Location based services virtual bookmarking

• US 20030061110A1
• Filed: 09/24/2001
• Published: 03/27/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bodin, William Kress
• Granted Patent: US 7,571,124 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9562 Bookmark management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/203 Inventory monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0609 Buyer or seller confidence or verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces

Abstract

A system and method for establishing a persistent data store representing a virtually “bookmarked experience” with real, physical points of interest, such as products on display in a retail space, items viewed on exhibition such as artwork at an museum, and vendors and booth tenants at a trade show or fair. Location Based Services, RF Identification, and other technologies are coalesced by a pervasive device, and are assimilated by client and/or server-based logic to present an opportunity for “bookmarking” a virtual reference to a specific physical object or location.

Claims

1. A method for creating and using virtual bookmarks related to real, physical points of interest, said method comprising the steps of:

establishing a physical location and identity of a consumer;

correlating said location to a set of points of interest in the physical vicinity of said consumer;

producing and displaying a consumer-selectable list of correlated points of interest; and

creating a bookmark for points of interest selected from said list, said bookmark recording one or more parameters about said selected points of interest and being available on a networked server for later access by said consumer using a networked computing device.

2. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of establishing a location and identity of a consumer comprises employing a technology selected from the group of global positioning, E911, Bluetooth and RFID tags.

3. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of correlating said location to a set of points of interest in the vicinity of said consumer further comprises correlating said set of points of interest to one or more consumer preferences.

4. The method as set forth in claim 3 wherein said step of correlating to one or more consumer preferences comprises correlating to a preference selected from the group of size, price, style, brand and performance feature.

5. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of producing and displaying a consumer-selectable list of points of interest comprises displaying a list on a wireless telephone.

6. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of producing and displaying a consumer-selectable list of points of interest comprises displaying a list on a networked personal digital assistant.

7. The method as set forth in claim 1 wherein said step of creating a bookmark for points of interest selected from said list comprises creating a hyperlink on a web page on a web server.

8. The method as set forth in claim 1 further comprising the step of transmitting detailed information regarding said selected points of interest to a consumer'"'"'s receiving address.

9. A computer readable medium encoded with software for creating and using virtual bookmarks related to real, physical points of interest, said software when executed by one or more computing devices causing the computing devices to perform the steps of:

establish a location and identity of a consumer;

correlate said location to a set of points of interest in the vicinity of said consumer;

produce and display a consumer-selectable list of items, said items comprising one or more of said correlated points of interest; and

create a bookmark for items selected from said list, said bookmark recording one or more parameters about said selected items and being available on a networked server for later access by said consumer using a networked computing device.

10. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 9 wherein said software for establishing a location and identity of a consumer comprises software for employing a technology selected from the group of global positioning, E911, Bluetooth and RFID tags.

11. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 9 wherein said software for correlating said location to points of interest in the vicinity of said consumer further comprises software for correlating points of interest to one or more consumer preferences.

12. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 11 wherein said software for correlating points of interest to one or more consumer preferences comprises software for correlating to a preference selected from the group of size, price, style, brand and performance feature.

13. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 9 wherein said software for producing and displaying a consumer-selectable list of items comprises software for displaying a list on a wireless telephone.

14. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 9 wherein said software for producing and displaying a consumer-selectable list of items comprises software for displaying a list on a networked personal digital assistant.

15. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 9 wherein said software for creating a bookmark for items selected from said list comprises creating a hyperlink on a web page on a web server.

16. The computer readable medium as set forth in claim 9 further comprising software for performing the step of transmitting detailed information regarding said selected items to a consumer'"'"'s receiving address.

17. A system for creating and using virtual bookmarks related to real, physical points of interest, said system comprising:

a consumer identification and location subsystem adapted to establish a consumer'"'"'s identification and location when a consumer is in the proximity of one or more points of interest;

a bookmarking server adapted to receive said established identification and location, to correlate said location to one or more points of interest in the vicinity of said consumer, and to prepare a selectable itemized list of those points of interest in the consumer'"'"'s vicinity;

a consumer pervasive device adapted to receive and display said selectable itemized list, and to return a consumer'"'"'s selection from said list; and

a gateway server adapted to receive said consumer'"'"'s selection from said list, and to create a virtual bookmark related to selected items.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein said gateway server is further adapted to transmit one or more electronic documents containing detailed information regarding said selected items.

19. The system of claim 17 wherein said consumer identification and location subsystem comprises a subsystem selected from the group of an RFID tag and receiver, a Bluetooth-equipped pervasive device and receiver, a global positioning system and an E911 system.

20. The system of claim 17 wherein said consumer pervasive device is selected from the group of a wireless-application protocol enabled cellular telephone, a wireless-network enabled personal digital assistant, and a wireless-network enabled portable computer.