Method, device, and computer program product for scheduling tour guiding resources

An electronic device, comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• a memory coupled to the at least one processor, wherein the memory has instructions stored therein that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to perform actions for scheduling tour guiding resources in a mobile network, the mobile network comprising a core network layer, an edge computing layer, and a wireless access layer, the edge computing layer comprising a plurality of edge devices disposed between the core network layer and the wireless access layer, the wireless access layer comprising a plurality of mobile terminals and one or more base stations configured for wireless communication with the mobile terminals, the actions comprising:
• acquiring, in at least one of the core network layer and the edge computing layer of the mobile network, a plurality of historical routes of movement of a plurality of historical users in a geographic area, wherein a historical route in the plurality of historical routes comprises at least a portion of a plurality of locations in the geographic area;
• tracking a plurality of current positions of a plurality of users in the geographic area by processing, in at least the wireless access layer, signals associated with respective mobile terminals of the plurality of users, wherein the tracking comprises repeatedly collecting the current positions of the users from their respective mobile terminals over time via the one or more base stations of the wireless access layer;
• determining, in at least one of the core network layer and the edge computing layer of the mobile network, based on the plurality of historical routes and the plurality of current positions of the plurality of users in the geographic area, a set of predicted locations among the plurality of locations that the plurality of users will visit in the future, respectively, wherein the set of predicted locations is updated over time based on changes in the current positions of the users as collected from their respective mobile terminals;
• selecting, in at least one of the core network layer and the edge computing layer of the mobile network, a set of popular locations from the set of predicted locations based on a number of users among the plurality of users who will visit each predicted location in the set of predicted locations;
• and
• scheduling, in at least one of the core network layer and the edge computing layer of the mobile network, tour guiding resources associated with the set of popular locations, wherein the tour guiding resources associated with the set of popular locations are stored at one or more of the core network layer and the edge computing layer in the mobile network;
• wherein the determining and selecting further comprise:
• generating a predicted next location for each of the plurality of users, utilizing one or more conditional probabilities determined based on one or more previous locations;
• aggregating the predicted next locations across the plurality of users;
• ranking the aggregated predicted next locations;
• and
• selecting one or more portions of the tour guiding resources associated with the set of popular locations based on the aggregated predicted next locations;
• wherein the scheduling further comprises:
• sending, in response to determining in a resource scheduler of the edge computing layer that at least one of the one or more selected portions of the tour guiding resources associated with the set of popular locations has not already been pre-loaded into the edge computing layer, a request from the resource scheduler of the edge computing layer to a core network manager of the core network layer for obtaining the at least one of the one or more selected portions of the tour guiding resources associated with the set of popular locations;
• and
• pre-loading the at least one of the one or more selected portions of the tour guiding resources, obtained by the resource scheduler of the edge computing layer from the core network manager of the core network layer in response to the request from the resource scheduler of the edge computing layer, into one or more particular ones of the edge devices of the edge computing based on the ranking of the aggregated predicted next locations;
• and
• repeating the sending and pre-loading based on the updating of the set of predicted locations;
• and
• wherein the actions further comprise:
• providing, in response to a fetch request from a given one of the mobile terminals of a given one of the users, a portion of the tour guiding resources associated with a current position of the given user from the one or more particular edge devices of the edge computing layer to the given mobile terminal.

A computer program product that is tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium and comprises machine-executable instructions, wherein the machine-executable instructions when executed by at least one device cause the at least one device to perform a method for scheduling tour guiding resources in a mobile network, the mobile network comprising a core network layer, an edge computing layer, and a wireless access layer, the edge computing layer comprising a plurality of edge devices disposed between the core network layer and the wireless access layer, the wireless access layer comprising a plurality of mobile terminals and one or more base stations configured for wireless communication with the mobile terminals, the method comprising:

• acquiring, in at least one of the core network layer and the edge computing layer of the mobile network, a plurality of historical routes of movement of a plurality of historical users in a geographic area, wherein a historical route in the plurality of historical routes comprises at least a portion of a plurality of locations in the geographic area;
• tracking a plurality of current positions of a plurality of users in the geographic area by processing, in at least the wireless access layer, signals associated with respective mobile terminals of the plurality of users, wherein the tracking comprises repeatedly collecting the current positions of the users from their respective mobile terminals over time via the one or more base stations of the wireless access layer;
• determining, in at least one of the core network layer and the edge computing layer of the mobile network, based on the plurality of historical routes and the plurality of current positions of the plurality of users in the geographic area, a set of predicted locations among the plurality of locations that the plurality of users will visit in the future, respectively, wherein the set of predicted locations is updated over time based on changes in the current positions of the users as collected from their respective mobile terminals;
• selecting, in at least one of the core network layer and the edge computing layer of the mobile network, a set of popular locations from the set of predicted locations based on a number of users among the plurality of users who will visit each predicted location in the set of predicted locations;
• and
• scheduling, in at least one of the core network layer and the edge computing layer of the mobile network, tour guiding resources associated with the set of popular locations, wherein the tour guiding resources associated with the set of popular locations are stored at one or more of the core network layer and the edge computing layer in the mobile network;
• wherein the determining and selecting further comprise:
• generating a predicted next location for each of the plurality of users, utilizing one or more conditional probabilities determined based on one or more previous locations;
• aggregating the predicted next locations across the plurality of users;
• ranking the aggregated predicted next locations;
• and selecting one or more portions of the tour guiding resources associated with the set of popular locations based on the aggregated predicted next locations;
• wherein the scheduling further comprises:
• sending, in response to determining in a resource scheduler of the edge computing layer that at least one of the one or more selected portions of the tour guiding resources associated with the set of popular locations has not already been pre-loaded into the edge computing layer, a request from the resource scheduler of the edge computing layer to a core network manager of the core network layer for obtaining the at least one of the one or more selected portions of the tour guiding resources associated with the set of popular locations;
• pre-loading the at least one of the one or more selected portions of the tour guiding resources, obtained by the resource scheduler of the edge computing layer from the core network manager of the core network layer in response to the request from the resource scheduler of the edge computing layer, into one or more particular ones of the edge devices of the edge computing layer based on the ranking of the aggregated predicted next locations;
• and
• repeating the sending and pre-loading based on the updating of the set of predicted locations;
• and
• wherein the method further comprises:
• providing, in response to a fetch request from a given one of the mobile terminals of a given one of the users, a portion of the tour guiding resources associated with a current position of the given user from the one or more particular edge devices of the edge computing layer to the given mobile terminal.