Patent Publication Number: US-2013252638-A1

Title: Real-Time Determination of User Stays of a Mobile Device

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This patent application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/649,246, filed May 19, 2012, and is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/278,396, titled “Location Based User Behavior Analysis and Applications”, filed Oct. 21, 2011, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/406,198, filed Oct. 25, 2010, which are herein all incorporated by reference. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE DESCRIBED EMBODIMENTS 
     The described embodiments relate generally to location-based services. More particularly, the described embodiments relate to methods, systems and apparatuses for real-time determination of user stays of a mobile device. 
     BACKGROUND 
     There is an increasing need to automatically monitor a mobile device user&#39;s location and other behavior, understand the user&#39;s habits and interests, and provide intelligent personal assistance to the user based on the user&#39;s habits and interests obtained through location based behavior analysis. Presently, location based services include manual check-ins. For a manual check-in, the user opens an application on their mobile device manually, and indicates that they are at a specific business. 
     In the area of location-based services, a check-in represents a single visit by a user to a location or place on the earth. One of the main problems with checking in is check-in fatigue. The fact that most popular social networks require users to manually enter their location makes them pretty tedious considering there is often little to no reward. FourSquare, Facebook or Google Latitude have developed check-in technology based on geo-fencing and background location monitoring that can trigger some interesting applications by getting close. However, this type of solution is not generative, which require users to input his favorite places into the system in advance. It cannot be applied to a new place that is not in the scope of existing places database of the user. 
     Additionally, location-based searches are manual. That is, the user conducts a search of some business using keyword, such as “restaurant”, and the application returns results that are the closest to the user&#39;s current location. 
     Other location-based service includes mobile social applications wherein, for example, friends are shown on a map. However, that services and applications are limited because they can&#39;t accurately determine the point of the interest the user is at, hard to disambiguate between multiple points of interest near each other. Generally, current local business or POI search is only using the spatial data as input, which does not generally provide enough information to accurately determine the point of interest. 
     It is desirable to have a method, apparatus and system for real-time determination of user stays of a mobile device. 
     SUMMARY 
     An embodiment includes a computer-implemented method of real-time determination of user stays of a mobile device. The method includes receiving, by a server, an incoming stream of location point information of the mobile device. Further, the method includes continuously calculating, by the server, a current centroid of a current user stay based on a location point of a start time of the current user stay, each location point occurring between the start time and a current incoming location point, until an outlier location point is detected, wherein the outlier is detected if located more than a threshold distance away from the current centroid. 
     Another embodiment includes a system for real-time determination of user stays of a mobile device. The system includes a mobile device operative to generate a stream of location point information of the mobile device. The system further includes an upstream server electronically connected to the mobile device. Further, at least one of the mobile device or the upstream server are operative to continuously calculate a current centroid of a current user stay based on a location point of a start time of the current user stay, each location point occurring between the start time and a current incoming location point, until an outlier location point is detected, wherein the outlier is detected if located more than a threshold distance away from the current centroid. 
     Another embodiment includes an upstream server operative to receive a stream of location point information of a mobile device, and continuously calculate a current centroid of a current user stay based on a location point of a start time of the current user stay, each location point occurring between the start time and a current incoming location point, until an outlier location point is detected, wherein the outlier is detected if located more than a threshold distance away from the current centroid. 
     Other aspects and advantages of the described embodiments will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the described embodiments. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows an example of a map that depicts locations traveled by an individual that further depicts points of interest of the user. 
         FIG. 2  shows an example of a mobile device that the disclosed embodiments for determining user stays of the user of the mobile device are operable, according to an embodiment. 
         FIG. 3  shows a time-line of locations of the mobile device, which can be used for determining user stays of the user of the mobile device, according to an embodiment. 
         FIG. 4  shows a time-line of user stays of the mobile device, which can be used for providing services to the user of the mobile device, according to an embodiment. 
         FIG. 5A  shows a time sequence of location data points that are used to identify a user stay, according to an embodiment. 
         FIG. 5B  shows a spatial and temporal representation of the location points, according to an embodiment. 
         FIG. 6  is a flow chart that includes steps of an example of a computer-implemented method of real-time determination of user stays of a mobile device, according to an embodiment. 
         FIG. 7  is a flow chart that includes steps of a continuous place detection engine using location data of a mobile device of a user, according to an embodiment. 
         FIG. 8  is a flow chart that includes steps of continuous user stay refinement processing, according to an embodiment. 
         FIG. 9  is a flow chart that includes steps of a method of place detection, according to an embodiment. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The described embodiments include methods, systems and apparatuses for real-time determination of user stays of a mobile device. At least some of the described embodiments include place detection by continuous and successive centroid refinement and clustering from a stream of location data. 
     The described embodiments advantageously include sequential processing with linear computational complexity, which can be used as a continuous running engine in, for example, the cloud for quickly mining large GPS (or other location) data set from millions of mobile users. Processing of the described embodiments can be developed as a client-side incremental location sensing engine. Further, at least some embodiments include processing of location (such as, GPS) data by continuously calculating location centroids and clustering a potential user stay out of input data stream at the same time, and then merging the current user stay with previously discovered user stays if possible. At least some of the described embodiments use network location points to help clustering and improve the time interval estimation of user stay. Further, processing of at least some of the described embodiments include coarse location processing to detect a user&#39;s places at large scale, and then repeating with finer location processing to extract a detailed user places at a small scale. The same clustering methods can be used to do sub-clustering in a successive approach. This property greatly matches user&#39;s location habits and interests from a geographical point of view, usually from big regions to small places. 
     Some existing systems require and leverage a user input. Such systems give a user an incentive to register a place name on their mobile software every time the user enters a place of interest or significance. That is, the existing systems are relatively primitive and require a user input specifying the time when the user stayed at a place or what that place is, or both. In contrast, the described embodiments do not require a user input and, for the most part, automatically detect the fact that the user stayed proximate to a location (for at least some embodiments, the coupling proximity, time and place is referred to as a “user stay”). That is, at least some embodiments include determining a user stay without real-time input by the user of the mobile device. That is, any user inputs are displaced from the time and place at which the user stay is being determined, or the time and place at which the user inputs are received do not influence the user stay determination. 
