Location dependent non-commercial messaging

• US 7,813,743 B1
• Filed: 07/10/2006
• Issued: 10/12/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/10/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Loeb Enterprises, LLC
• Original Assignee: Loeb Enterprises, LLC
• Inventors: McCabe, Edward J, Loeb, Michael R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Corsaro, Nick
• Assistant Examiner(s): Lebassi, Amanuel
• Application Number:
  US11/483,994
• Time in Patent Office: 1,555 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.1, 455/456.3
• US Class Current: 455/456.3
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/222 using geographical location information, e.g. messages transmitted or received in proximity of a certain spot or area
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4594 Address books, i.e. directories containing contact information about correspondents telephone directories in user terminals H04M1/27453
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/183 Processing at user equipment or user record carrier

Abstract

A system and method is disclosed for forwarding location dependent messages from a message sender'"'"'s mobile cellular device to an intended recipient'"'"'s mobile cellular device. The method is principally practiced in a communication network comprising a plurality of mobile cellular devices having location determining capabilities such as triangulation and GPS. In an embodiment, the message sender identifies an intended message recipient and selects a geographic location and corresponding radius of circumference defining geographic pre-conditions for transmitting the location dependent message to the intended message recipient. The message is first transmitted to a central server which periodically monitors the geographic location of the intended recipient in real time or near real-time to determine if the intended recipient enters within the radius of circumference of the geographic location selected by the message sender. The message is transmitted from the central server when it is determined that the intended recipient has satisfied the geographic pre-conditions. In other embodiments, a cellular mobile device user is alerted when one or more contacts of the user arrives within a certain geographic proximity of the user.

Claims

1. A method for forwarding location dependent short text messages from a first user'"'"'s mobile device over a wireless communication network to a second user'"'"'s mobile device, the method comprising:

performing a confirmation procedure by a plurality of users including at least the first and second users to allow the plurality of users to link their phone numbers with other users, thereby establishing a network of pre-approved linked users,

selecting, by the first user, the intended second user from among the plurality of pre-approved linked users as an intended recipient of a location dependent short text message,

selecting, by the first user, a prescribed region defined as a prescribed distance from a geographic location as a pre-condition for transmitting the location dependent short text message from the first users mobile device via a central server to the second user'"'"'s mobile device as intended recipient of the location dependent short text message,

transmitting the location dependent short text message from the first user'"'"'s mobile device via a central server,

upon receiving the location dependent short text messages at the central server, the central server performing certain functions including;

validating the location dependent short text message, wherein validation comprises validating the prescribed region defined by the first user as part of the location dependent short text message,

periodically monitoring a current geographic location of second user as intended recipient of the location dependent short text message to determine if the second users has entered within the prescribed region defined in a location dependent short text message, and

transmitting the location dependent short text message from the central server to the second user upon determining that the second user has entered within the prescribed region in accordance with the periodic monitoring.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising validating the location dependent message at the central server.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of creating a location directory on at least one of said mobile devices, the location directory including a plurality of records in a table in a memory of the mobile device, each record defining an association pair including a geographic location and a corresponding radius of circumference.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the claim 1 step of selecting a second user and geographic location is performed by selecting a record including a geographic location/radius of circumference from the location directory.

5. The method of claim 1, further including a step of establishing a network of pre-approved participants with whom to send and receive the location dependent messages.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the network of pre-approved participants is established by linking telephone numbers of each user'"'"'s mobile cellular device.

7. The method of claim 1, further including a step of the first user defining a location dependent message delivery start time and a corresponding location dependent message expiration time.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of creating a bookmark directory on at least one of said mobile cellular devices, the bookmark directory including a plurality of records in a table in a memory of the mobile cellular device, each record defining an association pair including an intended recipient and geographic location, wherein the intended recipient is an intended recipient of a location dependent message and the geographic location is a location dependent pre-condition transmitting the location dependent message.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the location message is selected from the group comprising a short text message, an IM message, an e-mail message, a voice message and a video clip.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of validating the location dependent message at the central server further comprises:

validating the selected geographic location, and

validating delivery and confirmation approval to the second user.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of selecting a geographic location for sending the location dependent message to the intended recipients is selected from the group comprising entering GPS co-ordinates of the selected geographic location, entering a geographic location and radius, and selecting a geographic location from a mapping server and defining a radius around the selected geographic location.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile cellular device is selected from the group comprising a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a personal computer, walkie talkie, notebook computer, pager and a laptop computer.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising a step of the second user responding to a received location dependent message by an action selected from the group comprising:

requesting, via a click selection, additional information responsive to said message and requesting, via a click selection, connection to a third party affiliated with the content of the message.

