LOCATING MOBILE CONTACTS USING A GEO-CONTACT LIST

• US 20100248744A1
• Filed: 03/25/2010
• Published: 09/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Modu Limited (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Margalit, Ran, Ron, Uri, Bychkov, Eyal
• Granted Patent: US 8,676,232 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.200
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/185 by embedding added-value information into content, e.g. geo-tagging

Abstract

A system for locating a mobile device user, including a memory, housed within a mobile device, for storing a contact list including records for a plurality of contacts, each record including (i) a name of a contact, (ii) a phone number for the contact'"'"'s mobile device, if the contact uses a mobile device, and (iii) a list of at least one location entry, each location entry comprising (iii.a) a name of a location associated with the contact, (iii.b) a phone number at the location, (iii.c) an address for the location, and (iii.d) geographic coordinates of the location, and a locator for receiving as input the name of a designated contact in the contact list, for obtaining current geographic coordinates of the designated contact'"'"'s mobile device, for obtaining current geographic coordinates of at least one mobile device for at least one contact in the contact list, other than the designated contact, and for generating as output at least one proximal entity, each proximal entity including either (I) the name of a contact, other than the designated contact, whose mobile device is located currently close to the designated contact'"'"'s mobile device, or (II) the name of a contact, other than the designated contact, and the name of a location associated with the contact, the location being currently close to the designated contact'"'"'s mobile device. A method is also described and claimed.

Claims

1. A system for locating a mobile device user, comprising:

a memory, housed within a mobile device, for storing a contact list comprising records for a plurality of contacts, each record comprising (i) a name of a contact, (ii) a phone number for the contact'"'"'s mobile device, if the contact uses a mobile device, and (iii) a list of at least one location entry, each location entry comprising (iii.a) a name of a location associated with the contact, (iii.b) a phone number at the location, (iii.c) an address for the location, and (iii.d) geographic coordinates of the location; and

a locator for receiving as input the name of a designated contact in the contact list, for obtaining current geographic coordinates of the designated contact'"'"'s mobile device, for obtaining current geographic coordinates of at least one mobile device for at least one contact in the contact list, other than the designated contact, and for generating as output at least one proximal entity, each proximal entity comprising either (I) the name of a contact, other than the designated contact, whose mobile device is located currently close to the designated contact'"'"'s mobile device, or (II) the name of a contact, other than the designated contact, and the name of a location associated with the contact, the location being currently close to the designated contact'"'"'s mobile device.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said locator further generates, for at least one proximal entity, an estimate of distance between the designated contact'"'"'s mobile phone and the proximal entity.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein said locator is housed within the mobile device.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein said locator is housed within a server computer remote from the mobile device.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising an automatic dialer, housed within the mobile device, for dialing the phone number for a selected one of the at least one proximal entity.

6. The system of claim 1 further comprising a map finder for obtaining travel directions to reach a selected one of the at least one proximal entity.

7. A method for locating a mobile device user, comprising:

maintaining a contact list comprising records for a plurality of contacts, each record including (i) a name of a contact, (ii) a phone number for the contact'"'"'s mobile device, if the contact uses a mobile device, and (iii) a list of at least one location entry, each location entry comprising (iii.a) a name of a location associated with the contact, (iii.b) a phone number at the location, (iii.c) an address for the location, and (iii.d) geographic coordinates of the location;

receiving the name of a designated contact in the contact list;

obtaining current geographic coordinates of the designated contact'"'"'s mobile device;

obtaining current geographic coordinates of at least one mobile device for at least one contact in the contact list, other than the designated contact; and

generating at least one proximal entity, each proximal entity comprising either (I) the name of a contact, other than the designated contact, whose mobile device is located currently close to the designated contact'"'"'s mobile phone, or (II) the name of a contact, other than the designated contact, and the name of a location associated with the contact, the location being currently close to the designated contact'"'"'s mobile device.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein said generating comprises estimating a distance between the designated contact'"'"'s mobile device and at least one proximal entity.

9. The method of claim 7 further comprising automatically dialing the phone number for a selected one of the at least one entity.

10. The method of claim 7 further comprising obtaining travel directions to reach a selected one of the at least one proximal entity.

11. A contact list manager for a mobile device, comprising:

a memory, housed within a mobile device, for storing a contact list comprising records for a plurality of contacts, each record comprising (i) a name of a contact, (ii) a phone number for the contact'"'"'s mobile device, if the contact uses a mobile device, and (iii) a list of at least one location entry, each location entry comprising (iii.a) a name of a location associated with the contact, (iii.b) a phone number at the location, (iii.c) an address for the location and (iii.d) geographic coordinates of the location;

a contact list reader, housed within the mobile device and coupled with said memory, for accessing data in records of the contact list;

a contact list writer, housed within the mobile device and coupled with said memory, for generating records of the contact list;

a data entry interface, coupled with said contact list writer, for entering data provided manually and for importing data from a file into a record of the contact list;

a positioning system, communicatively coupled with said contact list writer, for obtaining geographic coordinates of a present location for automatic entry into a record of the contact list; and

a positioning service, communicatively coupled with said contact list writer, for obtaining geographic coordinates of a designated remote location, for automatic entry into a record of the contact list.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein said data entry interface is housed within the mobile device.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein said data entry interface is housed within a PC to which the mobile device may be connected.

14. The system of claim 11 wherein said positioning system is housed within the mobile device.

15. The system of claim 11 wherein said positioning system is remote from the mobile device.

16. The system of claim 11 wherein said positioning service is housed within the mobile device.

17. The system of claim 11 wherein said positioning service is housed within a remote server computer.

18. A method for managing a contact list of a mobile device, comprising:

providing a contact list comprising records for a plurality of users, each record comprising (i) a name of a contact, (ii) a phone number for the contact'"'"'s mobile device, if the contact uses a mobile device, and (iii) a list of at least one location entry, each location entry comprising (iii.a) a name of a location associated with the contact, (iii.b) a phone number at the location, (iii.c) an address for the location, (iii.d) geographic coordinates of the location, and (iii.e) reference data for the geographic coordinates;

receiving a command to geo-tag a designated location entry in a record of the contact list;

acquiring geographic coordinates for a present location; and

entering the acquired geographic coordinates into the record of the contact list, as the geographic coordinates (iii.d) of the designated location entry.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein said acquiring employs a specific type of position acquisition system, the method further comprising entering the type of position acquisition system into the record of the contact list, as reference data (iii.e) for the designated location entry.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the specific type of position acquisition system has an inherent accuracy, the method further comprising entering the inherent accuracy into the record of the contact list as reference data (iii.e) for the designated location entry.

21. The method of claim 18 further comprising entering an extent of the present location into the record of the contact list as reference data (iii.e) for the designated location entry.

22. A method for managing a contact list of a mobile device, comprising:

providing a contact list comprising records for a plurality of contacts, each record comprising (i) a name of a contact, (ii) a phone number for the contact'"'"'s mobile device, if the contact uses a mobile phone, and (iii) a list of at least one location entry, each location entry comprising (iii.a) a name of a location associated with the contact, (iii.b) a phone number at the location, (iii.c) an address for the location, and (iii.d) geographic coordinates of the location;

receiving a command to geo-code a designated location entry in a record of the contact list;

acquiring geographic coordinates for the address (iii.c) in the designated location entry from a geographic positioning service; and

entering the acquired geographic coordinates into the record of the contact list, as the geographic coordinates (iii.d) of the designated location entry.