Methods and Systems for Determining a Telecommunications Service Location Using Global Satellite Positioning

• US 20080195317A1
• Filed: 11/06/2007
• Published: 08/14/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: At&T Delaware Intellectual Property, Inc. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Smith, Steven G., Hamrick, Marvin R., Willis, Robert H., Sylvester, Jeffery A., Davis, Mitchell E., Morton, Roland T.
• Granted Patent: US 7,647,172 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 701/213
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3453 Special cost functions, i.e. other than distance or default speed limit of road segments
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0252 Radio frequency fingerprinting

Abstract

Methods and systems are provided for obtaining information related to a customer service location and directions for routing a service technician from one customer service location to another. One embodiment includes requesting at least one set of coordinates associated with the customer service location; accessing a technician server to direct a global satellite positioning system to obtain the set of coordinates for the customer service location; obtaining the coordinates and updating one or more databases with said coordinates. The coordinates may include at least one of a latitude and a longitude associated with the customer service location. Another embodiment includes obtaining through a technician server at least one set of “from” coordinates associated with the first customer service location and at least one set of “to” coordinates associated with the second customer location; transmitting the “from” and “to” coordinates to a mapping system; and, generating directions in the mapping system based on the “to” and “from” coordinates. At least one of the sets of coordinates includes latitude and longitude data. System and computer-readable media embodiments of these methods are also provided.

Claims

1-24. -24. (canceled)

25. A method for generating travel directions for a technician traveling from a first location to at least a second location, the method comprising:

accessing a server for directing a global satellite positioning system to obtain at least one set of “

from”

coordinates associated with the first location;

accessing the server for directing the global satellite positioning system to obtain at least one set of “

to”

coordinates associate with the second location;

transmitting the at least one set of “

from” and

the at least one set of “

to”

coordinates to a mapping unit;

generating travel directions in the mapping unit based on the at least one set of “

to” and

the at least one set of “

from”

coordinates; and

outputting the travel directions to the technician.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein accessing the server to obtain the at least one set of “

to”

coordinates comprises receiving a data transmission from an input device indicating a street address of the second location.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising accessing the mapping system, by the input device, remotely.

28. The method of claim 26, further comprising tracking a location of the input device.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein the at least one set of “

from” and

the at least one set of “

to”

coordinates are stored in at least one database.

30. The method of claim 25, wherein the second location is a customer service location where a customer service is to be performed.

31. The method of claim 25, further comprising accessing, by the server, an address guide.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

associating the at least one set of “

from”

coordinate with a valid street address; and

retrieving the valid street address from the address guide.

33. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

associating the at least one set of “

to”

coordinate with a valid street address; and

retrieving the valid street address from the address guide.

34. A system for generating travel directions for a technician traveling from a first location to at least a second location, the system comprising:

means for accessing a server for directing a global satellite positioning system to obtain at least one set of “

from”

coordinates associated with the first location;

means for accessing the server for directing the global satellite positioning system to obtain at least one set of “

to”

coordinates associate with the second location;

means for transmitting the at least one set of “

from” and

the at least one set of “

to”

coordinates to a mapping unit;

means for generating travel directions in the mapping unit based on the at least one set of “

to” and

the at least one set of “

from”

coordinates; and

means for outputting the travel to the technician.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the means for accessing the server to obtain the at least one set of “

from”

coordinates comprises means for receiving a data transmission from an input device operatively associated with the mapping system.

36. The system of claim 34, wherein the means for accessing the server to obtain the at least one set of “

to”

coordinates comprises means for receiving a data transmission from an input device operatively associated with the mapping system.

37. The system of claim 36, further comprising means for tracking a location of the input device.

38. The system of claim 34, further comprising means for storing the at least one set of “

from” and

the at least one set of “

to”

coordinates in at least one database.

39. The system of claim 34, further comprising means for accessing an address guide.

40. The system of claim 39, further comprising:

means for associating the at least one set of “

from”

coordinate with a valid street address; and

means for retrieving the valid street address from an address guide

41. The system of claim 39, further comprising:

means for associating the at least one set of “

to”

coordinate with a valid street address; and

means for retrieving the valid street address from an address guide.

42. A computer-readable medium which stores a set of instructions which when executed performs a method for generating travel directions for a technician traveling from a first location to at least a second location, the method executed by the set of instructions comprising:

accessing a server for directing a global satellite positioning system to obtain at least one set of “

from”

coordinates associated with the first location;

accessing the server for directing the global satellite positioning system to obtain at least one set of “

to”

coordinates associate with the second location;

transmitting the at least one set of “

from” and

the at least one set of “

to”

coordinates to a mapping unit;

generating travel directions in the mapping unit based on the at least one set of “

to” and

the at least one set of “

from”

coordinates; and

outputting the travel directions to the technician.

43. The computer-readable medium of claim 42, wherein accessing the server to obtain the at least one set of “

to”

coordinates further comprises;

associating the at least one set of “

to”

coordinate with a valid street address; and

retrieving the valid street address from an address guide.

44. The computer-readable medium of claim 42, wherein accessing the server to obtain the at least one set of “

from”

coordinates comprises;

associating the at least one set of “

from”

coordinate with a valid street address; and

retrieving the valid street address from an address guide.

45. An input device configured for use by a technician at a service location, the input device comprising:

means for requesting at least one set of coordinates associated with at least one service location;

means for accessing a technician server for directing a global satellite positioning system to obtain the at least one set of coordinates associated with the at least one service location;

means for receiving and transmitting information related to the at least one service location;

46. The input device of claim 45, wherein the input device comprises at least one of the following:

a wireless personal computer, a laptop computer, a personal digital assistant, and a wireless pager.

47. The input device of claim 45, further comprising a transponder operatively associated with the input device.

48. The input device of claim 45, further comprising a protocol server operatively associated with the input device.

49. The input device of claim 48, wherein the protocol server is configured to process information from the input device comprising at least one of the following:

a user ID, a password, a radio serial number, and an input device serial number.