     For at least some embodiments, a user stay of a user of the mobile device is defined by the mobile device being within the specific distance (which for at least some embodiments, is determined by a threshold physical distance) of a location for at least the specific minimal duration (which can also be defined by a threshold period of time). As described, the location of the mobile device changes over time, and the specific location changes over time as the locations of the mobile changes. The location of the mobile device is tracked over time. A distance of the mobile device can be defined by the distance of each location point (such as, GPS data point) associated with the mobile device to a location, such as, the specific location. The minimal time duration can be defined by the amount of time the mobile device is within the specific distance (or threshold distance) from the specific location. 
     As previously stated, for at least some embodiments, the specific location adaptively changes over time as the mobile device moves. At least some embodiments include determining the specific location by statistically calculating the specific location based on a plurality of locations of the mobile device over a period of time. For an embodiment, the period of time is determined based on the start time and the end time. As will be described, the statistical calculation can include the determination of a centroid. 
     An embodiment includes associating a Point of Interest (POI) with the specific location, and adaptively determining the specific distance based on the POI. An embodiment includes adaptively determining the specific minimum time duration based on the POI. For an embodiment, at least one of the specific distance or the specific minimum time duration is determined by accessing a look up table based on the POI. 
     For at least some embodiments, the POI is defined as a specific point location or place that someone may find useful or interesting. There can be at least two types of POIs: public POIs (e.g. stores, parks) that one can obtain from POI database services, and personal POIs (e.g. home, friend&#39;s home) that are personal to a mobile user. As described, the specific distance and the specific minimum time duration can adaptively change based on an identified POI associated with the user stay. For example, the specific distance and the specific minimum time duration associated with a physically large POI (such as, a convention hall or sports stadium) can be quite different than the specific distance and the specific minimum time duration associated with physically small POI (such as, a small shop or residence). 
     A POI can have several properties, such as latitude and longitude, a name (e.g., Olive Garden), a category (for instance, restaurant), and a subcategory (for example, Italian cuisine). A POI can be of different sizes, and can have a hierarchical structure. For example, a POI can be a big park, such as Yosemite. Inside the park, there can be smaller POIs, such as a hotel or a restaurant. Furthermore, a POI can be associated with an event name (for example, a concert of Beatles, or a baseball game in a stadium, a seminar on cooking). 
     For at least some of the embodiments described, a user stay is defined as an event in which a specific user visits a specific POI at a specific time. For embodiments, each user stay has attributes including reference to the POI, start time of the visit, duration of the visit, and the device (as a proxy of the user) that detects the visit. A user stay can be detected by clustering user location data continuously collected by the mobile device of a user, computing the cluster&#39;s centroid, and then matching it to a nearby POI. In addition to its geographical presence, a user stay can include temporal presence, such as events scheduled at the specific POI. For example, the POI like a stadium can have football game on Friday, a concert on Saturday, and a baseball game on Sunday. For at least some embodiments, such an event is defined as an event of interest (EOI), which can be an attribute of a user stay. 
     For at least some embodiments, the determinations of user stays and the user&#39;s points of interest are automatic. That is, user stay and/or POI determination processing is automatically executed without the user proactively or reactively providing input. For some embodiments, the determination of the user&#39;s user stays and/or POIs does not require manual input from the user. The processing can be performed in the background, and operate on persistently collected sensor data (optionally uploading the data to a server). For an embodiment, a background-processing algorithm determines the user stay and/or POI. Note, all or portions of the user stay and/or POI determination algorithms can run on both mobile client side (the mobile device) and server side (a server connected to the mobile device through a network). Other embodiments include semi-automatic processing in which a user&#39;s input or feedback can optionally be included with the processing to improve the process. For example, user inputs, such as correcting or adding or deleting a user stay and/or POI, can be used as important feedback information to boost the performance of overall user stay and/or POI determination processing. 
     For some embodiments, the processing is performed (at the mobile device and/or at the server) in real-time, and for some embodiments the processing includes post-processing. For real-time processing, the user stay and/or POI determination is made with a short delay (e.g. 10 seconds or a minute) after the user arrives at the user stay and/or POI, with a determination deadline being adaptively specified depending on the application. For post-processing, the user stay and/or POI determination is made beyond the short delay (or without a deadline). 
     For at least some embodiments, a current state of a user is defined as the user&#39;s current location, time and what the user is doing. Furthermore, the current state can include user stays of that user within a predetermined time window before a present time, wherein the predetermined time window has variable length dependent upon application requirements and the location behavior being observes. For example, the time window of current state can be past few seconds, past hour, this morning (or afternoon), today, this week, or this month etc. As a result, the location of current state can be the POI (e.g. a restaurant) the user is staying right now if the time window is a few seconds or a larger area (e.g. San Francisco) in case the time window is past few days. 
     Embodiments include tracking user stays of the user over time, wherein the user stays include at least one location and creating a user profile for the user based at least in part on at least one of an arrival time, a duration or a frequency of visits of the user at each of the user stays. For at least some embodiments, the user profile is defined as the results of location based user behavior analysis. For at least some embodiments, the user profile includes the fundamental statistics, such as the number of visits, the time of visit, and the average and total duration of all visits to one POI. Furthermore, for at least some embodiments the user profile includes location behavior patterns learned from the fundamental statistics. For example, it includes user&#39;s location preference, such as which POIs or EOIs a user visits often, at what time of the day and/or day of week, user&#39;s location transitions between different POIs, and user preferred routes between POIs according to trail information. For example, the statistical transitions can include one-step location behavior change, such as the user visiting place A after place B, or multi-step location behavior change, visiting place A after place B and then going to place C. In addition, for at least some embodiments, the user profile includes user manually input preferences. The user profile includes characteristics of the user. One characteristic of the user includes a history of locations of interest of the user. For at least some embodiments, the user profile includes the statistics of the categories and subcategories of the POIs and EOIs the user has visited. 
