Patent Publication Number: US-2018039624-A1

Title: User behavior inference for generating a multilingual dictionary

Description:
CLAIM OF PRIORITY 
     This application is a continuation of and claims the benefit of priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/377,602, filed Dec. 13, 2016, which is a continuation of and claims the benefit of priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/194,606, filed on Feb. 28, 2014, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     COPYRIGHT NOTICE 
     A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. The following notice applies to the software and data as described below and in the drawings that form a part of this document: Copyright eBay Inc. 2013, All Rights Reserved. 
     TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present application relates generally to machine translation. 
     BACKGROUND 
     The use of mobile devices, such as cellphones, smartphones, tablets, and laptop computers, has increased rapidly in recent years, which, along with the rise in dominance of the Internet as the primary mechanism for communication, has caused an explosion in international communications and/or transactions, including electronic commerce (“ecommerce”). As these factors spread throughout the world, communications between users that utilize different spoken or written languages increase exponentially. International transactions pose unique challenges when dealing with differing languages because such transactions often require specific information to be highly accurate. For example, if a potential buyer asks a seller about some aspect of a product for sale, the answer should be precise and accurate. Any failing in the accuracy of the answer could result in a lost sale or an unhappy purchaser. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       Some embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a network diagram depicting a client-server system, within which one example embodiment may be deployed. 
         FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating marketplace and payment applications and that, in one example embodiment, are provided as part of application server(s) in the networked system. 
         FIG. 2A  is a block diagram illustrating an example machine translation application according to an example embodiment. 
         FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating two systems for automatic extraction of multilingual dictionary items from non-parallel, multilingual, semi-structured data according to an example embodiment. 
         FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating an example method, consistent with various embodiments. 
         FIG. 5  is a block diagram illustrating a mobile device, according to an example embodiment. 
         FIG. 6  is a block diagram of a machine in the example form of a computer system within which instructions may be executed for causing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Example methods and systems for machine translation (MT) for international communications and/or transactions are provided. It will be evident, however, to one of ordinary skill in the art that the present inventive subject matter may be practiced without these specific details. 
     Machine translation is a subfield of computational linguistics that investigates the use of software to translate text or speech from one natural language to another. Machine translation relies heavily on parallel data, often called parallel corpora, for example, translated documents, but acquiring parallel corpora is a very time consuming and expensive, particularly domain specific corpora like ecommerce system data. Automatic multilingual dictionaries may be learned from the use of structured data that a commercial service (e.g., ecommerce site like that operate eBay Inc.) has in its databases. A working assumption may be that consumer behavior can be modeled in different countries, and a mathematical model can be found to correlate user interest. With this, specific aspects, categories and images of products or services can be used to constrain the probabilities to identify units that are semantically similar, across languages. The information may be coded independently in taxonomies for different languages. Taxonomies, in this context, can be seen as a tree of information, and certain nodes of these trees can be aligned by using prior knowledge, even if that prior knowledge is limited, and with machine learning the nodes that are left out can be assumed to be aligned as well, and the probability of this alignment can be estimated. 
       FIG. 1  is a network diagram depicting a client-server system  100 , within which one example embodiment may be deployed. A networked system  102 , in the example forms of a network-based marketplace or publication system, provides server-side functionality, via a network  104  (e.g., the Internet or a Wide Area Network (WAN)), to one or more clients.  FIG. 1  illustrates, for example, a web client  106  (e.g., a browser, such as the Internet Explorer browser developed by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. State) and a programmatic client  108  executing on respective devices  110  and  112 . 
     An Application Program Interface (API) server  114  and a web server  116  are coupled to, and provide programmatic and web interfaces respectively to, one or more application servers  118 . The application servers  118  host one or more marketplace applications  120  and payment applications  122 . The application servers  118  are, in turn, shown to be coupled to one or more database servers  124  that facilitate access to one or more databases  126 . 
     The marketplace applications  120  may provide a number of marketplace functions and services to users who access the networked system  102 . The payment applications  122  may likewise provide a number of payment services and functions to users. The payment applications  122  may allow users to accumulate value (e.g., in a commercial currency, such as the U.S. dollar, or a proprietary currency, such as “points”) in accounts, and then later to redeem the accumulated value for products (e.g., goods or services) that are made available via the marketplace applications  120 . While the marketplace and payment applications  120  and  122  are shown in  FIG. 1  to both form part of the networked system  102 , it will be appreciated that, in alternative embodiments, the payment applications  122  may form part of a payment service that is separate and distinct from the networked system  102 . 
