FACILITATING AD HOC CONGREGATION OVER AN INSTANT MESSAGING NETWORK

• US 20120165035A1
• Filed: 12/22/2010
• Published: 06/28/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Chen, Henry Yao-Tsu, Ganeshalingam, Theban
• Application Number:
  US12/975,594
• Publication Number:
  US 20120165035A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• 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: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

Facilitating ad-hoc congregation using an application on a wireless mobile device is provided. Geographic locations defined as meet-ups are shared with members of group. When a wireless mobile device of one of the members of the group enters the geographic location of the meet-up, the wireless mobile device sends a meet-up notification message via a wireless network to other members of the group to identify it'"'"'s presence at the pre-defined location. Group members can then decide to proceed to the meet-up location based upon the received notification messages.

Claims

1. A method of facilitating ad-hoc congregation using an application executed by a processor on a wireless mobile device, the method comprising:

determining a current position of the wireless mobile device;

determining if the current position of the wireless mobile device is at a shared meet-up location; and

sending a meet-up notification message via a wireless network to members defined by a group to identify that the wireless device is currently at the shared meet-up location.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein sending the meet-up notification message via the wireless network further comprises sending a group identifier.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein sending the meet-up notification message via the wireless network further comprises sending a meet-up location identifier and a member identifier.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the current position of the wireless mobile device comprises acquiring position coordinates from a global positioning system (GPS) receiver coupled to the wireless mobile device.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein determining if the current position of the wireless mobile device is at a shared meet-up location further comprises applying a tolerance value to positioning coordinates of the shared meet-up location, the tolerance value used to define a range of positioning coordinates which apply to the shared meet-up location.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein determining if the current position of the wireless mobile device is at the shared meet-up location further comprises initiating a timer wherein the meet-up notification message is only sent if the timer is exceeded.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the current position of the wireless mobile device comprises determining position coordinates by using wireless network triangulation techniques.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein meet-up notification messages sent via the network are sent to a messaging server, wherein the server maintains group membership information and distributes messaging to the appropriate device.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving, via the wireless network, an incoming meet-up notification message identifying a shared meet-up location and a member identifier;

displaying an indication on a display of the wireless mobile device of the received incoming shared meet-up notification message, the indication identifying the presence of a member of the group associated with member identifier at the shared meet-up location.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

associating location coordinates with a new shared meet-up location identifier;

associating group of members with the new shared meet-up location identifier; and

sending via the wireless network the new shared meet-up location coordinates and a meet-up location identifier.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising receiving one or more tolerance parameter associated with the new shared meet-up location wherein the tolerance parameters are sent to the messaging server.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the tolerance parameters are selected from the group comprising:

a period of time;

a distance range;

a time of day; and

a date.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein sending the meet-up notification message through the wireless network to identify that the wireless device is at the determined shared meet-up location are sent directly to one or more member wireless mobile devices via the wireless network or one or more communications networks coupled to the wireless network.

14. A wireless mobile device comprising:

a positioning device for determining the position of the wireless mobile device;

a wireless transceiver for communicating with a wireless network;

a memory containing instructions for facilitating ad-hoc congregation using an application executed by a processor on a wireless mobile device;

a processor coupled to the location device, wireless transceiver and the memory, the processor executing an application comprising;

determining a current position of the wireless mobile device;

determining if the current position of the wireless mobile device is at a shared meet-up location; and

sending a meet-up notification message via a wireless network to members defined by a group to identify that the wireless device is currently at the shared meet-up location.

15. The wireless mobile device of claim 14 wherein the positioning device is a global positioning receiver (GPS).

16. The wireless mobile device of claim 14 wherein sending the meet-up notification message via the wireless network further comprises sending a group identifier.

17. The wireless device of claim 14 wherein sending the meet-up notification message via the wireless network further comprises sending a meet-up location identifier and a member identifier.

18. The wireless mobile device of claim 14 wherein the positioning device utilizes wireless network triangulation techniques to determine the current position of the wireless mobile device.

19. The wireless mobile device of claim 14 wherein determining if the current position of the wireless mobile device is at a shared meet-up location further comprises applying a tolerance value to positioning coordinates of the shared meet-up location, the tolerance value used to define a range of positioning coordinates which apply to the shared meet-up location.

20. The wireless mobile device of claim 14 wherein determining if the current position of the wireless mobile device is at the shared meet-up location further comprises initiating a timer wherein the meet-up notification message is only sent if the timer is exceeded

21. The wireless mobile device of claim 14 wherein meet-up notification messages sent via the network are sent to a messaging server, wherein the server maintains group membership information and distributes messaging to the appropriate device.

22. The wireless mobile device of claim 14 further comprising:

receiving, via the wireless network, an incoming meet-up notification message identifying a shared meet-up location and a member identifier;

displaying an indication on a display of the wireless mobile device of the received incoming shared meet-up notification message, the indication identifying the presence of a member of the group associated with member identifier at the shared meet-up location.

23. The wireless mobile device of claim 14 further comprising:

associating location coordinates with a new shared meet-up location identifier;

associating group of members with the new shared meet-up location identifier; and

sending via the wireless network the new shared meet-up location coordinates and a meet-up location identifier.

24. The wireless mobile device of claim 23 further comprising receiving one or more tolerance parameter associated with the new shared meet-up location wherein the tolerance parameters are sent to the messaging server.

25. The wireless mobile device of claim 24 wherein the tolerance parameters are selected from the group comprising:

a period of time;

a distance range;

a time of day; and

a date.

26. A computer readable memory containing instructions for facilitating ad-hoc congregation using an application executed by a processor on a wireless mobile device, the instructions when executed by the processor providing:

determining a current position of the wireless mobile device;

determining if the current position of the wireless mobile device is at a shared meet-up location; and

sending a meet-up notification message via a wireless network to members defined by a group to identify that the wireless device is currently at the shared meet-up location.