USER DEVICE POSITION INDICATION FOR SECURITY AND DISTRIBUTED RACE CHALLENGES

• US 20140094232A1
• Filed: 10/03/2012
• Published: 04/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Asam, Aravind Babu, Balasubramanian, Guru Prashanth, Framel, Julia Anne, Suzuki, Takeshi, Hedrick, Charles D. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 8,864,587 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 463/6
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 2220/20 Distances or displacements
• CPC Class Codes: A63B 71/06 Indicating or scoring devices for games or players , or for other sports activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72418 for supporting emergency services
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

A mobile computing device includes a processor configured to receive position information from a position sensor and a display controlled by the processor. The device also includes a storage medium accessible to the processor and bearing instructions which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to receive user input to challenge a friend'"'"'s mobile device to an exercise, upload the challenge to a server, and receive a signal from the server indicating the challenge is accepted. The instructions cause the processor to upload to the server position information at a predetermined start time and receive from the server map information presenting a position of the mobile device and a position of the friend'"'"'s mobile device. Further, the instructions cause the processor to receive updates of the map information including updates of the position of the mobile device and the position of the friend'"'"'s mobile device periodically during the exercise.

Claims

1. A mobile computing device comprising:

a processor configured to receive position information from a position sensor;

a display controlled by the processor;

a computer readable storage medium accessible to the processor and bearing instructions which when executed by the processor cause the processor to;

receive user input to challenge at least one friend'"'"'s user device to an exercise;

upload the challenge to a server;

receive a signal from the server indicating the challenge is accepted;

at a predetermined start time, upload to the server position information from the position sensor;

receive from the server map information presenting a position of the mobile device and a position of the at least one friend'"'"'s user device; and

periodically during the exercise, receive updates of the map information including updates of the position of the mobile device and the position of the at least one friend'"'"'s user device.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the positions received from the server are true positions as indicated by the position sensor inputting signals to the processor and a position sensor associated with the at least one friend'"'"'s user device.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein at least one position received from the server is a race position that represents a true position as received from a position sensor adjusted for an elevation change of the user or an elevation change of the at least one friend'"'"'s user device between successive true positions uploaded to the server.

4. The device of claim 3, wherein responsive to a determination that the user has traversed an elevation gain between reported true positions, a distance is added to a true distance traveled determined from true positions to render a race position, and the map information indicates the race position.

5. The device of claim 3, wherein responsive to a determination that the user has traversed an elevation loss between reported true positions, a distance is subtracted from a true distance traveled determined from true positions to render a race position, and the map information indicates the race position.

6. The device of claim 1, wherein the processor causes a user interface (UI) to be presented on the display presenting the map information.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the processor receives user input to challenge the at least one friend'"'"'s user device to an exercise based on selection of one of plural challenge mode selector elements on a UI, the UI being presented on the display under control of the processor, wherein the challenge mode selector elements include at least a live challenge selector element and an anytime challenge selector element.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the computer readable storage medium also bears instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to transmit an emergency alert to a predetermined destination based on at least one emergency criteria being met as determined by the processor.

9. A server, comprising:

a processor;

a computer readable storage medium accessible to the processor and bearing instructions which when executed by the processor cause the processor to;

receive a request for an exercise competition from a first consumer electronics (CE) device;

send the request to a second CE device for acceptance of the request by the second CE device.

10. The server of claim 9, wherein the server receives a signal from the second CE device indicating the acceptance of the request and provides notification of the acceptance to the first CE device.

11. The server of claim 10, wherein after providing notification of the acceptance to the first CE device, the server begins receiving at least position data from both the first and second CE devices at a predetermined start time, the position data including at least an initial position of each of the first and second CE devices.

13. The server of claim 11, wherein based on the position data received, the server renders a position map of the positions of both the first and second CE devices and provides the position map to both the first and second CE devices.

14. The server of claim 13, wherein the server updates the position map during the competition based on position updates received from the first and second CE devices and provides the updated position map to the first and second CE devices showing one or more previous positions and the updated positions of the first and second CE devices.

15. The server of claim 14, wherein the server receives signals from the first and second CE devices representative of changes in elevation of the first and second CE devices during the competition.

16. The server of claim 14, wherein the server determines respective routes of the first and second CE devices based on the position data from the first and second CE devices and applies the routes to at least one topographical map stored in a database associated with the server, wherein the server then determines respective changes in elevation of the first and second CE devices based on the routes as applied to the topographical map.

18. The server of claim 11, wherein the server determines a winner of the competition based on at least one parameter input to one of the first or second CE devices and provided to the server by the first or second CE device, the server providing notification of the winner to the first and second CE devices for presentation thereon after performing the determination of the winner.

12. The server of 11, wherein the server also initiates a timer to track the length of the competition.

17. The server of 16, wherein the server adjusts the positions of the first and second CE devices on the position map based on a change in elevation of the first or second CE devices and provides the adjusted position map to the first and second CE devices, wherein the position map is adjusted such that if one of the CE devices has traversed an elevation gain between true positions of the CE device determined based on the position data received therefrom, a distance is added to a true distance traveled determined from the true positions to render a race position that is reflected on the position map, and if one of the CE devices has traversed an elevation loss between true positions of the CE device determined based on the position data received therefrom, a distance is subtracted from a true distance traveled determined from the true positions to render a race position that is reflected on the position map, the position map indicating the race positions of the CE devices.

19. A method, comprising:

receiving user input to a consumer electronics device (CE) to challenge at least one contact of the user of the CE device to an exercise;

uploading the challenge to a server;

receiving a signal from the server indicating the challenge is accepted;

at a predetermined start time, uploading to the server position information from the position sensor;

receiving from the server map information presenting a position of the mobile device and a position of the at least one contact'"'"'s user device; and

periodically during the exercise, receiving updates of the map information including updates of the position of the mobile device and the position of the at least one contact'"'"'s user device.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising transmitting an emergency alert to a predetermined contact based on at least one emergency criteria being met during the challenge being met.