Providing event data to a group of contacts

• US 8,140,621 B2
• Filed: 03/27/2009
• Issued: 03/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Vance, Michael Steffen, Benson, Jared T., Robertson, Christian, Shah, Shilpa R., White, Gabriel
• Primary Examiner(s): Hamza, Faruk
• Application Number:
  US12/413,363
• Publication Number:
  US 20100246789A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,089 Days
• Field of Search: 709204-207
• US Class Current: 709/204
• 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: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• 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 8/186 Processing of subscriber group data

Abstract

Data related to an event is provided to a group of contacts while the event is occurring via an event user interface that enables the group of contacts to coordinate with one another during the event. In this regard, an event coordination service is provides the event data to each contact of the group for review via an event user interface that is persistently displayed on a telecommunication or other computing device associated with the contact for the contact'"'"'s easy and immediate reference during the event. When the event ultimately concludes, display of the event user interface ceases as the group of contacts likely no longer needs immediate or ready reference to the event.

Claims

1. A system for providing event data to a group of contacts, the system comprising:

a data store that stores event records, each event record including data related to a social event; and

a computing device in communication with the data store, the computing device configured to;

obtain from a mobile computing device, a request to coordinate a social event of interest to a group of contacts who are to participate in the social event, the request including data related to the social event of interest to the group of contacts who are to participate in the social event;

generate an event record based at least in part on the request obtained from the mobile computing device, the event record including the data related to the social event of interest to the group of contacts, which data is updated as the social event occurs; and

publish the data related to the social event of interest to one or more contact computing devices, each contact computing device associated with a contact of the group, wherein the event data is published such that the data related to the social event of interest is displayed substantially continuously upon the contact computing device as the social event occurs and the data is updated, and until another action is taken by the contact associated with the contact computing device, in which case the data related to the social event of interest is automatically redisplayed substantially continuously upon the contact computing device following completion of the action taken by the contact.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is further configured to:

obtain an update to the data related to the social event of interest from at least one contact of the group; and

publish the updated data related to the social event of interest to the one or more contact computing devices and the mobile computing device.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is further configured to:

obtain an update to the data related to the social event of interest from at least one external source; and

publish the updated data related to the social event of interest to the one or more contact computing devices and the mobile computing device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is further configured to cease publishing the data related to the social event of interest to the one or more contact computing devices and the mobile computing device upon completion of the social event.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the data related to the social event of interest is no longer substantially continuously displayed upon the computing device upon completion of the social event.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the group of contacts is selected by a user of the mobile computing device.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the group of contacts is automatically selected.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is further configured to obtain location data related to the social event.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the computing device is further configured to obtain supplemental data related to the social event.

10. A method for providing data related to a social event to a group of contacts as the social event occurs, the method comprising:

as implemented by one or more computing devices configured with specific executable instructions,

obtaining a request to coordinate a social event of interest to a group of contacts who are to participate in the social event;

generating an event record based at least in part on the request, the event record including event data related to the social event of interest to the group of contacts, which event data is updated as the social event occurs by one or more contacts of the group; and

causing the event data to be displayed upon one or more computing devices, each computing device associated with a contact of the group, wherein the event data is displayed persistently upon the computing device as the social event occurs, and wherein the event data is displayed persistently upon the computing device until another action is taken by the contact associated with the computing device, in which case the event data is automatically redisplayed persistently upon the contact computing device following completion of the action taken by the contact.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein event data is updated as the social event occurs by one or more external data sources.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein event data is updated with at least one of message data, location data and digital content data.

13. The method of claim 10 further comprising ceasing to cause the event data to be persistently displayed upon the computing device after at least one of completion of the social event and an indication that the contact associated with the computing device is not interested in the social event.

14. The method of claim 10 further comprising enabling a contact to initiate communication with one or more other contacts in the group as the social event occurs.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the initiated communication is at least one of an electronic message communication and a voice communication.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the event data displayed on the computing device includes a map for the social event.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein a location of one or more points of interest related to the social event is indicated in the map.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein a location of one or more contacts of the group is indicated in the map.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the location of the one or more contacts is obtained from a location based service.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the map is obtained from an external data source.

