Location information management

• US 7,942,319 B2
• Filed: 05/01/2007
• Issued: 05/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Emodo Inc. (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Original Assignee: 1020, Inc. (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Inventors: Bezancon, Anne
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee; Michael G
• Assistant Examiner(s): Haupt; Kristy A
• Application Number:
  US11/743,102
• Publication Number:
  US 20070260531A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,477 Days
• Field of Search: 235/384, 235/385, 705/26
• US Class Current: 235/384
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• 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 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals

Abstract

A method of managing product-location specific information is provided. Product-location specific information is collected from multiple users at a centralized network hub and transformed into location-harmonized data with one or more attached attributes including product data. The location-harmonized product-location specific data and/or content derived therefrom is distributed, and/or other content is distributed based on the location-harmonized product-location specific data and/or on the location harmonized data, to the same or different users. One or more efficient customer access methods is/are also provided.

Claims

1. A method of managing product-location specific information, comprising:

(a) collecting product-location specific information for a single geographic location from multiple users at a centralized network hub, wherein said product-location specific information includes a plurality of different expressions for the single geographic location;

(b) transforming said product-location specific information to generate location-harmonized data that includes a single expression for the single geographic location;

(c) associating one or more attributes of the single geographic location to the location-harmonized data to generate location-harmonized product-location specific data; and

(d) distributing said location-harmonized product-location specific data, or content derived therefrom to the same or different users.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the transforming comprises converting location information of the product-location specific information to latitude-longitude coordinates.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the transforming comprises geocoding.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the geocoding comprises converting location information to latitude-longitude coordinates.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the geocoding comprises providing an electronic map and determining latitude-longitude coordinates of a specific location on the map indicated by a user.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising translating the location-harmonized product-location specific data to one or more specific customer access formats.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising translating the location-harmonized product-location specific data to one or more specific customer access typologies or languages or both.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising translating the location-harmonized data to one or more specific customer access formats.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising translating the location-harmonized data to one or more specific customer access typologies or languages or both.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more attributes further comprise vendor data.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more attributes further comprise time data.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the distributing comprises determining that a location of an on-line user is within a geographic region that is sufficiently proximate to the single geographic location.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising visualizing the location-harmonized information for the customer by providing a geographical map identifying locations of products.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said map comprises an interactive component that permits a customer to retrieve product, vendor, time, or other attribute, or combinations thereof, relating to a location identified on the map.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the location comprises an area on the map.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising reporting activity relating to the handling of the product-location specific information or data generated therefrom, or combinations thereof.

17. A method of managing product-location specific information, comprising:

(a) collecting product-location specific information for a single geographic location from multiple users at a centralized network hub, wherein said product-location specific information includes a plurality of different expressions corresponding to the single geographic location;

(b) associating a same location identifier to the plurality of different expressions corresponding to the single geographic location;

(c) associating one or more attributes of the single geographic location to the plurality of different expressions associated with the same location identifier; and

(d) distributing at least one of the plurality of different expressions along with the one or more attributes of the single geographic location.

18. One or more computer readable media encoded with a computer program for programming one or more processors to perform a method of managing product-location specific information, wherein the method comprises:

(a) collecting product-location specific information for a single geographic location from multiple users at a centralized network hub, wherein said product-location specific information includes a plurality of different expressions for the single geographic location;

(b) transforming said product-location specific information to generate location-harmonized data that includes a single expression for the single geographic location;

(c) associating one or more attributes of the single geographic location to the location-harmonized data to generate location-harmonized product-location specific data; and

(d) distributing said location-harmonized product-location specific data, or content derived therefrom to the same or different users.

19. The one or more computer readable media of claim 18, wherein the transforming comprises converting location information of the product-location specific information to latitude-longitude coordinates.

20. The one or more computer readable media of claim 18, wherein the transforming comprises geocoding.

21. The one or more computer readable media of claim 20, wherein the geocoding comprises converting location information of the product-location specific information to latitude-longitude coordinates.

22. The one or more computer readable media of claim 20, wherein the geocoding comprises providing an electronic map and determining latitude-longitude coordinates of a specific location on the map indicated by a user.

23. The one or more computer readable media of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises translating the location-harmonized product-location specific data to one or more specific customer access formats.

24. The one or more computer readable media of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises translating the location-harmonized product-location specific data to one or more specific customer access typologies or languages or both.

25. The one or more computer readable media of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises translating the location-harmonized data to one or more specific customer access formats.

26. The one or more computer readable media of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises translating the location-harmonized data to one or more specific customer access typologies or languages or both.

27. The one or more computer readable media of claim 18, wherein the one or more attributes further comprise vendor data.

28. The one or more computer readable media of claim 18, wherein the one or more attributes further comprise time data.

29. The one or more computer readable media of claim 18, wherein the distributing comprises determining that a location of an on-line user is within a geographic region that is sufficiently proximate to the single geographic location.

30. The one or more computer readable media of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises visualizing the location-harmonized information for the customer by providing a geographical map identifying locations of products.

31. The one or more computer readable media of claim 30, wherein said map comprises an interactive component that permits a customer to retrieve product, vendor, time, or other attribute, or combinations thereof, relating to a location identified on the map.

32. The one or more computer readable media of claim 31, wherein the location comprises an area on the map.

33. The one or more computer readable media of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises reporting activity relating to the handling of the product-location specific information or data generated therefrom, or combinations thereof.

34. A system of networked computing devices including a centralized network hub and multiple vendor clients each configured for communicative coupling with said hub, wherein the hub comprises said one or more computer readable media of claim 18, and wherein said product-location specific information is collected at said hub from said clients in a hub-and-spokes configuration.