     Further, while the system  100  shown in  FIG. 1  employs a client-server architecture, the embodiments are, of course, not limited to such an architecture, and could equally well find application in a distributed, or peer-to-peer, architecture system, for example. The various marketplace and payment applications  120  and  122  could also be implemented as standalone software programs, which do not necessarily have networking capabilities. 
     The web client  106  accesses the various marketplace and payment applications  120  and  122  via the web interface supported by the web server  116 . Similarly, the programmatic client  108  accesses the various services and functions provided by the marketplace and payment applications  120  and  122  via the programmatic interface provided by the API server  114 . The programmatic client  108  may, for example, be a seller application (e.g., the TurboLister application developed by eBay Inc., of San Jose, Calif.) to enable sellers to author and manage listings on the networked system  102  in an off-line manner, and to perform batch-mode communications between the programmatic client  108  and the networked system  102 . 
       FIG. 1  also illustrates a third party application  128 , executing on a third party server machine  130 , as having programmatic access to the networked system  102  via the programmatic interface provided by the API server  114 . For example, the third party application  128  may, utilizing information retrieved from the networked system  102 , support one or more features or functions on a website hosted by the third party. The third party website may, for example, provide one or more promotional, marketplace, or payment functions that are supported by the relevant applications of the networked system  102 . 
       FIG. 2  is a block diagram illustrating marketplace and payment applications  120  and  122  that, in one example embodiment, are provided as part of application server(s)  118  in the networked system  102 . The applications  120  and  122  may be hosted on dedicated or shared server machines (not shown) that are communicatively coupled to enable communications between server machines. The applications  120  and  122  themselves are communicatively coupled (e.g., via appropriate interfaces) to each other and to various data sources, so as to allow information to be passed between the applications  120  and  122  or so as to allow the applications  120  and  122  to share and access common data. The applications  120  and  122  may furthermore access one or more databases  126  via the database servers  124 . 
     The networked system  102  may provide a number of publishing, listing, and price-setting mechanisms whereby a seller may list (or publish information concerning) goods or services for sale, a buyer can express interest in or indicate a desire to purchase such goods or services, and a price can be set for a transaction pertaining to the goods or services. To this end, the marketplace and payment applications  120  and  122  are shown to include at least one publication application  200  and one or more auction applications  202 , which support auction-format listing and price setting mechanisms (e.g., English, Dutch, Vickrey, Chinese, Double, Reverse auctions, etc.). The various auction applications  202  may also provide a number of features in support of such auction-format listings, such as a reserve price feature whereby a seller may specify a reserve price in connection with a listing and a proxy-bidding feature whereby a bidder may invoke automated proxy bidding. 
     A number of fixed-price applications  204  support fixed-price listing formats (e.g., the traditional classified advertisement-type listing or a catalogue listing) and buyout-type listings. Specifically, buyout-type listings (e.g., including the Buy-It-Now (BIN) technology developed by eBay Inc., of San Jose, Calif.) may be offered in conjunction with auction-format listings, and allow a buyer to purchase goods or services, which are also being offered for sale via an auction, for a fixed-price that is typically higher than the starting price of the auction. 
     Store applications  206  allow a seller to group listings within a “virtual” store, which may be branded and otherwise personalized by and for the seller. Such a virtual store may also offer promotions, incentives, and features that are specific and personalized to a relevant seller. 
     Reputation applications  208  allow users who transact, utilizing the networked system  102 , to establish, build, and maintain reputations, which may be made available and published to potential trading partners. Consider that where, for example, the networked system  102  supports person-to-person trading, users may otherwise have no history or other reference information whereby the trustworthiness and credibility of potential trading partners may be assessed. The reputation applications  208  allow a user (for example, through feedback provided by other transaction partners) to establish a reputation within the networked system  102  over time. Other potential trading partners may then reference such a reputation for the purposes of assessing credibility and trustworthiness. 
     Personalization applications  210  allow users of the networked system  102  to personalize various aspects of their interactions with the networked system  102 . For example a user may, utilizing an appropriate personalization application  210 , create a personalized reference page at which information regarding transactions to which the user is (or has been) a party may be viewed. Further, a personalization application  210  may enable a user to personalize listings and other aspects of their interactions with the networked system  102  and other parties. 