       FIG. 1  shows an example of a map that depicts locations traveled by an individual that further depicts points of interest (or user stays). A line  110  depicts the locations traveled by the user. During the travels of the user, the user visits various points of interest. Based on the visited locations, additional points of interest can be recommended and/or suggested to the user. The locations traveled and the time spent at or between locations can be used to identify user stays of the user. 
     The trail of the user can be marked by differing speeds (depicted by varying thickness of the line  110 ) of travel between points of interest. The travel speed can be used as one piece of information in the determination of trails of interest. 
     A series of points of interest (such as shown in  FIG. 1 ) can be termed a “trail of interest”. The trail of interest includes a sequence of location data points. Embodiments of each location data point can include the attributes of latitude, longitude, altitude, speed and/or a timestamp. More specifically, an embodiment of a trail of interest is defined by a plurality of points of interest of the user. For an embodiment, a frequency and/or speed of the user between points of interest is used to determine a level of importance of the trail. For example, if a user travels along one part of a trail (or route) frequently, with low speed (meaning it is a local street, rather than high way, which can be verified by using a geo-database), then some types of services along the this part of the trail can be recommended to the user, with the expectation that it is more likely for the user to use the service, because it is easier for the user to stop by the service. For an embodiment, the level of importance is included within a user profile. 
       FIG. 2  shows an example of a mobile device that the disclosed embodiments for determining user stays of the user of the mobile device are operable, according to an embodiment. For embodiments, user location data is continuously collected from the mobile device over time. The data can consist of multiple streams of sensor data with timestamps. 
     Spatial information (such as, longitude, latitude, altitude) of the user can be determined by a location sensing system, such as a global positioning system (GPS),  220  and/or network-based location, such as location determined by cellular and/or WiFi networks of the mobile device  200 . Based on the spatial information, a controller  210  (or another controller connected to the controller  210 ) of the mobile device  200  can roughly determine locations of the user. GPS, however, can be limited because the exact location or the actual business (point of interest) visited by the user may not determinable from GPS alone. Embodiments provide alternate or additional pieces of location information as determined by the controller  210 , or a controller electronically connectable to the controller  210 . 
     Signals sensed by a motion sensor (for example, an accelerometer)  240  can be used to provide additional user-related information. That is, for example, the GPS  220  may be precise enough to narrow down the identification of a location of interest to three businesses. The signals generated by the motion sensor  240  can provide an indication of activity of the user, which can be used to additionally identify a location of interest. For example, when a department store (e.g. Walmart®) is located next to a cafe (e.g. Starbucks®), the user&#39;s motion pattern can be used to disambiguate between the two POI (points of interest), Walmart and Starbucks. If the user&#39;s motion pattern indicates that the user has been walking around most of the time, then the probability that the user visited the department store is higher. On the other hand, if the user&#39;s motion pattern indicates that the user has been sitting still most of the time, then the probability that the user visited the cafe is higher. 
     Images captured by a camera  230  of the mobile device  200  can be used to provide additional user-related information. That is, for example, signs on business proximate to the user&#39;s location can be used to determined points of interest. 
     Audio signals sensed by a microphone  250  of the mobile device  200  can be used to provide additional user-related information. That is, for example, loud noise versus quiet noise in the background of a user&#39;s location can be used to aid in determination of points of interest. For example, because the noise level in a library is usually low, if the noise level is low, then the probability that the user is in a library is higher than the probability that user is in a restaurant. 
     Direction of the user can be determined by, for example, a compass  270  of the mobile device  200 . The compass  270  can provide present or historical directions of the user. The directions of the user can be used to aid in the determination of points of interest. 
     Rotation of the user can be determined by, for example, a gyroscope  272  of the mobile device  200 . The gyroscope  272  can provide present or historical rotation of the mobile device of that the user carries. The rotation of the mobile device of the user can be used to aid in the determination of points of interest. 
     An ambient temperature of the user can be determined by, for example, a thermometer  274  of the mobile device  200 . The thermometer  274  can provide present or historical ambient temperatures of the user. The temperature of the user can be used to aid in the determination of points of interest. For example, temperature can be used to determined whether the user is or was outside versus inside. 
     Exposure to ambient light by the user can be determined by, for example, a light sensor  276  of the mobile device  200 . The light sensor  276  can provide present or historical light exposure of the user. The light exposure of the user can be used to aid in the determination of points of interest. For example, sensed levels of IR can be used to determine whether the mobile device of the user is, for example, in the user&#39;s pocket, and to determine whether the user is in direct sun light. 
     User-input information can be received from a key-board or touch screen  282 . Based on a determination that the user is using the input (key-board or touch screen) behavior if the user can be inferred, and therefore, educated guesses can be made regarding the location of the user. For example, if the user is inputting information, the user is probably not driving. If the user is talking, the user is probably not at a movie theater. 
     Barometric information from a barometric sensor  284  can be sensed and used to determine user-related information. For example, the barometric information can be used to deduce an altitude of the user, and therefore, be used to determine what floor of a building the user is presently located. GPS can be inaccurate inside of buildings, and therefore, barometric information can be very useful. 
     A network  290  that the mobile device  200  is connected to, can provide additional user-related information. For example, a server  280  of the network can have street view images that provide additional information regarding a general location that a user is at. The connection to the remote server  280  is optional, because the mobile device may be disconnected from the server. In addition, part of the user profile  260  computation can be performed on the mobile device, and may not be required to be run on the server. 
     It is to be understood that the processing of the described embodiments for determining user stays can occur at the controller  210 , at the network server  280 , or at a combination of both the controller  210  and the network server  280 . If the connection of the network  290  allows the location information to be properly uploaded to the network server  280 , then nearly all of the user stay processing can occur at the network server. However, if the connection of the network  290  is not available, at least a portion of the user stay processing can occur at the controller  210  of the mobile device  200 . 
