Energy-efficient location determination

Abstract

A location management system identifies points of interest that may be of interest to one or more users. The location management system defines a geofence boundary encompassing a particular point of interest. When the location management system determines that the user device is inside the geofence boundary—but not, for example, when the location management system determines that the user determines that the user device is outside the geofence boundary—the location management system instructs the user device to determine wireless signals available to the user device. The location management system then receives wireless signal data from the user device for available wireless signals. By matching the received wireless signal data to known wireless signals available at the identified points of interest, the location management system determines that the user device (and hence the user) is at the point of interest.

1 - 20 . (canceled) 
     
     
         21 . A computer implemented method to initiate wireless signal detection modules of user computing devices, comprising:
 by one or more computing devices:
 determining that a user computing device is located proximate to a particular point of interest; and, 
 in response to determining that the user computing device is located proximate to the particular point of interest, communicating, by the one or more computing devices, instructions to the user computing device to invoke a wireless signal detection module of the user computing device to scan for wireless signal data in accordance with the instructions. 
   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising:
 receiving particular wireless signal data for a particular wireless signal from the user computing device after receipt of the particular wireless signal data by the wireless signal detection module associated with the user computing device, the particular wireless signal data comprising a wireless device identifier associated with the particular wireless signal;   determining, based on the particular wireless signal data, that the particular wireless signal available to the user computing device and comprising the particular wireless device identifier is associated with the particular point of interest; and   determining, in response to determining that the particular wireless signal is associated with the particular point of interest, that the user computing device is at the particular point of interest.   
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the user computing device is determined to be proximate to the particular point of interest when the user computing device is inside a geofence boundary encompassing the particular point of interest. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23 , wherein the geofence boundary is created by the one or more computing devices. 
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein determining that the particular wireless signal is associated with the particular point of interest comprises:
 identifying, by the one or more computing devices, one or more wireless signals that are available at each of the one or more of the plurality of points of interest, each of the one or more wireless signals comprising a respective wireless device identifier;   associating, by the one or more computing devices and in a record for the plurality of points of interest, the identified one or more wireless device identifiers with the one or more points of interest where the corresponding wireless signal is available;   reading, by the one or more computing devices, the content of the received particular wireless signal data comprising the particular wireless device identifier;   comparing, by the one or more computing devices, the particular wireless device identifier with the record of the plurality of points of interest comprising corresponding wireless device identifiers;   identifying, by the one or more computing devices and based on the comparison of the particular wireless device identifier with the record of the plurality of points of interest comprising corresponding wireless device identifiers, a match between the particular wireless device identifier and the particular wireless device identifier in the record; and   associating, by the one or more computing devices and in response to identifying the match for the particular wireless device identifier in the record for the point of interest, the received particular wireless signal with the particular point of interest.   
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein communicating the instructions to the user computing device to invoke a wireless signal detection module in response to determining that the user computing device is proximate to the particular point of interest results in reduced energy consumption of the user computing device. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein determining that the user computing device is proximate to the particular point of interest comprises receiving, by the one or more computing devices, a notification from the user computing device that the user computing device is proximate to the particular point of interest. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising communicating, by the one or more computing devices and in response to determining that the user computing device is at the particular point of interest, instructions to the user computer device to cease invoking the wireless signal detection module. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the wireless signal data for the particular wireless signal that is available to the user computing device comprises a Wi-Fi wireless local area network (WLAN) signal, a Bluetooth signal, a near field communication (NFC) signal, or combinations thereof. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 22 , wherein the particular wireless device identifier comprises a media access control (MAC) address associated with the Wi-Fi wireless local area network (WLAN) signal. 
     
     
         31 . A computer implemented method to initiate wireless signal detection modules of user computing devices, comprising:
 by one or more computing devices:
 determining that the user computing device is located inside a geofence boundary encompassing a particular point of interest; and 
 in response to determining that the user computing device is located inside the geofence boundary encompassing the particular point of interest, communicating instructions to the user computing device to invoke a wireless signal detection module associated with the user computing device. 
   
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31 , further comprising receiving, in response to invoking the wireless signal detection module associated with user computing device, wireless signal data for a particular wireless signal from the user computing device after receipt of the particular wireless signal data by the wireless signal detection module associated with the user computing device, wherein the availability of the wireless signal to the user computing device at the point of interest provides an indication that the user computing device is at the point of interest. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 32 , further comprising determining, based on the indication that the user computing device is at the point of interest, that the user computing device is at the point of interest. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 33 , further comprising providing an alert on the user computing device in response to determining that the user computing device is at the point of interest. 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein determining that the user computing device is inside the geofence boundary comprises receiving a notification from the user computing device that the user computing device is at or inside the geofence boundary. 
     
     
         36 . A computer implemented method to initiate wireless signal detection modules of user computing devices, comprising:
 by a user computing device:
 determine that the user computing device is located proximate to a particular point of interest; and 
 invoke a wireless signal detection module of the user computing device to scan for wireless signal data in accordance with the instructions in response to determining that the user computing device is located proximate to the particular point of interest. 
   
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 36 , further comprising:
 receiving, by one or more computer devices, particular wireless signal data for a particular wireless signal from the user computing device after receipt of the particular wireless signal data by the wireless signal detection module associated with the user computing device, the particular wireless signal data comprising a wireless device identifier associated with the particular wireless signal;   determine, by the one or more computer devices based on the particular wireless signal data, that the particular wireless signal available to the user computing device and comprising the particular wireless device identifier is associated with the particular point of interest; and   determine, by the one or more computer devices in response to determining that the particular wireless signal is associated with the particular point of interest, that the user computing device is at the particular point of interest.   
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 36 , wherein the user computing device is determined to be proximate to the particular point of interest when the user computing device is inside a geofence boundary encompassing the particular point of interest. 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 36 , further comprising:
 receiving, in response to communicating the wireless signal data to a location management system; and   providing an alert on the user computing device, wherein the alert comprises an audible alert, a vibration, a visible alert, or a combination thereof.   
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 39 , further comprising deactivating the wireless signal detection module in response to determining that the user computing device is at the particular point of interest.