     The networked system  102  may support a number of marketplaces that are customized, for example, for specific geographic regions. A version of the networked system  102  may be customized for the United Kingdom, whereas another version of the networked system  102  may be customized for the United States. Each of these versions may operate as an independent marketplace or may be customized (or internationalized) presentations of a common underlying marketplace. The networked system  102  may accordingly include a number of internationalization applications  212  that customize information (and/or the presentation of information by the networked system  102 ) according to predetermined criteria (e.g., geographic, demographic or marketplace criteria). For example, the internationalization applications  212  may be used to support the customization of information for a number of regional websites that are operated by the networked system  102  and that are accessible via respective web servers  116 . 
     Navigation of the networked system  102  may be facilitated by one or more navigation applications  214 . For example, a search application (as an example of a navigation application  214 ) may enable key word searches of listings published via the networked system  102 . A browse application may allow users to browse various category, catalogue, or inventory data structures according to which listings may be classified within the networked system  102 . Various other navigation applications  214  may be provided to supplement the search and browsing applications. 
     In order to make listings available via the networked system  102  as visually informing and attractive as possible, the applications  120  and  122  may include one or more imaging applications  216 , which users may utilize to upload images for inclusion within listings. An imaging application  216  also operates to incorporate images within viewed listings. The imaging applications  216  may also support one or more promotional features, such as image galleries that are presented to potential buyers. For example, sellers may pay an additional fee to have an image included within a gallery of images for promoted items. 
     Listing creation applications  218  allow sellers to conveniently author listings pertaining to goods or services that they wish to transact via the networked system  102 , and listing management applications  220  allow sellers to manage such listings. Specifically, where a particular seller has authored and/or published a large number of listings, the management of such listings may present a challenge. The listing management applications  220  provide a number of features (e.g., auto-relisting, inventory level monitors, etc.) to assist the seller in managing such listings. One or more post-listing management applications  222  also assist sellers with a number of activities that typically occur post-listing. For example, upon completion of an auction facilitated by one or more auction applications  202 , a seller may wish to leave feedback regarding a particular buyer. To this end, a post-listing management application  222  may provide an interface to one or more reputation applications  208 , so as to allow the seller conveniently to provide feedback regarding multiple buyers to the reputation applications  208 . 
     Dispute resolution applications  224  provide mechanisms whereby disputes arising between transacting parties may be resolved. For example, the dispute resolution applications  224  may provide guided procedures whereby the parties are guided through a number of steps in an attempt to settle a dispute. In the event that the dispute cannot be settled via the guided procedures, the dispute may be escalated to a third party mediator or arbitrator. 
     A number of fraud prevention applications  226  implement fraud detection and prevention mechanisms to reduce the occurrence of fraud within the networked system  102 . 
     Messaging applications  228  are responsible for the generation and delivery of messages to users of the networked system  102  (such as, for example, messages advising users regarding the status of listings at the networked system  102  (e.g., providing “outbid” notices to bidders during an auction process or to provide promotional and merchandising information to users)). Respective messaging applications  228  may utilize any one of a number of message delivery networks and platforms to deliver messages to users. For example, messaging applications  228  may deliver electronic mail (e-mail), instant message (IM), Short Message Service (SMS), text, facsimile, or voice (e.g., Voice over IP (VoIP)) messages via the wired (e.g., the Internet), plain old telephone service (POTS), or wireless (e.g., mobile, cellular, WiFi, WiMAX) networks  104 . 
     Merchandising applications  230  support various merchandising functions that are made available to sellers to enable sellers to increase sales via the networked system  102 . The merchandising applications  230  also operate the various merchandising features that may be invoked by sellers, and may monitor and track the success of merchandising strategies employed by sellers. 
     The networked system  102  itself, or one or more parties that transact via the networked system  102 , may operate loyalty programs that are supported by one or more loyalty/promotions applications  232 . For example, a buyer may earn loyalty or promotion points for each transaction established and/or concluded with a particular seller, and be offered a reward for which accumulated loyalty points can be redeemed. 
     A machine translation application  234  may translate a query in a first language to a query in a second language, obtain and build an ontology based on keywords of the query in the first language combined with user feedback indicating the relevancy of a result set obtained by the query that is translated into the second language. This ontology is defined by the users of the first language and may be developed from measuring the relevancy of the result set. A more detailed view of a machine translation application in accordance with an embodiment is seen in  FIG. 2A . 
