ALARM SYSTEM FOR A WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS DEVICE

• US 20080102786A1
• Filed: 10/25/2006
• Published: 05/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Research In Motion Limited (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: GRIFFIN, Jason
• Granted Patent: US 8,412,148 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/404.2
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways

Abstract

A wireless communications device includes a location-dependent alarm which a user can set to be triggered at a target location. A GPS receiver embedded in the wireless device provides position data representative of the current location. When the current location matches the target location, the alarm is triggered. This enables the user to set the alarm to wake him upon arrival at a particular location, e.g. a specific station on a commuter train. In another example, the wireless device can wake the user at one time of morning if the user is sleeping in one location and at a second time if the user is sleeping in a second location.

Claims

1. A method of alerting a user of a wireless communications device, the method comprising steps of:

determining a current location of the device;

comparing the current location of the device with a target location; and

triggering an alarm when the current location of the device matches the target location.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 further comprising a step of enabling the user to set the alarm to be triggered when the device is in the target location.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the alarm is triggered immediately upon reaching the target location.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the triggering of the alarm is delayed until a time prescribed by the user.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4 wherein the triggering of the alarm is aborted if the device departs from the target location.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5 wherein the triggering of the alarm occurs at the prescribed time even if the device temporarily departs from the target location provided that the device is positioned at the target location at the prescribed time.

7. The method as claimed in claim 4 wherein the triggering of the alarm occurs at the prescribed time even if the device departs from the target location and is not positioned at the target location at the prescribed time.

8. The method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the step of enabling the user to set the alarm comprises steps of:

enabling the user to set a first alarm to be triggered at a first time when the device is positioned at a first location; and

enabling the user to set a second alarm to be triggered at a second time when the device is positioned at a second location, whereby the device triggers the first alarm when the device is positioned at the first location and an internal clock of the device reaches the first time or the device triggers the second alarm when the device is positioned at the second location and the internal clock reaches the second time.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the step of comparing the current location and the target location comprises a step of determining whether the current location is within a present range of the target location.

10. The method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the step of setting the alarm comprises a step of enabling the user to specify a forewarning time to trigger the alarm before the device reaches the target location and wherein the step of comparing the current and target locations comprises a step of computing a rate of convergence between the current and target locations to thereby enable the device to predict a convergence time and thus to know when to trigger the alarm in order to provide the forewarning time specified by the user.

11. The method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the step of setting the alarm comprises a step of enabling the user to define the target location by graphically enclosing a zone on a map displayed on a graphical user interface of the device.

12. The method as claimed in claim 2 wherein the step of setting the alarm comprises a step of enabling the user to select the target location from a plurality of predetermined positions, each predetermined position having both a name and associated position data.

13. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the step of determining the current location of the device comprises receiving and processing signals from Global Positioning Systems (GPS) satellites to generate the position data.

26. A computer program product comprising code adapted to perform the steps of any one of claims 1 to 13 or claims 21 to 25 when the computer program product is loaded into memory and executed on a processor of a wireless communications device.

14. A wireless communications device having a location-dependent alarm, the wireless device comprising:

an input device for enabling the user to set the alarm by specifying a target location for triggering the alarm;

a position data module for generating position data representative of a current location of the device; and

a processor for comparing the position data with the target location and for triggering the alarm when the position data corresponds to the target location.

15. The wireless communications device as claimed in claim 14 wherein the position data module is a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver for generating GPS position data for the current location of the device.

16. The wireless communications device as claimed in claim 14 wherein the alarm comprises an alarm application stored in a memory of the device and executable by the processor for enabling the user to define the target location by graphically enclosing a zone on a map displayed on a graphical user interface of the device.

17. The wireless communications device as claimed in claim 14 wherein the alarm comprises a position database for storing a plurality of predetermined positions, each predetermined position having both a name and associated position data.

18. The wireless communications device as claimed in claim 14 wherein the alarm further comprises an alarm application for enabling the user to specify a forewarning time to trigger the alarm before the device reaches the target location, the alarm application comparing the current and target locations to compute a rate of convergence between the current and target locations to thereby predict a convergence time and thus to determine when to trigger the alarm in order to provide the forewarning time specified by the user.

19. The wireless communications device as claimed in claim 14 wherein the alarm comprises a user-configurable distance tolerance that specifies a range within with the current location will be considered to match the target location.

20. The wireless communications device as claimed in claim 14 wherein the alarm comprises a time-delay feature for delaying the triggering of the alarm until a prescribed time whereby the alarm will only be triggered at the prescribed time if the device is positioned at the target location.

21. A method of enabling a user of a wireless communications device to remotely alert an alarm recipient based on a current location of the user, the method comprising steps of:

determining a current location of the device;

comparing the current location of the device with the target location; and

communicating an alarm to the alarm recipient when the current location of the device matches the target location.

22. The method as claimed in claim 21 further comprising a step of enabling the user to set the alarm so that the alarm is triggered when the device is in the target location.

23. The method as claimed in claim 21 wherein the step of determining the current location of the device comprises receiving and processing signals from Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites to generate the position data.

24. The method as claimed in claim 22 wherein the step of setting the alarm comprises a step of enabling the user to define the target location by indicating a position on a map displayed on a graphical user interface of the device.

25. The method as claimed in claim 21 wherein the step of communicating the alarm to the alarm recipient comprises a step of sending an e-mail alert shortly before arriving at the target location.