     For at least some embodiments, one or more of the sensed states of a combination of the sensed states of the described sensors ( 220 ,  230 ,  240 ,  250 ,  270 ,  272 ,  274 ,  276 ,  282 ,  284 ) and/or network connectivity ( 290 ) are used in user stay determination. The sensed states of the sensors change over time. For an embodiment, patterns or a series of patterns in the one or more sensed states of the described sensors can be identified and/or recognized. For at least some embodiments, changes in the patterns indicate the user is arriving (start time) or departing (end time) a POI, or that the user is in transit between users stays or POIs. Therefore, for at least some embodiments, the information of the sensed states of the sensors can be used to determine user stays. For example, if the motion state ( 240 ) indicates that the user is stationary over a period of time, for at least some embodiments, this is used to identify the period of time as a potential user stay. If the network ( 290 ) is connected to a wireless station for a period of time, for at least some embodiments, this is used to identify the period of time as potential user stay. If a sensed light intensity of the light sensor  276  of the mobile device maintains a constant level (the same) of sensed light for a period of time, this information can be used to indicate a user stay. If the sensed temperature maintains the same level for a period of time, that information can be used to indicate a user stay. 
       FIG. 3  shows a time-line of locations of the mobile device, which can be used for determining user stays of the user of the mobile device, according to an embodiment. As shown, a sequence of user stays  322 ,  324 ,  326  are identified based on location data sensed by the mobile device while the mobile device and the user of the mobile device are in transit. 
     As shown, user data (including at least location data) is sensed over time. As will be described, based on the user data, user stays are identified. As shown, user stays are typically separated by “in transit” times, wherein the user is in transit between user stays. 
     Once a user stay is detected, events can be triggered on the mobile device, remote network, or other mobile devices. For example, for at least some embodiments, once the mobile device arrives at a POI or departs from a POI as determined by the detected user stays, a SMS message, a push notification, or an email is sent to other mobile devices that have subscribed to be notified by this type of user stay detection event. For at least some embodiments, detected user stays are organized and saved as a journal of places that have been visited. For at least some embodiments, detected user stays are shared or published in social networks. For at least some embodiments, user stays detected from multiple users are used to detect if the users (that is, multiple connected users) have been at the same place. User stays generated by massive numbers of users can be used to trace the propagation of infectious disease among the users. 
       FIG. 4  shows a time-line of user stays of the mobile device, which can be used for providing services to the user of the mobile device, according to an embodiment. The previously described user stays (such as, user stays  422 ,  424 ,  426 ) are generated over time by the historical user location data, in which, for at least some embodiments, each is referenced to a POI in a POI database  440 . Route-based information  430  can be inferred from historical commuting behavior of the user moving from one POI to another POI. Embodiments includes a user profile  410  that is generated and continuously updated based on, for example, POIs from a POI database  440 , the user stays  422 ,  424 ,  426  and route-based information  430 . A user profile is generated by analyzing all user stays of the user and extracting user behavior patterns. The user profile  410  can be used to generate a behavior summary  460  of the user of the mobile device. Behavior summary of a user can be created based on the user profile, at a daily, weekly, monthly or yearly basis. 
     In addition to the user profile  410 , embodiments further include determining a current state  450  of the user of the mobile device. As shown, an embodiment of the current state is based upon current user stay information  426  and/or recent user stays, and current user data. 
     Based on the user profile  410  and the current state  450 , predictions of the behavior of the user can be made by, for example, a prediction engine  470 . Prediction engine  470  takes static inputs from the user profile  410 , such as frequently visited POIs and transitional patterns between POIs, and dynamic inputs from the current state  450  to infer the routes the user may take and POIs the user may visit in the future. Based on the predicted behavior, recommendation can be provided to the user via recommendation engine  480  and targeted information  490  can be provided to the user of the mobile device. The prediction engine  470  can be disabled so that the recommendation engine  480  can make targeted information based on the user profile  410  and the current state  450  directly. 
     An embodiment includes tracking a current state of the user. For embodiments, the current state includes user stays within a predetermined time of a present time, wherein the predetermined time is dependent upon an application of the user device or an observed behavior of a user of the user device. 
     For at least some embodiments the user profile includes a history of the user stays of the user. For an embodiment, the user stay includes the point of interest the user has visited, an arrival time and a length of time the user stays at the point of interest. 
     At least some embodiments further include determining route-based information. Further, embodiments include updating a current state of the user based on the route-based information. Another embodiment further includes predicting future user stays based on the route-based information. Embodiments of determining route-based information include determining a plurality of points of interest, wherein the plurality of points of interest define a trail of interest of the user. As previously described, an embodiment a trail of interest is defined by a plurality of points of interest of the user. For an embodiment, a frequency and/or speed of the user between points of interest is used to determine a level of importance of the trail. 
     At least some embodiments further include providing the user with targeted information base on the user profile. For specific embodiments, the targeted information includes at least one of coupons, advertisement, notices of events. Other embodiments include estimating a likelihood of conversion of targeted advertising based on the user profile, and/or measuring a conversion of targeted advertising based on the user profile. Additionally, a rewards-based program can be facilitated based on the user profile. That is, visits to a merchant can be monitored, and rewards automatically applied based on visits to the merchant. 
     For an embodiment, the user profile is supplemented based at least in part on websites visited by the user. For one implementation further includes supplementing the user profile based on information posted by the user on at least one of the websites. For another implementation, at least one of the websites comprises a social website. 
     Embodiments include providing the user with suggestions. For example, one embodiment includes providing the user with at least one suggestion based on identified points of interest. Another embodiment includes providing the user with at least one suggestion based on at least one predicated future point of interest. Further, embodiments include modifying (including changing or removing) a suggestion based on the user location history and user profile. 