       FIG. 2A  is a block diagram illustrating an example machine translation applications  234 , according to an example embodiment. The machine translation applications  234  comprise query receive module  236 , user behavior module  238 , learning and correlation module  240 , and translation optimizing module  242 . Query receive module  236  may receive user queries and result sets as more fully discussed with respect to both system  320  and system  360  in  FIG. 3 . User behavior module  238  may be used to determine whether user behavior has indicated that a user query is satisfied by a user result set, also as more fully discussed with respect to system  320  and system  360  in  FIG. 3 . Learning and correlation module  240  may be used in learning how to translate queries from one language to another language based on the assumption of parallel user behavior in different countries. Translation optimizing module  242  may be may be used to optimize translation of queries in the first language to queries in the second language. 
     Certain commercial service providers (e.g. eBay Inc.) may operate and provide transaction support technology in a number of countries. For this discussion a Spain site and a US site are used as examples. Each of the two sites may be distinct and have a different inventory of products and services. Each site hosts massive numbers of user sessions as described in United States Patent Application Serial No. (2043.F81US1) entitled IMPROVEMENT OF AUTOMATIC MACHINE TRANSLATION USING USER FEEDBACK, filed on the same date as the filing date as this application, and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Each site can draw on the queries in the user sessions as described in the foregoing patent application. An assumption is made that users at the Spain site, who enter queries in Spanish, and users at the US site, who enter queries in English, act similarly when looking for certain products (e.g., they may seek the same features for the product). Further, some of the inventory at the two sites is the same, in that the same product may be offered in different countries. This then allows the assumption to be made that the most probable queries at the Spain site and the most probable queries at the US site have some correlation and, with some probability, may be translations of each other, or parallel data. Also, the queries may exhibit a particular user behavior. In one embodiment the user behaviour may be clicking on an item in a result set, which may be viewed as a positive user behavior. The positive behavior to a translation of an item description may be characterized by clicking “positive” links on the website, e.g. to act towards reading further details on the respective item, or, for example, clicking on the “bid”, “buy it now”, “watch” or similar activity. In one embodiment, the most clicked-on items in the result set for a query at the Spain site and the most clicked-on items in the result set for a query at the US site may be considered to have some correlation as well. If the products are constrained (e.g., come from the same category, and have similar aspects), the assumption may be made that the data in the queries are parallel data in a machine translation sense. 
     Potentially “negative” signals are considered as well. Negative signals may be if the user does NOT click on the positive links and/or cancels their action of the current research. A more “negative” signal is if the user clicks on a button, which may appear in the user interface, to turn off machine translation. 
     The foregoing behaviors may be considered implicit positive signals and implicit negative signals. There may also be explicit “positive” signals and explicit “negative” signals. An explicit positive signal may be a user sending a mark, for example a star rating, that indicates that the result set was helpful. An explicit negative signal may be if the user provides a mark, for example a star rating, with a user rating that the translation is not helping and/or is misleading. Other user behavior may be potentially negative. For example, a mid-range star rating, for example 3 out of 5, may be viewed as potentially negative. 
     Both positive and negative user behaviors (including positive, potentially negative and clearly negative ones) may be used in improving the machine translation. Good translations (evoking a positive user behavior) will be statistically rewarded, and more negative translations (evoking a potentially negative and/or a clearly negative user behaviour) will be statistically punished. This scoring will be used on the units/entries/“events” in statistical models that lead to a specific machine translation output. 
     Consequently since the data discussed above, under the recited conditions, or constraints, can be considered parallel data, the system may not need to look for information from a product vendor or from user feedback or the like, for machine translation. Instead, the system can extract parallel data from the system&#39;s own databases, given that large transaction processing systems may host millions of user sessions daily and can monitor user sessions in nearly real time, as discussed in the above patent application. It follows that the above behavior model may aid the system in learning how to translate queries from one language to another language based on the above assumption of parallel user behavior in different countries. In one embodiment, if a user at the US site is looking for an iPhone with certain features, the probability that a user at the Spain site, when looking for an iPhone will seek similar features for the iPhone, may be high. This is a constraint that may allow finding the best, or very good, translations even without expecting either user to tell the system, by feedback or otherwise, that one query is a translation of another query. In other words, user behavior may be the aligning context between queries made in the different countries and in different languages. 
