DELAYING INTERACTION WITH POINTS OF INTEREST DISCOVERED BASED ON DIRECTIONAL DEVICE INFORMATION

• US 20100009662A1
• Filed: 05/08/2009
• Published: 01/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/20/2008
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Novik, Lev, Khosravy, Moe
• Application Number:
  US12/437,863
• Publication Number:
  US 20100009662A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.100
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3664 Details of the user input interface, e.g. buttons, knobs or sliders, including those provided on a touch screen; remote controllers; input using gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3811 Point data, e.g. Point of Interest [POI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1626 with a single-body enclosure integrating a flat display, e.g. Personal Digital Assistants [PDAs]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/1694 the I/O peripheral being a single or a set of motion sensors for pointer control or gesture input obtained by sensing movements of the portable computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2200/1637 Sensing arrangement for detection of housing movement or orientation, e.g. for controlling scrolling or cursor movement on the display of an handheld computer
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• 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 4/026 using orientation information, e.g. compass
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

With the addition of directional information in the environment, a variety of service(s) can be provided on top of user identification or interaction with specific object(s) of interest by pointing at the objects. Sometimes either the device user and/or the publishers of content associated with a POI with which a user interacts will wish to delay the interaction with the POI and associated content. For such scenarios, items discovered through direction-based location services can be designated for later interaction, e.g., according to pre-defined criteria that define explicitly or implicitly when the later interaction will occur. Device users are thus provided with relevant content about endpoints of direction based services at relevant times, which may not be the time of initial contact with the POI.

Claims

1. A method for a device provisioned for direction based services, comprising:

determining direction information associated with at least one pointed to direction relative to a pre-defined orientation of the device;

identifying points of interest (POIs) within an area defined as a function of the at least one pointed to direction including determining which of a set of POIs intersect the area;

displaying information corresponding to the POIs intersecting the area; and

designating one or more of the POIs intersecting the area for a delayed interaction at a later time.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting at least one identifier associated with the designated POIs to a network service enabling information about the designated POIs to be exposed at the later time.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the transmitting includes transmitting the at least one identifier associated with the designated POIs to the network service enabling information about the designated POIs to be exposed at the later time according to a different device form factor than a form factor of the device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the designating includes receiving explicit input with respect to the designated one or more POIs including receiving at least one of a gesture input, a keyword input, an audio input, a video camera input or a touchscreen input with respect to the one or more POIs.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the designating includes receiving implicit input with respect to the designated one or more POIs including inferring the delayed interaction at the later time based on a context of present interaction.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the displaying includes displaying a topographical map view visually representing at least the area defined as a function of the at least one pointed to direction and displaying graphical indications of the POIs within the area at generally corresponding locations on the topographical map view.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the displaying information includes displaying information about the POIs in a filtered list view.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the designating includes designating at least one pre-defined criterion explicitly or implicitly defining the delay of the delayed interaction to the later time.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the designating includes marking the one or more POIs including receiving touchscreen input relating to the one or more designated POIs.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the designating includes tagging the one or more POIs with tag information defining the delayed interaction.

11. A portable electronic device, comprising:

a positional component for receiving position information as a function of a location of the portable electronic device;

a directional component that outputs direction information as a function of an orientation of the portable electronic device; and

at least one processor configured to process the position information and the direction information to determine at least one identifier of at least one point of interest within a pre-defined geographical scope of the device, to interact with a selected identifier of the at least one identifier, to receive information about the point of interest corresponding to the selected identifier, and to receive input regarding the selected identifier that defines a future interaction with the point of interest corresponding to the selected identifier.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to transmit information about the selected identifier defining the future interaction with the point of interest to at least one network service.

13. The device of claim 11, further comprising:

a pointer that visually indicates the orientation of the portable electronic device based upon which the directional component outputs the direction information.

14. The device of claim 11, further comprising:

at least one audio device for rendering audio content if a condition upon which the future interaction is predicated occurs.

15. The device of claim 11, wherein the directional component is a digital compass that outputs the direction information.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one processor is configured to process the position information and the direction information to determine a pointing line and to determine a set of candidate points of interest as a subset of points of interest that substantially intersect with a function based on the pointing line.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the at least one processor is configured to process the position information and the direction information to determine a pointing line and to determine a set of candidate points of interest as a subset of points of interest that substantially intersect with at least one of an arc function defining an arc based on an angle with respect to the pointing line, a conical function defining a cone based on an angle with respect to the pointing line, or a line function defining a rectangular space oriented along the pointing line.

18. A method, comprising:

determining a place in which a portable device is located based on location information determined for the device, the location information representing a position of the device;

identifying a subset of items of interest in the place including determining an orientation of the device based on direction information of the device and determining the subset of items of interest in the place as a function of the orientation; and

receiving input with respect to an item of the subset of items including receiving input defining a delayed interaction with the item or defining a delayed interaction with the place.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the receiving includes receiving a request for a notification when a characteristic of the item meets a pre-defined condition.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the receiving includes receiving a request for a notification when a price of the item meets a target price condition thereby initiating the delayed interaction.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the receiving input with respect to the item includes receiving scan input from scanning or imaging a bar code associated with the item of interest.