Location-enabled presence for mobile IM

• US 7,826,830 B1
• Filed: 02/12/2007
• Issued: 11/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Xue, Yan, Patel, Biren
• Primary Examiner(s): Edouard; Patrick N
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hong; Dung
• Application Number:
  US11/704,919
• Time in Patent Office: 1,359 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.1, 455/456.2, 455/456.3, 455/456.6, 455/457, 455/404.2, 455/414.2, 455/414.3, 455/414.4
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/043 using or handling presence information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/724 User interfaces specially adapted for cordless or mobile telephones
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42374 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel

Abstract

Instant messaging (IM) users in a wireless network are allowed to automatically set their presence status based on their geographical location. A conventional Mobile IM (MIM) client, such as a Brew application, allows an IM user to set his presence status, e.g. “Online,” “Away,” etc. This status is transmitted to the IM server which then publishes this status to other IM users. As disclosed herein, location based presence populates the device position automatically into the presence status or other IM communications. For example, selection of a menu choice <My Location> causes the disclosed MIM client to insert the street address of the current location into the presence status. The disclosed client obtains the location information by working with elements of a location based service (LBS) platform of a wireless mobile communication network, such as a location proxy server (LPS) and a position determining entity (PDE).

Claims

1. A method of automatically adding user location information to instant messaging from a mobile station of a user, comprising mobile station implemented steps of:

detecting a user selection of a location related instant messaging function of a mobile instant messaging (MIM) client on the mobile station;

responsive to the detected user selection of the location related instant messaging function of the MIM client, sending a request for authentication of the mobile station to access location based service, from the mobile station of the user through a mobile wireless communication network to a location proxy server (LPS);

receiving a network address of a position determining entity (PDE) from the location proxy server, responsive to authentication of the mobile station in response to the request, through the mobile wireless communication network at the mobile station;

using the network address, communicating with the PDE through the mobile wireless communication network, to obtain Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite assistance information;

using the GPS assistance information to take a measurement of a signal from one or more GPS satellites at the mobile station and determine therefrom geographic coordinates of a current location of the mobile station;

transmitting the geographic coordinates from the mobile station through the mobile wireless communication network to the LPS;

receiving through the mobile wireless communication network at the mobile station, from the LPS, a text address for the current location of the mobile station corresponding to the geographic coordinates;

executing the MIM client on the mobile station to automatically populate the received text address into a message for an instant messaging service; and

transmitting the message for the instant messaging service, from the mobile station through the mobile wireless communication network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the message is a presence status message; and

the step of transmitting the message comprises transmitting the presence status message to an instant messaging portal server for distribution of presence status including the text of the address to one or more other instant messaging users.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the message is an instant message; and

the step of transmitting the message comprises transmitting the instant message through the wireless communication network to another instant messaging user.

4. A product comprising:

a tangible, non-transitory machine readable storage medium; and

a program including a mobile instant messaging (MIM) client, for execution by a processor of a mobile station of a user, embodied in the machine readable storage medium, wherein execution of the program by the processor causes the mobile station to perform functions comprising;

detecting a user selection of a location related instant messaging function of the MIM client on the mobile station;

responsive to the detected user selection of the location related instant messaging function of the MIM client, sending a request for authentication of the mobile station to access location based service, from the mobile station of the user through a mobile wireless communication network to a location proxy server (LPS);

receiving a network address of a position determining entity (PDE) from the location proxy server, responsive to authentication of the mobile station in response to the request, through the mobile wireless communication network at the mobile station;

using the network address, communicating with the PDE through the mobile wireless communication network, to obtain Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite assistance information;

using the GPS assistance information to take a measurement of a signal from one or more GPS satellites at the mobile station and determine therefrom geographic coordinates of a current location of the mobile station;

transmitting the geographic coordinates from the mobile station through the mobile wireless communication network to the LPS;

receiving through the mobile wireless communication network at the mobile station, from the LPS, a text address for the current location of the mobile station corresponding to the geographic coordinates;

executing the MIM client on the mobile station to automatically populating populate the received text address into a message for an instant messaging service; and

transmitting the message for the instant messaging service from the mobile station through the mobile wireless communication network.

5. A mobile station for communication through a mobile wireless communication network, comprising:

a wireless transceiver for sending and receiving packet data over an airlink to and from the mobile wireless communication network;

a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver;

a user input and a display, for providing a user interface;

a programmable controller coupled to the wireless transceiver, the user input and the display, for controlling operations of the transceiver and interacting with a user via the user interface;

a program memory storing programming for execution by the programmable controller; and

a mobile instant messaging client program stored in the program memory, wherein execution of the mobile instant messaging client program causes the programmable controller to operate the mobile station to perform operations including;

(a) detecting a user selection of a location related instant messaging function of the mobile instant messaging client,

(b) responsive to the detected user selection of the location related instant messaging function of the mobile instant messaging client, sending a request for authentication of the mobile station to access location based service, from the mobile station through the mobile wireless communication network to a location proxy server (LPS);

(c) receiving a network address of a position determining entity (PDE) from the location proxy server, responsive to authentication of the mobile station in response to the request, through the mobile wireless communication network at the mobile station;

(D) using the network address, communicating with the PDE through the mobile wireless communication network, to obtain Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite assistance information;

(e) using the GPS assistance information to take a measurement of a signal from one or more GPS satellites at the mobile station and determine therefrom geographic coordinates of a current location of the mobile station;

(f) transmitting the geographic coordinates from the mobile station through the mobile wireless communication network to the LPS;

(g) receiving through the mobile wireless communication network at the mobile station, from the LPS, a text address for the current location of the mobile station corresponding to the geographic coordinates;

(h) automatically populating the received text address into a message for an instant messaging service; and

(i) transmitting the message for the instant messaging service from the mobile station through the mobile wireless communication network.