Context-aware systems and methods, location-aware systems and methods, context-aware vehicles and methods of operating the same, and location-aware vehicles and methods of operating the same

• US 7,472,202 B2
• Filed: 11/29/2004
• Issued: 12/30/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/22/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Reus, Edward F., Parupudi, Gopal, Evans, Stephen S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jaroenchonwanit; Bunjob
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hoang; Hieu T
• Application Number:
  US10/998,764
• Publication Number:
  US 20050091408A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,492 Days
• Field of Search: 709/246, 709/203, 701/24, 701/207, 718/108
• US Class Current: 709/246
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• 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 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]

Abstract

In various embodiments, a context or location service module, implemented in software, determines a vehicle context or a vehicle location based upon information that it receives from various context providers or location providers respectively. Software executing on a vehicle'"'"'s computer can then cause one or more applications that are associated with a vehicle computer to be modified in a manner that changes their behavior.

Claims

1. A location-aware system comprising:

a radio having radio station buttons for selecting a radio station;

a computer operably associated with the radio and configured to be mounted in a vehicle, the computer comprising one or more processors and computer-readable media associated with the one or more processors;

one or more applications resident on the computer-readable media and configured to be executed on the one or more processors, one application being configured to map individual radio stations to specific radio station buttons;

one or more location providers operably associated with the computer and configured to provide location information for use in determining a vehicle location;

a location service module configured to receive location information from the one or more location providers and determine a vehicle location by accessing a first hierarchical tree structure resident on the computer-readable media and having multiple nodes each of which being associated with a location, the location service module being configured to determine the vehicle location by accessing the first hierarchical tree structure and traversing at least one of said nodes, the location service module being further configured to obtain organizational information about an organization associated with the vehicle location by accessing a second hierarchical tree structure touch pointing into at least one node of the first hierarchical tree structure, the second hierarchical tree structure having multiple nodes, each of which associated with one or more organizations, the location service module being configured to obtain the organization information by traversing at least one of the nodes of the second hierarchical tree structure; and

a behavior engine operably associated with the computer and configured to, responsive to a vehicle location and organizational information that is determined by the location service module, cause said one application to map radio stations that are associated with a determined location and the obtained organizational information to individual radio station buttons.

2. The location-aware system of claim 1, further comprising a data store communicatively linked with the computer and configured to hold user preferences that associate radio stations with various locations.

3. The location-aware system of claim 1, further comprising a data store remote from a vehicle in which the computer is mounted and communicatively linked with the computer and configured to hold user preferences that associate radio stations with various locations.

4. A location-aware vehicle comprising:

a radio having radio station buttons for selecting a radio station;

means for determining a location of a vehicle by accessing a first hierarchical tree structure having multiple nodes each of which being associated with a location, the means for determining the location of the vehicle being configured to determine the location of the vehicle by accessing the first hierarchical tree structure and traversing at least one of said nodes;

means for obtaining organizational information about an organization associated with the location of the vehicle by accessing a second hierarchical tree structure touch pointing into at least one node of the first hierarchical tree structure, the second hierarchical tree structure having multiple nodes, each of which associated with one or more organizations, the means for obtaining organizational information being configured to obtain organization information by traversing at least one of the nodes of the second hierarchical tree structure;

means for ascertaining radio stations that are associated with a determined location and the organizational information; and

means for automatically mapping the ascertained radio stations to the radio station buttons; and

means for determining when a vehicle location has changed, said means for ascertaining being configured to ascertain radio stations that are associated with a new location, said means for automatically mapping the ascertained radio stations being configured to automatically map radio stations associated with the new location to the radio station buttons.

5. A method of operating a vehicle comprising:

determining a location of a vehicle using a computer that is mounted in the vehicle to access a first hierarchical tree structure having multiple nodes each of which being associated with a location and determine the location of the vehicle by accessing the first hierarchical tree structure and traversing at least one of said nodes;

obtaining organizational information about an organization associated with the location of the vehicle by accessing a second hierarchical tree structure touch pointing into at least one node of the first hierarchical tree structure, the second hierarchical tree structure having multiple nodes, each of which associated with one or more organizations, the organizational information being obtained by traversing at least one of the nodes of the second hierarchical tree structure;

for a given location, automatically mapping, using the computer, radio station that are associated with the determined location and the obtained organizational information to radio station buttons on the radio; and

retrieving user-specified preferences from a remote data store by establishing an Internet connection and then retrieving the preferences using the Internet connection, the preferences being used to determine which radio stations to mare to the radio station buttons.

6. One or more computer-readable media having computer-readable instructions thereon which, when executed by a computer, implement the method of claim 5.

7. A vehicle having a programmable computer that is programmed with instructions which, when executed by the computer, implement the method of claim 5.

8. A method of operating a vehicle comprising:

determining a location of a vehicle by using a computer that is mounted in the vehicle to access a first hierarchical tree structure having multiple nodes each of which being associated with a location and determine the location of the vehicle by accessing the first hierarchical tree structure and traversing at least one of said nodes;

obtaining organizational information about an organization associated with the location of the vehicle by accessing a second hierarchical tree structure touch pointing into at least one node of the first hierarchical tree structure, the second hierarchical tree structure having multiple nodes each of which associated with one or more organizations, the organization information being obtained by traversing at least one of the nodes of the second hierarchical tree structure;

for a given location, automatically mapping, using the computer, radio stations associated with user-specified radio station types associated with the determined location and the obtained organizational information to radio station buttons on the radio; and

accessing a list that associates radio station types, locations and radio station frequencies so that the radio stations can be mapped to the radio station buttons.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising accessing a list that is resident on the computer that associates radio station types, locations and radio station frequencies so that the radio stations can be mapped to the radio station buttons.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising accessing a list via the Internet with the computer, the list associating radio station types, locations and radio station frequencies so that the radio stations can be mapped to the radio station buttons.

11. One or more computer-readable media having computer-readable instructions thereon which, when executed by a computer, implement the method of claim 8.

12. A vehicle having a programmable computer that is programmed with instructions which, when executed by the computer, implement the method of claim 8.