DIRECTIONAL INFORMATION SEARCH FROM A MOBILE DEVICE

• US 20120041966A1
• Filed: 07/15/2011
• Published: 02/16/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: VirtualBeam, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Virtual RS Corp.
• Inventors: Kamali, Masoud M., Abdy, Anoosh
• Application Number:
  US13/184,417
• Publication Number:
  US 20120041966A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/758
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0346 with detection of the device orientation or free movement in a 3D space, e.g. 3D mice, 6-DOF [six degrees of freedom] pointers using gyroscopes, accelerometers or tilt-sensors
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72427 for supporting games or graphical animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72445 for supporting Internet browser applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/12 including a sensor for measuring a physical value, e.g. temperature or motion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/52 including functional features of a camera

Abstract

The disclosed technique, apparatuses and devices enable a mobile device to act as a pointing device equipped with integrated search tools, to define a virtual beam within which to search and discover information associated therewith. The user of the mobile device does not have to type, speak or otherwise specify keywords as search criteria. The search criteria can be merely the virtual beam itself. Search results are generated at a remote server system and communicated back to the mobile device, and then presented to its user via graphical, audio and/or other format.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a computer system, data indicative of a pointing vector of a mobile communication device;

defining, by operation of the computer system, a region of physical space as a search region, based on the data indicative of the pointing vector of the mobile communication device;

executing a search, by operation of the computer system, of a database of items tagged with real-world location data, to identify an item associated with the search region; and

sending a result of the search from the computer system to the mobile communication device, the result identifying the item.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the items tagged with real-world location data in the database represent physical objects.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the items tagged with real-world location data in the database represent non-physical items.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the search region is a two-dimensional region.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the search region is a three-dimensional region.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein executing the search comprises:

identifying, in the database, items that have corresponding physical locations that satisfy a defined spatial relationship criterion relative to the pointing vector.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein defining a region of physical space as the search region comprises mapping the pointing vector of the mobile communication device to a search region of a previously-executed search;

and

wherein executing the search comprises identifying physical objects associated with the search region of the previously-executed search.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said method is performed in response to a search request from the mobile communication device.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the data indicative of the pointing vector of the mobile communication device comprises data explicitly specifying a vector.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the data indicative of the pointing vector of the mobile communication device comprises data specifying a position and orientation of the mobile communication device;

the method further comprising;

computing, at the computer system, the pointing vector of the mobile communication device, based on the data specifying the position and orientation of the mobile communication device.

11. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein the search region is defined to include the position of the mobile communication device.

12. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein the search region is defined not to include the position of the mobile communication device.

13. A method of operating a mobile communication device, the method comprising:

sending, from the mobile communication device to a remote computer system, data indicative of a pointing vector of the mobile communication device, in association with a search request initiated by a user of the mobile communication device, the data for use by the remote computer system to define a region of physical space as a search region based on the pointing vector;

receiving, from the remote computer system, a search result identifying an item associated with the search region, in response to the search request; and

outputting an indication of the search result to a user of the mobile communication device, the indication of the search result identifying the item.

14. A method as recited in claim 13, wherein the item is a physical object.

15. A method as recited in claim 13, wherein the item is a non-physical object.

16. A method as recited in claim 13, wherein the items in the database represent physical objects.

17. A method as recited in claim 13, wherein the search region is a two-dimensional region.

18. A method as recited in claim 13, wherein the search region is a three-dimensional region.

19. A method as recited in claim 13, wherein executing the search comprises:

identifying, in the database, items that have corresponding real-world locations that satisfy a defined spatial relationship criterion relative to the pointing vector.

20. A method as recited in claim 13, wherein defining a region of physical space as a search region comprises mapping the pointing vector of the mobile communication device to a search region of a previously-executed search;

and

wherein executing the search comprises identifying items associated with the search region of the previously-executed search.

21. A method as recited in claim 13, wherein the data indicative of a pointing vector of the mobile communication device comprises data explicitly specifying a vector.

22. A method as recited in claim 13, wherein the data indicative of a pointing vector of the mobile communication device comprises data specifying a position and orientation of the mobile communication device.

