Efficiently determining the location of a mobile communications device system and methods

• US 7,515,917 B2
• Filed: 07/12/2005
• Issued: 04/07/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qwest Communications International Incorporated (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Qwest Communications International Incorporated (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Casey, Steven M
• Primary Examiner(s): Harper; Vincent P.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Casca; Fred A
• Application Number:
  US11/180,094
• Publication Number:
  US 20070015520A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,365 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.1, 455/456.2, 455/456.3, 455/435.1
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/34 Power consumption
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0018 Transmission from mobile station to base station
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Systems and methods related to the provision of location based services via a mobile communications device are described. A communication system is described, which may include a mobile communications device, a mobile communications base station, and a server computer system. The location of the device may be correlated with certain user preferences stored on the server computer system. In some cases, various location related mapping functions for a device are discussed. Systems and methods which provide for activities to be undertaken based on the location of a device are also described. The disclosure also addresses systems and methods of efficiently determining the location of a mobile device. Different notification schemes based on the location of a device and specified preferences are described. In addition, the disclosure addresses systems and methods for keyword monitoring based on the location of a device.

Claims

1. A system for tracking the location of a mobile communications device, which comprises:

the mobile communications device configured to;

transmit, from the device, a first set of data identifying the location of the device;

receive, at the device, data comprising a second set of data identifying the location of the device after the transmission of the first set; and

monitor for a first occurring of a plurality of triggering events after the transmission of the first set, the monitoring comprising;

monitoring a time elapsed since transmitting the first set to determine whether the time elapsed exceeds a threshold time, wherein exceeding the threshold time comprises a first one of the plurality of triggering events;

monitoring a distance of the device from a location corresponding to transmission of the first set to determine whether the distance exceeds a threshold distance, wherein exceeding the threshold distance comprises a second one of the plurality of triggering events; and

monitoring, after transmission of the first set, a geographic boundary to determine whether the device crosses the geographic boundary, wherein crossing the geographic boundary comprises a third one of the plurality of triggering events; and

transmit the second set of data upon the first occurrence of one of the plurality of triggering events;

a mobile communications base station, in communication with the mobile communications device via a wireless connection; and

the server computer system in communication with the base station, the server computer system configured to;

receive the second set of data;

associate the second set of data with a user;

correlate the second set of data with preferences of the user regarding sharing of location data, the preferences stored in a database at the server computer system;

filter the second set of data according to the preferences; and

transmit the filtered data.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first set of data and the second set of data each comprise GPS coordinate data.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the GPS coordinate data comprises GPS codes and a GPS navigation message.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the preferences include which users may access the second set of data.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the server computer system is further configured to store the second set of data.

6. A method for transmitting data identifying the location of a mobile communications device from the mobile communications device, the method comprising:

transmitting, from the device, a first set of data identifying the location of the device;

receiving, at the device, data comprising a second set of data identifying the location of the device after the transmission of the first set;

monitoring for a first occurring of a plurality of triggering events after the transmission of the first set, the monitoring comprising;

monitoring a time elapsed since transmitting the first set to determine whether the time elapsed exceeds a threshold time, wherein exceeding the threshold time comprises a first one of the plurality of triggering events;

monitoring a distance of the device from a location corresponding to transmission of the first set to determine whether the distance exceeds a threshold distance, wherein exceeding the threshold distance comprises a second one of the plurality of triggering events; and

monitoring, after transmission of the first set, a geographic boundary to determine whether the device crosses the geographic boundary, wherein crossing the geographic boundary comprises a second one of the plurality of triggering events; and

transmitting, to a server computer system, the second set of data upon the first occurrence of one of the plurality of triggering events, wherein the server computer system correlates the second set of data with preferences of a user regarding sharing of location data, and filters the second set of data for transmission according to the preferences.

7. The method of claim 6, which comprises the additional step of receiving data from a server computer system which modifies the threshold time.

8. The method of claim 6, which comprises the additional step of transmitting data to a server computer system to modify preferences for a user of the device regarding sharing of location data.

9. A method of locating a mobile communications device using a server computer system, the method comprising:

receiving, from the mobile communications device, a set of data identifying the location of the mobile communications device at a first time;

receiving, from the mobile communications device, a set of data identifying the location of the mobile communications device at a second time later than the first time the device transmitting the set of data from the second time according to a first occurring of a plurality of triggering events, the triggering events comprising;

exceeding a threshold time elapsed since the device transmitted a previous set of location data;

exceeding a threshold distance movement of the mobile communications device from a location corresponding to transmission of the previous set of location data; and

crossing a geographic boundary after transmission of the previous set of location data;

associating the set of data from the second time with a user;

correlating the set of data from the second time with preferences of the user regarding sharing of location data, the preferences stored in a database associated with the server computer system;

filtering the set of data from the second time according to the preferences; and

transmitting the filtered data.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the mobile communications device comprises a cellular telephone.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the set of data comprises GPS coordinate data.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the GPS coordinate data comprises GPS codes and a GPS navigation message.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the transmitting step comprises transmitting the filtered data to an other user.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein:

the preferences include a specification regarding an other user among a plurality of other users who may access the set of data; and

the user specifies the other user who may access the set of data.

15. The method of claim 14, which further comprises receiving a request from the other user to access the set of data, wherein the transmitting step comprises transmitting the filtered data to the other user.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the preferences include a plurality of access levels granting different access rights to the set of data, wherein the user specifies the access level for each other user.

17. The method of claim 9, wherein the receiving step further comprises storing the set of data in a database.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein:

the preferences further include a specification regarding an other user among a plurality of other users who may access the stored set of data.

19. The method of claim 18, which further comprises receiving a request from the other user to access the stored set of data, wherein the transmitting step further comprises transmitting the filtered data to the other user.

20. The method of claim 9, which further comprises receiving a request from an other user to access the set of data, wherein the transmitting step further comprises transmitting the filtered data to the other user.

21. The method of claim 9, wherein,

the receiving step further comprises receiving an additional set of data identifying locations of a plurality of mobile communications devices from the devices;

the associating step further comprises associating each of the plurality of mobile communications devices with a other users;

the correlating step comprises correlating the data related to the location of the plurality of mobile communications device with preferences of each other user associated with each device.

22. The method of claim 9, wherein the filtered data comprises image data which includes a map.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the location of the device is graphically represented as an icon.

24. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the computer-implementable method of claim 9 for locating a mobile communications device.