Method and Apparatus for Providing Location-Based Information

• US 20100159955A1
• Filed: 12/23/2008
• Published: 06/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Aerrabotu, Naveen
• Granted Patent: US 8,391,895 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.300
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• 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 method and apparatus for providing location-based information to a wireless communication device is disclosed. The wireless communication device receives its geographic position information and provides its geographic position information to a web server while accessing a web service provided by the web server. Based on the geographic position information received from the wireless communication device, the web server provides geographic coordinates of locations relevant to the web service in the form of web geo-cookies. The wireless communication device maintains a database of the received geographic coordinates. When the wireless communication accesses a geographic map of a route or region, the wireless communication device determines if the geographic coordinates in the database lie within boundaries of the accessed map. The geographic coordinates that lie within boundaries of the received map are annotated and displayed on the wireless communication device.

Claims

1. A method for providing location-based information in a wireless communication device, the method comprising:

receiving geographic position information of the wireless communication device;

accessing a web service and providing the geographic position information to a web server providing the web service;

receiving geographic coordinates relevant to the web service from the web server;

maintaining a database including at least one of the geographic coordinates;

accessing a map of interest;

determining that one or more geographic coordinates in the database lie within boundaries of the map of interest; and

annotating the map of interest at locations corresponding to the one or more geographic coordinates that lie within the boundaries of the map of interest.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the geographic position information from a location server.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

adding the web service to a favorites list and tagging the web service as a location favorite.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving geographic coordinates comprises:

receiving the geographic coordinates based on the geographic position information of the wireless communication device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein receiving geographic coordinates based on the geographic position information comprises:

receiving the geographic coordinates that are prioritized based on their distance from the geographic position information.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein receiving geographic coordinates based on the geographic position information comprises:

receiving the geographic coordinates that within a pre-determined distance from the geographic position information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein geographic coordinates relevant to the web service are coordinates of geographic locations associated with the web service.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving geographic coordinates comprises:

receiving a web cookie from the web server, wherein the web cookie is a file containing a name of a location and a coordinate value of the location.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein maintaining the database comprises:

storing the received geographic coordinates in a persistent memory of the wireless communication device.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprises:

updating the stored received geographic coordinates based on web cookies received from the web server during a subsequent access of the web service, wherein the web cookies include updated geographic coordinates.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein maintaining the database comprises:

transmitting the received geographic coordinates to a persistent memory of a remote server.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein accessing a map of interest comprises:

accessing the map of interest which is pre-stored in the wireless communication device.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein accessing a map of interest comprises:

receiving the map of interest from a location server.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein accessing the map of interest comprises:

accessing a geographic representation of a route or a region of interest to a user.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the annotated map of interest.

16. A method in a location server for providing location-based information to a wireless communication device, the method comprising:

receiving geographic coordinates from the wireless communication device,

wherein the geographic coordinates are received from a remote web server by the wireless communication device;

maintaining a database of the geographic coordinates;

receiving a request for a map of interest from the wireless communication device;

invoking the requested map of interest;

determining that one or more of the geographic coordinates in the database lie within boundaries of the map of interest;

annotating the map of interest at locations corresponding to the one or more geographic coordinates that lie within the boundaries of the map of interest; and

providing the annotated map of interest to the wireless communication device.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving a request from the wireless communication device for geographic position information of the wireless communication device; and

providing the geographic position information to the wireless communication device.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein maintaining a database of the geographic coordinates comprises:

automatically updating the geographic coordinates in the database.

19. A wireless communication device for providing location information to a user, the wireless communication device comprising:

a transceiver unit for accessing a web service and for receiving geographic coordinates from a

web server providing the web service, and receiving a map of interest from a location server;

a memory for maintaining a database of the geographic coordinates; and

a processor for determining that one or more of the geographic coordinates in the database lie within boundaries of the map of interest and for annotating the map of interest at locations corresponding to the one or more geographic coordinates that lie within the boundaries of the map of interest.

20. The wireless communication device of claim 19, wherein geographic coordinates are latitude and longitude values of a geographic location.