Google patents real-time crowd counts for public places
Google describes a system that calculates how busy a public location is by counting unique mobile devices sharing their location in real time. The method checks if enough data exists to protect user privacy and if the result matches historical patterns before displaying the information.
In the filing’s own words
Real-time busyness information is for a public place is computed in a privacy-sensitive way, and provided for display in relation to historical busyness information. An aggregate amount of real-time location information available for a particular public place is measured ( 410), and used to determine ( 420) whether the public place is privacy-qualified. If the public place is privacy-qualified, real-time busyness information is computed ( 440) for the public place based on the real-time location information. Further, it is determined ( 450) whether the computed real-time busyness information is accuracy-qualified, based on a comparison of the real-time busyness information to historical busyness information. If both qualifications are met, the real-time busyness information is output ( 470) for display or to another application.
What exactly they claim (claim 1)
1. A method, comprising: receiving, at one or more processors, a request for information about a particular public place; receiving, in real time at the one or more processors, unique identifiers from one or more mobile devices that are sharing location information corresponding to a location of the particular public place; aggregating, in real time at the one or more processors, the unique identifiers in a data structure, wherein the aggregating avoids duplicating any of the unique identifiers in the data structure; generating, with the one or more processors, real-time busyness information for the public place based on the aggregated unique identifiers; and providing for display, responsive to the request, the generated real-time busyness information for the particular public place.
Facts
- Company
- Google (Google LLC)
- Official title
- Realtime Busyness for Places
- Publication number
- US20260289588A1
- Application number
- 19446375
- Filed
- Jan 12, 2026
- Published
- Sep 24, 2026
- Inventors
- 7
- Claims
- 20
Classified under
G06Q 30/0201 Physics & computingG06F 16/2255 Physics & computingMore from Google in AI & software
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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.