     Assuming that a user at the US site queries for a device in the category of electronics at the US site and the device in the result set is an iPhone, and the user clicks on the iPhone, if a user performs the same query at the Spain site, and it is the same category, namely electronics, the system may understand in Spanish without any translation, that the query is for an iPhone in the result set. If the user at the Spain site then clicks on the iPhone in the result set, there is a calculable probability that the query at the Spain site and the query at the US site are the same. The system would then learn from defining the category, some restraining context such as aspects, the result set, and the action taken on the result set, in different countries, both queries, that at the Spain site and that at the US site, have a correlation and may be translations of each other. The constraint need not be a brand, as in the case of an iPhone, which carries the APPLE™ brand. The constraint can be any feature of the queried product. For example, if there is a query for a dress at the Spain site and a query for a dress at the US site, the constraint may be aspects as discussed above, and the system may learn that the two queries may be translations of each other. The constraints need not be aspects. The constraint may be a bar code, which is the same for the product at the Spain site and the product at the US site. Or the constraint may be a seller selling the same product at the two sites. Such constraints may aid the system in identifying queries that may be translations of each other, from which the system can learn for future query translations. This can be the case even in new languages the system has never made translations for in the past. User behavior implies query similarity as a statistical probability. Further, the more of this type of example that the system encounters, the more confidence can be placed in the assumption that the behavior model indicates that queries in different languages may be translations of each other. 
       FIG. 3  is a block diagram illustrating two systems for automatic extraction of multilingual dictionary items from non-parallel, multilingual, semi-structured data, according to an example embodiment. Publication system  300 , which may be a publication system (e.g., such as eBay Spain), comprises user interface  310 , which may be similar to machines  110 ,  112  or  130  of  FIG. 1 . User interface  310  is coupled to the publication system such as eBay Spain at  320 , which may include MT application  234 ′ which may be the same or similar to machine translation application  234  of  FIG. 2 . System  320  may be similar to system  102  of  FIG. 1 . System  320  may be coupled to, or may include, database  330 . 
     Publication system  301  includes components that may be the same as, or similar to, those of publication system  300 . User interface  350  is coupled to system  360 , which may include MT application  234 . System  360  may be coupled to, or may include, database  370 . Line (or bus)  352  that couples user interface  350  to system  360  is also coupled to MT application  234 ′ of system  320 . While interfaces  310  and  350  are illustrated as a single interface, each of the boxes  310  and  350  may comprise a plurality of user interfaces. Line  352  transmits user queries as well as user listing selections from result sets from user interface  350  to both system  360  and to the MT application  234 ′ of system  320 . Line  312  functions similarly with respect to systems  320  and MT application  234  of system  360 . Similarly, line (or bus)  312  that couples user interface  310  to system  320  is also coupled to MT application  234  of system  360 . Line  352  functions similarly to line  312 , but with respect to systems  360  and MT application  234 ′ of system  320 . In the case of each system  300  and  301 , user queries, and user selections from result sets, may be respectively transmitted to the MT application of the opposite system, among other functions performed by systems  300  and  301 . While lines  314  and  354  are illustrated as originating from user interfaces,  310  and  350 , respectively, one of ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize that they could originate from within systems  320  and  360 , respectively. If the lines originate from the respective user interfaces then the receiving system may count the number of clicks and total the respective percentages discussed below. If the lines originate from the respective systems those systems may perform those functions before transmitting the information to the receiving system. 
     Because some of the products at the US site and the Spain site are the same or similar, user behavior with respect to products at either site, with appropriate constraints, can be used to align queries in the two different languages for machine translation purposes. If the US site  301  determines, for example via MT application  234 , that there are 100 users at the Spain site that enter a query for a product, with a constraint as discussed above, and obtain result sets that result in a successful outcome (e.g., the user clicks on the result set) for, in one embodiment, 30% of the queries, then depending on a threshold probability the system may set, the Spanish language query may be correlated with an English language query for a product, with a similar constraint. Similarly, if the Spain site  300  determines, for example via MT application  234 ′, that there are 1,000 users at the US site that enter a product query with the above constraint and obtain result sets that result in a positive outcome (e.g. the user clicks on the result set) for, in one embodiment, 25% of the queries then, depending on a threshold probability the system may set, the English language query may be correlated with a Spanish language query for the product with a similar constraint. These scenarios are seen by the dash line connecting database  330  and database  370  of  FIG. 3 . The above percentages may be viewed as a threshold which may be set at any level that may be deemed appropriate to indicate that the percentages are statistically significant. Again, as discussed above, the constraint may be aspects, a bar code which is the same for the product at the Spain site and the product at the US site, or a seller selling the same product at the two sites, among other things. Because the systems  300  and  301  know, via MT applications  234  and  234 , the kind of process the users went through in the two countries, and these products may be correlated-iPhone, black, etc., it follows that the systems  300  and  301  can correlate (or indicate to be parallel data) what the user sees at the Spain site and what the user sees at the US site with a certain probability. 
