Method and apparatus in a communication network for facilitating a use of location-based applications
First Claim
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1. A method in a communication network for facilitating a use of location-based applications for a portable device without requiring the portable device to have on-board location-determining capability, the method comprising the steps of:
- storing location information for the portable device in the communication network;
determining by the portable device whether the portable device is in motion;
requesting, by the portable device, the location information only when the portable device is determined not to be in motion; and
sending the location information from the communication network to the portable device, in response to the requesting step.
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Abstract
A communication network (200, 300) stores (502) location information for the communication network. A portable device (100) determines (504) whether the portable device is in motion. The portable device requests (510) the location information only when the portable device determines itself not to be in motion. The network sends (512) the location information to the portable device, in response to the request for the location information from the portable unit.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method in a communication network for facilitating a use of location-based applications for a portable device without requiring the portable device to have on-board location-determining capability, the method comprising the steps of:
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storing location information for the portable device in the communication network;
determining by the portable device whether the portable device is in motion;
requesting, by the portable device, the location information only when the portable device is determined not to be in motion; and
sending the location information from the communication network to the portable device, in response to the requesting step. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
storing the location information in the portable device;
later discovering that the portable device is in motion; and
in response to the discovering step, performing one of;
deleting the location information, and marking the location information as “
stale.”
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3. The method of claim 1, wherein the storing step comprises the step of manually entering location coordinates of the communication network.
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4. The method of claim 1,
wherein the communication network is a wired communication network, and wherein the storing step comprises the steps of: -
accessing the communication network through a network access point by a communication device which has on-board location-determining capability;
requesting, from the communication device by a controller of the communication network, location coordinates of the communication device; and
reporting the location coordinates to the controller by the communication device.
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5. The method of claim 1, wherein the sending step comprises the step of sending location coordinates of a central portion of the communication network, along with a tolerance determined by a geographic size of the communication network.
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6. The method of claim 1,
wherein the storing step comprises the step of storing location coordinates of a plurality of network access points in the communication network, and wherein the sending step comprises the step of sending the location coordinates of one of the plurality of network access points utilized by the portable device for accessing the communication network. -
7. The method of claim 1,
wherein the communication network is a wireless network, and wherein the storing step comprises the steps of: -
establishing communications with a wireless device of the wireless network by a communication device which has on-board location determining capability;
requesting, from the communication device by the wireless device, location coordinates of the communication device;
receiving the location coordinates at the wireless device; and
storing the location coordinates in the wireless device.
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8. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of storing the location coordinates further comprises the step of storing a tolerance along with the location coordinates, the tolerance derived from a maximum transmission range between the communication device and the wireless device.
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9. The method of claim 8, wherein the sending step further comprises the step of sending the tolerance along with the location coordinates to the portable device.
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10. The method of claim 9, wherein a first device that has received the location coordinates and the tolerance from a second device increases the tolerance before storing the location coordinates and the tolerance.
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11. A portable device in a communication network having an intelligent element for storing and providing location information for the communication network, the portable device for facilitating a use of location-based applications for the portable device without requiring the portable device to have on-board location-determining capability, the portable device comprising:
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a network interface for enabling communications with the communication network;
a processor coupled to the network interface for processing the communications;
a memory coupled to the processor for storing the location information; and
a motion detector coupled to the processor for determining whether the portable device is in motion wherein the processor is programmed to;
cooperate with the motion detector and the network interface to generate a request for the location information from the communication network only when the portable device is determined not to be in motion; and
cooperate further with the network interface to receive the location information from the communication network, in response to the request. - View Dependent Claims (12)
store the location information in the memory;
later cooperate with the motion detector to discover that the portable device is in motion; and
in response to discovering that the portable device is in motion, perform one of;
deleting the location information, and marking the location information as “
stale.”
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13. A communication network for storing and providing location information for facilitating a use of location-based applications for a portable device without requiring the portable device to have on-board location-determining capability, the communication network comprising:
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a network access point for allowing communications between the communication network and the portable device;
a processor coupled to the network access point for processing the communications; and
a memory coupled to the processor for storing the location information;
wherein the processor is programmed to;
cooperate with the network access point to receive a request for the location information from the portable device when the portable device is not in motion; and
cooperate further with the network access point and the memory to send the location information to the portable device, in response to the request. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
wherein the processor is further programmed to cooperate with the network access point to: provide access to the communication network by a communication device which has on-board location-determining capability;
request location coordinates of the communication device;
receive the location coordinates from the communication device; and
store the location coordinates in the memory.
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15. The communication network of claim 13, wherein the processor is further programmed to cooperate with the network access point to send, to the portable device, location coordinates of a central portion of the communication network, along with a tolerance determined by a geographic size of the communication network.
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16. The communication network of claim 13,
wherein the processor is further programmed to cooperate with the network access point to: -
store location coordinates of a plurality of network access points in the memory, and send to the portable device the location coordinates of one of the plurality of network access points utilized by the portable device for accessing the communication network.
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17. The communication network of claim 13,
wherein the network access point is a wireless transceiver, and wherein the processor is further programmed to cooperate with the wireless transceiver and the memory to: -
establish communications with a communication device which has on-board location determining capability;
request, from the communication device, location coordinates of the communication device;
receive the location coordinates; and
store the location coordinates in the memory.
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18. The communication network of claim 17, wherein the processor is further programmed to cooperate with the memory to store a tolerance along with the location coordinates, the tolerance derived from a maximum transmission range between the communication device and the wireless transceiver.
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19. The communication network of claim 18, wherein the processor is further programmed to cooperate with the wireless transceiver to send the tolerance along with the location coordinates to the portable device.
Specification