     For at least some exemplary embodiments, route-based information is defined as the name of each route a user takes, the route usage frequency, the time when the route is usually taken, and the general speed information on the route. 
     Embodiments include a prediction engine that processes dynamic inputs from the user profile of a user and current state of the user to infer future POIs the user may visit and the routes the user may take. The prediction results can be used for providing targeted information to the user. 
     Once the profile has been created, the user can be provided with targeted information based on the user profile. Additionally or alternatively, a likelihood of confirmation of targeted advertising based on the user profile can be estimated. Additionally, the user profile can be supplemented based at least in part on websites visited by the user. 
     Embodiments include providing the user with at least one suggestion based on the identified points of interest. For an embodiment, this includes providing the user with at least one suggestion based on at least one predicated future point of interest. For an embodiment, a suggestion is modified based on the user profile. For example, a user profile could be used to determine that a user has already satisfied the condition of the suggestion because profile of the user suggests the user has already visited the appropriate location. Clearly, modifying can include changing or removing the suggestion. 
     As an example of the use of suggestions, a user&#39;s shopping list can be tracked, and the items on the shopping list can be correlated with the shops (special POIs) the user usually visits. When the user is physically close to a shop that has one or more items on the user&#39;s shopping list, a suggestion can be generated to remind the user to stop by the shop to purchase the item. 
     After such a suggestion is generated, the mobile device monitors the user&#39;s location history, and if it detects that the user stops at the specific shop, where a specific item on the shopping list has been in one of the suggestions presented to the user, the system can automatically remove the specific items, or reduce the priorities of those items. 
     Examples of intelligent personal services include spatial suggestions. An exemplary spatial suggestion includes a reminder to a user of a mobile device that is based on spatial information of the mobile device. Reminders include suggestions that are useful to the user. Intelligent personal services include, for example, making health-related suggestions, such as doing more physical activities (e.g. walking) than sitting still. Embodiments of personal services include providing recommendations or suggestions to the user based on the user&#39;s habits and interests, for example, kid-centric events during a weekend for people with children. Services can also include commercial services, such as recommending a cheaper gas station near the user&#39;s regular commute route. 
     Location based user behavior analysis can also be useful to a mobile advertiser. For example, after a mobile advertiser has displayed an advertisement to a user, the advertiser would like to determine if the user has been to the merchant in the advertisement and conducted business, and determine if the advertisement has been confirmed. Additionally, advertisers desire user profile information, which enables the advertiser to intelligently send targeted advertisements. 
     When, for example, the system detects that the user often goes to an elementary school or a child day care center, the system infers that the user may have one or more children, then the system may generate targeted information to the user for child-related events. 
     After the system detects the user usually go to a local public library on Saturday morning, the system can automatically generate a suggestion on Saturday morning when the user leaves home to remind the user to bring the books to return to the library. 
     The system tracks when the user gets gasoline for his car, and tracks the number of miles the user has driven the car after each refill. When the system detects that the user has used most of the gasoline in his tank based on the number of miles driven and the speed, as a result of the road type, such as local streets or high ways, the system can start to find gas station with low prices and make targeted information to the user. 
     Real-Time Determination of User Stays 
       FIG. 5A  shows a time-line of location points, according to an embodiment. While the location points S 1 , S 2 , S 3 , S 4 , S 5 , S 6 , S 7  are shown evenly spaced in time, it is to be understood that at least some embodiments include the location points evenly spaced in time, while other embodiments do not include the location points being evenly spaced in time. That is, for at least some embodiments, the location point samples are periodic, while for at least some embodiments the location point samples are triggered, or otherwise non-periodic. 
       FIG. 5B  shows a spatial and temporal representation of the location points S 1 , S 2 , S 3 , S 4 , S 5 , S 6 , S 7 , according to an embodiment. Further,  FIG. 5B  shows real-time representations of calculations of a current centroid (C 1 , C 2 , C 3 , C 4 , C 5 ). Each current centroid is calculated based on the location data of the start time (such as, location point S 2   710 ), and subsequent location data, until an end time (such as, location point S 6   720 ). That is, with the determination of each successive location point S 1 , S 2 , S 3 , S 4 , S 5 , S 6 , S 7 , the current centroid is updated, or recalculated, until the end time. 
     Start Time of Real-Time User Stay Determination 
     For an embodiment, the start time of the real-time determined user stay is determined as being separate from a prior user stay. For example, S 1  can be the end time of a prior user stay, or a transitory location point that is not included within any user stay. For an embodiment, the start time is determined as a location point that is an outlier of a prior user stay. For an embodiment, an outlier is a location point that is located outside of a distance threshold from a current centroid. For an embodiment, the start time is a first location point after, for example, the mobile device has been turned on, or location points have just started to be sensed. 
     Current Centroid of Real-Time User Stay Determination 
     Once a start time has been identified, a current centroid is calculated based on the location point of the start time, and subsequent location points. For example, a current centroid C 1  is determined based on the start time S 2 . Further, upon generation of the next location point S 3 , a new current centroid C 2  is calculated or determined based on the location point S 2  of the start time, and the current location point S 3 . Further, upon generation of the next location point S 4 , a new current centroid C 3  is calculated or determined based on the location point S 2  of the start time, the location point S 3 , and the current location point S 4 . Further, upon generation of the next location point S 5 , a new current centroid C 4  is calculated or determined based on the location point S 2  of the start time, the location point S 3 , the location point S 4 , and the current location point S 5 . As depicted, with each new location point, the currently determined centroid changes position as determined by a statistical estimation or calculation based on the location point of the start time, and subsequent location points of the current user stay. 
