PUBLISHING LOCATION INFORMATION

• US 20120252504A1
• Filed: 03/31/2011
• Published: 10/04/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Firstenberg, Yosef, Hua, Li
• Granted Patent: US 9,226,108 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/457
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

The claimed subject matter provides a method for publishing location information. The method includes receiving the location information from an entity. The entity may be associated with a geographic location. The method further includes identifying one or more entities to be notified of the location information. Additionally, the method includes sending the location information to the identified entities.

Claims

1. A method for publishing location information, comprising:

receiving the location information from an entity associated with a geographic location;

identifying one or more entities to be notified of the location information; and

sending the location information to the identified entities.

2. The method recited in claim 1, wherein identifying the one or more entities comprises identifying one or more associates of the entity, wherein the one or more associates are allowed to view private information about the entity, and wherein the location information comprises the private information.

3. The method recited in claim 1, wherein identifying the one or more entities comprises:

determining a geographic region comprising the geographic location; and

identifying one or more strangers to the entity, wherein the strangers are restricted from viewing private information about the entity; and

wherein the strangers subscribe to the geographic region.

4. The method recited in claim 3, wherein the location information comprises information that the entity specifies to be shared with the strangers.

5. The method recited in claim 2, wherein the geographic location comprises a latitude coordinate and longitude coordinate, and wherein the entity comprises one of a user and a software application.

6. The method recited in claim 1, wherein determining the geographic region comprises using a persistent hash map that maps geographic location to the geographic region.

7. The method recited in claim 1, comprising subdividing a surface area of the earth into a plurality of geographic regions comprising the geographic region, using a gridding method, wherein the plurality of geographic regions are equal in area.

8. The method recited in claim 6, wherein the geographic regions correspond to at least one of zip codes, and geo-political borders.

9. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the entity is a person, and the identified entities comprise no entities if the geographic location is within a specified distance of a home of the person.

10. The method recited in claim 1, comprising:

receiving, for a plurality of entities, a corresponding plurality of geographic locations, and a corresponding plurality of nicknames; and

visualizing a map comprising the plurality of nicknames at the corresponding plurality of geographic locations.

11. A system for publishing location information, comprising:

a processing unit; and

a system memory, wherein the system memory comprises code configured to direct the processing unit to;

send a subscription request to a cloud service that maintains a subscription for an entity to a geographic region;

send a request to the cloud service for the location information;

receive the location information, wherein the location information comprises a plurality of geographic locations for a corresponding plurality of entities that are disposed within the geographic region.

12. The system recited in claim 11, comprising code configured to direct the processing unit to visualize a map comprising a plurality of nicknames corresponding to the plurality of entities, wherein the plurality of nicknames are each located at a position on the map representing the corresponding plurality of geographic locations.

13. The system recited in claim 12, wherein the entities comprise an associate, and wherein the map comprises private information about the associate at a position on the map representing a geographic location of the associate.

14. The system recited in claim 12, comprising code configured to direct the processing unit to:

receive a subset of the location information from an entity that is a stranger; and

determine that the stranger is disposed within the geographic region based on the subset of location information.

15. The system recited in claim 11, wherein the location information comprises information that the plurality of entities specify be shared with strangers.

16. The system recited in claim 11, wherein the geographic location comprises a latitude coordinate and longitude coordinate.

17. One or more computer-readable storage media, comprising code configured to direct a processing unit to:

receive location information from an entity disposed at a geographic location, wherein the geographic location comprises a latitude coordinate and longitude coordinate;

determine a geographic region comprising the geographic location based on a surface area of the earth subdivided into a plurality of geographic regions;

identify one or more associates of the entity, wherein the associates are allowed to view private information about the entity;

identify one or more strangers to the entity that subscribe to the geographic region, wherein the strangers are restricted from viewing private information about the entity;

send the location information to the associates and the strangers.

18. The computer-readable storage media recited in claim 17, comprising code configured to direct the processing unit to send the private information to the associates.

19. The computer-readable storage media recited in claim 17, wherein the code configured to direct the processing unit to determine the geographic region comprises code configured to direct the processing unit to use a persistent hash map that maps the geographic location to the geographic region.

20. The computer-readable storage media recited in claim 17, comprising code configured to direct the processing unit to subdivide the surface area of the earth into a plurality of geographic regions comprising the geographic region, using a gridding method, wherein the plurality of geographic regions are equal in area.