Location visit detail services for wireless devices

• US 20080248814A1
• Filed: 09/25/2007
• Published: 10/09/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T BLS INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, INC., FORMERLY KNOWN AS BELLSOUTH INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, INC.
• Inventors: Contractor, Sunil H.
• Granted Patent: US 7,809,378 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.5
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/025 Coordination of plural reservations, e.g. plural trip segments, transportation combined with accommodation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 1/10 together with the recording, indicating or registering of other data, e.g. of signs of identity
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 9/28 the pass enabling tracking or indicating presence
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A location visit detail service, typically provided by a wireless carrier to a subscriber, includes a portable wireless device, a location identification means and a central processor. The central processor periodically receives location data generated by the location identification means. The central processor data transforms the location data into time and position data pairs that identify the location of the portable wireless device at a particular time. Through a geographic information system database, the position data is converted to street address data. The details data is provided by the wireless carrier to the subscriber, which can use the details data to provide a summary report describing the activity of the service person. This summary report can be used for preparation of bills or for gathering statistics on (individual or group) service person efficiency. Alternatively, the wireless carrier can prepare the report that is then transmitted to the subscriber.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium containing instructions for performing a method for tracking service personnel of a subscriber, the method comprising:

associating a portable wireless device with a service person;

acquiring location information obtained from the wireless device so as to track at least one actual location visited by the service person;

utilizing a schedule containing one or more entries corresponding to predetermined visit sites, each entry in the schedule corresponding to a location to be visited, the service information utilized for comparison purposes with respect to the schedule;

utilizing thresholds in part to determine service information about the service person, one threshold corresponding to a distance threshold and another threshold corresponding to a time threshold;

determining a difference distance between the actual location visited and a location associated with an entry in the schedule, and also determining a difference time between the time threshold and an actual time duration of a visit to a particular location;

confirming the visit if the difference distance is less than the distance threshold and if the actual time duration is greater than the time threshold; and

generating a service person track report based in part on the specific location information.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises acquiring the information based upon a predetermined event.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises preparing a bill based on the service person track report.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises determining the difference distance only with respect to a subset of the predetermined locations having an expected time of arrival that falls within a predetermined time window of the present time of determining the difference distance.