System and methods for remotely accessing a selected group of items of interest from a database

• US 20020169541A1
• Filed: 07/01/2002
• Published: 11/14/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/1995
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Civix-Ddi LLC
• Original Assignee: civix corporation
• Inventors: Semple, William T., Oxman, Steven W., Bouve, W. Lincoln
• Granted Patent: US 8,296,335 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/200
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24575 using context
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3224 Transactions dependent on location of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 19/201 Accessories of ATMs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/918 Location
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/919 Geographic
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/922 Communications
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

A user can access a common database from a remote communications port, at any qualified location, to generate a map or other positional information which locates selected items of interest, e.g., businesses, stores, architectural sites, and the like. The database contains information representing the items of interest, including, for each of the items of interest, positional coordinates, a geographic vicinity, and a selected category. The positional coordinates discretely locate the vicinity, while the vicinity specifies the exact locations of the items of interest in the selected category. For example, a user in New York can select the display of sporting shops in the area surrounding Chicago O'"'"'Hara International Airport selectively. A user can also access a port and display locations of items of interest within the same vicinity as the user and relative to the user'"'"'s position. The database can be modified from qualified remote locations to change, or add to, the information therein. An advertisement can be tagged to the display or print out as an association with the selected items of interest.

Claims

1. A process for locating an item of interest, comprising the steps of:

determining a real-time position of an electronic port;

electronically submitting, to a remote database, a request to locate the item of interest, the request including information defining the position; and

transmitting instructions to the port, the instructions including a spatial location of the item of interest.

2. A process of claim 1, the step of determining comprising utilizing a GPS receiver located with the port.

3. A process of claim 2, the GPS receiver generating coordinates of the position.

4. A process of claim 1, the step of electronically submitting comprising electronically recognizing a voice of a user at the port.

5. A process of claim 4, further comprising the steps of electronically prompting the user with queries and electronically responding to user replies, to formulate the request.

6. A process of claim 1, one or both of the steps of electronically submitting and transmitting comprising utilizing cellular communications.

7. A process of claim 1, the step of transmitting comprising transmitting information for generating a map centered about the real-time position and for illustrating the spatial location relative to the real-time position.

8. A process of claim 1, the step of transmitting comprising transmitting spatial coordinates of the item of interest.

9. A process of claim 1, the step of transmitting comprising generating synthesized voice output at the port, wherein a user at the port may interpret direction to the item of interest.

10. A process of claim 1, the step of electronically submitting comprising automatically defining a category associated with the item of interest.

11. A process of claim 10, the step of transmitting further comprising transmitting locations of one or more additional items of interest based on the category.

12. A process of claim 1, further comprising generating an advertisement at the port based on the request.

13. A process of claim 1, further comprising the steps of electronically submitting a second request, to the remote database, for additional detail of the item of interest and transmitting the additional detail to the remote port.

14. A process of claim 1, the step of determining comprising manually entering the position at the port.

15. A process of claim 1, the step of electronically submitting comprising the steps of electronically submitting a category associated with the item of interest and automatically defining the item of interest based on the real-time position and a predetermined geographic vicinity surrounding the real-time position.

16. A process of claim 16, the step of electronically submitting comprising submitting one or more of the following:

a product, a service, a rental, a geographic site, a store, and a restaurant.

17. A process of claim 1, the step of transmitting comprising transmitting to the electronic port selected from the group consisting essentially of a cell phone and a PDA.

19. A system of claim 19, the ports comprising one or more of cell phones, computers, and PDAs, the requests comprising one or more of voice synthesized inputs, facsimiles, touch tone inputs and user-typed inputs, and the direction information comprising one or more of X,Y coordinates and a graphical map.

18. A system for automatically interacting with users to locate one or more items of interest, comprising:

one or more ports for inputting one or more requests for the items of interest;

one or more databases for storing spatial information about the items of interest, the databases being remote from the ports; and

a session manager for remote connection with the ports, the session manager responsive to the requests to query the databases and to transmit direction information to at least one of the ports and locating the items of interest.