     End Time of Real-Time User Stay Determination 
     For an embodiment, the user stay includes the location point of the start time, and subsequent location points that are within a threshold distance of the currently calculated or determined centroid. Once a location point is received or determined that falls outside of the threshold distance from the current centroid, for an embodiment, the user stay is terminated. That is, it is determined that the mobile device has physically moved outside of the current user stay, and the current user stay is terminated. For example, location point S 7  is greater than the threshold distance away from the current centroid C 5 . Therefore, the prior location point S 6  is determined to be at the end time of the user stay. Further, the location points S 2 -S 6  are determined to be within the user stay, and the location point S 7  is determined to be an outlier location point. Location point S 7  can then be determined to be a transitory location point, or may be determined to be the start time location point of a subsequent user stay. 
       FIG. 6  is a flow chart that includes steps of an example of a computer-implemented method of real-time determination of user stays of a mobile device, according to an embodiment. A first step  610  includes receiving, by a server, an incoming stream of location point information of the mobile device. For an embodiment, the stream of location point information is sensed by the mobile device. As previously described, for at least some embodiments, the mobile device is electronically connected (wireless and/or wired network connections) to the server (also referred to as the upstream server). A second step  620  includes continuously calculating, by the server, a current centroid of a current user stay based on a location point of a start time of the current user stay, each location point occurring between the start time and a current incoming location point, until an outlier location point is detected, wherein the outlier is detected if located more than a threshold distance away from the current centroid. It is to be understood that the mobile device includes a controller and the server includes a controller. For at least some embodiments, the continuous calculating of the current centroid can be performed entirely by the controller of the server. For at least some embodiments, the continuous calculating of the current centroid can be performed entirely by the controller of the mobile device. For at least some embodiments, the continuous calculating of the current centroid can be performed at least partially by the controller of the mobile device and at least partially by the controller of the server. 
     For an embodiment, the start time includes a prior outlier location point or the first data location point after the mobile device is powered up. For an embodiment, each start time is a potential start time of a potential user stay. Once a user stay is validated, the potential start time is confirmed as the start time of a valid user stay. For an embodiment, valid user stay is a user stay with duration larger than a threshold. That is, a user stay at a POI location will have a minimum time duration in which the user is within the user stay. If less than the minimum, the user stay is invalidated. 
     For an embodiment, the location point information comprises a timestamp, latitude, longitude, and a location type (the location type can include, for example, GPS location point information or network location point information). For at least some embodiments, the location point information additionally or alternatively includes motion state information, location point accuracy information, speed information, and/or GPS state information. For an embodiment, the motion state information is used for invalidating user stays. For example, for a user stay that consists of a few location points, and a motion state indicates the user is in driving mode, the user stay is determined not a valid user stay because the mobile device is moving. Further, a determined speed of the mobile device can alternatively be used to invalidate user stays. That is, if the mobile device is determined to be moving faster than a threshold speed, the current user stay can be invalidated. For an embodiment, a user stay is validated if the user stay includes duration larger than a threshold. Here, embodiments includes extra information (motion, speed) to further filter user stays that were previously validated, and then invalidates the user stays based on the motion or speed information of the mobile device. 
     For an embodiment, the location information includes at least one of GPS data or network location data. For at least some embodiments, the determined or assumed accuracy of the location point information is used for filtering the location point information and/or for classifying the location point information. For at least some embodiments, accuracy of the location point information is assumed to be better if the location point information is GPS location information. However, for at least some embodiment, the location point information is assumed to be better if the location point information is network location information. 
     As previously shown and described in  FIG. 2 , the mobile device includes many possible sensors. Any combination of the sensed information can be used for location determination, and current user stay determination. The sensed information of each of the sensors of the mobile device can be used to at least partially influence the determination of the current start time, the current centroid and/or the current end time. 
     An embodiment further includes filtering the incoming stream of location point information before continuously calculating the current centroid of the current user stay. At least some embodiments include filtering the stream of location points. For at least some embodiments, the filtering includes removing location data points that deviate to such a large extent (greater than a large threshold distance) that they cannot possibly be used for location analysis. Further, for at least some embodiments, the filtering includes removing redundant data. At least some embodiments include filtering (removing) low accuracy location point information. For at least some embodiments, the accuracy is obtained from mobile device. The location data points can be classified as high or low accuracy points. For example, for an embodiment, low accuracy location points are data points with accuracy threshold larger than a threshold distance, such as, 200 meters. 
     An embodiment further includes receiving additional location point information, and re-calculating the current centroid continuously with the additional location point information if location points of the additional location point information are within the threshold distance of the currently calculated centroid. 
     An embodiment includes maintaining the start time of the current user stay, wherein the start time comprises the time stamp of the first location point of current user stay. 
     An embodiment further includes continuously updating an end time of the current user stay with the current incoming location point until the outlier location point is detected. 
     An embodiment further includes restarting calculation of the current centroid using a new start time after the outlier location point is detected. 
     An embodiment further includes using network location points between a most recent location point inside the current user stay and a first location point outside the user stay to adjust the end time based on GPS state information and distance of network location points to the centroid of the user stay less than a threshold. 
     For at least some embodiments, network location data points with good accuracy are used instead of GPS data points for calculating centroid and outlier. For at least some embodiments, network location points with low accuracy are used for supplementing end time calculation. For example, in  FIG. 5B , a network location data point with low accuracy between S 6  and S 7  can be used to adjust the end time from S 6  to this network location data point. 
     An embodiment further includes validating the current user stay by confirming a time duration of the current user stay is greater than a time threshold. That is, most user stays are observed and associated with a POI. Accordingly, the current user stay can be validated by having a time duration greater than a minimum amount of time. For at least some embodiments, the time duration threshold is selected based on statistics of user stays and associated POIs. Further, for at least some embodiments, the time duration threshold adaptively changes based on candidate POIs associated with the user stay. 
     For an embodiment, the threshold distance is adaptively changing based on an estimated size of the current user stay. For an embodiment, the distance threshold is set in a coarse level first to detect user stay at a large scale, and then repeat in a fine level to extract user stays at a small scale. 
