SEARCHING AND ROUTE MAPPING BASED ON A SOCIAL NETWORK, LOCATION, AND TIME

• US 20080104227A1
• Filed: 11/01/2006
• Published: 05/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Birnie, Paul Robert, Fortescue, Murray Blake
• Granted Patent: US 8,108,501 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

A device, system, and method are directed towards providing location information from a social network. A GPS coordinate and a search criterion are received from a client device associated with a member of a social network. The social network is searched for another member associated with a location name based on the GPS coordinate and the search criterion. The location name may be a sponsored advertisement. The location name is provided to the client device. A communication may be enabled between the member and the other member. Moreover, a start and end location may also be received. The GPS coordinate and/or search criterion may be associated with either the start or end location. The searched location name is used to determine a location of interest. A route is determined between the start and end location and through the location of interest. The route is provided to the client device.

Claims

1. A method for providing location description over a network, comprising:

receiving, from a client device associated with a member of a social network, a Geo Positioning System (GPS) coordinate and search criteria;

searching the social network for another member associated with a location name based on the GPS coordinate and the search criteria; and

providing the location name to the client device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein searching the social network further comprises:

determining whether another GPS coordinate associated with the location name is within a proximity to the GPS coordinate.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein searching further comprises:

determining a local time based on the GPS coordinate and on a time of receiving the GPS coordinate and the search criteria; and

determining whether the local time is within a range of a time associated with the location name.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein searching the social network comprises;

providing the location name and location description associated with the location name as part of a search result in a plurality of search results;

filtering at least one search result from the plurality of search results if the at least one search result fails to match at least a part of the search criteria;

ordering the plurality of search results based on at least one of a degree of separation between the member and the other member associated with the at least one search result, an amount of match of the search criteria, a relevancy score, a status of the at least one search result as a sponsored advertisement, an origin of the at least one search result, or a rating associated with the at least one search result.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving from the other member a payment for associating another GPS coordinate with the location name in the social network, wherein the other GPS coordinate is within a proximity to the GPS coordinate; and

indicating the location name as a sponsored advertisement in a plurality of search results.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the GPS coordinate and the search criteria comprises receiving from the client device, a start location and an end location,

wherein either the start location or the end location is associated with the GPS coordinate,

wherein providing the location name comprises providing a route between the start location and end location, and

wherein the method of claim 1 further comprises:

determining a location of interest based on the location name; and

determining the route between the start location and the end location, wherein the route includes the location of interest.

7. A method for providing location description over a network, comprising:

receiving from a client device associated with a member of a social network, a start location and an end location;

determining a GPS coordinate based on the start location or the end location;

determining a search criterion based on a location description associated with the start location or the end location;

searching the social network for another member and a location of interest based on the GPS coordinate and the search criterion, wherein the location of interest has been identified in the social network as relevant to the other member; and

determining a route between the start location and the end location and through the location of interest; and

providing the route to the client device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein providing a location name associated with the GPS coordinate comprises pushing to the client device, the location name, or pulling by the client device, the location name.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the search criterion includes a query string, a search distance, a search time, a rating level, a community filter for the social network, or a time of last update of the location name or of the location description.

10. A network device for providing location description over a network, comprising:

a transceiver to send and receive data over the network; and

a processor that is operative to perform actions, comprising;

receiving, from a client device associated with a member of a social network, a geographical coordinate, wherein the geographical coordinate identifies a geographical location of the client device;

searching the social network for another member associated with a location name based in part on a determination of whether the geographical coordinate is within a proximity to another geographical coordinate associated with the location name; and

providing the location name to the client device.

11. The network device of claim 10, wherein searching the social network for the other member associated with the location name comprises;

providing the location name and location description associated with the location name as part of a search result in a plurality of search results;

modifying the plurality of search results based in part on a match of at least one search result of the plurality of search results with a search criterion received form the client device, and further based on relevancy information associated with the at least one search result.

12. The network device of claim 10, wherein the processor is further operative to perform actions comprising:

receiving from the other member a payment for associating another geographical coordinate and the location name with the other member in the social network, wherein the geographical coordinate is within a proximity to the other geographical coordinate; and

identifying the location name as a sponsored advertisement in a plurality of search results.

13. The network device of claim 10, wherein searching the social network comprises performing a depth-first search, a breadth first search or an A* search of the social network for the other member.

14. A system for providing location description over a network, comprising:

a geo-location search component (GSC) operable to perform actions comprising;

receiving, from a mobile device associated with a member of a social network, a geographical coordinate;

requesting a social networking manager (SNM) to search the social network based on the geographical coordinate, for a community comprising the member and another member, wherein the other member or the community is related to a location name in the social network;

requesting from a GLT component, an address associated with the geographical coordinate as the location name, if the location name is absent from the social network;

providing the location name to the mobile device;

a geo-location tracking (GLT) component operable to perform actions comprising;

providing the address associated with a received geographical coordinate.

15. The system of claim 14, further comprising:

a messenger component in communication with the GSC and operable to perform actions comprising;

forwarding a message between the mobile device and a client device associated with the other member, if a geographical location of the client device is determined to be within a proximity with the geographical coordinate.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein forwarding the message further comprises:

forwarding the message based in part on a preference of the other member, wherein the preference includes at least one of a mode of communication, a geographical area to receive the communication, a time to receive the communication, a minimal degree of separation between the member and the other member before communication is enabled, a block list of members for whom no communication is allowed, or a complete block of communication.

17. The system of claim 14, further comprising a route mapper in communication with the GSC and operable to perform actions comprising:

determining a route between a start location and an end location and through a location of interest defined by the location name and the GPS coordinate, using at least one of a Moore algorithm, a shortest path algorithm, a lowest traffic time algorithm, a Frank-Wolfe algorithm, or a Wardrop equilibrium algorithm.

18. A processor readable medium having processor executable instructions for providing location description over a network, the processor executable instructions configured to enable a processor to perform actions, comprising:

requesting a search of a social network based on a Geo Positioning System (GPS) coordinate identifying a geographical location of the client device and on an identity of a user of the client device, wherein the user is a member of the social network;

receiving a plurality of location information based on the requested search, wherein each of the plurality of location information is associated with at least another member of the social network;

displaying the plurality of location information as a map of ordered points, wherein each of the ordered points is associated with different one of the plurality of location information.

19. The processor readable medium of claim 18, wherein the actions further comprises:

sending an update of information associated with one of the ordered points, wherein the update is configured to enable refining another search of the social network for other location information.

20. The processor readable medium of claim 18, wherein the actions further comprises:

sending a request to add the other member of the social network to a community of the user within the social network, wherein the added other member is configured to enable refining another search of the social network for other location information.