Method and apparatus for detecting and predicting motion of mobile terminals

An apparatus for predicting a next location of a mobile terminal based on previous locations of the mobile terminal comprising:

• a memory for storing sequences of previous locations of the mobile terminal;
• means, in communication with the memory, for comparing a current sequence that includes the current location of the mobile terminal and a plurality of previous locations of the mobile terminal to each of a plurality of stored sequences;
• means for selecting one of the stored sequences based on at least one quantitative measure of a degree of matching between the current sequence and each stored sequence;
• and
• means for generating a prediction of the next location of the mobile terminal based on the selected one of the stored sequences.

A method of predicting movements of a mobile terminal comprising the steps of:

• (a) comparing a current sequence that includes the current location of the mobile terminal and a plurality of previous locations of the mobile terminal to each of a plurality of stored sequences that each include previous locations of the mobile terminal;
• (b) determining at least one quantitative measure of a degree of matching between the current sequence and each stored sequence;
• and
• (c) if the at least one quantitative measure exceeds a predetermined value, using the locations of the respective stored sequence as predictions of the movements of the mobile terminal.

A method of determining regular patterns in movements of a mobile terminal comprising the steps of:

• (a) comparing a current location of the mobile terminal to each of a plurality of previous locations stored in a queue of a plurality of previous locations, the previous locations being stored in the queue in first-in-first-out order of occurrence;
• (b) if the current location matches one of the plurality of previous locations stored in the queue, marking a sequence of locations comprising the current location, the previous location that matches the current location, and the previous locations that occurred after the previous location that matches the current location;
• (c) comparing the marked sequence to each of a plurality of stored sequences of locations and determining at least one quantitative measure of a degree of matching between the marked sequence and each stored sequence;
• and
• (d) if the at least one quantitative measure exceeds a predetermined value, increasing a priority parameter of the respective stored sequence by a predetermined amount.

An apparatus for determining regular patterns in movements of a mobile terminal comprising:

• a memory for storing a queue of a plurality of previous locations of the mobile terminal, the previous locations being stored in the queue in first-in-first-out order of occurrence;
• first means for comparing a current location of the mobile terminal to each of the plurality of previous locations stored in the queue;
• means for marking a sequence of locations comprising the current location, the previous location that matches the current location, and the previous locations that occurred after the previous location that matches the current location if the current location matches one of the plurality of previous locations stored in the queue;
• second means for comparing the marked sequence to each of a plurality of stored sequences of locations and for determining at least one quantitative measure of a degree of matching between the marked sequence and each stored sequence;
• and
• means for increasing a priority parameter of the respective stored sequence by a predetermined amount when the at least one quantitative measure exceeds a predetermined value.

A method of determining regular patterns in movements of a mobile terminal comprising the steps of:

• (a) determining whether a current location of the mobile terminal is at least one of a stationary state and a boundary state;
• (b) marking a sequence of locations comprising the current location, one of the most recent previous stationary state and the most recent previous boundary state, and previous locations that occurred between the one of the most recent previous stationary state and the most recent previous boundary state;
• (c) comparing the marked sequence to each of a plurality of stored sequences of locations and determining at least one quantitative measure of a degree of matching between the marked sequence and each stored sequence;
• and
• (d) if the at least one quantitative measure exceeds a predetermined value, increasing a priority parameter of the respective stored sequence by a predetermined amount.

An apparatus for determining regular patterns in movements of a mobile terminal comprising:

• means for determining whether a current location of the mobile terminal is at least one of a stationary state and a boundary state;
• means for marking a sequence of locations comprising the current location, one of the most recent previous stationary state and the most recent previous boundary state, and previous locations that occurred between the one of the most recent previous stationary state and the most recent previous boundary state;
• means for comparing the marked sequence to each of a plurality of stored sequences of locations and for determining at least one quantitative measure of a degree of matching between the marked sequence and each stored sequence;
• and
• means for increasing a priority parameter of the respective stored sequence by a predetermined amount if the at least one quantitative measure exceeds a predetermined value.

In a cellular radiotelephone system having a plurality of base stations and a mobile terminal, each base station transmitting respective control information on a respective control channel, an apparatus for prioritizing the base stations for a connection between the mobile terminal and a base station comprising:

• means for predicting next locations of the mobile terminal based on previous locations of the mobile terminal, wherein the predicting means includes:
• a memory for storing sequences of previous locations of the mobile terminal;
• means, in communication with the memory, for comparing a current sequence that includes the current location of the mobile terminal and a plurality of previous locations of the mobile terminal to each of a plurality of stored sequences;
• means for selecting one of the stored sequences based on at least one quantitative measure of a degree of matching between the current sequence and each stored sequence;
• and
• means for generating predictions of the next locations of the mobile terminal based on the selected one of the stored sequences;
• and
• means for scanning the control channels of a plurality of the base stations and for maintaining a priority list of information concerning the scanned control channels;
• wherein the scanning means scans the control channels based on the predictions generated by the predicting means.