     For an embodiment, the distance threshold is adaptively updated based on a candidate point of interest (POI) of the current user stay. For example, the threshold for a park can be selected to be 1000 meters, whereas for POIs within the park, the threshold can be defined as 100 meters, for example, for a Café in the Park. 
     For an embodiment, the mobile device comprises a mobile device processor, and an upstream server electronically connected to the mobile device comprises an upstream server processor, and wherein at least one of the mobile device processor or the upstream server processor executes the step of calculating the current centroid. 
     For an embodiment, the current user stay comprises a sub-current user stay, and further comprises continuously calculating a sub-current centroid within the sub-current user stay based on a location point of a sub-start time of the sub-current user stay, each location point occurring between the sub-start time and a current incoming location point, until a sub-outlier location point is detected, wherein the sub-outlier is detected if located more than a sub-threshold distance away from the sub-current centroid. The sub-current user stay can be as described above, physically location within a current user stay. 
       FIG. 7  is a flow chart that includes steps of a continuous place detection engine using location data of a mobile device of a user, according to an embodiment. As shown, a client application  700  collects user location data  710  from one or more location sensors (such as, a GPS sensor of the mobile device) and/or from network assisted location providers, such as Wi-Fi or cellular tower. The input data stream into a place detection engine  720  which outputs a user location centroid and a time interval stayed at each location. For at least some embodiments, this information can be used for various location based services  730 , such as local search, POI determination and location based mobile social networks. 
     For an embodiment, the location data is in the format of data (timestamp, latitude, longitude, accuracy, speed, state, type), where timestamp represents when this data point is recorded, (latitude, longitude) means the exact geographical location of this point on the earth, accuracy means the GPS data quality in a radius of meters, and speed means how fast the GPS point moves. (state, type) means the GPS sensor state (on or off) and data point type (GPS or network). For an embodiment, when and where one user stays for a certain period of time is detected based on these seven components. Further, it is possible to extract out the user stay as a possible location for the user of the mobile device. 
     For an embodiment, processing at the mobile device, at the network server, or a combination of the mobile device and the network server, starts with the location input data stream and processes the stream according to the timestamp as a multidimensional time series. If the data is not ordered in timestamp, which can happen, an embodiment includes reordering the data stream an increasing order (latest being last) of timestamps. 
     For the described embodiments, the location data stream is a continuous source of data indexed by timestamp and labeled by accuracy, speed, state and type. For an embodiment, two parameters are used in the detection processing. One parameter includes the minimum time stay (time_stay) required for a point of interest and the other is the radius of place coverage (place_radius). The processing can be described in the following pseudo code:
         Reindex the data stream by an incremental array index (ind) starting from one, so that each row can be accessed by data (ind).   Given the values of time_stay and coarse place covering radius place_radius, call the function module to get [time_intervals, places]=Continuous_Refinement(data, stay_time, place_radius). The returned time_intervals includes the start array index, the end array index, the start timestamp, the end timestamp, the time duration of each place detected. The returned places includes the (latitude, longitude) centroid of each place detected.   Given the values of time_stay and fine place covering place place_radius_fine, for each time interval ti discovered in the second step, call the function module to get [fine_time intervals, fine_places]=Successive_Refinement(data(ti(start):ti(end)), stay_time, place_radius_fine). If the time interval can&#39;t be further refined, we put the original time interval ti and places into fine_time_intervals and fine_places. For an embodiment, setting place_radius_fine=place_radius_coarse/2 or place_radius_coarse/4.       

       FIG. 8  is a flow chart that includes steps of continuous user stay refinement processing, according to an embodiment. The successive refinement processing repeats the same procedure with a different place radius. The input data stream is first entered into an incremental centroid calculation and clustering, and then check if the discovered time interval satisfies the user stay requirement. If yes, it is determined whether to merge this new user stay with the last one or create a new user stay based on certain spatial and temporal criterion. For an embodiment, the centroid calculation and clustering apply to GPS point only, while the time interval estimation depends both on device GPS points and network returned GPS points. The process continues until the input data stream is consumed out. While described as GPS points, it is to be understood that the processing can be applied to location points that are non-GPS points. 
     At step  800 , an initial data index pointer and place index pointer is set to one, and scanning of the input data stream starts. The GPS point index is k, and its corresponding data index is mapped by i subscript with k. At step  801 , the first GPS point is put into the initial cluster as a centroid, and then its distance is compared with the next GPS point at step  802 . If the distance is less than the parameter place_radius, this GPS point is added into the cluster and its centroid is updated at step  803 . Otherwise, at step  804 , the end point from the last GPS point in the cluster is determined until the first GPS point out of the cluster by checking network points in-between less than a distance threshold of centroid and GPS state information. It checks whether the segmentation B satisfies the user stay requirements, such as its time duration is greater than a threshold, there is no high-speed location points and motion states inside the user stay, and the movements between adjacent GPS location points are not along one direction. If no, the process continues to the next GPS point in step  806  and then goes back to unit  801 . If yes, a decision is made whether B can be merged with the previous user stay in step  805  by checking the distance between two centroids and time difference between two user stays in step  805 . Step  807  and step  808  separately deal with the merging and non-merging cases by refining centroid and extracting the time interval. The process continues to step  806 . 
       FIG. 9  is a flow chart that includes steps of a method of place detection, according to an embodiment. Step  900  includes continuous centroid calculation and clustering at a coarse radius. Step  910  includes place detection at large levels. Step  920  includes adjusting the fine radius by either feedback information from step  930  of successive centroid calculation and clustering at predefined radius, or by some side information from the third party, i.e., size of nearby POIs and density of surrounding regions. Step  930  repeats the same procedure of step  900  at different radius and may cause different sub-clustering results, which can be compared and further tuned to get better results. Finally, all combined outputs from  910  and  930  can generate place detection results adaptively to different region levels, such as big shopping malls, medium supermarkets, and small restaurants. 
