Mashup application and service for wireless devices

• US 8,072,954 B2
• Filed: 06/16/2008
• Issued: 12/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/16/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Shen, Guobin, Zhang, Yongguang, Lu, Songwu
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, STEVEN H D
• Application Number:
  US12/140,251
• Publication Number:
  US 20090312033A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,268 Days
• Field of Search: 370/252, 370/338, 455/456.1, 701/50, 701/211
• US Class Current: 370/338
• 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 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

Described is a technology, such as implemented as social networking groupware application designed for mobile device users, that provides a data mashup service for various data types, including location dependent and mobility-aware data such as GPS location and surrounding maps. A mobile user may track the location and maps of roaming friends at runtime. To this end, a client device joins a squad of client devices that are each capable of communicating with one another over a wireless local area network (WLAN) connection. When in a squad, the client can obtain data for use as mashup information from other client devices in the squad over the WLAN connection (inter-squad). This may include intra-squad data that was obtained from a service based on information that the service received from another squad, e.g., over a WWAN connection.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

joining, by a client device, a squad of client devices that are configured for communicating with one another over a wireless local-area network (WLAN) connection;

obtaining, by the joined client device, data mashup from at least one other client device in the squad, wherein at least a portion of the obtained data mashup was previously obtained by the at least one other client device from a third-party service, and wherein the at least a portion of the obtained data mashup is based on information that the third-party service previously received from another squad, wherein the obtaining the data mashup comprises obtaining location data and map data that was previously mashed up.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the obtaining the data mashup comprises communicating with the at least one other client device in the squad via the WLAN connection, and wherein the at least a portion of the obtained data mashup was previously obtained from the third-party service by the at least one other client device over a wireless wide-area network (WWAN) connection.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the obtaining the data mash comprises receiving file content.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising, communicating heartbeat information to the squad, and communicating heartbeat information to the third-party service.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising, selecting a member of the squad to communicate with the third-party service.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising, temporarily turning off the WLAN connection to enter a sleep mode between intra-squad communications.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising, using location data received from the squad to synchronize the sleep mode with at least one other device of the squad.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising, reporting information corresponding to a detected change in mobility to the third-party service.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising, mathematically combining location data of at least some of the clients of the squad, and reporting combined location data for the squad to the third-party service.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising receiving an update frequency from the third-party service, and using the update frequency to provide the combined location data for the squad to the third-party service.

11. In a computing environment having clients coupled to a third-party service, a system comprising, a client device that is a member of a local squad of client devices, the client device including a mashup engine configured to combine data obtained from different sources to provide data mash that includes a set of data obtained via a wireless local-area network (WLAN) connection with another client device of the local squad, wherein the another client device previously received at least a portion of the set of data from another squad via a wireless wide-area network (WWAN) connection from the third-party service.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the WLAN connection comprises a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth®

connection.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the client device further includes a communications manager configured for handling local communications via the WLAN and remote communications via the WWAN, and for managing incoming and outgoing data queues.

14. The system of claim 11 wherein the client device further includes a location manager coupled to the mashup engine and configured to process location data of the client device and at least one other client device in the squad.

15. At least one computer-readable medium that is not a signal or carrier wave per se, the at least one computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a server, cause the server to perform a method, comprising:

maintaining information representative of squads of devices, including a first squad and a second squad;

receiving data by which a device of the first squad is enabled to track movement of at least one device of the second squad, wherein at least a portion of the received data was previously obtained by at least one other client device of the first squad from a third-party service, and wherein the at least a portion of the received data is based on information that the third-party service previously received from the second squad; and

providing the received data to the device of the first squad.

16. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 15, the method further comprising:

receiving information indicating a mobility change in the first squad;

determining, in response to the receiving, an update frequency;

providing the update frequency to a device of the first squad;

receiving an update message from the first squad, wherein the update message comprises a status vector that aggregates a current position of each squad device;

receiving data corresponding to a mobility pattern of the squad;

predicting, based on the received data, a current location of the squad.

17. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 15, the method further comprising, detecting a lack of a heartbeat corresponding to a device of the first squad, and, in response, removing the device from the first squad.

18. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 15, the method further comprising:

receiving information that indicates a position of a device relative to a squad;

computing a distance relative to the squad based on the position of the device; and

removing the device as a member of the squad in response to the distance exceeding a threshold distance.