23. A processing system comprising:

a network communication device through which to receive data indicative of a pointing vector of a mobile communication device; and

a processor operatively coupled to the network communication device and which, in operation, controls the processing system to perform operations including

defining a region of physical space as a search region, based on the data indicative of the pointing vector of the mobile communication device;

executing a search of a database of items tagged with real-world location data, to identify an item associated with the search region; and

sending a result of the search to the mobile communication device, the result identifying the item.

24. A processing system as recited in claim 23, wherein the items tagged with real-world location data in the database represent physical objects.

25. A processing system as recited in claim 23, wherein the items tagged with real-world location data in the database represent non-physical items.

26. A processing system as recited in claim 23, wherein the search region is a two-dimensional region.

27. A processing system as recited in claim 23, wherein the search region is a three-dimensional region.

28. A processing system as recited in claim 23, wherein executing the search comprises:

identifying, in the database, items that have corresponding physical locations that satisfy a defined spatial relationship criterion relative to the pointing vector.

29. A processing system as recited in claim 23, wherein defining a region of physical space as a search region comprises mapping the pointing vector of the mobile communication device to a search region of a previously-executed search;

and

wherein executing the search comprises identifying physical objects associated with the search region of the previously-executed search.

30. A processing system as recited in claim 23, wherein said method is performed in response to a search request from the mobile communication device.

31. A processing system as recited in claim 23, wherein the data indicative of the pointing vector of the mobile communication device comprises data explicitly specifying a vector.

32. A processing system as recited in claim 23, wherein the data indicative of the pointing vector of the mobile communication device comprises data specifying a position and orientation of the mobile communication device;

the method further comprising;

computing, at the computer system, the pointing vector of the mobile communication device, based on the data specifying the position and orientation of the mobile communication device.

33. A processing system as recited in claim 32, wherein the search region is defined to include the position of the mobile communication device.

34. A processing system as recited in claim 33, wherein the search region is defined not to include the position of the mobile communication device.

35. A mobile device comprising:

a wireless transceiver;

a location device to determine a location of the mobile device;

an orientation device to determine a physical orientation of the mobile device; and

a processor operatively coupled to the wireless transceiver, the location device and the orientation device, and which, in operation, controls the mobile device to perform operations including

sending, to a remote computer system, data indicative of a pointing vector of the mobile device, in association with a search request initiated by a user of the mobile device, the data for use by the remote computer system to define a region of physical space as a search region based on the pointing vector;

receiving, from the remote computer system, a search result identifying an item associated with the search region, in response to the search request; and

outputting an indication of the search result to a user of the mobile device, the indication of the search result identifying the item.

36. A mobile device as recited in claim 35, wherein the item is a physical object.

37. A mobile device as recited in claim 35, wherein the item is not a physical object.

38. A mobile device as recited in claim 35, wherein the items in the database represent physical objects.

39. A mobile device as recited in claim 35, wherein the search region is a two-dimensional region.

40. A mobile device as recited in claim 35, wherein the search region is a three-dimensional region.

41. A mobile device as recited in claim 35, wherein executing the search comprises:

identifying, in the database, items that have corresponding real-world locations that satisfy a defined spatial relationship criterion relative to the pointing vector.

42. A mobile device as recited in claim 35, wherein defining a region of physical space as a search region comprises mapping the pointing vector of the mobile device to a search region of a previously-executed search;

and

wherein executing the search comprises identifying items associated with the search region of the previously-executed search.

43. A mobile device as recited in claim 35, wherein the data indicative of a pointing vector of the mobile device comprises data explicitly specifying a vector.

44. A mobile device as recited in claim 35, wherein the data indicative of a pointing vector of the mobile device comprises data specifying a position and orientation of the mobile device.

45. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed in a mobile device, cause the mobile device to perform a process comprising:

sending, to a remote computer system, data indicative of a pointing vector of the mobile device, in association with a search request initiated by a user of the mobile device, the data for use by the remote computer system to define a region of physical space as a search region based on the pointing vector;

receiving, from the remote computer system, a search result identifying an item associated with the search region, in response to the search request; and

outputting an indication of the search result to a user of the mobile device, the indication of the search result identifying the item.