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A location beacon database and server, method of building location beacon database, and location based service using same. Wi-Fi access points are located in a target geographical area to build a reference database of locations of Wi-Fi access points. At least one vehicle is deployed including at least one scanning device having a GPS device and a Wi-Fi radio device and including a Wi-Fi antenna system. The target area is traversed in a programmatic route to avoid arterial bias. The programmatic route includes substantially all drivable streets in the target geographical area and solves an Eulerian cycle problem of a graph represented by said drivable streets. While traversing the target area, periodically receive the GPS coordinates of the GPS device. While traversing the target area, detecting Wi-Fi signals from Wi-Fi access points in range of the Wi-Fi device and recording identity information of the detected Wi-Fi access point in conjunction with GPS location information of the...

Inventors: Edward James Morgan, Farshid Alizadeh-Shabdiz, Russel Kipp Jones, Michael George Shean
Original Assignee: Skyhook Wireless, Inc.
Primary Examiner: Danh C Le
Attorney: Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr LLP
Current U.S. Classification: 455/456.1; 370/328; 455/433; 455/456.5; 701/533

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Citations

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Referenced by

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Claims

1. A database of Wi-Fi access points for at least one target area having a radius on the order of tens of miles, said database being recorded in a computer-readable medium and including database records for substantially all Wi-Fi access points in the target area, each record including identification information for a corresponding Wi-Fi access point and calculated position information for the corresponding Wi-Fi access point, wherein said calculated position information is obtained from recording multiple readings of the Wi-Fi access point at different locations around the Wi-Fi access point so that the multiple readings avoid arterial bias in the calculated position information of the Wi-Fi access point, and wherein the database records for substantially all Wi-Fi access points in the target area provide reference symmetry within the target area.

2. The database of claim 1 having database records for a plurality of target areas, said database records being organized by target areas.

Drawings