Method and apparatus for acquiring, processing, using and brokering location information associated with mobile communication devices
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- using a processing system to acquire location related information associated with a plurality of mobile devices that operate on a wireless network;
processing the location related information associated with the plurality of mobile devices in the processing system to produce processed location related information;
transmitting the processed location related information to a recipient as part of a business transaction; and
receiving payment in exchange for said transmitting as part of the business transaction.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An information broker operates a location server coupled to a wireless network and a wireline network, which acquires and processes information indicating locations of mobile communication devices on the wireless network. The information broker provides the processed information to one or more recipients. The processed information may be provided by the information broker to a recipient in exchange for payment, as part of a business transaction. The raw or processed location related information may include a history of locations of a mobile communication device and times and durations associated with the locations. The processed information may include graphs or maps of geographic areas in which the mobile devices have been located, movement trends, or other behavioral patterns of mobile users. The processed location data can also be used in performing location-based searches and other location-related applications and for customer analysis, among other uses.
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Citations
48 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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using a processing system to acquire location related information associated with a plurality of mobile devices that operate on a wireless network;
processing the location related information associated with the plurality of mobile devices in the processing system to produce processed location related information;
transmitting the processed location related information to a recipient as part of a business transaction; and
receiving payment in exchange for said transmitting as part of the business transaction. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A computer-implemented method comprising:
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acquiring location related information indicative of a plurality of locations of a mobile device on a wireless network;
defining a plurality of regions based on the location related information, each region associated with a subset of the location related information, each region representing a geographic area in which the mobile device has been located; and
storing in a storage device data identifying each of the regions in association with the corresponding subset of the location related information. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
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32. A computer-implemented method comprising:
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acquiring location information indicative of locations of a plurality of mobile devices that operate on a wireless network;
aggregating the location related information associated with two or more of the mobile devices; and
generating a map based on the aggregated information. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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38. A computer-implemented method comprising:
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acquiring location information indicative of locations of a plurality of mobile devices that operate on a wireless network;
aggregating the location information; and
generating a set of vectors representing an overall trend of movement of at least two users of the mobile devices based on the aggregated location information. - View Dependent Claims (39, 40, 41)
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42. A method comprising:
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acquiring location related information associated with a mobile device that operates on a wireless network;
maintaining a metric associated with a place and an entity;
detecting the mobile device being in proximity to the place, based on the location related information associated with the mobile device and data indicating a location of the place;
updating the metric in response to detecting a predetermined number of instances of the mobile device being in proximity to the place; and
awarding a value to the entity based on the metric. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47)
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48. A system comprising:
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means for acquiring location related information associated with a plurality of mobile devices that operate on a wireless network;
means for processing the location related information associated with the plurality of mobile devices to produce processed location related information; and
means for transmitting the processed location related information to a recipient as part of a business transaction.
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Specification