Technical Field

The present invention relates to a system and method for reducing time intervals of providing location information which increase due to precision filters in the event that precision of location information received from location services such as GPS (Global Positioning System) in mobile devices decrease in accordance with environmental conditions.

Background of the Invention

Today, due to the fact that use of smart devices such as smart phones has become widespread, usage areas of positioning services provided by these devices such as GPS increase as well. Positioning services are used in many fields such as sharing location, following daily activities and directions in instant messaging and social sharing applications. The fact that positioning services have high precision because of using real-time measurements in applications such as follow-up of daily activities, has importance.

GPS has a common use as a positioning service due to its precision and coverage area in mobile devices. However, GPS -which can generate location information by interpreting signals that it receives from a plurality of multiple satellites- is affected by many environmental conditions such as cloudy weather, inhibitory factors like high buildings and trees, being in indoor or outdoor areas. This reduces user experience in applications which perform real-time location tracking and give output to the user visually. In applications included in the state of the art, location information are passed through some filters in order that no zigzag image occurs due to measurement precision when GPS location data are presented to the user by means of an interface. An accuracy filter is a commonly used filter; the deviation amount in the location is measured in accordance with a certain limit and the location data are not taken into account if the deviation amount is over the specified limit. However, location update of the user can be performed on the interface at long time intervals because many location data are eliminated due to the filter if the limit value specified for the accuracy filter is not set accurately according to actual speed of the user. In this case, the user experience of real-time location tracking is affected negatively.

Accuracy limit is set in accordance with the average values of the specific number of measurements that are received most recently in order to increase the validity of the accuracy filter. However, the accuracy limit set by the average is over a specific value in this case in the event that the user waits in an indoor area for a length of time. In this case, it seems as if the user is going strolls within a certain area although his/her location does not change.

Due to these reasons, a system and method for creating consistent position visuals and enabling to reduce update intervals by processing GPS data such that user experience is enhanced is needed.

The United States patent document no. US2014378160, an application in the state of the art, discloses a method for determining speed values by using latitude, longitude and timestamp information collected from measurement points of location determination services and for preventing erroneous position data by controlling validity of speed values. The Chinese patent document no. CN105652300, another application in the state of the art, discloses a method for controlling and correcting GPS data in accordance with specific speed constraint data.

Summary of the Invention

An objective of the present invention is to realize a system and method which categorizes the speed data, that are obtained from the location information received from the positioning services, according to specific speed ranges and controls the validity of the current location information of the target user and/or the vehicle according to consistency of the historical speed data.

Detailed Description of the Invention

“A System and Method for Compensating for Reduction of Measurement Precision in Location Services” realized to fulfil the objective of the present invention is shown in the figure attached, in which:

Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram of the inventive system.

Figure 2 is a flow chart of the inventive method.

The components illustrated in the figures are individually numbered, where the numbers refer to the following:

1. System

2. Mobile device

3. User interface unit

4. Signal receiving unit

5. Storage unit

6. Evaluation unit 100. Method

The inventive system (1) which categorizes the speed data, that are obtained from the location information received from the positioning services, according to specific speed ranges and controls the validity of the current location information of the target user and/or the vehicle according to consistency of the historical speed data comprises:

at least one mobile device (2) which runs at least one application that configures specific contents in order to present them to users by using location information;

at least one user interface unit (3) which is located on the mobile device (2) and enables to display the contents that are created by the location application running on the mobile device (2), to the user; at least one signal receiving unit (4) which receives the satellite signals that are positioned on the mobile device (2) and creates the location information that comprise the latitude, longitude and timestamp information by interpreting the related satellite signals;

at least one storage unit (5) which keeps the location information and the speed information that are obtained from the location information, under record with relation to specific segment information; at least one evaluation unit (6) which receives the location information that are created by the signal receiving unit (4); determines the speed value by using the location information received by thereof and the previous location information that it receives from the storage unit (5); determines the segment information of the speed value determined by thereof in accordance with the definition information that it receives from the storage unit (5); transmits the determined speed and the related segment information to the storage unit (5); controls the segment information associated with the specific number of historical speed information at first from the latest location information received in the event that the application running on the mobile device (2) requests location information and presents the latest location information received to the access of the application running on the mobile device (2) in the event that they are within the same segment and/or the neighbour segments (Figure 1).

The mobile device (2) included in the inventive system (1) is a device such as smart phone carried by users. The mobile device (2) comprises at least one user interface unit (3) which enables to display the content to the users; at least one signal receiving unit (4) which creates the location information by receiving the satellite signals; at least one storage unit (5) which keeps the location, the speed information, the segment information associated with the speed information and the segment definition information under record; and at least one evaluation unit (6) which creates the speed information by using the location information, determines the segment information associated with the speed information and controls the validity of the location information in accordance with the segment information. The mobile device (2) runs at least one application which creates a specific content by receiving the location information from the evaluation unit (6) and enables to display the related content to the user by means of the user interface unit (3).

In one embodiment of the invention, the application running on the mobile device (2) enables to display information such as the route and the current location of the user on the user interface unit (3) by combining the map information that it receives from the remote servers by means of the hardware comprised by the mobile device (2) and the location information that it receives from the evaluation unit (6) in order to display the real-time location information to the user.

