Location context service handoff

• US 8,165,087 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2007
• Issued: 04/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Panabaker, Ruston
• Primary Examiner(s): Phillips, Hassan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jones, Prenell
• Application Number:
  US11/824,766
• Publication Number:
  US 20090003281A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,760 Days
• Field of Search: 370331-334, 709/203, 709/225, 455/436, 455/422, 455/432, 455/439, 455/440, 455/438, 455/414, 455/417, 463/29, 340/10
• US Class Current: 370/331
• 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

Abstract

A location service providing system and method for repeatedly providing a location service.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage medium that is not a signal having computer-executable instructions stored thereon for providing admissive transition between location based services through location context integration, the instructions comprising:

identifying a handoff event on a mobile computing device that is used to determine when to switch from a first location based service that provides a location of the mobile device to a designated second location based service that provides a location of the mobile device;

requesting handoff information, based on available location context information, to determine whether to transition from the first location based service to the designated second location based service; and

upon receiving handoff information, selectively transitioning from the first location based service to the designated second location based service in accordance with the received handoff information.

2. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the handoff event is selected from the group of events consisting of receiving a request to power down, receiving a location event, detecting proximity to a service threshold, detecting a power down event, and receiving user authorization to transition to the designated second location based service.

3. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the requested handoff information includes a request for user authorization to transition from the first location based service to the designated second location based service.

4. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the first location based service is provided by the mobile computing device and the designated second location based service is provided by a remote computing device.

5. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying available location based services;

ranking the identified location based services relative to each other in accordance with the available location context information;

requesting user authorization to transition to one of the ranked location based services; and

upon receiving user authorization selecting at least one location based service, transitioning to the selected at least one location based service.

6. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the location context information indicates that the mobile computing device is located at an airport.

7. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the requesting handoff information asks for flight information from the user.

8. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the handoff event is a request to power down the mobile computing device.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the requesting handoff information includes querying a user for flight information.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the requesting handoff information includes requesting authorization to transition to the designated second location based service to track progress of the flight.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the handoff event is a location event triggered by at least one of a bluetooth signal, a near-field communication (NFC) swipe, and/or a radio-frequency identification (RFID) tag.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the handoff event is a location event indicating arrival at a location service area with a restrictive usage policy.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the location service area is selected from the group consisting of a hospital, a theater, a school, a conference room, a restaurant, a church, a concert hall, an athletic stadium, a gymnasium, a swimming pool, and a library.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the selective transitioning further comprises automatically transitioning to the second designated location based service authorized by a user of the mobile computing device.

15. A computer-implemented method for providing location based services to a requesting mobile computing device, the method comprising:

receiving a handoff request from the mobile computing device to identify alternate tracking services that provide location information for determining a location of the mobile computing device;

identifying available alternate tracking services based on location context information of the requesting mobile computing device; and

requesting user authorization to transition to one of the identified available alternate tracking services; and

upon receiving user authorization, transitioning to a designated alternate tracking service in accordance with the received handoff information.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the handoff request is a detected power down event by the mobile computing device, the identifying alternate tracking services comprises checking services available at the mobile computing device'"'"'s last location prior to the detected power down event, and the requesting user authorization comprises determining whether a transition to the designated alternate tracking service was authorized prior to the power down event.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving a location information request from a location observer of the mobile computing device;

requesting user authorization to transmit location information to the requesting location observer; and

upon determining the requesting location observer is authorized, transmitting the requested location information from the mobile computing device and/or the designated alternate tracking service in accordance with the user authorization.

18. A system for providing transition handoff tools between location based services through location context integration, the system comprising:

a processor;

at least one communication interface coupled to the processor and configured to receive location context information;

a locator module coupled to the processor and configured to determine relative location of the system; and

a memory having computer executable instructions associated therewith, wherein the computer executable instructions are configured to;

identify location context information received from the at least one communication interface and/or the locator module;

prompt for user authorization to designate an external locator device upon detection by the locator module and/or the processor of a potential transition event; and

transition from the locator module to the designated external locator device.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the detected potential transition event is at least one of receiving a power down request, determining a relative proximity to a service threshold, and/or receiving a location event.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein locator module provides location context information that includes global position, local time, relative speed, group dynamics, vehicle attributes.