REAL-TIME LOCATION SHARING TO FACILITATE A PHYSICAL MEET-UP

• US 20160073223A1
• Filed: 09/10/2014
• Published: 03/10/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2014
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Woolsey, Kerry, Hammerquist, Peter
• Application Number:
  US14/482,880
• Publication Number:
  US 20160073223A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3438 Rendez-vous, i.e. searching a destination where several users can meet, and the routes to this destination for these users; Ride sharing, i.e. searching a route such that at least two users can share a vehicle for at least part of the route
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/28 Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• 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 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold

Abstract

A location sharing component operating on a mobile computing device is configured to enable a local party and a remote party to share each other'"'"'s locations during a phone call to facilitate a physical meet-up. The location sharing component exposes various options to set a length of time for the location sharing or the location can be shared up until the meet-up occurs. User interfaces (UIs) exposed by the location sharing component can provide directions and dynamically updated maps which show the locations of the parties. The location sharing experience can be persisted after the phone call ends by showing updates to the directions and maps and by surfacing notifications when the parties are close so that they can start looking for each other. The location sharing time interval can be extended if it is due to expire before the meet-up occurs.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable memories storing instructions which,

when executed by one or more processors disposed in a device, implement a method for real-time sharing of location during a phone call between a local party and a remote party using respective local and remote devices, comprising:

during the phone call, exposing a user interface (UI) for initiating the real-time sharing of a current location of the local device with the remote device;

exposing one or more controls for selecting an expiration for the location sharing, in which location sharing is discontinued at the expiration, the expiration being expressed using time or the expiration being expressed using an occurrence of an event; and

displaying a map that graphically shows one of a location of the local device, a location of the remote device, or the locations of both the local and remote devices.

2. The one or more computer readable memories of claim 1 further including providing directions for traveling to a party'"'"'s location, the directions being displayed on the map.

3. The one or more computer-readable memories of claim 1 further comprising enabling a speakerphone function on the local device when the real-time location sharing is initiated.

4. The one or more computer-readable memories of claim 1 further including exposing the UI for initiating the real-time location sharing as part of a UI exposed by a calling application on the local device, the calling application being one of voice calling application or video calling application.

5. The one or more computer-readable memories of claim 1 further including providing a notification when the local and remote devices are within a predetermined distance of each other or when the local and remote devices are within a predetermined time interval of being substantially co-located based on an estimated travel speed of one or both of the parties.

6. The one or more computer-readable memories of claim 1 further including dynamically updating the map to reflect a change in a party'"'"'s location.

7. The one or more computer-readable memories of claim 1 further including generating an estimated time for a meet-up between the parties based on one or more of a party'"'"'s current location, a party'"'"'s historical locations, or data that is descriptive of context or environment, and showing the estimated meet-up time on a UI.

8. The one or more computer-readable memories of claim 1 further including enabling location to persist after the phone call terminated, the persistence having a duration that is substantially equal to the location sharing time period.

9. The one or more computer-readable memories of claim 1 further including providing one or more controls for a party to extend the location time period and providing one or more controls for a party to request a time period for location sharing be extended on another device.

10. The one or more computer-readable memories of claim 1 further including displaying location sharing information on a lock screen of the local device or on a lock screen of the remote device.

11. A system, comprising:

one or more processors;

a display that supports a user interface (UI) for interacting with a device user; and

a memory storing computer-readable instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, perform a method for real-time sharing of location information during a phone call between a local party and a remote party to facilitate a meet-up, the method comprising the steps of;

enabling initiation for sharing a location of a local device used by the local party with a remote device used by the remote party, the initiation being performable when the local device is engaged in the phone call,

providing one or more controls for user-selection of an expiration for the location sharing so that the location sharing stops upon occurrence of the expiration,

providing a notification that the remote user has initiated sharing of a location of the remote device with the local device,

displaying the local device location and remote device location simultaneously or at different times on the UI using a map that is dynamically updated to show changes in device location,

generating directions for display on the map, the directions showing a travel route between the parties,

providing a notification when the parties are determined to be within a predetermined distance or are determined will be co-located within a predetermined time interval, and

enabling the expiration of location sharing to be extended by action of the local party or in response to a request from the remote party.

12. The system of claim 11 further comprising enabling interaction with the UI using one of natural language, voice command, gesture, or physical contact using a touch screen or manipulation of a physical or a virtual control.

13. The system of claim 11 further comprising interacting with a digital assistant to invoke or control one or more of the method steps.

14. The system of claim 13 further comprising utilizing the digital assistant to provide a notification of a pending expiration of location sharing that is estimated to occur before the meet-up and enabling user interaction with the digital assistant to initiate the extending of the expiration.

15. The system of claim 11 in which the UI is invoked from a UI exposed by a voice calling application or a video calling application.

16. The system of claim 11 further comprising determining a mode of travel of a party and providing directions or an estimated meet-up time using the determined mode of travel, the mode of travel including one of walking, travel by car, travel by plane, or travel using mass transportation.

17. A method for facilitating real-time location sharing between a local device used by a local party and a remote device used by a remote party, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving shared location information from a location sharing component operating on the local device, the shared location information having an expiration selected by the local party using a user interface (UI) exposed by the location sharing component;

sending a message to the remote device over a network, the message including a link to a real-time location sharing experience that terminates upon the selected expiration;

when the remote party follows the link, implementing a service with a web service client on the remote device, the service supporting the real-time location sharing experience for the remote party on the remote device; and

communicating with the location sharing component to receive an input from the local party representing selection of the expiration.

18. The method of claim 17 in which the web service client is a web browser and further including terminating the real-time location sharing experience in response to the input.

19. The method of claim 17 further including receiving input to the web service from the remote user at the remote device and adapting the real-time location sharing experience responsively to the input.

20. The method of claim 17 in which the message is sent over SMS (Short Messaging Service).