14. A method for forwarding location dependent messages from a first user'"'"'s mobile device to a second user'"'"'s mobile device in accordance with a proximity based messaging protocol, the method comprising:

performing a confirmation procedure by a plurality of users including at least the first and second users to allow the plurality of users to link their phone numbers with other users, thereby establishing a network of pre-approved linked users,

transmitting a location dependent message from a first user to a central server,

periodically monitoring from the central server, the geographic location of the first user and the geographic location of at least one other user from a predefined messaging group defined by the first user, and

delivering the location dependent short text message from the central server to the at least one other user after determining that the second user'"'"'s geographic location is within a pre-defined geographic proximity of the first user in accordance with the periodic monitoring.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of the first user constructing the predefined messaging group.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of constructing the predefined messaging group comprises identifying the at least one other user for transmitting location dependent messages in accordance with said proximity based messaging protocol.

17. A system for forwarding location dependent messages from a first user'"'"'s mobile device to a second user'"'"'s mobile device, the system comprising:

a plurality of mobile devices operable in a communication network, each device configured to permit determination of its geographic location, wherein the plurality of mobile devices are linked with each other in an established network of pre-approved linked users,

a central server configured to receive location dependent short text messages transmitted from each of said plurality of mobile devices in said network, said central server being further configured to transmit validated location dependent short text messages to intended recipient mobile devices in accordance with a message transmission protocol,

a central server managing entity for managing functions associated with said central server, said functions comprising;

validating the location dependent short text messages received at the central server, wherein validation comprises validating the geographic location specified in the location dependent short text messages received at the central server,

polling the geographic locations of at least one of said plurality of mobile devices in said network to determine if an intended recipient mobile device user has entered a geographic location specified in a location dependent short text message received at said central server, and

transmitting validated location dependent short text messages to intended recipient mobile device users.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein validating the location dependent short text message comprises the central server managing entity validating the geographic location specified in the location dependent short text message and determining said intended recipient mobile device user has pre-approved delivery and confirmation.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein said functions associated with said central server further comprises sending a confirmation message back to each mobile device user transmitting a location dependent short text message to said central server upon receiving approval for said transmitted location dependent short text message.

20. A method for forwarding location dependent messages from a first user'"'"'s mobile device to a second user'"'"'s mobile device, the method comprising:

performing a confirmation procedure by a plurality of users including at least the first and second users to allow the plurality of users to link their phone numbers with other users, thereby establishing a network of pre-approved linked users,

selecting, by the first user, the second user from among a plurality of users as an intended recipient of a location dependent message,

selecting, by the first user, a prescribed region defined as a prescribed distance from a geographic location defining a pre-condition for transmitting the location dependent message to the second user,

transmitting the location dependent message from the first user to a central server,

periodically monitoring from the central server, a current geographic location of the second user to determine if the second user enters within the prescribed region selected by the first user, and

transmitting the location dependent short text message from the central server to the second user after determining that the second user has entered within the prescribed region as determined by the periodic monitoring.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising means for validating the location dependent message at the central server.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising means for creating a location directory on at least one of said mobile devices, the location directory including a plurality of records in a table in a memory of the mobile device, each record defining an association pair including a geographic location and a corresponding radius of circumference.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the means for selecting a geographic location comprises selecting a record including a geographic location/radius of circumference from the location directory.

24. The method of claim 20, further comprising means for establishing a network of pre-approved participants with whom to send and receive the location dependent messages.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the network of pre-approved participants is established by linking telephone numbers of each user'"'"'s mobile cellular device.

26. The method of claim 20, further comprising means for the first user defining a location dependent message delivery start time and a corresponding location dependent message expiration time.

27. The method of claim 20, further comprising means for creating a bookmark directory on at least one of said mobile cellular devices, the bookmark directory including a plurality of records in a table in a memory of the mobile cellular device, each record defining an association pair including an intended recipient and geographic location, wherein the intended recipient is an intended recipient of a location dependent message and the geographic location is a location dependent pre-condition transmitting the location dependent message.

28. The method of claim 20, wherein the location message is selected from the group comprising a short text message, an IM message, an e-mail message, a voice message and a video clip.

29. The method of claim 21, wherein the means for validating the location dependent message at the central server further comprises:

means for validating the selected geographic location, and

means for validating delivery and confirmation approval to the second user.

30. The method of claim 20, wherein the step of selecting a geographic location for sending the location dependent message to the intended recipients is selected from the group comprising entering GPS co-ordinates of the selected geographic location, entering a geographic location and radius, and selecting a geographic location from a mapping server and defining a radius around the selected geographic location.

31. The method of claim 20, wherein the mobile cellular device is selected from the group comprising a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a personal computer, walkie talkie, notebook computer, pager and a laptop computer.

32. The method of claim 20, further comprising means for responding, by the second user, to a received location dependent message.

33. A method of communicating between a message sender and a message recipient via a third party, comprising:

said message sender and message recipient performing a confirmation procedure to allow the message sender and message recipient to link their phone numbers with each other and with other users, thereby establishing a network of pre-approved linked users,

said message sender identifying said message recipient operating a mobile cellular communication device;

said message sender identifying a geographic location;

said message sender creating a message for said message recipient to receive when said recipient is in said geographic location; and

said message sender transmitting said message intended for said message recipient to a third-party for automated delivery to the communication device of said message recipient when said third party determines that said message recipient is in said geographic location.