Location-Based Social Networking System

• US 20130325964A1
• Filed: 05/28/2013
• Published: 12/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Henry Berberat
• Original Assignee: Henry Berberat
• Inventors: Berberat, Henry
• Granted Patent: US 9,319,470 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/204
• 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 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/185 by embedding added-value information into content, e.g. geo-tagging

Abstract

A system for receiving and distributing social media content associates content with a particular geographic location. Users who view the social media content can have more confidence in its authenticity because the system only allows content to be uploaded when in proximity to the associated geographic location. Channels categorize the content into different subject-matter. A user can watch a channel and the geo-specific content updates as a user changes location.

Claims

1. A location-based social networking system, comprising:

a server;

a database in electronic communication with the server, the database having a plurality of content, each of the plurality of content associated with a content location and one of a plurality of content channels;

a content viewer on a mobile device in electronic communication with the server over the Internet, the content viewer showing a subset of the plurality of content to a user, the content location associated with each of the subset of the plurality of content within a predetermined distance of a current location of the mobile device, the subset of the plurality of content changing as the current location of the mobile device changes;

a channel selector on the mobile device for the user to select one of the plurality of content channels, upon selection the subset of the plurality of content changing to include only content associated with the selected content channel;

a content creator on the mobile device accepting new content from the user, the new content associated with a new content location, the creation of the new content only allowed if the new content location is in proximity to the current location of the mobile device, upon creation the new content stored in the database as one of the plurality of content; and

an interface on the server and in electronic communication with one or more providers over the Internet, the interface receiving some of the plurality of content from one of the one or more providers.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the server comprises more than one computer.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the predetermined distance is provided by the user.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the predetermined distance is selectable with one selectable value being a distance of 1 mile.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the content creator associates the new content with one of the plurality of content channels.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the interface sends the new content to the one of the one or more providers.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the new content location comprises an event.

8. The system of claim 1 further comprising a website interface on the server, the website interface allowing the user to view the plurality of content.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein one of the plurality of content channels comprises a private channel, with only predetermined users having access to content associated with the private channel.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the user comments on one of the subset of the plurality of content.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein comments are not allowed if the current location of the mobile device is not in proximity to the content location associated with the one of the subset of the plurality of content.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the one of the one or more providers is a social networking provider.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the mobile device provides a notification of a change in the subset of the plurality of content.

14. The system of claim 1 wherein the creation of the new content is only allowed if the new content location is within 1 mile of the current location of the mobile device.

15. A method for location-based social networking, comprising the steps of:

providing a server;

storing in a database a plurality of content, each of the plurality of content associated with a content location and one of a plurality of content channels, the database in electronic communication with the server;

providing on a mobile device a subset of the plurality of content, the content location associated with each of the subset of the plurality of content within a predetermined distance of a current location of the mobile device, the subset of the plurality of content changing as the current location of the mobile device changes;

providing a channel selector on the mobile device for a user to select one of the plurality of content channels, upon selection the subset of the plurality of content changing to include only content associated with the selected content channel;

receiving new content from the user with the mobile device, the new content associated with a new content location, the creation of the new content only allowed if the new content location is in proximity to the current location of the mobile device, upon creation the new content stored in the database as one of the plurality of content; and

receiving on the server some of the plurality of content from one of one or more providers, the server in electronic communication with the one of the one or more providers over the Internet.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the predetermined distance is selectable by the user.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising the step of sending the new content to the one of the one or more providers.

18. The method of claim 15 further comprising the step of notifying the user of a change in the subset of the plurality of content.

19. The method of claim 15 wherein new content is only allowed if the new content location is within 1 mile of the current location of the mobile device.

20. The method of claim 15 wherein the user comments on one of the subset of the plurality of content, the comments only allowed if the current location of the mobile device is in proximity to the content location associated with the one of the subset of the plurality of content.