# US 9,438,677 B2 · Method and apparatus for analysis of user traffic within a predefined area > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 9,438,677 B2 - Document ID: US9438677B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 14/253,787 - Filed: 2014-04-15 - Published: 2014-08-14 - Granted: 2016-09-06 - Earliest claimed: 2010-08-24 - Assignees: Euclid, Inc. - Applicants: Euclid Inc. - Inventors: Kenneth Man-Kin Leung; William Tolbert Smith; Steve Lawrence Wilhelm - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US9438677B2 ## CPC - H04L 67/12: specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks - H04W 4/02: Services making use of location information - G01S 3/023: {Monitoring or calibrating} - G01S 5/0009: {Transmission of position information to remote stations (involving assistance data G01S5/0236)} - G01S 5/0284: {Relative positioning} - G01S 5/0294: {Trajectory determination or predictive filtering, e.g. target tracking or Kalman filtering} - G01S 11/06: using intensity measurements - G06Q 10/063: Operations research, analysis or management - G06Q 50/40: Business processes related to the transportation industry (shipping G06Q10/083) - H04B 17/318: Received signal strength - H04B 17/373: Predicting channel quality {or other radio frequency [RF]} parameters - H04W 4/023: {using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds} - H04W 4/025: {using location based information parameters} - H04W 4/38: for collecting sensor information - H04L 63/0428: {wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload} - H04L 67/303: Terminal profiles - H04L 67/535: {Tracking the activity of the user (network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34)} - H04W 4/021: Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences - H04W 4/80: Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication - H04W 12/02: Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII] - H04W 12/71: Hardware identity - H04W 64/00: Locating users or terminals {or network equipment} for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) - 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 - G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR - H04B: TRANSMISSION ## Abstract Multiple packets are received that were transmitted by multiple mobile electronic device sensors located in a predefined area. The packets each include data detected by the sensors of multiple mobile electronic devices. At least a portion of the collected data is stored including multiple unique device identifiers that belong to multiple mobile electronic devices. Responsive to determining that at least two of the unique device identifiers are sequential, a set of values based on the at least two unique devices identifiers are associated as belonging to a same one of the mobile electronic devices. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method, comprising: receiving a set of packets from at least one mobile electronic device sensor located in a predefined area, wherein the set of packets includes data detected by the at least one sensor of at least a first mobile electronic device; storing at least a portion of the data that is included in the set of packets as a stored portion of data, wherein the stored portion of data includes a plurality of unique device identifiers that belong to the first mobile electronic device; determining that at least two of the unique device identifiers are sequential; responsive to determining that at least two of the unique device identifiers are sequential, associating a set of values based on the at least two unique device identifiers as belonging to a same first mobile electronic device; determining a set of one or more device locations that the first mobile electronic device has been based at least in part on the data detected by the at least one sensor for the at least two unique device identifiers; and assigning attribute information to a device profile based on demographic data of a set of one or more physical locations that correlate to the set of device locations, wherein the device profile is created for the first mobile electronic device. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the stored portion of data further includes detection times of the at least one mobile electronic device, and wherein prior to associating the at least two unique device identifiers, determining that the at least two unique device identifiers were detected within a predefined period of time. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the set of values includes encrypted versions of the at least two unique device identifiers. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein associating the at least two unique device identifiers includes performing the following: encrypting each of the at least two unique device identifiers; and associating each of the at least two encrypted unique device identifiers as belonging to the first mobile electronic device. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: storing those unique identifiers in fall the device profile. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one sensor is selected from the group consisting of a WiFi detector, a Bluetooth receiver, and a Radio Frequency (RF) receiver. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile electronic device is selected from the group consisting of a WiFi enabled device, a cellular phone, and a Bluetooth enabled device. ### Claim 8 An apparatus in a data processing center, comprising: a set of one or more processors; a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium that stores instructions, that when executed by the set of processors, cause the set of processors to perform the following: receive a set of packets from at least one mobile electronic device sensor located in a predefined area, wherein the set of packets includes data detected by the at least one sensor of at least a first mobile electronic device; store at least a portion of the data that is included in the set of packets as a stored portion of data wherein the stored portion of data includes a plurality of unique device identifiers that belong to the first mobile electronic device; determine that at least two of the unique device identifiers are sequential; responsive to a determination that at least two of the unique device identifiers are sequential, associate a set of values based on the at least two unique device identifiers as belonging to a same first mobile electronic device; determine a set of one or more device locations that he first mobile electronic device has been based at least in part on the data detected by the at least one sensor for the at least two unique device identifiers; and assign attribute information to a device profile based on demographic data of a set of one or more physical locations that correlate to the set of device locations, wherein the device profile is created for the first mobile electronic device. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the stored portion of data further includes detection times of the at least one mobile electronic device, and wherein prior to an association of the at least two unique device identifiers, the set of processors are further to determine that the at least two unique device identifiers were detected within a predefined period of time. ### Claim 10 (depends on 8) The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the set of values includes encrypted versions of the at least two unique device identifiers. ### Claim 11 (depends on 8) The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the set of processors is configured to associate the at least two unique device identifiers by performing the following: encrypting each of the at least two unique device identifiers; and associating each of the at least two encrypted unique device identifiers as belonging to the first mobile electronic device. ### Claim 12 (depends on 8) The apparatus of claim 8, further comprising instructions that when executed by the set of processors, cause the set of processors to store those unique identifiers in the device profile. ### Claim 13 (depends on 8) The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the at least one sensor is selected from the group consisting of a WiFi detector, a Bluetooth receiver, and a Radio Frequency (RF) receiver. ### Claim 14 (depends on 8) The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the mobile electronic device is selected from the group consisting of a WiFi enabled device, a cellular phone, and a Bluetooth enabled device.