21. The method of claim 10, wherein the event data displayed persistently upon the computing device is minimized to a selectable icon that is displayed persistently upon the computing device.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the selectable icon is a thumbnail image of a map for the social event.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein an alert issued indicating when event data is updated while the event data is minimized to the selectable icon.

24. The method of claim 10, wherein event data is updated after the social event occurs by at least one of an external source and one or more contacts of the group.

25. A system for enabling a group of contacts to share data related to a social event as the social event occurs, the system comprising:

a data store that stores data related to one or more social events; and

a computing device in communication with the data store, the computing device configured to;

obtain data related to a social event of interest to the group of contacts, store, in the data store, an event record generated based at least in part on the obtained data related to the social event, the event record including said data, which data is updated as the social event occurs; and

cause the data related to the social event of interest to be displayed on one or more computing devices, each computing device associated with a contact of the group, wherein the data related to the social event of interest is displayed in an area of prominence on the computing device for a duration of the social event, except that when another action is taken by the contact associated with the computing device, display of the data related to the social event of interest in the area of prominence is interrupted, and the data related to the social event of interest is automatically redisplayed in the area of prominence on the computing device following completion of the action taken by the contact.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the data related to the social event is updated by one or more contacts with at least one of message data, location data and digital content data.

27. The system of claim 25, wherein the data related to the social event is further updated with data obtained from an external source.

28. The system of claim 25, wherein the computing device is further configured to cease causing the data related to the social event of interest to be displayed in the area of prominence on the one or more computing devices after at least one of completion of the social event and an indication that the contact associated with the computing device is not interested in the social event.

29. The system of claim 25, wherein the group of contacts is selected by a contact of the group who originated the social event of interest.

30. The system of claim 25, wherein the group of contacts is automatically selected.

31. The system of claim 25, wherein the computing device is further configured to enable a contact to initiate communication with one or more other contacts in the group as the social event occurs.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the initiated communication is at least one of an electronic message communication and a voice communication.

33. The system of claim 25, wherein the data related to the social event that is displayed on the computing device includes a map for the social event.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein a location of one or more points of interest related to the social event is indicated in the map.

35. The system of claim 33, wherein a location of one or more contacts of the group is indicated in the map.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein the location of the one or more contacts is obtained from a location based service.

37. The system of claim 33, wherein the map is obtained from an external data source.

38. The system of claim 25, wherein an alert issued by the computing device to remind a contact that event data is being updated.

39. The system of claim 25, wherein event data is updated after the social event occurs by at least one of an external source and the at least one contact of the group.

40. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having a computer-executable component for enabling a group of contacts to coordinate with each other during a social event, the computer-executable component comprising:

an event coordination component configured to;

obtain data related to a social event of interest to the group of contacts as the social event occurs; and

generate, based at least in part on said data, an event record including said data, which data is updated as the social event occurs; and

generate a user interface including said data for display on a computing device associated with a contact of the group, wherein the user interface is a top level user interface displayed on the computing device during the social event, wherein the top level user interface is updated during the social event as data related to the social event is obtained, and wherein the top level user interface is substantially continuously displayed during the social event until another action is taken by the contact and the top level user interface is automatically redisplayed upon completion of the action.

41. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 40, wherein the data related to the social event is obtained from one or more contacts of the group.

42. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 40, wherein the data related to the social event is obtained from one or more external sources.

43. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 40, wherein the event coordination component is further configured to cease generating the user interface after at least one of completion of the social event and an indication that the contact associated with the computing device is not interested in the social event.

44. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 40, wherein the group of contacts is selected by a contact of the group who originated the social event of interest.

45. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 40, wherein the group of contacts is automatically selected.

46. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 40, wherein the user interface includes at least one selectable control for initiating communication with one or more other contacts in the group during the social event.

47. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 46, wherein the initiated communication is at least one of an electronic message communication and a voice communication.

48. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 40, wherein the data related to the social event includes a map for the social event including a location of one or more points of interest related to the social event and a location of one or more contacts of the group.

49. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 48, wherein the location of the one or more contacts and the one or more points of interest are obtained from a location based service.