35. One or more computer readable media encoded with a computer program for programming one or more processors to perform a method of managing product-location specific information, wherein the method comprises:

(a) collecting product-location specific information for a single geographic location from multiple users at a centralized network hub, wherein said product-location specific information includes a plurality of different expressions corresponding to the single geographic location;

(b) associating a same location identifier to the plurality of different expressions corresponding to the single geographic location;

(c) associating one or more attributes of the single geographic location to the plurality of different expressions associated with the same location identifier; and

(d) distributing at least one of the plurality of different expressions along with the one or more attributes of the single geographic location.

36. A method of managing information, comprising:

receiving location information at a centralized network hub for identifying a plurality of geographic locations, wherein each of the plurality of geographic locations is identified by the location information using a plurality of different expressions;

converting the received location information so that each of the plurality of geographic locations is identified by a single location expression;

for each of the geographic locations, associating one or more attributes of the geographic location to the single location expression corresponding to that geographic location;

converting one of the single location expressions into one or more of the plurality of different expressions; and

sending from the centralized network hub the converted single expression along with the one or more attributes associated with the converted single expression.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the one or more attributes of the plurality of geographic locations are included in the location information received by the centralized network hub.

38. The method of claim 36, wherein for each of the geographic locations, the one or more attributes are included in the portions of the location information received by the centralized network hub that identify the geographic location using the plurality of different expressions.

39. The method of claim 36, wherein the one or more attributes of the plurality of geographic locations are received by the centralized network hub as additional data different from the received location information.

40. The method of claim 36, wherein for at least one of the geographic locations, the one or more attributes includes one or more business entities at the geographic location.

41. The method of claim 36, wherein for at least one of the geographic locations, the one or more attributes includes one or more products or services provided at the geographic location.

42. A system for managing information, comprising:

a centralized network hub; and

a plurality of user computing devices each configured to communicate with the centralized network hub;

wherein the centralized network hub is configured to;

receive location information from the plurality of user computing devices for identifying a plurality of geographic locations, wherein each of the plurality of geographic locations is identified by the location information using a plurality of different expressions;

convert the received location information so that each of the plurality of geographic locations is identified by a single location expression;

for each of the geographic locations, associate one or more attributes of the geographic location to the single location expression corresponding to that geographic location;

convert one of the single location expressions into one or more of the plurality of different expressions; and

send to at least one of the plurality of user computing devices the converted single expression along with the one or more attributes associated with the converted single expression.

43. The system of claim 42, wherein the one or more attributes of the plurality of geographic locations are included in the location information received by the centralized network hub.

44. The system of claim 42, wherein the centralized network hub is further configured to receive the one or more attributes for each of the geographic locations as part of the portions of the location information that identify the geographic location using the plurality of different expressions.

45. The system of claim 42, wherein the centralized network hub is further configured to receive the one or more attributes for each of the geographic locations as additional data different from the received location information.

46. The system of claim 42, wherein for at least one of the geographic locations, the one or more attributes includes one or more business entities at the geographic location.

47. The system of claim 42, wherein for at least one of the geographic locations, the one or more attributes includes one or more products or services provided at the geographic location.

48. A method of managing information, comprising:

receiving location information at a centralized network hub for identifying a plurality of geographic locations, wherein each of the geographic locations is identified by the location information using a plurality of different expressions;

for each of the geographic locations, generating a single location identifier unique to the geographic location;

for each of the geographic locations, associating the single location identifier to portions of the location information that identify that geographic location;

for each of the geographic locations, associating one or more attributes of the geographic location to portions of the location information that were associated with the single location identifier corresponding to the geographic location; and

then

sending from the centralized network hub at least a portion of the location information along with the one or more associated attributes.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein the one or more attributes of the plurality of geographic locations are included in the location information received by the centralized network hub.

50. The method of claim 48, wherein for each of the geographic locations, the one or more attributes are included in the portions of the location information received by the centralized network hub that identify the geographic location using the plurality of different expressions.

51. The method of claim 48, wherein the one or more attributes of the plurality of geographic locations are received by the centralized network hub as additional data different from the received location information.

52. The method of claim 48, wherein for at least one of the geographic locations, the one or more attributes includes one or more business entities at the geographic location.

53. The method of claim 48, wherein for at least one of the geographic locations, the one or more attributes includes one or more products or services provided at the geographic location.

54. A system for managing information, comprising:

a centralized network hub; and

a plurality of user computing devices each configured to communicate with the centralized network hub;

wherein the centralized network hub is configured to;

receive location information from the plurality of user computing devices for identifying a plurality of geographic locations, wherein each of the geographic locations is identified by the location information using a plurality of different expressions;

for each of the geographic locations, generate a single location identifier unique to the geographic location;

for each of the geographic locations, associate the single location identifier to portions of the location information that identify that geographic location;

for each of the geographic locations, associate one or more attributes of the geographic location to portions of the location information that were associated with the single location identifier corresponding to the geographic location; and

then

send to at least one of the plurality of user computing devices at least a portion of the location information along with the one or more associated attributes.

55. The system of claim 54, wherein the one or more attributes of the plurality of geographic locations are included in the location information received by the centralized network hub.

56. The system of claim 54, wherein the centralized network hub is further configured to receive the one or more attributes for each of the geographic locations as part of the portions of the location information that identify the geographic location using the plurality of different expressions.

57. The system of claim 54, wherein the centralized network hub is further configured to receive the one or more attributes for each of the geographic locations as additional data different from the received location information.

58. The system of claim 54, wherein for at least one of the geographic locations, the one or more attributes includes one or more business entities at the geographic location.

59. The system of claim 54, wherein for at least one of the geographic locations, the one or more attributes includes one or more products or services provided at the geographic location.