Indoor detection by smartphone without using GPS information to conserve power
AssigneeT-Mobile Innovations LLC
InventorsAntoine Tran, Po-Han Wu, Doug Francis Kiely, Jie Hui
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Abstract
Systems and methods are provided for determining that the device is not reporting precise location information, based on output from one or more sensors determining that the device is located indoors and determining the altitude of the device. Based on the determination that the device is located indoors, suspending precise location services until it is determined that the device is back outdoors.
Claims17
A method for determining a location of a device, the method comprising:
- determining that the device is not reporting precise location information;
- based on output from one or more sensors determining that the device is located indoors;
- and
- instructing the device to suspend precise location services on the device,
- wherein the one or more sensors include a magnetic sensor that assesses an orientation of the device in comparison to a light source to determine if the light source is natural light or artificial light.
A system for determining a location of a device, the system comprising:
- one or more processors;
- and
- one or more non-transitory computer storage hardware devices storing computer-usable instructions that, when used by the one of more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
- based on data from one or more sensors associated with the device, determine that the device is located indoors;
- and
- based on the device being located indoors, suspend, for a pre-determined period of time, precise location services on the device,
- wherein the one or more sensors comprise a magnetic sensor that comprises a compass that detects a direction of sunlight based on a time of day and compares the direction of sunlight to a light source to determine if the light source is natural light or artificial light.
One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-usable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the processors to:
- based on data from one or more sensors associated with the device, determine that the device is located indoors;
- based on the device being located indoors, suspend, for a pre-determined period of time, precise location services on the device;
- and
- display an indication to a mobile network operator with a recommendation to deploy a small cell within a structure associated with an indoor location of the device.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.