Location Alert Messaging via Hybrid Positioning
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing communication network systems often send alert messages to users outside the intended geographical area due to cell coverage limitations, leading to inaccurate targeting of recipients, especially in emergency or promotional scenarios where precision is crucial.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that utilize a combination of passive and active positioning techniques to identify communication devices within a defined alert area by overlapping cells, ensuring alert messages are sent only to devices within the specific geographical region.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Area of stationary object
If Cell Broadcasting (CB) with Short Message Service (SMS) is used to broadcast alert messages to users within identified cells, then the coverage area is expanded, but the measurement precision of user location is reduced causing messages to be sent to users outside the intended alert area
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the user identification process into two stages: first identifying all users in overlapping cells using passive positioning, then filtering to identify only users within the precise alert area using active positioning. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by applying different positioning methods to different precision requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs partial action by first broadcasting to a superset (all users in overlapping cells) and then filtering to the exact target set (users within alert area boundaries). This approach ensures no potential recipient is missed while eliminating false positives outside the alert area.
2Reliability
If alert messages are sent to all users in identified cells to ensure complete coverage, then the reliability of alert delivery is improved, but the loss of information increases due to irrelevant messages being sent to users outside the alert area
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses feedback from active positioning results to verify and refine the recipient list. By checking whether actively positioned users fall within the alert area boundaries, the system feedback-adjusts the final recipient set to ensure both complete coverage of legitimate recipients and exclusion of irrelevant users.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary passive positioning to identify all potential recipients before the actual alert broadcast, then uses active positioning as a preliminary filter to confirm which of those users are actually within the alert area. This preliminary filtering prevents irrelevant messages from being sent.
3Device complexity
If passive positioning alone is used to identify users in cells, then the device complexity is reduced, but the manufacturing precision of user location identification is insufficient to accurately determine users within the alert area
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges two positioning methods (passive and active positioning) into a hybrid system. Passive positioning provides initial user identification with lower complexity, while active positioning adds the necessary precision for accurate alert area determination. The combination achieves high accuracy without requiring the entire system to be as complex as pure active positioning.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and a system for sending alert messages are provided. The method includes defining an alert area associated with an alert event. The method further identifies one or more cells at least partially overlapping with the alert area. The method furthermore performs a passive positioning to determine a first set of communication devices associated with the one or more cells. Thereafter, the method performs an active positioning on the first set of communication devices to identify a second set of communication devices present within the alert area. The method then sends an alert message to the second set of communication devices.