SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR LOCATING POSITIONS OF MEMBERS OF VIRTUAL GROUPS

• US 20090054081A1
• Filed: 05/21/2008
• Published: 02/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Chi Mei Communication Systems Incorporated (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Chi Mei Communication Systems Incorporated (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: TSAI, I-FEI
• Application Number:
  US12/124,166
• Publication Number:
  US 20090054081A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.100
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A method for locating positions of members of virtual groups includes the following steps of: establishing multiple virtual groups for a user to join in; acquiring position information of each member in each of the virtual groups; storing the position information of each member in each of the virtual groups in a storage; receiving requests for viewing position information of members in a designated virtual group from terminal devices; obtaining the position information of the members in the designated virtual group from the storage according to the requests, and constructing a positional map according to the position information; and transmitting the positional map to the terminal devices of the members in the designated virtual group.

Claims

1. A system for locating positions of members of virtual groups, the system being installed in a server connected with a plurality of terminal devices, the system comprising:

a virtual group setting module configured for establishing multiple virtual groups for a user to join in;

an auto updating module configured for acquiring position information of each member in each of the virtual groups, and storing the position information in a storage;

a transmitting module configured for receiving requests for viewing position information of members in a designated virtual group from the terminal devices;

a map constructing module configured for obtaining the position information of the members in the designated virtual group from the storage according to the requests, and constructing a positional map according to the position information; and

the transmitting module further configured for transmitting the positional map to the terminal device of the members in the designated virtual group.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a recording module configured for recording positions information that the members have visited and wished to remember or share with other members in the same virtual group, wherein the recorded position information comprises when the members were there and any special comments of the members.

3. The system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the recording module is further configured for counting and acquiring position and time statistics of the recorded position information.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising an information enumerating module configured for analyzing the position information of the members in the designated virtual group, and enumerating analysis data in listings with different formats.

5. The system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a privacy setting module configured for providing multiple types of privacy settings for each member to allow the member to restrict or control access to private data by other members.

6. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the auto updating module is further configured for updating the storage periodically by acquiring the position information of each member in each of the virtual groups.

7. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the storage is further configured for storing settings of each of the virtual groups and the privacy settings of each user.

8. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the position information of each member in each of the virtual groups comprises historical data that comprises position statistics of each member ever reaches, and real time data that comprises a current position of each member.

9. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the terminal device is configured for receiving, displaying and storing the positional map.

10. A computer-implemented method for locating positions of members of virtual groups, the method comprising:

establishing multiple virtual groups for a user to join in;

acquiring position information of each member in each of the virtual groups;

storing the position information of each member in each of the virtual groups in a storage;

receiving requests for viewing position information of members in a designated virtual group from terminal devices;

obtaining the position information of the members in the designated virtual group from the storage according to the requests, and constructing a positional map according to the position information; and

transmitting the positional map to the terminal devices of the members in the designated virtual group.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

recording positions information that the members have visited and wished to remember or share with other members in the same virtual group, wherein the recorded position information comprises when the members were there and any special comments of the member.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

counting and acquiring position and time statistics of the recorded position information.

13. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

analyzing the position information of the members in the designated virtual group, and enumerating analysis data in listings with different formats.

14. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

providing multiple types of privacy settings for each member to allow the member to restrict or control access to private data by other members.

15. The method according to claim 10, wherein the acquiring step comprises:

updating the storage periodically by acquiring the position information of each member in each of the virtual groups.

16. The method according to claim 10, wherein the storing step comprises:

storing settings of each of the virtual groups and the privacy settings of each user into the storage.

17. The method according to claim 10, wherein the position information of each member in each of the virtual groups comprises historical data that comprises position statistics that the members have visited, and real time data that comprises a current position of each member.

18. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

receiving, displaying and storing the positional map through the terminal device.