     Various embodiments as described include calculation or determination of a specific location (current centroid). For an embodiment, the specific location is determined based on a statistical analysis of a running set of location data points. Further, the specific distance can be set by a predetermined threshold. Further, the specific minimum duration of time can be set by a predetermined threshold. For at least some embodiment, the threshold of the specific distance and the threshold of the minimum time duration are adaptively selected based on candidate POIs associated with the specific location. 
     As mobile devices with GPS sensors become increasingly pervasive, it has become very useful to track a user of a mobile device and determine where the user has spent time during, for example, a day. The described embodiments acquire a user&#39;s location data and automatically detect his places of interest or significance. 
     For at least some embodiments, user data (including at least location data) is collected by a small program running on the mobile device and transferred in a format of (such as, current time, current location coordinate, estimated accuracy of that location coordinate) as best as can be determined by the mobile device. As described, the location data can include information from cellular and WiFi networks as well as GPS location points. For at least some embodiments, the collected user data is stored in a database, and can be processed later in batch mode. 
     Place Acquisition 
     For an embodiment, during place acquisition, the input track points (location data points) are processed, generating a set of user stays including a starting time, a duration, and a centroid point that is centroid of the user stay. Place acquisition includes processing of the input track points first by ordering them according to their time stamps. Outliers due to noise in the location determining devices are removed, and the remaining track points are then sent through a segmenting process. Each candidate user stay produced by segmentation is adjusted in a massaging process. After massaging, smaller segments are filtered out. A centroid for the surviving user stay is computed along with its duration. Finally the user stay is output as detected place results. 
     For at least some embodiments, outlier removal is performed by fitting an empirical distribution (such as Gaussian) to the data in terms of GPS speed, 2-D spatial location (latitude, longitude), and GPS accuracy. The data points lying outside of a certain range (95 th  percentile, for instance) will be removed from further analysis. The outliers or series of continuous groups of outliers that are removed are actually summarized and attached to the non-outlier point as prefix and suffix. 
     For an embodiment, a smoothed speed is observed to determine whether it is slow enough. For an embodiment, the smoothed speed at a track point is the average speed of the device as calculated based on GPS distance and time elapsed during a predetermined time interval (such as, 5 minute interval) around each point. 
     For an embodiment, a bearing deviation is observed to determine whether it is large enough. For an embodiment, the bearing at a track point is the angle between two segments. One segment is from the last track point to North Pole. The other segment is from the last track point to the current track point. The standard deviation of this number during that predetermined time period is the bearing deviation. 
     For an embodiment, absolute steering is observed to determine whether it is small enough. For an embodiment, the steering is the bearing at the current track point minus the bearing at previous track point. The average of the absolute values of this number during the time window is the absolute steering. 
     For an embodiment, the leading trail is observed to determine whether it is straight enough. For an embodiment, straightness of the trail is measured by r 2  from regression where latitude is dependent variable and longitude is independent variable. The closer r 2  is to zero the straighter the trail is. 
     For an embodiment, the acceleration at the current track point is approximated by first calculating speed using the distance and time between each track point and the previous track point. The change in speed between the current track point and previous track point is the computed acceleration. The computed accelerations in the past minute is averaged and used as the smoothed acceleration 
     Centroid Point Calculation 
     For at least some embodiments, a final step in user stay acquisition is the determination of a centroid point. At least some embodiments include the use of a variety of methods for determining this centroid point to a user stay. Before this centroid point is computed, a filter can be applied to select the points to be included in this calculation. One or more algorithms can be applied to the data points to allow computation of the final centroid point from these filtered points. 
     For an embodiment, the centroid point to the user stay is computed as coordinate-wise median of the track points remaining after filtering. This is an efficient, robust and effective approximation of the centroid point of each user stay. 
     For an embodiment, the centroid point to the user stay is computed as coordinate-wise mean of the track points remaining after filtering. This is an efficient, robust and effective approximation of the centroid point of each user stay. 
     For an embodiment, the centroid point to the user stay is computed as a weighted average of the track points remaining after filtering. For at least some embodiments, the weight given to each track point is computed based on one or more of an accuracy of the location data for this track point, and a state of GPS and location determining device. An embodiment includes a symmetrically decayed weight that falls off as an exponential function of the time from a specified point in time. An embodiment includes determining a time elapsed since or to the absolutely closest time within the user stay whence there is a GPS data point. An embodiment includes determining the linearity of track points immediately preceding and following the current point. An embodiment includes determining the time distance from the chronological center of the current user stay. An embodiment includes determining the time from the current GPS track point to the next GPS track point. 
     Time Weighted Centroid 
     At least some embodiments include the calculation of a time weighted centroid. For an embodiment, the centroid of a user stay is calculated by giving a different weight to each GPS point that belongs to the user stay. For an embodiment, the weight for each point is determined by the time duration in which it is believed that the GPS measurement remains valid. 
     For an embodiment, the weight is assigned as W(n)=T(n+1)−T(n), where T(n) and T(n+1) are the sample time for P(n) and P(n+1), respectively, if a GPS point P(n) is followed by another GPS point P(n+1). For an embodiment, the weight is assigned as W(n)=T_gps_off−T(n), where T_gps_off is the time when client switches to the GPS OFF state, if a GPS point P(n) is the last one for the stay. For an embodiment, the time weighted centroid is calculated as Latitude_of_Centroid=Sum(Latitude(i)*W(i))/Sum(W(i)), and Longitude_of_Centroid=Sum(Longitude(i)*W(i))/Sum(W(i)), where i=0, 1, . . . N. 
     For an embodiment, the time interval between two GPS points is assigned to the two GPS points equally divided, i.e. half-by-half, if nothing is known about how the GPS points were collected. However, for at least some embodiments, the mobile device (client) avoids collecting location data (such as, GPS samples) unless necessary. Therefore, an embodiment includes weighting to give bias to the GPS sample preceding the time interval. 
     Although specific embodiments have been described and illustrated, the embodiments are not to be limited to the specific forms or arrangements of parts so described and illustrated.