Location-Based Services Using Geofences Generated from Learned Patterns of Movement

• Main Authors: HULL RICHARD B, LIEUWEN DANIEL FRANCIS, HO TIN KAM, MEEUWISSEN HENDRIK B, DINOFF ROBERT K, SANTOS PAULO A, REN HAOBO, KUMAR BHARAT
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 12.08.2010
• Subjects: ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE; ELECTRICITY; WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS

Location-based services are provided in a communication system comprising a wireless network. In one aspect, information indicative of location of a given mobile user device of the system is periodically collected. The collected location information is processed in a server or other processing device of the system to determine at least one normal pattern of movement of the mobile user device from at least a first location to a second location. An alert is generated if subsequent movement of the mobile user device from the first location to the second location exhibits a significant deviation from the normal pattern of movement. The normal pattern of movement may be used to generate a multidimensional geofence that includes, in addition to a geographic area dimension, at least one additional dimension such as, for example, a speed of movement dimension, a direction of movement dimension, a stop duration dimension, or a related device proximity dimension.