REQUESTING A LOCATION OF A USER

• US 20130303190A1
• Filed: 06/17/2013
• Published: 11/14/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/01/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Khan, Rubaiyat, Brush, Alice Jane, Eberhardy, Peter, Rogers, March, Ostojic, Bojana, Welborn, Abigail, Auer, Nathaniel Eric Breskin, Danhope, Stefanie, Larsen, Daniel
• Granted Patent: US 10,004,056 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.2
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0009 Transmission of position information to remote stations involving assistance data G01S5/0236
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• 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 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/45 for Push-to-Talk [PTT] or Push-to-Talk over cellular [PoC] services

Abstract

A user sends a location request to a user of a group that requests the user'"'"'s current location. For example, one family member may send a location request to another family member that is part of their family group for their current location. The user receiving the request may accept the location request or reject the location request. When the location request is reject, the requesting user is not provided with the current location information of the user. When the location request is accepted, the requesting user is provided with the current location information of the user. In addition to providing the location information to the requesting user, the location may also be shared with other members of the group. For example, a message may be sent to each of the family members that are part of the group that informs them that a member has updated their location.

Claims

1. A method for processing location requests, comprising:

sending a location request to a user of a group that requests a current location of the user;

determining when the location request is accepted by the user receiving the location request;

obtaining location information of the user including the current location of the user;

delivering the location information to a requesting user of the group; and

automatically sharing the location information with other members of the group.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the location information of the user occurs after the location request is accepted.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically sharing the location information with the other members of the group comprises updating a map view that shows an updated location of the user that accepted the request.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein automatically sharing the location information with the other members of the group comprises delivering the location information within a message to at least one other member in the group.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining when the location request is accepted comprises determining when a reply has been received from the user indicating that the location request is accepted.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein delivering the location information to a requesting user comprises sending:

the current location of the user, and a time of the update to the current location of the user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the location request to the user comprises displaying a user interface element on a display of the user that shows the location request.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the location request to the user of comprises causing an icon on a home screen of a computing device to be displayed indicating the location request.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the location request to the user comprises displaying the location request within a location application when the location application is currently in use.

10. A computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for processing location requests, comprising:

receiving a location request from a group member of a group;

sending the location request to the group member;

receiving an acceptance of the location request by the group member;

obtaining a current location of the group member; and

delivering the current location of the group member to other group members of the group.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein obtaining the location information of the group member occurs after receiving the acceptance.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein delivering the current location of the group member comprises updating a map view that shows the current location of the group member.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein delivering the current location of the group member comprises delivering the current location within a message.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein delivering the current location of the group member comprises sending:

the current location of the group member, and a time of the update to the current location of the group member.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein sending the location request to the group member comprises displaying a user interface element on a display of the group member that shows the location request and includes an accept option to accept the location request.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein sending the location request to the group member comprises displaying the location request within a location application.

17. A system for processing location requests, comprising:

a processor and memory;

an operating environment executing using the processor; and

a location manager that is configured to perform actions comprising;

receiving a location request for a user;

sending the location request to the user;

receiving an acceptance of the location request by the user; and

automatically sharing a current location of the user with other users that are associated with the user in a group.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein automatically sharing the current location of the user with other users comprises delivering the current location within a message.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein sending the location request to the group member comprises updating a display of a sharing application to show the location request.

20. The system of claim 17, further comprising determining the current location after receiving the acceptance.