Profile selection and call forwarding based upon wireless terminal GPS location coordinates

• US 20060166678A1
• Filed: 03/01/2005
• Published: 07/27/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 01/26/2005
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies General IP PTE Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Avago Technologies General IP PTE Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bennett, James D., Karaoguz, Jeyhan
• Application Number:
  US11/069,468
• Publication Number:
  US 20060166678A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/006 Call diverting means
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/663 Preventing unauthorised calls to a telephone set
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/186 Processing of subscriber group data

Abstract

A wireless terminal adjusts its profile settings based upon its GPS coordinates. The wireless terminal accesses its GPS receiver to determine its location coordinates, which may include elevation. The wireless terminal then accesses a plurality of location based profile rules, each of which includes location parameters and corresponding profile settings. The wireless terminal selects a location based profile rule of the plurality of location based profile rules based upon the location coordinates of the wireless terminal. The wireless terminal enacts corresponding profile settings of the selected location based profile rule. The profile settings may cause the wireless terminal to adjust its ringer on/off settings, its ringer volume settings, the number of rings it provides in response to an incoming communication, the ringer cadence, the number of repeat rings for incoming communications, vibration settings, call filtering settings, call forwarding settings, or message receipt settings, for example.

Claims

1. A method for operating a wireless terminal comprising:

accessing a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver of the wireless terminal to determine location coordinates of the wireless terminal;

accessing a plurality of location based profile rules, each location based profile rule of the plurality of location based profile rules including location parameters and corresponding profile settings;

selecting a location based profile rule of the plurality of location based profile rules based upon the location coordinates of the wireless terminal; and

enacting profile settings of the selected location based profile rule.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the profile settings are selected from the group consisting of:

ringer off/on settings;

ringer volume settings;

number of ring settings;

ringer cadence settings;

ringer repeat settings;

vibration settings;

call filtering settings;

call forwarding settings; and

message receipt settings.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

when a first location based profile rule having corresponding profile settings is selected, terminating an incoming communication; and

when a second location based profile rule having corresponding profile settings is selected, redirecting the incoming communication to an alternate destination.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless terminal comprises at least one of a cellular telephone, a Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) terminal, and a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) terminal.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving input to establish the plurality of location based profile rules.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

the user establishing the plurality of location based profile rules via interaction with a server computer communicatively coupled to the wireless terminal; and

the server computer downloading the plurality of location based profile rules to the wireless terminal.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the location parameters of a location based profile rule define a geographical boundary.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the geographical boundary is selected from the group consisting of at least:

a workplace boundary;

a room boundary;

a boundary of a group of rooms;

a boundary of a floor of a building;

a residence boundary;

a school boundary;

a theatre boundary; and

a stadium boundary.

9. The method of claim 1:

wherein the location coordinates include an elevation of the wireless terminal; and

the location based profile rule of the plurality of location based profile rules is further selected based upon the elevation.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the location coordinates correspond to a particular floor in a building.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the location based profile rule is further selected based upon a current time.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the location based profile rule is further selected based upon a current date.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the location based profile rule is further selected based upon a current day of the week.

14. A wireless terminal comprising:

a wireless interface;

a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver;

a user interface; and

a processing unit communicatively coupled to the wireless interface, to the GPS receiver, and to the user interface, wherein the processing unit is operable to;

access the GPS receiver to determine location coordinates of the wireless terminal;

access a plurality of location based profile rules, each location based profile rule of the plurality of location based profile rules including location parameters and corresponding profile settings;

select a location based profile rule of the plurality of location based profile rules based upon the location coordinates of the wireless terminal; and

enact profile settings of the selected location based profile rule.

15. The wireless terminal of claim 14, wherein the profile settings are selected from the group consisting of:

ringer off/on settings;

ringer volume settings;

number of ring settings;

ringer cadence settings;

ringer repeat settings;

vibration settings;

call filtering settings;

call forwarding settings; and

message receipt settings.

16. The wireless terminal of claim 14, wherein the processing unit is further operable to:

when a first location based profile rule having corresponding profile settings is selected, terminate an incoming communication; and

when a second location based profile rule having corresponding profile settings is selected, redirect the incoming communication to an alternate destination.

17. The wireless terminal of claim 14, wherein the wireless terminal comprises at least one of a cellular telephone, a Wireless Personal Area Network (WPAN) terminal, and a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) terminal.

18. The wireless terminal of claim 14, wherein the processing unit is further operable to receive input via the user interface to establish the plurality of location based profile rules.

19. The wireless terminal of claim 18, wherein the processing unit is further operable to establish the plurality of location based profile rules via interaction with a server computer communicatively coupled to the wireless terminal by downloading the plurality of location based profile rules from the server computer.

20. The wireless terminal of claim 14, wherein the location parameters of a location based profile rule define a geographical boundary.

21. The wireless terminal of claim 20, wherein the geographical boundary is selected from the group consisting of at least:

a workplace boundary;

a room boundary;

a boundary of a group of rooms;

a boundary of a floor of a building;

a residence boundary;

a school boundary;

a theatre boundary; and

a stadium boundary.

22. The wireless terminal of claim 14, wherein

the location coordinates include an elevation of the wireless terminal;

and

the processing unit further selects the location based profile rule of the plurality of location based profile rules based upon the elevation.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the location coordinates correspond to a particular floor in a building.

24. The wireless terminal of claim 14, wherein the location based profile rule is further selected based upon a current time.

25. The wireless terminal of claim 14, wherein the location based profile rule is further selected based upon a current date.

26. The wireless terminal of claim 14, wherein the location based profile rule is further selected based upon a current day of the week.