Location aware application development framework

• US 6,594,666 B1
• Filed: 09/25/2000
• Issued: 07/15/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Biswas, Prabuddha, Chatterjee, Raja
• Primary Examiner(s): Metjahic, Safet
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Cindy
• Application Number:
  US09/669,503
• Time in Patent Office: 1,023 Days
• Field of Search: 707/100, 707/102
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface

Abstract

A shareable application program interface (API) infrastructure which is used in combination with a relational database to provide data storage and processing functions for location-aware objects, including particularly mobile objects whose current position is periodically updated by a position determining system. Client and service tables in the relational database are used to store the current point location, and other data, representing virtual objects, including mobile objects. A region table stores that describing the geometry and characteristics of geographical regions having defined boundaries within which the client and service objects reside. For each client, the set of services used by that client is recorded in a client profile database table. The services available on the system which are position-dependent have a geographical location associated with them. The API makes available an assortment of location dependent processing functions which may be used by location aware applications.

Claims

1. Apparatus for performing location-dependent data processing operations comprising, in combination,

a relational database management system for creating and updating data structures describing fixed and movable objects, said data structures comprising:

a services table containing information describing each of a plurality of different services, including data specifying the geographic location of each such service,

a clients table containing information describing client entities which potentially use one or more of the services described in said services table, including data specifying the geographic location of each such client entity, and

a regions table containing information describing a plurality of geographic regions, including data describing the geographical boundaries which define the geometric extent of each of said geographic regions and additional data which further characterizes each such region,

means for presenting a standard application program interface for responding to service requests from cooperating computer programs by performing predetermined processing operations with respect to said fixed and movable objects defined by said relational database management system.

2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said client table further stores, for a given one of said client entities, the identity of one or more of said services described in said service table which may be used by said given one of said clients.

3. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein the location of at least one of said client entities specified in said clients table is movable.

4. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein the location of at least one of said client entities is mobile and wherein a positioning system is employed to update the data in said clients table specifying the geographic location of said mobile client entity.

5. Apparatus as set forth in claim 4 wherein said data specifying said geographic location of said mobile client entity indicates the last known location of said mobile client entity.

6. Apparatus as set forth in claim 5 wherein said data further specifies the history of past locations for said mobile client entity.

7. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said service table further comprises, for at a given one of said services, data describing the nature of the services.

8. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said predetermined processing operations include responding to queries which specify a geographic point position by identifying one more fixed or mobile objects having a location related to said point position.

9. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said predetermined processing operations include responding to a query that specifies a given geographic region by identifying objects having a location within said given geographic region.

10. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 further including means for building a client-region linking relationship table which associates each of said client entities with the regions in said region table in which said client entity is currently located.

11. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 further including means for building a service-region linking relationship table that associates each of said services with the regions in said region table in which each of said services is currently located.

12. The method for performing location-dependent data processing operations which comprises, in combination, the steps of:

providing a relational database management system for creating and updating data structures describing fixed and movable objects, said data structures comprising;

a services table containing information describing each of a plurality of different services, including data specifying the geographic location of each such service,

a clients table containing information describing client entities which use the services described in said services table, including data specifying the geographic location of each such client entity, and

a regions table containing information describing a plurality of geographic regions, including data describing the geographical boundaries which define the geometric extent of each such region and additional data which characterizes each such region, and responding to service requests from cooperating computer programs presented through a predetermined application program interface by performing predetermined processing operations with respect to said fixed and movable objects defined by said relational database management system.

13. The method as set forth in claim 12 wherein said client table further stores, for at a given one of said client entities, the identity of one or more of said services described in said service table which may be used by said given one of said clients.

14. The method as set forth in claim 12 wherein the location of at least one of the clients specified in said clients table is movable.

15. The method as set forth in claim 14 wherein the location of at least one of said client entities is mobile and wherein a positioning system is employed to update the data in said clients table specifying the geographic location of said mobile client entity.

16. The method as set forth in claim 15 wherein said data specifying said geographic location of said mobile client entity indicates the last known location of said mobile client entity.

17. The method set forth in claim 16 wherein said data further specifies the history of past locations for said mobile client entity.

18. The method as set forth in claim 12 wherein said service table further comprises, for at a given one of said services, data describing the nature of the services.

19. The method as set forth in claim 12 wherein said predetermined processing operations include responding to queries which a geographic point position by identifying one more fixed or mobile objects having a location related to said point position.

20. Apparatus as set forth in claim 12 wherein said predetermined processing operations include responding to queries which specify a given geographic region by identifying objects having a location within said given geographic region.

21. The method as set forth in claim 12 further including the step of building a client-region linking relationship table which associates each of said client entities with those regions in said region table in which said client entity is currently located.

22. The method as set forth in claim 12 further including the step of building a service-region linking relationship table that associates each of said services with those regions in said region table in which each of said services is currently located.