Context aware computing devices and methods

• US 7,747,704 B2
• Filed: 03/23/2007
• Issued: 06/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Reus, Edward F., Parupudi, Gopal
• Primary Examiner(s): BARQADLE, YASIN M
• Application Number:
  US11/690,657
• Publication Number:
  US 20070162474A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,194 Days
• Field of Search: 709203-205, 709222-226, 709/230, 455/414.1, 455/456.1, 455/550.1
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9027 Trees
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4552 Lookup mechanisms between a plurality of directories; Synchronisation of directories, e.g. metadirectories
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/123 received data contents, e.g. message integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 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

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. 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.

Claims

1. A computing device comprising:

one or more processors;

memory operably associated with the one or more processors; and

a context service module loadable in the memory and executable by the one or more processors of the computing device to;

download context information from one or more sources, available via a network, responsive to a request for a current device context associated with the computing device, the context information including location related information associated with a logical entity for a particular organization and a physical location of the computing device;

determine the current device context by determining, from the context information, at least one node that represents the logical entity that only has context within the particular organization;

traverse, through use of the computing device, at least a portion of multiple different hierarchical tree structures to derive the current device context from the context information that is included in the multiple different tree structures, wherein at least one of the tree structures has a root node that represents the particular organization and is linked with and touch points into another of the tree structures, in which the another tree structure comprises nodes that represent physical locations in which an individual node of said nodes touches the at least one node that is included in the at least one tree structure and is associated with the physical location of the computing device; and

present the particular organization'"'"'s specific world view, on a display associated with the computing device, from the perspective of the at least one node at a level of granularity that corresponds to a privacy level associated with an application that requested the current device context.

2. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the device comprises cache memory that maintains the current device context.

3. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the context service module is configured to automatically receive the context information from one or more context providers available via the network.

4. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the context service module is configured to automatically receive the context information from one or more context providers and, as the context of the computing device changes, determine a new current device context from the context information downloaded to the computing device.

5. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the context service module is configured to request context information from one or more context providers accessible by the computing device via the network.

6. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the context service module is configured to provide information associated with a current device context to one or more applications.

7. The computing device of claim 6, wherein the context service module is configured to receive a request, from the one or more applications, for the current device context.

8. The computing device of claim 1, further comprising a context provider interface associated with the context service module, the context provider interface comprising a common interface that is configured to receive context information from multiple context providers.

9. The computing device of claim 1, further comprising one or more application program interfaces (APIs) operably associated with the context service module, the one or more APIs being callable by one or more applications to acquire information concerning the current device context.

10. The computing device of claim 1, further comprising one or more application program interfaces (APIs) that are configured for use by one or more applications so that the applications can register to receive information associated with a current device context responsive to one or more events.

11. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the nodes included in the another tree structure are subdivided into individual zones using a quadtree algorithm.

12. The computing device of claim 1, wherein the at least one node represents a non-physical entity.

13. A computing device comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more computer-readable media;

at least two separate and different hierarchical tree structures resident on the media, one of which comprising multiple nodes each of which represents a geographical division of the Earth that are individually associated with levels of granularity, the other of which comprises multiple nodes each of which represent an organization specific physical or logical entity, wherein the other of the hierarchical tree structures is linked with and touch points into the one hierarchical tree structure;

a location service module loadable from the media, included in the computing device, and executable by the one or more processors to receive location information from one or more location providers for use in determining a nodal location on the one hierarchical tree structure to determine a current device location, at a particular level of granularity for the organization specific physical or logical entity, that comprises a node of the other hierarchical tree structure, wherein the location service module determines the current device location from the node of the other hierarchical tree structure and the nodal location within the one hierarchical tree structure that are derived from the location information according to a privacy level associated with a program that requested the current device context; and

a video adapter to provide a presentation that includes information from the current device location for output by a display associated with the computing device.

14. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the location service module automatically downloads location information to be used to process the location information.

15. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the location service module uses a quadtree algorithm to spatially index the geographic divisions of the Earth.

16. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the location service module is configured to traverse multiple nodes of the hierarchical tree structures to determine the current device location.

17. The computing device of claim 13, wherein the location service module is configured to provide information associated with the current device location to one or more applications to render location-specific services, the information associated with the current device location being provided at a level of granularity specified by the one or more applications.

18. The computing device of claim 17, wherein the location service module is configured to receive calls, from the one or more applications, that request information associated with the current device location.

19. The computing device of claim 17, wherein the location service module is configured to register one or more applications to be notified of the current device location upon an occurrence of a definable event.