       FIG. 4  is a flowchart illustrating an example method  400 , consistent with various embodiments. The vertical leg beginning with  402  describes activities at a second system after receiving user queries and result sets from a first system. The vertical leg beginning with  412  describes activities at a first system, after receiving user queries and result sets from a second system. The first system may be eBay US  360  in  FIG. 3  and the second system may be eBay Spain  320  in  FIG. 3 . At  402  the first system sends user queries that are in a given category and that exhibit a constraint, as explained in  FIG. 3 , and result sets that correspond to the user queries, which are received at  404  by the second system. The receiving may be accomplished by query receive module  236  of  FIG. 2A . At  406  the second system tests to determine whether the received query is satisfied by the result set, for example by a user behavior such as clicking on a product in the result set. This may be accomplished by user behavior module  238  of  FIG. 2A . If the NO branch is taken, the system waits for the next user query and result set before making the test on that new user query and result set. If the YES branch is taken, the number of user queries that are satisfied by their result sets is increased by one at  408 . 
     At  410  a test is made to determine whether the threshold discussed in  FIG. 3  has been met. If the NO branch is taken the system awaits the next increase to the number of user queries that are satisfied by their result sets at  410  before making the next test to determine whether the threshold is met. If the YES branch is taken at  410 , then the threshold set by the system has been met and the second system sends a signal to decision block  422  which may be continually testing to determine whether the respective thresholds of the first system and the second system have been met. The vertical leg beginning at  412  operates as described for the vertical leg that begins at  402 , except that the activity is taken at the first system after the second system sends user queries that are in a given category and that exhibit a constraint, as explained in  FIG. 3 , and result sets that correspond to the user queries, which are received at  414  by the second system. The rest of the vertical  412  leg operates as explained for the vertical  402  leg. When the threshold is met for the second system as indicated by the YES branch at decision  420 , a signal is sent to decision block  422  which, as mentioned above, may be continually testing to determine whether the respective thresholds of both the first system and the second system have been met. When signals from the YES branch of  410  and from the YES branch of  420  reach decision  422 , the YES branch is taken at  422  and the queries from the first system and the queries from the second system may be indicated to be translations of each other as at  424 . The frequency of going through the YES branch versus the NO branch of  410  and  420  might support in calculating the confidence of the translation candidates. This is indicated symbolically at lines  411  and  421  where going through the YES and NO branches may be used in calculation (not shown). 
     Example Mobile Device 
       FIG. 5  is a block diagram illustrating a mobile device  500 , according to an example embodiment. The mobile device  500  may include a processor  502 . The processor  502  may be any of a variety of different types of commercially available processors suitable for mobile devices (for example, an XScale architecture microprocessor, a microprocessor without interlocked pipeline stages (MIPS) architecture processor, or another type of processor  502 ). A memory  504 , such as a random access memory (RAM), a flash memory, or other type of memory, is typically accessible to the processor  502 . The memory  504  may be adapted to store an operating system (OS)  506 , as well as application programs  508 , such as a mobile location enabled application that may provide LBSs to a user. The processor  502  may be coupled, either directly or via appropriate intermediary hardware, to a display  510  and to one or more input/output (I/O) devices  512 , such as a keypad, a touch panel sensor, a microphone, and the like. Similarly, in some embodiments, the processor  502  may be coupled to a transceiver  514  that interfaces with an antenna  516 . The transceiver  514  may be configured to both transmit and receive cellular network signals, wireless data signals, or other types of signals via the antenna  516 , depending on the nature of the mobile device  500 . Further, in some configurations, a GPS receiver  518  may also make use of the antenna  516  to receive GPS signals. 
