Hierarchical Grid Region Identification for Mobile Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing location determination systems, such as GPS, do not provide sufficient information about a mobile device's location within specific geographical regions, making it difficult to determine if the device is within a particular area, such as a store or commercial district, and are computationally intensive due to methods like Ray Casting.
Innovation Solution
A computationally efficient method using a hierarchical grid system to determine if a mobile device is within a predetermined geographical region by converting location coordinates to cell identifiers, allowing for efficient searching within a set of signed integer numbers, and utilizing a database to match cell identifiers with region definitions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If Ray Casting method is used to determine whether a point is within a polygon, then location region identification can be achieved, but computational complexity increases significantly due to floating point number computations
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the continuous geographical space into discrete grid cells with integer coordinates. By segmenting the location determination problem into discrete grid cell identification rather than continuous coordinate analysis, the system achieves region identification without requiring complex floating-point computations. Each grid cell is represented by simple integer coordinates that can be efficiently compared and searched.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the geometric Ray Casting method (which relies on floating-point trigonometric computations) with a grid-based coordinate system approach. This substitution eliminates the need for complex mathematical computations by using simple integer arithmetic and database lookups to determine region membership.
2Loss of information
If GPS coordinates are used to represent mobile device location, then location determination is achieved, but sufficient information about specific geographical regions (store, home, commercial district) is not provided
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces grid cells as an intermediary layer between GPS coordinates and geographical regions. Instead of directly mapping coordinates to regions, the system first converts coordinates to grid cell identifiers, then uses these identifiers to determine region membership. This intermediary approach preserves location information while enabling efficient region context identification.
Solution Approach 2:
The grid cell system serves multiple functions: it represents precise location information, enables region identification, and provides a framework for various location-based services. The same grid infrastructure supports multiple applications including region detection, proximity services, and location analytics without requiring separate systems for each function.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods including a mobile device determining the coordinates of its location using a location determination system, such as a global positioning system. A database stores the identifiers of cells representative of predefined regions in a hierarchical grid system. A server computer or the mobile device converts the coordinates of the location to one or more cell identifiers at different grid resolution levels and searches the database to find a match between the cell identifiers representing the regions and the cell identifiers representing the location of the mobile device to determine one or more regions in which the mobile device is located. For example, the hierarchical grid system can be constructed in a longitude latitude space of location coordinates, with resolution levels aligned with decimal precision levels of the location coordinates; and the cell identifiers can be constructed from the digits of the longitude and latitude coordinates.