DYNAMIC ELEMENTS ON A MAP WITHIN A MOBILE DEVICE, SUCH AS ELEMENTS THAT FACILITATE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN USERS

• US 20100216491A1
• Filed: 02/20/2009
• Published: 08/26/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Meyerson, Randy, Carrigan, Edward, Winkler, David
• Granted Patent: US 8,750,906 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/457
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/60 Business processes related to postal services shipping G06Q10/083; franking apparatus G07B17/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

A system and method for providing information on a map displayed by a mobile device is described. In some examples, the system facilitates user control of map elements, such as dynamically changing map elements based on events that occur at a user'"'"'s mobile device or at locations associated with the map elements. In some examples, the system enables communication between users via map elements.

Claims

1. A system for displaying information on a map via a display screen of a mobile device, the system comprising:

a mobile device including a map application, wherein the map application is configured to;

display a map and one or more user selectable map elements via a screen of the mobile device based on instructions received from a server;

display a communication interface featuring two or more communications options via a screen of the mobile device permitting a user to select one of the two or more communications options upon user selection of a map element; and

initiate a communication based upon user selection of a communication option; and

a server accessible via a telecommunications network, wherein the server includes;

a location determination component, wherein the location determination component is configured to identify a location for the mobile device;

a mapping component, wherein the mapping component is configured to associate the location for the mobile device with the map and the one or more map elements; and

a communication component, wherein the communication component is configured to send instructions to present the map and the one or more map elements placed on the presented maps to the mobile device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the communications options include at least two of:

a voice call option, a video call option, an e-mail option, an SMS message option, a MMS message option, an instant message option, a reply to a posting option, or a friend request option.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the user selection of the map element includes touching an icon representing the map element on a touch sensitive display of the mobile device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the server further includes:

an event detection component, wherein the event detection component is configured to detect an occurrence of an event associated with an element and instruct the mapping component to provide instructions to the mobile device based on the event.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the occurrence of an event includes movement of the mobile device from a first location to a second location proximate to a map element.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured to receive data from the mobile device.

7. The system of claim 6, where the received data includes location data.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the server includes two or more associated servers.

9. A method for providing communications between users of mobile devices, the method comprising:

receiving input, at a network server, from a map application running on a first mobile device and located within a network containing the network server, wherein the received input includes;

input identifying a desired location of a map element to be placed on a map displayed by the map application; and

input identifying content to be provided with the map element;

generating, at the network server, a map element based on the received input;

transmitting instructions to a second mobile device to cause a map application running on the second mobile device to display a map and the map element;

receiving input, at the network server, from the second mobile device;

wherein the input is received at the displayed map element on the map and includes content to be added to the map element; and

transmitting instructions to the first mobile device to cause a map application running on the first mobile device to display the map element, wherein displaying the map element includes displaying the content received the first user along with the content received from the second user.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein generating the map element includes:

generating an icon associated with the location on the map; and

generating a text balloon associated with the icon that receives the content to be added to the map element and presents the content to the first and second mobile devices.

11. A method for providing communications between users of mobile devices, the method comprising:

receiving, at a server associated with a first mobile device, user input selecting a location and map element to be placed at the selected location from the first mobile device;

transmitting instructions to cause a second mobile device to generate and display a map element on a map presented by the second mobile device along with one or more icons associated with a synchronous communication session between the first mobile device and the second mobile device; and

upon receiving, at the server, an indication of a selection of one of the one or more presented icons from the second mobile device, initiating a synchronous communication session associated with the selected icon.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein one or more of the icons are associated with communications using an instant messaging application, a voice conference application, a video conference application, or a text messaging application.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein information associated with the first mobile device and information associated with the second mobile device are stored with a network address book stored at the server.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein information associated with the first mobile device is stored in a contact list associated with the second mobile device.

