Method and system for inferring a location of a mobile computing device

A computer-based method for inferring a location of a mobile computing device, comprising the steps of:

• using the mobile computing device to periodically receive data from one or more wireless devices in radio communication with said mobile computing device;
• assigning an identification code to uniquely identify a radio of each wireless device in radio communication with said mobile computing device;
• storing each identification code in a database;
• periodically analyzing the stored identification codes to identify one or more defined locations, each such defined location being associated with one or more stored identification codes;
• receiving data from one or more wireless devices in radio communication with said mobile computing device in a given location at a subsequent time;
• assigning an identification code to uniquely identify a radio of each wireless device in the given location at the subsequent time;
• and
• comparing the identification codes in the given location at the subsequent time with those identification codes associated with each defined location in the database to determine if said mobile computing device is currently at one of the defined locations.

A computer-based system for inferring a location of a mobile computing device, comprising:

• a radio management module resident on a computer-readable medium of the mobile computing device for receiving data from one or more devices present in a given location;
• an identification code generation module resident on the computer-readable medium of the mobile computing device for assigning an identification code to each such device,
• a database interface module resident on the computer-readable medium of the mobile computing device for storing the identification code for each such device in a database;
• a location definition module resident on the computer-readable medium of the mobile computing device for identifying and defining frequented locations, which are also stored in the database;
• and
• an analysis module resident on the computer-readable medium of the mobile computing device for inferring that the mobile computing device is at a particular location based on comparing data received through said radio management module to frequented locations stored in the database.