Context translation methods and systems
First Claim
1. A method of determining the context of a computing device comprising;
- determining whether any of a number of context providers are available to provide context information that can be processed by the computing device to ascertain its context by polling one or more of the context providers;
receiving context information from one or more of the context providers that are determined to be available; and
processing the context information on the computing device to determine the context of the computing device, wherein the processing of the information comprises;
mapping the context information to a node on a hierarchical tree structure that is carried on the device, the hierarchical tree structure comprising multiple nodes that represent physical or logical entities; and
traversing one or more nodes of the tree structure to ascertain a complete context,wherein the processing of the context information further comprises ordering the context providers in accordance with a trust parameter that is assigned to each context provider and defines a level of trust associated with the context provider, and a confidence parameter that provides a measure of a context provider'"'"'s confidence in its context information;
determining whether there are any conflicts with the context information and, if so, selecting only context information from certain ordered context providers; and
decreasing, over time, the confidence parameter associated with a previously determined current context.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Context-aware computing systems and methods are described. In particular embodiments, location aware systems and methods are described. In the described embodiments, hierarchical tree structures are utilized to ascertain a device context or location. The tree structures can be stored on or accessible to mobile computing devices so that the devices can determine their own particular context or location. In one embodiment, one of the tree structures comprises a Master World tree structure that contains nodes that represent geographical divisions of the Earth. Another of the tree structures can comprise a so-called Secondary World that contains nodes that represent physical or logical entities that are organization or company specific views of the world. A computing device can automatically determine its context or location by ascertaining a node on one or more of the tree structures and then traversing the tree structure to ascertain the complete context.
234 Citations
57 Claims
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1. A method of determining the context of a computing device comprising;
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determining whether any of a number of context providers are available to provide context information that can be processed by the computing device to ascertain its context by polling one or more of the context providers; receiving context information from one or more of the context providers that are determined to be available; and processing the context information on the computing device to determine the context of the computing device, wherein the processing of the information comprises; mapping the context information to a node on a hierarchical tree structure that is carried on the device, the hierarchical tree structure comprising multiple nodes that represent physical or logical entities; and traversing one or more nodes of the tree structure to ascertain a complete context, wherein the processing of the context information further comprises ordering the context providers in accordance with a trust parameter that is assigned to each context provider and defines a level of trust associated with the context provider, and a confidence parameter that provides a measure of a context provider'"'"'s confidence in its context information; determining whether there are any conflicts with the context information and, if so, selecting only context information from certain ordered context providers; and decreasing, over time, the confidence parameter associated with a previously determined current context. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. One or more computer-readable media having computer-readable instructions thereon which, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to:
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determine whether any of a number of context providers are available to provide context information that can be processed by the computing device to ascertain its context by polling one or more of the context providers; receive context information from one or more of the context providers that are determined to be available; and process the context information on the computing device to determine the context of the computing device by; mapping the context information to a node on a hierarchical tree structure that is carried on the device, the hierarchical tree structure comprising multiple nodes that represent physical or logical entities; and traversing one or more nodes of the tree structure to ascertain a complete context, wherein the context information is processed by further; ordering the context providers in accordance with a trust parameter that is assigned to each context provider and defines a level of trust associated with the context provider, and a confidence parameter that provides a measure of a context provider'"'"'s confidence in its context information; determining whether there are any conflicts with the context information and, if so, selecting only context information from certain ordered context providers; and decreasing, over time, the confidence parameter associated with a previously determined current context. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A method of determining the location of a computing device comprising:
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determining whether any of a number of location providers are available to provide location information that can be processed by the computing device to ascertain its location by polling one or more of the location providers; receiving location information from one or more of the location providers that are determined to be available; and processing the location information on the computing device to determine the location of the computing device, wherein the processing of the information comprises; mapping the location information to a node on a hierarchical tree structure that is carried on the device, the hierarchical tree structure comprising multiple nodes that represent physical or logical entities; and traversing one or more nodes of the tree structure to ascertain a complete location, wherein the processing of the location information further comprises; ordering the location providers in accordance with a trust parameter that is assigned to each location provider and defines a level of trust associated with the location provider, and a confidence parameter that provides a measure of a location provider'"'"'s confidence in its location information; determining whether there are any conflicts with the location information and, if so, selecting only location information from certain ordered location providers; and decreasing, over time, the confidence parameter associated with a previously determined current location. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. One of more computer readable media having computer-readable instructions thereon which, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to:
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determine whether any of a number of location providers are available to provide location information that can be processed by the computing device to ascertain its location by polling one or more of the location providers; receive location information from one or more of the location providers that are determined to be available; and process the location information on the computing device to determine the location of the computing device by mapping the context information to a node on a hierarchical tree structure that is carried on the device, the hierarchical tree structure comprising multiple nodes that represent physical or logical entities; and traversing one or more nodes of the tree structure to ascertain a context, wherein the location information is further processed by; ordering the location providers in accordance with a trust parameter that is assigned to each location provider and defines a level of trust associated with the location provider, and a confidence parameter that provides a measure of a location provider'"'"'s confidence in its location information; determining whether there are any conflicts with the location information and, if so, selecting only location information from certain ordered location providers; and decreasing, over time, the confidence parameter associated with a previously determined current location. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47)
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48. A method of determining a current context of a computing device comprising:
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determining a current context of the device by; determining whether any of a number of context providers are available to provide context information that can be processed by the computing device to ascertain its context bV polling one or more context providers; receiving context information from multiple different context providers; mapping the context information to a node of a hierarchical tree structure that is carried by the device and having multiple nodes each of which represent a physical or logical entity; and traversing the hierarchical tree structure to ascertain a complete device context; receiving additional context information from one or more context providers; and updating the current context of the device by; mapping the context information to a node of the hierarchical tree structure that is carried by the device; and traversing the hierarchical tree structure to ascertain a complete device context; and further comprising; ordering the context providers in accordance with a trust parameter that is assigned to each context provider and defines a level of trust associated with the context provider, and a confidence parameter that provides a measure of a context provider'"'"'s confidence in its context information; determining whether there are any conflicts with the context information and, if so, selecting only context information from certain ordered context providers; and decreasing, over time, the confidence parameter associated with a previously determined current context. - View Dependent Claims (49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
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55. A computing device comprising:
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a computer-readable medium; and a context service module on the computer-readable medium and configured to process information from multiple different context providers to determine a current device context, the context service module being configure to; determine whether any of a number of context providers are available to provide context information that can be processed by the computing device to ascertain its context by polling one or more of the context providers; receive context information form one or more of the context providers that are determined by the device to be available; and process the context information on the computing device to determine the context of the computing device by; mapping the context information to a node on a hierarchical tree structure that is carried on the device, the hierarchical tree structure comprising multiple nodes that represent physical or logical entities; and traversing one or more nodes of the tree structure to ascertain a complete context, wherein the context information is processed by further; ordering the context providers in accordance with a trust parameter that is assigned to each context provider and defines a level of trust associated with the context provider, and a confidence parameter that provides a measure of a context provider'"'"'s confidence in its context information; determining whether there are any conflicts with the context information and, if so, selecting only context information from certain ordered context providers; and decreasing, over time, the confidence parameter associated with a previously determined current context. - View Dependent Claims (56, 57)
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Specification