The user interface unit (3) included in the inventive system (1) is a unit which enables to display the contents that are created by the application running on the mobile device (2), to the user. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the user interface unit (3) comprises a screen whereby the visual contents are displayed and a control unit which enables to create visual items on the screen by receiving and processing the commands created by the application running on the mobile device (2).

The signal receiving unit (4) included in the inventive system (1) is a unit which is located on the mobile device (2) and obtains the latitude, the longitude and the related timestamp information by receiving the satellite signals. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the signal receiving unit (4) is a GPS module which receives GPS satellite signals. The signal receiving unit (4) determines the latitude, longitude and timestamp information by processing the satellite signals received and transmits the determined information to the evaluation unit (6).

The storage unit (5) included in the inventive system (1) is a unit which keeps the location, segment and speed information under record. The storage unit (5) is in communication with the evaluation unit (6) and it keeps the location information transmitted by the evaluation unit (6), under record in association with the timestamp information. Besides, the storage unit (5) keeps the segment information -that is the tag information corresponding to the specific speed ranges defined by authorized users- under record and transmits the related segment information to the evaluation unit (6) in the event that the evaluation unit (6) makes a request. The storage unit (5) keeps the speed data transmitted by the evaluation unit (6) and the segment information related to the speed data, under record.

The evaluation unit (6) included in the inventive system (1) is a unit which controls the location validity by carrying out evaluation according to the speed data. The evaluation unit (6) receives the last location data received from the storage unit (5) when it receives the new location data from the signal receiving unit (4). The evaluation unit (6) obtains the speed information by using the information of distance and time difference that it determines according to the information of latitude, longitude difference by using two location data. Upon determining the speed information, the evaluation unit (6) determines the segment thereof according to the range wherein the speed information determined by it is located by controlling the defined segment information that it receives from the storage unit (5) and it transmits the segment information associated with the speed information to the storage unit (5).

The evaluation unit (6) determines the location information which are used by the application running on the mobile device (2). When the application running on the mobile device (2) creates a location information request, the evaluation unit (6) receives the specific number of the most recent speed and the related segment information included in the storage unit (5). The evaluation unit (6) controls the segment information of the specific number of the data received. The evaluation unit (6) allows the application running on the mobile device (2) to access the last location information received in the event that the segment information of the speed data received are same, they are the segment information representing the close speed ranges or they are suitable for one and/or several defined models. In one embodiment of the invention, the evaluation unit (6) provides the location information -validities of which are controlled- to the application running on the mobile device (2) with a certain period by using the specific number of location measurements realized at certain time intervals and the related speed data.

With the inventive system (1), transactions of controlling the segmentation and the location validity of the speed data created by using the historical location data are carried out in order to compensate the increase of the measuring ranges as a result of the precision changes of the accuracy filters and the location information in applications providing real-time location information to the users by means of mobile devices. In the said system (1), it is controlled whether the speed data are suitable for a certain model or not according to different segments that represent the speed ranges which are obtained as a result of experimental data and that can be increased/decreased. Thereby, the problem of extension of measuring ranges - affecting the user experience negatively due to accuracy filters- is overcome due the fact that the location data can be updated at certain periods.

The inventive method (100) which categorizes the speed data, that are obtained from the location information received from the positioning services, according to specific speed ranges and controls the validity of the current location information of the target user and/or the vehicle according to consistency of the historical speed data comprises steps of:

the signal receiving unit (4) receiving the satellite signals and obtaining the location information comprising the latitude, longitude and timestamp information by processing (101);

- the signal receiving unit (4) transmitting the location information to the evaluation unit (6) (102);

the evaluation unit (6) determining the speed information in accordance with the distance and time difference between the latitude, longitude data by using the location data that are transmitted by the signal receiving unit (4) and the most recent location data that are received from the storage unit (5) (103);

the evaluation unit (6) determining the segment according to the range valued wherein the speed information is included and transmitting the speed and the related segment information to the storage unit (5) by using the segment information received from the storage unit (5) (104); in the event that the application running on the mobile device (2) transmits a location information request, the evaluation unit (6) controlling whether the segment information are suitable for a specific model and/or models or not by receiving the specific number of the most recent speed and the related segment information from the storage unit (5) (105);

if the segment information are suitable for a specific model and/or models, the evaluation unit (6) presenting the latest location information received to the access of the application running on the mobile device (2) (106);

if the segment information are not suitable for a specific model and/or models, the evaluation unit (6) presenting the previous location information filtered by the accuracy filter to the access of the application running on the mobile device (2) (107);

the application running on the mobile device (2) combining the location information with the other contents and transmitting them to the user interface unit (3) (108);

the user interface unit (3) enabling to display the visual content to the user (109).

With the inventive method (100), transaction steps of controlling the segmentation and the location validity of the speed data created by using the historical location data are carried out in order to compensate the increase of the measuring ranges as a result of the precision changes of the accuracy filters and the location information in applications providing real-time location information to the users by means of mobile devices.

It is possible to develop various embodiments of inventive method (1) and the system (100), the invention cannot be limited to examples disclosed herein and it is essentially according to claims.