Method and system for location-based communication

• US 20080233956A1
• Filed: 03/23/2007
• Published: 09/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Knowledge Ventures, L.P. (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Steinbrueck, Scott, Wyk, Ryan Van, Jennings, Phillip
• Granted Patent: US 8,498,654 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/435.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0018 Transmission from mobile station to base station
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1094 Inter-user-equipment sessions transfer or sharing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42357 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/00 User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like

Abstract

A method and system for location-based communication. A selection of a source transceiver from a plurality of available transceivers associated with a source may be received. A telephony session may be initiated with the selected source transceiver. A mobile target transceiver may be geographically located. A result of the geographic location regarding the located mobile target transceiver may be provided. The located mobile target transceiver may be connected to the telephony session.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a selection of a source transceiver from a plurality of available transceivers associated with a source;

initiating a telephony session with the selected source transceiver;

geographically locating a mobile target transceiver;

providing a result of the geographic location regarding the located mobile target transceiver; and

connecting the located mobile target transceiver to the telephony session.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a selection of a source transceiver from a plurality of available transceivers associated with a source comprises:

providing a listing of a plurality of available transceivers associated with a source; and

receiving a selection of one source transceiver from the plurality of available transceivers as the source transceiver.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein providing a listing of a plurality of available transceivers associated with a source comprises:

providing a listing of a plurality of available transceivers associated with a source on a display of a device, the device not being selected by a user as a source transceiver.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein geographically locating a mobile target transceiver comprises:

initiating a geographic location search for a mobile target transceiver; and

obtaining geographic location information about the mobile target transceiver from the geographic location search.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein initiating a geographic location search for a mobile target transceiver further comprises:

notifying the mobile target transceiver regarding initiation of the geographic location search.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein initiating a geographic location search for a mobile target transceiver further comprises:

requesting location data from a mobile target transceiver according to a best efforts approach.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein obtaining geographic location information about the mobile target transceiver from the geographic location search comprises:

receiving the location data from a mobile target transceiver; and

deriving geographic location information about the mobile target transceiver from the location data according to the best efforts approach.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the location data includes at least one of GPS source data, GPS assisted data, triangulation data, or cell identification (ID) data.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein obtaining geographic location information about the mobile target transceiver from the geographic location search comprises:

receiving GPS assisted data from a mobile target transceiver; and

deriving geographic location information about the mobile target transceiver from the GPS assisted data.

10. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

creating a log of the telephony session; and

associating geographic location information obtained during the telephony session with the log.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a selection of a source transceiver from a plurality of available transceivers associated with a source comprises:

providing a listing of a plurality of available transceivers associated with a source to a receiver device for presentation on an internet protocol television (IPTV) display, the receiver device connected to the IPTV display; and

receiving a selection of a source transceiver from the plurality of available transceivers associated with the source through the receiver device.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

accessing a map using the result of the geographic location; and

providing the map to the receiver device for presentation on the IPTV display.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein providing a result of the geographic location about the located mobile target transceiver comprises:

providing a result of the geographic location to a reverse geocoding application, the reverse geocoding application capable of determining a street address from the result;

receiving the street address from the reverse geocoding application; and

providing the map and the street address to the receiver device for presentation on the IPTV display.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein providing the map and the street address to the receiver device for presentation on the IPTV display comprises:

accessing accuracy information for a data source of the location data used to derive the result; and

providing the map, the accuracy information, and the street address to the receiver device for presentation on the IPTV display.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein presenting the map on the IPTV display comprises:

accessing a predefined location associated with the mobile target transceiver; and

presenting the map on the IPTV, the map identifying the predefined location.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein providing a result of the geographic location regarding the located mobile target transceiver comprises:

providing a result of the geographic location regarding the located mobile target transceiver on a display of a device, the device being a different device than the source transceiver and the located mobile target transceiver.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a directions request for a mobile target transceiver;

locating the mobile target transceiver; and

providing directions to the target mobile transceiver between a location of the target mobile transceiver and a target location.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the target location is at least one of the source transceiver, the location of a network device, or a predefined location.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

processing a voice communication between the source transceiver and the mobile target transceiver during the telephony session.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

processing a text communication between the source transceiver and the mobile target transceiver during the telephony session.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transferring a call from the source transceiver to a new source transceiver in the telephony session.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

adding an additional transceiver in the telephony session to create a conference call.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the result is location coordinates.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the source transceiver is at least one of a fixed-line telephone or a mobile phone.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile target transceiver is a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) enabled mobile phone.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the source is at least one of a person, a family, a group of persons, or one or more people associated with a user account.

27. A method comprising:

receiving a communication request for a telephony session from a receiver device over a network, the receiver device connected to an interactive television display;

processing the communication request through an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) to determine how the communication request relates to a telephony session; and

connecting at least one transceiver to the telephony session in response to processing the communication request by the IMS.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein connecting at least one transceiver to a telephony session in response to processing the communication request by the IMS comprises:

identifying a plurality of transceivers associated with the communication request;

selecting at least one transceiver from the plurality of transceivers; and

connecting the at least one transceiver to the telephony session in response to processing the communication request by the IMS.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the communication request is at least one request selected from a group of requests consisting of a click-to-dial request, a call transfer request, and a conference call request.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein the interactive television display is an internet protocol television (IPTV) display.

31. The method of claim 27, wherein the transceiver is at least one of a fixed-line telephone or a mobile phone.

32. The method of claim 27, wherein the receiver device is a set-top box.

33. The method of claim 27, wherein the receiver device is a computing system.

34. An apparatus comprising:

a transceiver selection module to receive a selection of a source transceiver from a plurality of available transceivers associated with a source;

a telephony session module to initiate a telephony session with the selected source transceiver;

a transceiver location module to geographically locate a mobile target transceiver and provide a result of the geographic location regarding the located mobile target transceiver; and

a connection module to connect the mobile target transceiver to the telephony session.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, further comprising:

a map access module to access a map for the located mobile target transceiver using the result of the geographic location; and

a map presentation module to present the map to a requestor.

36. An apparatus comprising:

a communication request module to receive a request to communicate with a mobile target transceiver;

a source presentation module to present a plurality of source transceivers associated with a source;

a source selection module to receive a selection of a source transceiver;

an initiation request module to send a request for initiation of a telephony session between the source transceiver and the mobile target transceiver; and

an acknowledgement receipt module to receive an acknowledgement of location of the target transceiver and initiation of the telephony session.

37. A machine-readable medium comprising instructions, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to:

receive a selection of a source transceiver from a plurality of available transceivers associated with a source;

initiate a telephony session with the selected source transceiver;

geographically locate a mobile target transceiver;

provide a result of the geographic location regarding the located mobile target transceiver; and

connect the located mobile target transceiver to the telephony session.

38. The machine-readable medium of claim 37, wherein causing the machine to receive a selection of a source transceiver from a plurality of available transceivers associated with a source causes the machine to:

provide a listing of a plurality of available transceivers associated with a source to a receiver device for presentation on an internet protocol television (IPTV) display, the receiver device connected to the IPTV display; and

receive a selection of a source transceiver from the plurality of available transceivers associated with the source through the receiver device.