Location-based data communications system and method

• US 20060178140A1
• Filed: 02/01/2006
• Published: 08/10/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Accuweather Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Accuweather Incorporated
• Inventors: Smith, Steven, Steinberg, Michael Alan, Yule, Douglas, Patti, Christopher
• Granted Patent: US 8,832,121 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/427
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/18 wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/14 with services dependent on location where the service is an information service H04M2242/15; services independent of location H04M3/42229
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42348 Location-based services which utilize the location information of a target
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4872 Non-interactive information services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

A communications system and method for communicating geographic location-based information to a client computer operating in a communications network is disclosed. The system involves the use of a geographic location-based records database, a client profile database containing at least one user preference, a means for receiving at least one request from a client computer, the request including information about a location of the client computer, and a means for parsing the request to identify the location of the client computer. The system and method involve identifying a set of information records from the database that are relevant to the location of the client computer and the user'"'"'s preferences, an algorithm that computes a statistical result from the information records, and a communications network for communicating the result to the client computer.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for communicating geographic location-based information to a client computer operating in a communications network comprising the steps of:

a) receiving, by way of a first communications network, at least one request from a client computer, wherein the at least one request includes information about the location of the client computer, at least one user preference, and at least one query;

b) parsing the at least one request to identify the location of the client computer, the at least one user preference, and the at least one query;

c) identifying a set of information records, from a database of information records, that are relevant to the location of the client computer;

d) selecting at least some of the information records from the set of information records based on the at least one query;

e) computing a statistical result from the at least some of the information records; and

g) responding to the request, by way of the first or second communications network, by delivering or providing the computed result to the client computer.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

h) manually or automatically adjusting the computed result to account for at least one specific geographic characteristic of the location of the client computer.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the database of information comprises one or more records of weather information, weather forecast information, news, sports, quotes, and advertisements.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the database of information contains records stored in a format selected from audio, video, and text.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the location of the client computer is determined using global navigation positioning system telemetry data, wireless communications repeater towers, or both.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the computed result is in the form of binary and graphical information and wherein the request is in the form of one or more Internet Protocol data packets.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first communications network is a packet-switched network such as the Internet.

8. A computer-implemented method for communicating geographic location-based information to a client computer operating in a communications network comprising the steps of:

a) providing a client profile database including at least one record of a client location of interest, a client computer identifier, and at least one alert condition;

b) receiving, in a geographic location-based information database, geographic location-based information covering a geographic area;

c) computing a change in the geographic location-based information covering the geographic area;

d) determining if the change satisfies the at least one alert condition;

e) determining if the covered geographic area includes the client location of interest;

f) formulating a data packet containing information relevant to the computed change; and

g) sending the data packet to client computer associated with the client computer identifier.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the geographic location-based information comprises weather information and weather forecast information.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the at least one alert condition is one of a wind speed, temperature, visibility, precipitation amount precipitation accumulation, and precipitation effect, or a combination of two or more of those alert conditions.

11. A communications system for communicating geographic location-based information to a client computer operating in a communications network comprising:

a geographic location-based records database in data communication with an information server;

a client profile database in data communication with the information server, wherein the client profile database contains at least one user preference;

a receiving device for receiving at least one request from a client computer, wherein the at least one request includes information about a location of the client computer;

a parsing device for extracting from the request the location of the client computer;

an identifying device for selecting a set of information records from the database of information records that are relevant to the location of the client computer and the at least one user preference;

a computing device for computing a statistical result from at least some of the selected information records; and

a communications network for communicating one or more geographic location-based records from the geographic location-base records database and the result to a client computer.

12. The communications system of claim 11, further comprising a device for automatically adjusting the result to account for at least one specific geographic characteristic of the location of the client computer.

13. The communications system of claim 11, wherein the geographic location-based records database comprises one or more records of weather information, weather forecast information, news, sports, quotes, and advertisements.

14. The communications system of claim 11, wherein the geographic location-based records database contains records stored in a format selected from audio, video, and text.

15. The communications system of claim 11, wherein the location of the client computer is determined using global navigation positioning system telemetry data, wireless communications repeater towers, or both.

16. The communications system of claim 11, wherein the computed result is in the form of binary and graphical information.

17. The communications system of claim 11, wherein the communications network is a packet-switched network such as the Internet.

18. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer causes the computer to perform a method for communicating geographic location-based information to a client computer operating in a communications network, the method comprising the steps of:

a) receiving, by way of a first communications network, at least one request from a client computer, wherein the at least one request includes information about the location of the client computer, at least one user preference, and at least one query;

b) parsing the at least one request to identify the location of the client computer, the at least one user preference, and the at least one query;

c) identifying a set of information records, from a database of information records, that are relevant to the location of the client computer;

d) selecting at least some of the information records from the set of information records based on the at least one query;

e) computing a statistical result from the at least some of the information records; and

g) responding to the request, by way of the first communications network or by way of a second communications network, by delivering or providing the computed result to the client computer.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, further comprising the step of:

h) manually or automatically adjusting the computed result to account for at least one specific geographic characteristic of the location of the client computer.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the database of information comprises one or more records of weather information, weather forecast information, news, sports, quotes, and advertisements.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the first communications network is a packet-switched network such as the Internet.