SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR CONTEXT ENHANCED MAPPING

• US 20100030740A1
• Filed: 07/30/2008
• Published: 02/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Davis, Marc Eliot, Higgins, Christopher William, Kalaboukis, Chris, Martinez, Ronald, Athsani, Athellina, O'Sullivan, Joseph James, Paretti, Christopher T.
• Granted Patent: US 8,583,668 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: N/A
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/007 using computer methods
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/10 Map spot or coordinate position indicators; Map reading aids optical projection apparatus per se G03B
• 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 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A system and method for Context Enhanced Mapping. A request is received from a user over a network for a map comprising an identification of a physical location, and at least one criteria. The physical location is mapped. Spatial, temporal, topical, and social data available to the network relating to the physical location and criteria is retrieved using a global index of data available to the network and prioritized for inclusion based upon the user and context of the request. The map of the physical location and at least some of the retrieved spatial, temporal, topical, and social data is displayed on a display medium.

Claims

1. A method comprising the steps of:

receiving, over a network, a request for a map from a user, wherein the request comprises an identification of a physical location, and at least one criteria;

mapping, via the network, the physical location;

retrieving spatial, temporal, topical, and social data available to the network relating to the physical location and the at least one criteria using a global index of data available to the network;

displaying, on a display medium, the map of the physical location and at least some of the retrieved spatial, temporal, topical, and social data.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the request for a map additionally includes an identification of the requesting user and the retrieving step retrieves spatial, temporal, topical, and social data available to the network relating to the requesting user, the physical location and the at least one criteria using a global index of data available to the network

3. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the at least one criteria is a social criteria.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the at least one criteria is a topical criteria.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the at least one criteria is a temporal criteria.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the request for a map specifies a group of users.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least some of the retrieved spatial, temporal, topical, and social data displayed on the map includes sponsored content.

8. The method of claim 1 comprising the additional steps of:

receiving, over the network, user specified data to be stored with the map of the physical location;

storing the map of the physical location and the user specified data on the network.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the user specified data includes sponsored content.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the user specified data includes user annotations.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the user annotations include a route labeled for a specific purpose.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the user annotations include at least one type of annotation selected from the list:

reviews, ratings and rankings.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the user annotations include multimedia content.

14. A method comprising the steps of:

receiving, over a network, a request for a map from a first user, wherein the request comprises an identification of a physical location, and at least one criteria;

searching via the network, for at least one map stored on the network relating to the physical location and the at least one criteria, wherein each map contains additional data which was added to the map by a second user;

receiving a selection, via the network, of one of the at least one map stored on the network which relates to the physical location and the at least one criteria

displaying, on a display medium, the selected map.

15. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for a method comprising the steps:

receiving, over a network, a request for a map from a user, wherein the request comprises an identification of a physical location, and at least one criteria;

mapping, via the network, the physical location;

retrieving spatial, temporal, topical, and social data available to the network relating to the physical location and the at least one criteria using a global index of data available to the network;

displaying, on a display medium, the map of the physical location and at least some of the retrieved spatial, temporal, topical, and social data.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein the request for a map additionally includes an identification of the requesting user and the retrieving step retrieves spatial, temporal, topical, and social data available to the network relating to the requesting user, the physical location and the at least one criteria using a global index of data available to the network

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein at least one of the at least one criteria is a social criteria.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein at least one of the at least one criteria is a topical criteria.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein at least one of the at least one criteria is a temporal criteria.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein the request for a map specifies a group of users.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 wherein the at least some of the retrieved spatial, temporal, topical, and social data displayed on the map includes sponsored content.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 15 comprising the additional steps of:

receiving, over the network, user specified data to be stored with the map of the physical location;

storing the map of the physical location and the user specified data on the network.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 22 wherein the user specified data includes sponsored content.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 22 wherein the user specified data includes user annotations.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 24 wherein the user annotations include a route labeled for a specific purpose.

26. The computer-readable medium of claim 24 wherein the user annotations include at least one type of annotation selected from the list:

reviews, ratings, and rankings.

27. The computer-readable medium of claim 24 wherein the user annotations include multimedia content.

28. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for a method comprising the steps:

receiving, over a network, a request for a map from a first user, wherein the request comprises an identification of a physical location, and at least one criteria;

searching via the network, for at least one map stored on the network relating to the physical location and the at least one criteria, wherein each map contains additional data which was added to the map by a second user;

receiving a selection, via the network, of one of the at least one map stored on the network which relates to the physical location and the at least one criteria

displaying, on a display medium, the selected map.

29. A system comprising:

a mapping request module that receives, over a network, requests for a maps from users, wherein each request comprises an identification of a physical location, and at least one criteria;

a map generation module that models the physical location;

an enhanced content search module that retrieves spatial, temporal, topical, and social data available to the network relating to the physical location and the at least one criteria of each request using a global index of data available to the network;

a context enhanced display module that displays, on display media, maps of physical location modeled by the map generation module and at least some of the retrieved spatial, temporal, topical, and social data retrieved by the enhanced content search module.

30. The system of claim 29 wherein requests for a map additionally include an identification of the requesting user and the enhanced content search module retrieves spatial, temporal, topical, and social data available to the network relating to the requesting user, the physical location and the at least one criteria of each request using a global index of data available to the network

31. The system of claim 29 wherein at least one of the at least one criteria is a social criteria.

32. The system of claim 29 wherein at least one of the at least one criteria is a topical criteria.

33. The system of claim 29 wherein at least one of the at least one criteria is a temporal criteria.

34. The system of claim 29 wherein the request for a map specifies a group of users.

35. The system of claim 29 wherein the at least some of the retrieved spatial, temporal, topical, and social data displayed on the map includes sponsored content.

36. The system of claim 35 additionally comprising:

a context enhanced map annotation module that receives, over the network, user specified data to be stored with maps of physical locations mapped by the map generation module;

an annotated map storage module that stores maps of physical locations mapped by the map generation module and annotated by the context enhanced map annotation module on the network

37. The system of claim 36 wherein the user specified data includes sponsored content.

38. The system of claim 36 wherein the user specified data includes user annotations.

39. The method of claim 38 wherein the user annotations include a route labeled for a specific purpose.

40. The method of claim 38 wherein the user annotations include at least one type of annotation selected from the list:

reviews, ratings or rankings.

41. The method of claim 38 wherein the user annotations include multimedia content.

42. A system comprising:

a mapping request module that receives, over a network, requests for a maps from users, wherein each request comprises an identification of a physical location, and at least one criteria;

a stored map search module that searches via the network, for maps stored on the network relating to the physical location and the at least one criteria of each request, wherein each map contains additional data which was added to the maps by users;

a stored map selection module that receives selections, for each request, of one of the maps stored on the network which relates to the physical location and the at least one criteria of the request;

a context enhanced display module that displays, on display media, maps selected by the stored map selection module.