LOCATION BASED PRESENCE AND PRIVACY MANAGEMENT

• US 20120009900A1
• Filed: 09/22/2011
• Published: 01/12/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: mPanion Incorporated
• Original Assignee: mPanion Incorporated
• Inventors: Chawla, Neeraj
• Granted Patent: US 8,958,830 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/411
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/043 using or handling presence information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/222 using geographical location information, e.g. messages transmitted or received in proximity of a certain spot or area
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

A method and system for providing location based presence status and enhancing location privacy management in a mobile, instant messaging or social networking environment. A user specifies or saves their favorite locations (e.g. home, work, school, or particular business or point of interest locations), and specifies or selects names and/or categories to be shared for each user-specified location. In addition, the system provides multiple sharing levels for sharing multiple types of location contextual information. When user'"'"'s current location corresponds to user-specified locations, location based presence status is provided to specified contacts according to the sharing level settings, and provides user the option to share location contextual information without sharing location coordinates of the user. When user is driving, location based presence status is updated accordingly, and when user is at other business or POI locations, corresponding location contextual information is shared based on user'"'"'s settings for each sharing level.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

displaying, by a mobile computing device, a sharing level interface screen that displays a plurality of privacy or sharing level options to a user;

receiving, by the mobile computing device, one or more sharing level setting changes from the user; and

changing, by the mobile computing device, one or more of the sharing level options based on the sharing level setting changes received from the user, wherein

the sharing levels correspond with an amount of detail that is provided pertaining to the user'"'"'s location.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the mobile computing device, a selection of a default sharing level from the user; and

setting, by the mobile computing device, the default sharing level to the user selection, wherein

the default sharing level is applied to users who are not already associated with a different sharing level than the default sharing level.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating, by the mobile computing device, one or more groups with specified sharing levels, wherein contacts added to a group are assigned the group'"'"'s specified sharing level settings by default.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the sharing level options comprise options available for location name types at a given level, the location name types are based on area level name types, and the sharing level interface screen provides options to select one or more area level name types for each sharing level.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the sharing levels comprise options for selecting favorite locations, Point-of-Interest categories and Point-of-Interest names.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending, by the mobile computing device, information pertaining to the one or more sharing level setting changes to a server configured to provide location status information to at least one other mobile computing device based on a respective sharing level of the at least one other mobile computing device.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the mobile computing device, when the location of the user changes above a specified threshold;

sending, by the mobile computing device, information pertaining to the change in location of the user to a server configured to provide location information to one or more other applications based on a respective sharing level of the one or more other applications; and

determining, by the mobile computing device, when the mobile computing device is stationary within a specified threshold of accuracy, and waiting for a specified time before requesting location information from a mobile positioning system.

8. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, by a server, location information pertaining to a location of a mobile computing device associated with a mobile subscriber; and

when a current location of the mobile computing device has changed above a minimum threshold relative to a previous location of the mobile computing device based on the location information, determining and updating, by the server, a location based presence status corresponding to at least one of a plurality of sharing levels.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising:

when the location based presence status of the mobile computing device has changed for a sharing level, notifying, by the server, one or more other mobile subscribers associated with the sharing level that the presence status of the mobile computing device has changed.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising:

sending, by the server, a request for location coordinates of the mobile computing device to a mobile positioning system; and

when the location of the mobile computing device has not changed beyond a minimum threshold, waiting, by the server, for a specified time interval, and sending, by the server, another request for location coordinates of the mobile computing device to the mobile positioning system.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the receiving of the location coordinates occurs as a result of a trigger in a mobile positioning system.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the trigger of the mobile positioning system occurs when the current location of the mobile computing device is at or proximate to a user-specified location, a business, or a Point-of-Interest location, or the mobile subscriber of the mobile computing device is driving.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the location information comprises location coordinates, accuracy, and speed information pertaining to the mobile computing device.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the determining comprises determining, based on the location information, a nearest location to the current location of the mobile computing device.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the determining further comprises determining from the location information whether multiple Points-of-Interest are within a certain proximity of the mobile computing device, and sending a request to the mobile computing device for a user to confirm or select a proximate Point-of-Interest.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein when a user of the mobile computing device is determined to be driving based on the location information, a presence status of at least one of the sharing levels is set to indicate that the user is driving.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising:

determining, by the server, whether the mobile computing device is at or near a user-specified location; and

when the mobile computing device is at or near the user-specified location, determining, by the server, whether the mobile computing device is traveling at or above a certain speed, and updating, by the server, the location based presence status corresponding to at least one of the plurality of sharing levels to indicate that the user of the mobile computing device is driving.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the server does not share coordinates of the mobile computing device when notifying the one or more other mobile subscribers that the presence status of the mobile computing device has changed.

19. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, by a computing device, location status information pertaining to a location of a mobile computing device; and

displaying, by the computing device, the location status information to the user of the computing device, wherein

the location status information is based on a sharing level associated with the mobile computing device.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 19, further comprising:

receiving, by the computing device, a message with an option for retrieving the location status of the user of the mobile computing device via instant messaging, email, text messaging, social networking, or other location based applications.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 19, wherein the location status information pertains to one or more of a user-specified location, a business, a Point-of-Interest location, or that the mobile subscriber of the mobile computing device is driving.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 19, wherein the location status information does not comprise the coordinates of the mobile computing device.

23. The computer-implemented method of claim 19, further comprising:

sending, by the computing device, a request for the location status of the mobile computing device to a server.