Resource location through location history

• US 7,266,379 B2
• Filed: 05/30/2001
• Issued: 09/04/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Palm, Inc. (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Lusher, Elaine, Blight, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Phu; Sanh D.
• Application Number:
  US09/870,311
• Publication Number:
  US 20020184331A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,288 Days
• Field of Search: 455/41.2, 455/41.3, 455/456.3, 455/432.1, 455/432.3, 455/434, 455/521
• US Class Current: 455/456.3
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/27 for locating or positioning the transmitter
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

A system and method are disclosed for locating resources available to portable electronic devices which are enabled for short range wireless communications. The system and method include creating and accessing a resource and access location history database accessible via the portable electronic device.

Claims

1. A system for locating access to wireless resources, comprising:

a portable electronic device including a short range radio frequency (RF) transceiver,

a database program running an the portable electronic device, the database program configured to store a history of wireless station information and available resource information,

the wireless station informatiog being representative of wireless stations coming in communications with the short range RF transceiver as the portable electronic device is being moved through an environment, and

the available resource information being correlated with the wireless station information and the available resource information being distinct from and representative of the resources available through the wireless stations.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the portable electronic device is a handheld computer.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the short range RF transceiver is a Bluetooth transceiver.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the short range RF transceiver is a IEEE 802.11 transceiver.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless station information includes the type of wireless transceiver being used by the wireless station.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless station information includes an address of the wireless station.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless station information includes information representative of the location of the wireless station.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless station information includes a timestamp representative of a time that the portable device was in range of the wireless station.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the resource information includes a resource identifier.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the resource information includes a resource description.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the resource information includes keywords relating to the resource.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the resource information includes attributes for an object oriented data description.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the resource information includes a listing of associated wireless stations.

14. A method of locating access to resources in an environment, comprising:

roaming within an environment with a portable electronic device having a short range radio frequency (RF) transceiver;

scanning for wireless enabled devices within range of the RF transceiver of the portable device;

storing wireless station information relating to the wireless enabled devices in a database;

storing available resource information distinct from and relating to the resources coupled to and available trough the wireless station in the database; and

accessing, on the portable electronic device, the database including the wireless station information and the available resource information.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

querying the database for a specified resource.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

performing a keyword search of the database.

17. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

providing location information relating to accessing the specified resource.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the location information includes a set of directions.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the location information includes a map.