AUTOMATIC DETECTION OF PERSONAL NETWORKS

• US 20100112989A1
• Filed: 10/30/2008
• Published: 05/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: ANDREASSON, Mans Folke Markus
• Granted Patent: US 8,165,605 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.200
• 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

Abstract

A method may include receiving information about a geographic position of each of a plurality of mobile terminals for a particular time. The method may further include determining a relationship between two of the mobile terminals based on the geographic position and the particular time and automatically suggesting, based on the relationship, an information exchange of contact information between the two mobile terminals.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving information about a geographic position of each of a plurality of mobile terminals for a particular time;

determining a relationship between two of the mobile terminals based on the geographic position and the particular time; and

automatically suggesting, based on the relationship, an exchange of contact information between the two mobile terminals.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a first position request to the plurality of mobile terminals, the first position request including a current network time and indicating a particular time span for which geographic position information of the mobile terminal is requested; and

sending a second position request to the plurality of mobile terminals, the second position request including another current network time and a specific time for which geographic position information of the mobile terminal is requested.

3. The method of claim 1, where receiving information about a geographic position comprises:

receiving a first position response from a mobile terminal, the first position response including position information that has at least one geographic point which corresponds to a position the mobile terminal has visited during a time span; and

receiving a second position response from a mobile terminal, the second position request including position information that has at least one geographic point which corresponds to a position the mobile terminal has visited during a specific point in time.

4. The method of claim 3, where determining the relationship between two of the mobile terminals further comprises:

comparing the position information in the first position response and the position information in the second position response from the mobile terminal with position information from another mobile terminal.

5. The method of claim 1, where automatically suggesting further comprises:

sending an exchange request to each of the two mobile terminals;

receiving an accept response from at least one of the two mobile terminals, the accept response including a timestamp of the most recent contact information from the other of the two mobile terminals; and

sending a contact information request to at least one of the two mobile terminals.

6. The method of claim 5, where automatically suggesting, further comprises:

receiving a contact information response from one of the two mobile terminals, the contact information response including contact information with a more recent timestamp than the timestamp of the most recent contact information from the other of the two mobile terminals; and

sending the contact information from the contact information response to the other of the two mobile terminals.

7. The method of claim 1, where the contact information is an update of contact information previously stored on one of the two mobile terminals.

8. The method of claim 1, where the contact information is not associated with contact information stored on one of the two mobile terminals.

9. The method of claim 1, where the contact information is one of an email address, an instant message address, a phone number, a social networking service identification, or a physical address.

10. A system, comprising:

a server configured to communicate with a first mobile terminal and a second mobile terminal over a network, the server including a processing unit to;

send a position request to the first mobile terminal and a second mobile terminal, the position request indicating a particular time span for which to provide geographic position information,

receive geographic position information of each of the first mobile terminal and the second mobile terminal for the particular time span in the position request,

compare the geographic position information of the first mobile terminal and the second mobile terminal to determine a relationship between the first mobile terminal and the second mobile terminal, and

send a message to the first mobile terminal and the second mobile terminal to suggesting an information exchange of contact information between the first mobile terminal and the second mobile terminal.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a memory providing temporary working storage to compare the geographic position information of the first mobile terminal and the second mobile terminal.

12. The system of claim 10, where the processing unit is further configured to:

send another position request to the first mobile terminal and a second mobile terminal, the other position request indicating a specific time for which to provide geographic position information, and

receive geographic position information of each of the first mobile terminal and the second mobile terminal for the specific time in the other position request.

13. The system of claim 10, where the processing unit is further configured to:

receive contact information from the first mobile terminal, and

send the contact information from the first mobile terminal to the second mobile terminal.

14. The system of claim 10, where the contact information is one of an email address, an instant message address, a phone number, a social networking service identification, or a physical address.

15. The system of claim 10, where the contact information is not related to contact information stored on the first mobile terminal.

16. The system of claim 10, where the contact information is an update of contact information previously stored on the first mobile terminal.

17. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

a position assist server to assist the first mobile terminal or the second mobile terminal in determining its own position.

18. A method performed by a mobile terminal, comprising:

determining a geographic position of the mobile terminal for a particular time;

storing the geographic position of the mobile terminal for the particular time;

sending, to a server and in response to a request from the server, the geographic position of the mobile terminal for the particular time; and

receiving a request to exchange contact information with another mobile terminal based on the geographic position of the mobile terminal for the particular time.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

automatically accepting the request to exchange contact information with the other mobile terminal, and

receiving updated contact information of an existing contact stored in the mobile terminal.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

prompting a user of the mobile terminal to accept or reject the request to exchange contact information with the other mobile terminal, and

sending to the server a response consistent with the user'"'"'s accepting or rejecting the request to exchange contact information with the other mobile terminal.