     Modules, Components and Logic 
     Certain embodiments are described herein as including logic or a number of components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules may constitute either software modules (e.g., code embodied (1) on machine-readable storage or (2) in a transmission signal) or hardware-implemented modules. A hardware-implemented module is a tangible unit capable of performing certain operations and may be configured or arranged in a certain manner. In example embodiments, one or more computer systems (e.g., a standalone, client or server computer system) or one or more processors  502  may be configured by software (e.g., an application or application portion) as a hardware-implemented module that operates to perform certain operations as described herein. 
     In various embodiments, a hardware-implemented module may be implemented mechanically or electronically. For example, a hardware-implemented module may comprise dedicated circuitry or logic that is permanently configured (e.g., as a special-purpose processor, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC)) to perform certain operations. A hardware-implemented module may also comprise programmable logic or circuitry (e.g., as encompassed within a general-purpose processor or other programmable processor) that is temporarily configured by software to perform certain operations. It will be appreciated that the decision to implement a hardware-implemented module mechanically, in dedicated and permanently configured circuitry, or in temporarily configured circuitry (e.g., configured by software) may be driven by cost and time considerations. 
     Accordingly, the term “hardware-implemented module” should be understood to encompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that is physically constructed, permanently configured (e.g., hardwired) or temporarily or transitorily configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a certain manner and/or to perform certain operations described herein. Considering embodiments in which hardware-implemented modules are temporarily configured (e.g., programmed), each of the hardware-implemented modules need not be configured or instantiated at any one instance in time. For example, where the hardware-implemented modules comprise a general-purpose processor configured using software, the general-purpose processor may be configured as respective different hardware-implemented modules at different times. Software may accordingly configure processor  502 , for example, to constitute a particular hardware-implemented module at one instance of time and to constitute a different hardware-implemented module at a different instance of time. 
     Hardware-implemented modules can provide information to, and receive information from, other hardware-implemented modules. Accordingly, the described hardware-implemented modules may be regarded as being communicatively coupled. Where multiple of such hardware-implemented modules exist contemporaneously, communications may be achieved through signal transmission (e.g., over appropriate circuits and buses that connect the hardware-implemented modules). In embodiments in which multiple hardware-implemented modules are configured or instantiated at different times, communications between such hardware-implemented modules may be achieved, for example, through the storage and retrieval of information in memory structures to which the multiple hardware-implemented modules have access. For example, one hardware-implemented module may perform an operation, and store the output of that operation in a memory device to which it is communicatively coupled. A further hardware-implemented module may then, at a later time, access the memory device to retrieve and process the stored output. Hardware-implemented modules may also initiate communications with input or output devices, and can operate on a resource (e.g., a collection of information). 
     The various operations of example methods described herein may be performed, at least partially, by one or more processors  502  that are temporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configured to perform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanently configured, such processors  502  may constitute processor-implemented modules that operate to perform one or more operations or functions. The modules referred to herein may, in some example embodiments, comprise processor-implemented modules. 
     Similarly, the methods described herein may be at least partially processor-implemented. For example, at least some of the operations of a method may be performed by one or more processors  502  or processor-implemented modules. The performance of certain of the operations may be distributed among the one or more processors  502 , not only residing within a single machine, but deployed across a number of machines. In some example embodiments, the processor  502  or processors  502  may be located in a single location (e.g., within a home environment, an office environment or as a server farm), while in other embodiments the processors  502  may be distributed across a number of locations. 
     The one or more processors  502  may also operate to support performance of the relevant operations in a “cloud computing” environment or as a “software as a service” (SaaS). For example, at least some of the operations may be performed by a group of computers (as examples of machines including processors), these operations being accessible via a network (e.g., the Internet) and via one or more appropriate interfaces (e.g., application program interfaces (APIs).) 
     Electronic Apparatus and System 
     Example embodiments may be implemented in digital electronic circuitry, or in computer hardware, firmware, software, or in combinations of them. Example embodiments may be implemented using a computer program product, e.g., a computer program tangibly embodied in an information carrier, e.g., in a machine-readable medium for execution by, or to control the operation of, data processing apparatus, e.g., a programmable processor  502 , a computer, or multiple computers. 
     A computer program can be written in any form of programming language, including compiled or interpreted languages, and it can be deployed in any form, including as a stand-alone program or as a module, subroutine, or other unit suitable for use in a computing environment. A computer program can be deployed to be executed on one computer or on multiple computers at one site or distributed across multiple sites and interconnected by a communication network. 
