# US 2013/0158867 A1 · Power-efficient activation of a device movement sensor module > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2013/0158867 A1 - Document ID: US20130158867A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 13/325,065 - Filed: 2011-12-14 - Published: 2013-06-20 - Earliest claimed: 2011-12-14 - Assignees: Microsoft Corporation - Inventors: Gursharan S. Sidhu; Sharad Agarwal - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20130158867A1 ## CPC - G01C 21/20: Instruments for performing navigational calculations (G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence) - G01C 21/12: executed aboard the object being navigated; Dead reckoning - G01C 21/28: with correlation of data from several navigational instruments - G01S 19/34: Power consumption - G01S 19/49: whereby the further system is an inertial position system, e.g. loosely-coupled - G01S 19/45: by combining measurements of signals from the satellite radio beacon positioning system with a supplementary measurement - G01S 19/46: the supplementary measurement being of a radio-wave signal type - G01S 19/47: the supplementary measurement being an inertial measurement, e.g. tightly coupled inertial - G01C: MEASURING DISTANCES, LEVELS OR BEARINGS; SURVEYING; NAVIGATION; GYROSCOPIC INSTRUMENTS; PHOTOGRAMMETRY OR VIDEOGRAMMETRY (measuring liquid level G01F; radio navigation, determining distance or velocity by use of propagation effects, e.g. Doppler effects, propagation time, of radio waves, analogous arrangements using other waves G01S) - G01S: RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION OR RERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES ## Abstract The functionality described herein allows a user device to determine an appropriate juncture at which to initiate processing within a GNSS dead zone in an energy-efficient manner. In one implementation, the functionality employs a sensor management module for determining when to activate a device movement sensor module provided by a user device. When activated, the user device uses the device movement sensor module to perform any environment-specific processing, such as a dead-reckoning process for determining incremental positions within the venue. Further, in a crowd-sourcing application, the user device may report the incremental positions together with beacon information to remote processing functionality. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method, performed by computing functionality, for managing a user device, comprising: identifying a region associated with a current position of the user device, to provide an identified region, the identified region corresponding to one of a plurality of regions, each region corresponding to a respective range of distances from a venue; selecting a probing technique associated with the identified region; performing the probing technique to determine a new current position of the user device; and repeating said identifying, selecting, and performing at least one additional time. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein said repeating is performed until it is determined, based on the new current position, that the user device has reached a region associated with the venue; and turning on a device movement sensor module of the user device when it is determined that the user device has reached the region associated with the venue. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, further comprising using at least a dead-reckoning technique within the venue to determine a series of positions that are traversed by the user device within the venue, based on output of the device movement sensor. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The method of claim 3, further comprising: collecting information regarding the positions determined by the dead-reckoning technique within the venue, together with beacon information associated with those incremental positions, to provide collected information; and sending the collected information to remote processing functionality. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the probing technique comprises: determining that functionality is invoked which assesses a position of the user device for a purpose that is unrelated to said probing, to provide an assessed position, the assessed position comprising the new current position of the user device. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the probing technique comprises: determining that a user has checked in at a particular site; and identifying a site position associated with the site, the new current position of the user device comprising the site position. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the probing technique comprises: receiving beacon information associated with at least one wireless signal source; comparing the beacon information with venue information associated with the venue, to provide a comparison result; and providing the new current position based on the comparison result. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the probing technique comprises: receiving a position from a global navigation satellite system (GNSS), to provide a GNSS-derived position, the new current position of the user device comprising the GNSS-derived position. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: detecting a wireless signal transmitted by a short-range beacon; and determining the current position of the user device based on a known position associated with the short-range beacon. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising generating positions using the probing technique at a frequency that depends on a distance between the user device and the venue. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising generating positions using the probing technique at a frequency that depends on a manner in which the user device is moving. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving venue information associated with a set of venues; and performing the method with respect to each venue identified in the set of venues. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a quota, the quota defining an amount of work to be performed by the user device in association with one or more information collection sessions; and terminating said performing of the probing technique if an amount of work that has been performed meets the quota. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining a battery level of the user device; and terminating said performing of the probing technique if the battery level is below a prescribed threshold. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: inferring a state of the user device; and terminating said performing of the probing technique if the state indicates that the user device is not moving. ### Claim 16 A sensor management module, implemented by computing functionality, for managing activation of a device movement sensor module provided by a user device, comprising: logic configured to receive venue information associated with at least one venue; logic configured to determine a current position of the user device using at least one probing technique; logic configured to turn on the device movement sensor module when it is determined, based on the current position, that a user has reached a prescribed region associated with the venue; and logic configured to activate at least a dead-reckoning technique to generate positions, using the device movement sensor module. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The sensor management module of claim 16, further comprising: logic configured to receive a quota, the quota defining an amount of work to be performed by the user device in association with one or more information collection sessions; and logic configured to provide collected information to remote processing functionality based on the positions generated by the dead-reckoning technique, providing that a current amount of work that has been performed is below the quota. ### Claim 18 A computer readable storage medium for storing computer readable instructions, the computer readable instructions providing processing functionality when executed by one or more processing devices, the computer readable instructions comprising: logic configured to determine a set of venues for at least one user device, each venue corresponding to a region in which the user device is asked to provide collected information, the collected information comprising positions in association with beacon information; logic configured to determine a quota for the user device, the quota defining an amount of work that the user device is allowed to perform in providing the collected information; logic configured to disseminate venue information and quota information to the user device, the venue information providing information regarding the set of venues assigned to the user device, and the quota information describing the quota assigned to the user device; and logic configured to receive collected information from the user device, the collected information being collected by the user device within at least one of the venues specified in the set of venues. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The computer readable storage medium of claim 18, further comprising logic configured to define at least one characteristic of venue information associated with at least one venue, based on crowd-sourced collected information received from a plurality of user devices. ### Claim 20 (depends on 18) The computer readable storage medium of claim 18, further comprising logic configured to confer at least one reward to a user associated with the user device in response to receipt of collected information from the user device, indicating that the user device has entered at least one venue in the set of venues assigned to the user device.