15. A method for displaying a map element on a display screen of a mobile device, the method comprising:

displaying a map via a screen on a mobile device associated with a telecommunications network;

displaying a map element at a location on the displayed map; and

modifying the displayed map element based on an occurrence of an event at another mobile device associated with the telecommunications network.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein modifying the displayed map element includes changing a color of the map element when the other mobile device arrives at a location associated with the displayed map element.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein modifying the displayed map element includes changing an icon associated with the map element when two or more mobile devices arrive at a location associated with the displayed map element.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein modifying the displayed map element includes changing content displayed by the map element when input is received at the other mobile device via a display of the map element at the other mobile device.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein modifying the displayed map element includes displaying a zone of color over a portion of the map based on a number of map elements within the portion of the map.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein modifying the displayed map element includes displaying a zone of color over a portion of the map based on a number of events occurring within the portion of the map.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein modifying the displayed map element includes displaying a detailed view of a portion of a map based on input received at the mobile device.

22. The method of claim 15, wherein modifying the displayed map element includes displaying a detailed view of a portion of a map based on a detected location of the mobile device with respect to the map element.

23. The method of claim 15, wherein an occurrence of an event at another mobile device includes a detection of a location of the other mobile device.

24. The method of claim 15, wherein an occurrence of an event at another mobile device includes a detection of input associated with one of the map elements received at the other mobile device.

25. A tangible computer-readable medium whose contents cause a mobile device to perform a method of presenting information to a user via an electronic map, the method comprising:

displaying a map via a screen within a mobile device associated with a telecommunications network;

displaying map elements at locations on the displayed map; and

modifying the displayed map elements based on an occurrence of an event at another mobile device associated with the telecommunications network, wherein the occurrence of an event is associated with identifying a location of the other mobile device as being within a pre-defined range of two or more of the displayed map elements

26. A system for displaying a map element to a user via a display screen of a mobile device, the system comprising:

means for receiving input from a first user via a map application running on a first mobile device associated with the first user, wherein the received input includes;

input identifying a desired location of a map element to be placed on a map displayed by the map application; and

input identifying content to be provided with the map element;

means for generating a map element based on the received input;

means for displaying the map element to a second user on a map via a map application running on a second mobile device associated with the second user;

means for receiving input at the displayed map element on the map via the map application running on the second mobile device;

wherein the received input includes content to be added to the map element; and

means for displaying the map element to the first user on the map via the map application running on the first mobile device;

wherein displaying the map element includes displaying the content received the first user along with the content received from the second user.

27. A system for displaying information on a map via a display screen of a mobile device, the system comprising:

two or more mobile devices located within a user-selected, private group of mobile devices within the telecommunications network, wherein the two or more mobile devices each include a map application, wherein the map application is configured to;

display a map via a screen within the mobile device;

display map elements at locations on the displayed map; and

modify the displayed elements based on instructions received from a server located within the telecommunications network; and

a content server located within the telecommunications network, wherein the content server includes;

a mapping component, wherein the mapping component is configured to provide instructions to the two or more mobile devices located within the telecommunications network to cause the two or more mobile devices to present maps and one or more map elements placed on the presented maps;

a location determination component, wherein the location determination component is configured to identify a location for the two or more mobile devices located within the telecommunications network;

a communication component, wherein the communication component is configured to receive and send information to the two or more mobile devices located within the telecommunications network; and

an event detection component, wherein the event detection component is configured to detect an occurrence of an event associated with one of the two or more mobile devices and instruct the mapping component to provide instructions to the two or more mobile devices based on the event.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein the event detection component is configured to detect movement of one of the one or more mobile devices from a first location to a second location proximate to a map element displayed on one of the one or more mobile devices.

29. The system of claim 27, wherein the event detection component is configured to detect input provided to a map element located on a map displayed by the one or more mobile devices.

30. The system of claim 27, wherein the event detection component is configured to detect a temporal position of a map element in relation to other map elements located on a map displayed by the one or more mobile devices.