     In example embodiments, operations may be performed by one or more programmable processors  502  executing a computer program to perform functions by operating on input data and generating output. Method operations can also be performed by, and apparatus of example embodiments may be implemented as, special purpose logic circuitry, e.g., a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). 
     The computing system can include clients and servers. A client and server are generally remote from each other and typically interact through a communication network. The relationship of client and server arises by virtue of computer programs running on the respective computers and having a client-server relationship to each other. In embodiments deploying a programmable computing system, it will be appreciated that that both hardware and software architectures merit consideration. Specifically, it will be appreciated that the choice of whether to implement certain functionality in permanently configured hardware (e.g., an ASIC), in temporarily configured hardware (e.g., a combination of software and a programmable processor  502 ), or a combination of permanently and temporarily configured hardware may be a design choice. Below are set out hardware (e.g., machine) and software architectures that may be deployed, in various example embodiments. 
     Example Machine Architecture and Machine-Readable Medium 
       FIG. 6  is a block diagram of machine in the example form of a computer system  600  within which instructions  624  may be executed for causing the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. In alternative embodiments, the machine operates as a standalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networked deployment, the machine may operate in the capacity of a server or a client machine in server-client network environment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed) network environment. The machine may be a personal computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further, while only a single machine is illustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. 
     The example computer system  600  includes a processor  602  (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU) or both), a main memory  604  and a static memory  606 , which communicate with each other via a bus  608 . The computer system  600  may further include a video display unit  610  (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode ray tube (CRT)). The computer system  600  also includes an alphanumeric input device  612  (e.g., a keyboard or a touch-sensitive display screen), a user interface (UI) navigation (e.g., cursor control) device  614  (e.g., a mouse), a disk drive unit  616 , a signal generation device  618  (e.g., a speaker) and a network interface device  620 . 
     Machine-Readable Medium 
     The disk drive unit  616  includes a computer-readable medium  622 , which may be hardware storage, on which is stored one or more sets of data structures and instructions  624  (e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of the methodologies or functions described herein. The instructions  624  may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory  604  and/or within the processor  602  during execution thereof by the computer system  600 , the main memory  604  and the processor  602  also constituting computer-readable media  622 . 
     While the computer-readable medium  622  is shown in an example embodiment to be a single medium, the term “computer-readable medium” may include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one or more instructions  624  or data structures. The term “computer-readable medium” shall also be taken to include any tangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying instructions  624  for execution by the machine and that cause the machine to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the present disclosure or that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying data structures utilized by or associated with such instructions  624 . The term “computer-readable medium” shall accordingly be taken to include, but not be limited to, solid-state memories, and optical and magnetic media. Specific examples of computer-readable media  622  include non-volatile memory, including by way of example semiconductor memory devices, e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), and flash memory devices; magnetic disks such as internal hard disks and removable disks; magneto-optical disks; and CD-ROM and DVD-ROM disks. 
     Transmission Medium 
     The instructions  624  may further be transmitted or received over a communications network  626  using a transmission medium. The instructions  624  may be transmitted using the network interface device  620  and any one of a number of well-known transfer protocols (e.g., HTTP). Examples of communication networks include a local area network (“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), the Internet, mobile telephone networks, plain old telephone (POTS) networks, and wireless data networks (e.g., WiFi and WiMax networks). The term “transmission medium” shall be taken to include any intangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying instructions  724  for execution by the machine, and includes digital or analog communications signals or other intangible media to facilitate communication of such software. 
     Although the inventive subject matter has been described with reference to specific example embodiments, it will be evident that various modifications and changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. The accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, show by way of illustration, and not of limitation, specific embodiments in which the subject matter may be practiced. The embodiments illustrated are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the teachings disclosed herein. Other embodiments may be utilized and derived therefrom, such that structural and logical substitutions and changes may be made without departing from the scope of this disclosure. This Detailed Description, therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of various embodiments is defined only by the appended claims, along with the full range of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. 
     Such embodiments of the inventive subject matter may be referred to herein, individually and/or collectively, by the term “invention” merely for convenience and without intending to voluntarily limit the scope of this application to any single invention or inventive concept if more than one is in fact disclosed. Thus, although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it should be appreciated that any arrangement calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to cover any and all adaptations or variations of various embodiments. Combinations of the above embodiments, and other embodiments not specifically described herein, will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description.