with the user, when changing location, are located with the user.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein applying the one or more predetermined user mobility rules comprises applying a rule indicating that mobile network enabled devices associated with the user may change location, but two or more of the mobile network enabled devices cannot simultaneously move in different directions when changing location.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a main location of the user in response to tracking locations for each of the plurality of network enabled user devices.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein applying the one or more predetermined user mobility rules comprises applying a rule indicating that when two or more mobile network enabled devices move from the main location of the user, the two or more mobile network enabled devices will return to the main location at the same time.
9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising disabling network access for one or more of the plurality of network enabled user devices in response to detecting the user anomaly.
10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending a message to the second of the plurality of network enabled user devices in response to determining the user anomaly associated with the first of the plurality of network enabled devices.
11. The method of claim 1 , wherein tracking locations for the plurality of network enabled user devices comprises applying density based location tag partitioning to the location information.
12. An apparatus comprising:
a network interface unit configured to enable network communications;
a memory; and
a processor coupled to the network interface unit and the memory, wherein the processor is configured to:
associate a plurality of network enabled user devices with a user;
derive location information for each of the plurality of network enabled user devices through activity of the plurality of network enabled user devices on a network;
track locations for the plurality of network enabled user devices from the derived location information;
apply one or more predetermined user mobility pattern rules to the plurality of network enabled user devices;
detect a user anomaly when the tracked locations indicate that a first of the plurality of network enabled user devices has violated one or more of the predetermined user mobility rules; and
transfer application services from the first of the plurality of network enabled user devices to a second of the plurality of network enabled user devices in response to detecting the user anomaly.
13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the processor is configured to apply the one or more predetermined user mobility rules by applying a rule indicating that mobile network enabled devices associated with the user may change location, but two or more of the mobile network enabled devices cannot simultaneously move in different directions when changing location.
14. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to associate the plurality of network enabled user devices with the user through determining that one or more of the plurality of network enabled user devices has logged into the network with a login associated with the user.
15. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to associate the plurality of network enabled user devices with the user through clustering the plurality of network enabled user devices based on mobility cross entropy.
16. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to track locations for the plurality of network enabled user devices by applying density based location tag partitioning to the location information.
17. A tangible, non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to:
associate a plurality of network enabled user devices with a user;
derive location information for each of the plurality of network enabled user devices through activity of the plurality of network enabled user devices on a network;
track locations for the plurality of network enabled user devices from the derived location information;
apply one or more predetermined user mobility pattern rules to the plurality of network enabled user devices;
detect a user anomaly when the tracked locations indicate that a first of the plurality of network enabled user devices has violated one or more of the predetermined user mobility rules; and
transfer application services from the first of the plurality of network enabled user devices to a second of the plurality of network enabled user devices in response to detecting the user anomaly.
18. The computer readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to associate the plurality of network enabled user devices with the user through determining that one or more of the plurality of network enabled user devices has logged into the network with a login associated with the user.
19. The computer readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to associate the plurality of network enabled user devices with the user through clustering the plurality of network enabled user devices based on mobility cross entropy.
20. The computer readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the instructions further cause the processor to track locations for the plurality of network enabled user devices by applying density based location tag partitioning to the location information.