Method, system, and program for providing user location information with a personal information management program

• US 7,370,085 B2
• Filed: 05/03/2001
• Issued: 05/06/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/03/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Quartz Auto Technologies, LLC
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dutta, Rabindranath, Paolini, Michael A., Brown, Michael Wayne
• Primary Examiner(s): Chang, Jungwon
• Application Number:
  US09/848,166
• Publication Number:
  US 20020165910A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,560 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456, 455/456.1, 455/414.2, 455/456.3, 705/9, 600/300, 709/207, 709/217, 709/203, 715/733, 707/104.1
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99948 Application of database or data structure, e.g. distributed, multimedia, or image

Abstract

Provided is a method, system, program, and data structures for providing user location information with a personal information manager program. Position coordinates of a wireless device associated with a user are generated, along with time information indicating a time when the position coordinates were generated. The position coordinates and time information are processed to determine geographic locations and associated time periods. For each determined geographical location and associated time period, the user of the wireless device was located at the geographical location for the associated time period. A request is received for information on the user for a selected time interval. A determination is then made of time periods associated with geographic locations that are within the selected time interval. Information is then generated on the geographic locations and associated time periods that are within the selected time interval.

Claims

1. A method for providing user location information for a personal information management program, comprising:

generating position coordinates of a wireless device and time information indicating times when the position coordinates were generated, wherein a user is associated with the wireless device;

processing the position coordinates and time information to determine whether a rate of change in distance per unit of time in a series of position coordinates at times indicates a predefined activity of the user occurring during an activity time period during which the position coordinates and the time information were generated; and

generating information on the determined predefined activity for the activity time period.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the position coordinates and time information are generated at the wireless device, further comprising:

receiving from the wireless device the generated position coordinates and time information to a server; and

storing the generated position coordinates and time information in a database, wherein the position coordinates and time information are processed to determine the predefined activity during the activity time period and locations and associated time periods where the user was present.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the position coordinates and time information are generated at the wireless device, wherein the wireless device processes the position coordinates and time information to determine locations and associated time periods where the user was present, further comprising:

receiving from the wireless device the determined locations and associated time periods;

storing the determined locations and time periods in a database.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a plurality of location boundaries defining multiple location coordinates;

for each location boundary, providing a location description including information describing the location boundary;

for each generated position coordinate, determining whether the position coordinate is included in one of the provided location boundaries; and

processing the position coordinates and time information to determine information on locations and associated time periods, wherein at least one location for which information is determined includes multiple generated position coordinates and the associated time period for the location includes the time information generated for the position coordinates included in the determined location, wherein for each determined location and associated time period, the user of the wireless device was located at the location for the associated time period, and wherein at least one determined location comprises one predefined location boundary including position coordinates, and wherein the information generated on the at least one location includes the location description for the predefined location boundary comprising the location.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein at least one location boundary and associated location description is provided by:

receiving location boundary and location description information from a transmitter.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

associating, with the wireless device, the location description information with the generated position coordinates within the location boundary received from the transmitter; and

receiving from the wireless device the position coordinates, associated time information, and associated location description wherein the position coordinates and time information are processed to determine location boundaries including the position coordinates, and wherein the information generated on the locations includes the location description provided by the transmitter for the location boundary comprising the location.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the operations of processing the position coordinates and associated time periods to determine the predefined activity is performed for ranges of position coordinates not determined to be included in one of the provided location boundaries.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein position coordinates and time information are generated by multiple wireless devices, wherein each wireless device is associated with one user, further comprising:

receiving position coordinates and time information from the multiple wireless devices; and

storing the position coordinates and time information in a database with information associating each position coordinate and time information with one user, wherein the position coordinates and time information are processed for the multiple wireless devices to determine predefined activities for the wireless devices.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request for information on the user for a selected time interval;

determining one predefined activity occurring during the selected time interval; and

generating information on the predefined activity during the selected time interval.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

transmitting the generated information to an initiator of the request for information to enable the initiator to display the location information and time periods where the user of the wireless device was located for the time interval.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the initiator requesting the information comprises a program installed on a computer, and wherein the generated information is transmitted over the Internet to the computer.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the initiator requesting the information is the wireless device, and wherein the wireless device displays the generated information for the requested time interval.

13. The method of claim 10, farther comprising:

determining scheduled events for the user within the time interval; and

generating information on the scheduled events within the time interval to enable the initiator to display information on the scheduled events along with the predefined activity occurring during the selected time interval.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein each position coordinate is expressed as an x, y, z coordinate.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining locations of the wireless device during the activity time period based on the position coordinates of the wireless device during the activity time period, wherein generating the information comprises generating information on the predefined activity and the locations where the predefined activity occurred.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

generating a record associating the determined locations with the determined predefined activity.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein determining the locations of the wireless device during the activity time period comprises determining the position coordinates at a first and last geographical locations of the wireless device at a first and last time periods of the activity time period.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein determining the predefined activity comprises determining a rate of change in distance per unit of time of the position coordinates during the activity time period.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the predefined activity is a member of a set of predefined activities comprising at least one of driving, walking, running, bicycle riding, and flying in an airplane.

20. A method for generating a calendar for a personal information management, program, comprising:

receiving selection of a time interval;

for the selected time interval, determining position coordinates of a wireless device and time information indicating times when the position coordinates were generated, wherein a user is associated with the wireless device;

processing the position coordinates and time information during the selected time interval to determine whether a rate of change in distance per unit of time in a series of the position coordinates at times during the selected time interval indicates a predefined activity of the user occurring during the selected time interval;

generating information on the predefined activity within the selected time interval; and

displaying information on the predefined activity of the user and the selected time interval.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

determining scheduled events for the user within the selected time interval; and

displaying information on the scheduled events within the selected time interval adjacent to the displayed information on the determined predefined activity where the user was located for the selected time interval.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the information is displayed in a calendar Graphical User Interface (GUI).

23. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

determining locations of the wireless device during the activity time period based on the position coordinates of the wireless device during the activity time period, wherein generating the information comprises generating information on the predefined activity and the locations where the predefined activity occurred.