DATA SYNCHRONIZATION FOR DEVICES SUPPORTING DIRECTION-BASED SERVICES

• US 20120264457A1
• Filed: 05/31/2012
• Published: 10/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Khosravy, Moe, Novik, Lev
• Granted Patent: US 8,615,257 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.3
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3664 Details of the user input interface, e.g. buttons, knobs or sliders, including those provided on a touch screen; remote controllers; input using gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3811 Point data, e.g. Point of Interest [POI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0241 Advertisements
• 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 4/026 using orientation information, e.g. compass
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

With the addition of directional information and gesture based input in a location based services environment, a variety of service(s) can be provided on top of user identification or interaction with specific object(s) of interest. For instance, a device can interact with various endpoints of a direction-based location service and any of the content or other information exchanged between clients and services can be synchronized for efficient exchange of information and efficient utilization of network bandwidth and resources. For example, change input is received by a device that alters, deletes or augments dynamically updateable information associated with a point of interest and the changes resulting from the change input are synchronized from the mobile device to a location based network service. Optionally, the synchronization can be according to a knowledge exchange to identify what should be synchronized prior to transmitting the updates.

Claims

1. A method for using an electronics device to selectively utilize different display formats to display point of interest information for a set of one or more points of interest depending upon how many points of interest there are in the set, the method comprising:

receiving position information and direction information of the electronics device;

using an intersection algorithm to identify a set of one or more points of interest that correspond to stored point of interest information;

subsequent to identifying the set of one or more points of interest, determining whether the set of one or more points of interest is limited to only a single point of interest or, alternatively, whether the set of one or more points of interest includes a plurality of points of interest;

representing the set of one or more points of interest in a first type of view in response to determining that the set of one or more points of interest is limited to only a single point of interest or, alternatively, representing the set of one or more points of interest in a second type of view, which is different than the first type of view, in response to determining that the set of one or more points of interest includes a plurality of points of interest, such that the type of view used to display the set of one or more points of interest is directly dependent upon whether the set of one or more points of interest is determined to be limited to only a single point of interest or, alternatively, to include a plurality of points of interest.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first type of view is a full view.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the second type of view is a categorized 2-D map view.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the second type of view is a categorized 3-D perspective view.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the method further includes using a motion component of the electronics device to output motion information as a function of at least one movement of the electronics device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the motion component is an accelerometer.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the method further includes processing the motion information to determine at least one gesture input with respect to at least one point of interest.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the method further includes processing the at least one gesture input with respect to the at least one point of interest to automatically modify the point of interest information associated with the at least one point of interest.

9. A computing system that includes a portable electronic device, comprising:

a positional component that outputs position information as a function of a location of the portable electronic device;

a directional component that outputs direction information as a function of an orientation of the portable electronic device;

at least one processor configured to process at least one of the position information or the direction information to identify at least one point of interest in a set of one or more points of interest and to display point of interest information related to the at least one point of interest in a type of view that is dependent upon whether the at least one point of interest is limited to only a single point of interest or, alternatively, includes a plurality of points of interest; and

a storage device storing the point of interest information and computer-executable instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, implement a method for using the electronics device to selectively utilize different display formats to display the point of interest information for the set of one or more points of interest depending upon how many points of interest there are in the set, the method including;

receiving the position information and direction information;

using an intersection algorithm to identify a set of one or more points of interest that correspond to the stored point of interest information;

subsequent to identifying the set of one or more points of interest, determining whether the set of one or more points of interest is limited to only a single point of interest or, alternatively, whether the set of one or more points of interest includes a plurality of points of interest;

representing the set of one or more points of interest in a first type of view in response to determining that the set of one or more points of interest is limited to only a single point of interest or, alternatively, representing the set of one or more points of interest in a second type of view, which is different than the first type of view, in response to determining that the set of one or more points of interest includes a plurality of points of interest, such that the type of view used to display the set of one or more points of interest is directly dependent upon whether the set of one or more points of interest is determined to be limited to only a single point of interest or, alternatively, to include a plurality of points of interest.

10. The computing system of claim 9, wherein the first type of view is a full view.

11. The computing system of claim 10, wherein the second type of view is a categorized 2-D map view.

12. The computing system of claim 10, wherein the second type of view is a categorized 3-D perspective view.

13. The computing system of claim 9, wherein the method further includes using a motion component of the electronics device to output motion information as a function of at least one movement of the electronics device.

14. The computing system of claim 13, wherein the motion component is an accelerometer.

15. The computing system of claim 13, wherein the method further includes processing the motion information to determine at least one gesture input with respect to at least one point of interest.

16. The computing system of claim 15, wherein the method further includes processing the at least one gesture input with respect to the at least one point of interest to automatically modify the point of interest information associated with the at least one point of interest.

18. The storage device of claim 9, wherein the first type of view is a full view.

19. The storage device of claim 10, wherein the second type of view is a categorized 2-D map view.

20. The storage device of claim 10, wherein the second type of view is a categorized 3-D perspective view.

17. A storage device storing computer-executable instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, implement a method for using an electronics device to selectively utilize different display formats to display point of interest information for a set of one or more points of interest depending upon how many points of interest there are in the set, the method comprising:

receiving position information and direction information for the electronics device;

using an intersection algorithm to identify a set of one or more points of interest that correspond to stored point of interest information;

subsequent to identifying the set of one or more points of interest, determining whether the set of one or more points of interest is limited to only a single point of interest or, alternatively, whether the set of one or more points of interest includes a plurality of points of interest;

representing the set of one or more points of interest in a first type of view in response to determining that the set of one or more points of interest is limited to only a single point of interest or, alternatively, representing the set of one or more points of interest in a second type of view, which is different than the first type of view, in response to determining that the set of one or more points of interest includes a plurality of points of interest, such that the type of view used to display the set of one or more points of interest is directly dependent upon whether the set of one or more points of interest is determined to be limited to only a single point of interest or, alternatively, to include a plurality of points of interest.