FOCUSED AND SEMI-PRIVATE LOCATION BASED ASYNCHRONOUS THREAD COMMUNICATIONS
First Claim
1. A communication by location method comprising:
- obtaining at least one mobile device equipped with at least one processor, memory, user interface, display screen, bidirectional wireless communication link capability, and location determination capability;
creating at least one asynchronous communication thread on a database associated with a host internet server, each said communication thread comprising at least an initial entry, and at least one set of geographical identification metadata comprising at least the communication thread geolocation, a communication thread category, a first communication thread viewing geographical zone, and a second communication thread reply geographical zone;
wherein said second reply geographical zone encompasses at least the geolocation of said communication thread, and said second reply geographical zone is encompassed within said first viewing geographical zone;
setting a map viewing location on said mobile device, said map viewing location corresponding to the location where communication threads of interest may be located, and further setting a maximum communication thread viewing radius about said map viewing location;
using said mobile device to establish a communications link with said host internet server, transmitting the present location and map viewing location of said mobile device to said host internet server, and transmitting at least a maximum communication thread viewing radius and one or more communication thread categories to said host internet server;
using the present location and map viewing location of said mobile device, communication thread categories, and said maximum communication thread viewing radius as a search key to said database, searching for communication threads with communication thread geolocations, communication thread categories, and communication thread viewing zones that are within the maximum viewing radius of the map viewing location of said mobile device, and using the results of said search as at least a first search criteria to determine if at least the selected communication thread geolocations of the search selected communication threads should be transmitted to said mobile device; and
transmitting at least the selected thread geolocations of said search selected communication threads to said mobile device.
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Abstract
Communication by location method that geoplaces asynchronous message threads to a specific first geographic location geo-fence within which they are visible, and a second sub geo-fence for replies. The message threads have a first viewing distance parameter, a second reply parameter, and other parameters such as optional user set password prefixes. Users with mobile devices such as GPS equipped smart phones may set their devices to discover non-password protected message threads that are within a specified radius of the actual device itself, or a device virtual map location, and may use passwords to find password protected message threads. Generally only users with a real geographic proximity to the thread within the specified reply distance may reply to the thread. The method will generally be implemented by software residing on mobile devices and host servers, and may additionally use data from map servers to place the treads in a map context.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A communication by location method comprising:
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obtaining at least one mobile device equipped with at least one processor, memory, user interface, display screen, bidirectional wireless communication link capability, and location determination capability; creating at least one asynchronous communication thread on a database associated with a host internet server, each said communication thread comprising at least an initial entry, and at least one set of geographical identification metadata comprising at least the communication thread geolocation, a communication thread category, a first communication thread viewing geographical zone, and a second communication thread reply geographical zone; wherein said second reply geographical zone encompasses at least the geolocation of said communication thread, and said second reply geographical zone is encompassed within said first viewing geographical zone; setting a map viewing location on said mobile device, said map viewing location corresponding to the location where communication threads of interest may be located, and further setting a maximum communication thread viewing radius about said map viewing location; using said mobile device to establish a communications link with said host internet server, transmitting the present location and map viewing location of said mobile device to said host internet server, and transmitting at least a maximum communication thread viewing radius and one or more communication thread categories to said host internet server; using the present location and map viewing location of said mobile device, communication thread categories, and said maximum communication thread viewing radius as a search key to said database, searching for communication threads with communication thread geolocations, communication thread categories, and communication thread viewing zones that are within the maximum viewing radius of the map viewing location of said mobile device, and using the results of said search as at least a first search criteria to determine if at least the selected communication thread geolocations of the search selected communication threads should be transmitted to said mobile device; and transmitting at least the selected thread geolocations of said search selected communication threads to said mobile device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification