Broadcast including content and location-identifying information for specific locations

• US 20050096042A1
• Filed: 11/01/2004
• Published: 05/05/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Drive-By Wifi, LLC
• Original Assignee: Drive-By Wifi, LLC
• Inventors: Habeman, William E., Tillman, Chad D., MacDonald, Brian D., Ivsan, John V.
• Application Number:
  US10/980,134
• Publication Number:
  US 20050096042A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/422.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services

Abstract

A method for distributing informational content pertaining to specific locations for presentation to a person using a mobile device includes the steps of receiving by a first party from each of a plurality of second parties informational content pertaining to a specific location and location-identifying information for the specific location; maintaining by the first party in a database the received informational content pertaining to the specific locations in association with the received location-identifying information for the specific locations; and transmitting with a wireless transmitter a transmission, the transmission including a broadcast having the received informational content and the received location-identifying information as maintained in the database for a plurality of specific locations.

Claims

1. An invention comprising a method for distributing informational content pertaining to specific locations for presentation to a person using a mobile device, the method comprising the steps of,

(a) receiving by a first party from each of a plurality of second parties informational content pertaining to a specific location and location-identifying information for the specific location;

(b) maintaining by the first party in a database said received informational content pertaining to the specific locations in association with said received location-identifying information for the specific locations; and

(c) transmitting with a wireless transmitter a transmission, the transmission including a broadcast having said received informational content and said received location-identifying information as maintained in the database for a plurality of specific locations.

2. The invention of claim 1, wherein the first party receives over the Internet from one of the second parties informational content pertaining to a specific location and the location-identifying information for the specific location.

3. The invention of claim 1, wherein the first party provides a subscription service to each of the second parties under which the first party receives, from each of the second parties, said received the informational content pertaining to a specific location and the location-identifying information for the specific location.

4. The invention of claim 3, wherein the subscription service is provided to the second parties by the first party for a fee.

5. The invention of claim 1, wherein said step (c) of transmitting is performed repeatedly whereby the informational content stored in association with the location-identifying information for the specific locations is kept current within the mobile devices.

6. The invention of claim 1, wherein said step (c) of transmitting is performed on a periodic basis whereby the informational content stored in association with the location-identifying information for the specific locations is kept current within the mobile devices.

7. An invention comprising a method for presenting informational content pertaining to specific locations to a person using a mobile device, the method comprising the steps of,

(a) receiving, with a mobile device, a transmission including a broadcast, the broadcast comprising, for each of a plurality of specific locations, informational content pertaining to the specific location and location-identifying information for the specific location;

(b) storing, within the mobile device, for each of a plurality of specific locations, said received informational content in association with said received location-identifying information for the specific location; and

(c) identifying those specific locations that are within a predetermined proximity to the mobile device by searching said stored location-identifying information as a function of a current location of the mobile device.

8. The invention of claim 7, wherein said step (a) of receiving and said step (b) or storing are performed on a periodic basis, whereby the informational content stored in association with the location-identifying information for the specific locations is kept current within the mobile device.

9. The invention of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises presenting said stored informational content for a specific location that is identified as being within the predetermined proximity to the current location of the mobile device.

10. The invention of claim 7, wherein the method further comprises the steps of,

(e) receiving with the mobile device a transmission including a broadcast, the broadcast comprising, for each of a plurality of specific locations, informational content pertaining to the specific location and location-identifying information for the specific location, and

(f) updating said stored informational content and location-identifying information of said step (c) with said received informational content and location-identifying information of said step (e), whereby the mobile device may be augmented and updated.

11. The invention of claim 7, wherein the location-identifying information comprises GPS data.

12. The invention of claim 11, wherein the mobile device includes GPS capabilities for determining the current location of the mobile device.

13. The invention of claim 7, wherein the location-identifying information comprises longitudinal, latitudinal and elevational coordinates.

14. The invention of claim 7, wherein the wireless transmitter comprises a WiFi transmitter.

15. The invention of claim 7, wherein the wireless transmitter comprises a WiMAX transmitter.

16. The invention of claim 7, wherein the wireless transmitter comprises a satellite.

17. The invention of claim 7, wherein the wireless transmitter comprises a cell tower.

18. The invention of claim 7, wherein the mobile device comprises a satellite receiver disposed within a motor vehicle.

19. The invention of claim 18, wherein the satellite receiver is removably mounted to the motor vehicle.

20. The invention of claim 19, wherein the mobile device further comprises a speaker system of the motor vehicle.

21. The invention of claim 7, wherein the mobile device further comprises computer-readable memory for said storing of the informational content for each of the specific locations in association with the respective location-identifying information.

22. The invention of claim 21, wherein the computer-readable memory comprises a removable storage medium.

23. The invention of claim 22, wherein the removable storage medium comprises a memory card.

24. The invention of claim 22, wherein the removable storage medium comprises an optical disc.

25. The invention of claim 24, wherein the optical disk is rewritable.

26. The invention of claim 24, wherein the optical disk comprises a DVD disc.

27. The invention of claim 22, wherein the computer-readable memory forms part of a portable audio device.

28. The invention of claim 27, wherein the portable audio device is an mp3 player.

29. The invention of claim 7, wherein the informational content of a broadcast includes an Internet address.

30. The invention of claim 29, wherein the mobile device is Internet-enabled for obtaining informational content from the Internet address.

31. The invention of claim 7, wherein the identifying-information for a specific location comprises a street address.

32. The invention of claim 7, wherein the identifying-information for a specific location comprises GPS data.