Alarm for mobile communication device

• US 8,195,194 B1
• Filed: 11/02/2010
• Issued: 06/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Tseng, Erick
• Primary Examiner(s): Magloire, Vladimir
• Application Number:
  US12/938,059
• Time in Patent Office: 581 Days
• Field of Search: 368 10- 14, 455/566, 455/456.3
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72454 according to context-related or environment-related conditions
• 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 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/183 Processing at user equipment or user record carrier

Abstract

A user may rely on an alarm application on the wireless device. Oftentimes, users interface with an alarm application to ensure that the user alerted to certain information or awake at certain times. The alarm application may be configured to automatically surface various information upon activation of the alarm. User interest in a particular subject or piece of information may vary depending on the user'"'"'s environment. For example, a user waking up at home may find it useful to review news traffic and weather. In contrast, a business traveler may be interested in a flight status, taxi availability, and information related to travel plans. In order to better serve a user, the wireless device may be configured to support various configurations responsive to a user'"'"'s environment so that a user at home receives home environmental information and a business traveler receives travel environmental information.

Claims

1. A method for presenting information to a user of a mobile computing device, the method comprising:

enabling a user to invoke an alarm application that includes (a) a home configuration that presents home environmental information supportive of the user as a result of determining that the user is located in a home environment, and (b) a travel configuration that presents travel environmental information supportive of the user as a result of determining that the user is located in a travel environment;

receiving a user instruction to invoke the alarm application at a specified time;

determining whether the user is located in the home environment or the travel environment, including by monitoring inputs by the user to the device other than inputs that explicitly identify the home environment or travel environment, to determine inputs that are indicative of the home environment or the travel environment;

based on determining whether the user is located in the home environment or the travel environment, and at a time in advance of the specified time;

loading the home configuration, and accessing home environmental information required to present the home configuration, or

loading the travel configuration, and accessing travel environmental information required to present the travel configuration;

activating the alarm application automatically in response to determining that a current time is the specified time and

presenting the home environmental information if the home configuration has been loaded, or the travel environmental information if the travel configuration has been loaded.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining inputs that are indicative of the home environment or the travel environment includes determining whether the user is requesting previously-accessed information determined to be associated with the home environment or the travel environment.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining inputs that are indicative of the home environment or the travel environment includes determining whether the user is requesting not-previously-accessed information determined to be associated with a new location that is different than the home location.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether the user is located in the home environment or the travel environment includes:

using a global positioning system receiver or a network address to determine a geographic location for the mobile computing device;

comparing the determined geographic location relative to prior travel patterns; and

determining, based on the comparison of the location relative to prior travel patterns, whether the user is located in the home environment or the travel environment.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein accessing home environmental information required to present the home configuration includes:

monitoring user interaction with the wireless device;

identifying, based on monitoring user interaction with wireless device, home environmental information determined to be useful when activating the alarm application in the home configuration; and

prompting the user to confirm that the home environmental information should be presented when activating the alarm application.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein accessing home environmental information required to present the home configuration includes:

monitoring user interaction with the wireless device;

identifying, based on monitoring user interaction with wireless device, the home environmental information determined to be useful when activating the alarm application in the home configuration; and

modifying the home configuration to automatically include the home environmental information without prompting the user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the home environmental information includes presenting traffic information for a commuter route for the user from a home of the user to a workplace of the user.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the travel environmental information includes presenting airline flight information for the user.

9. The method of claim 1, further including:

updating the home environmental information, if the home configuration is determined to have been loaded, by periodically accessing the home environmental information, or

updating the travel environmental information, if the travel configuration is determined to have been loaded, by periodically accessing the travel environmental information.

10. A method for presenting information to a user of a mobile computing device, the method comprising:

determining that an alarm should be presented on the mobile computing device at a specified time;

determining a location of the mobile computing device, including by monitoring inputs by the user to the device other than inputs that explicitly identify a home environment or a travel environment, to determine inputs that are indicative of the home environment or the travel environment;

selecting an alarm configuration based on the determination of the location of the mobile computing device;

at a time in advance of the specified time, accessing environmental information with the mobile computing device and based on the location of the mobile computing device; and

in response to determining that a current time is the specified time, causing the alarm to be presented by displaying the accessed environmental information.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the specified time is dependent on the location of the mobile computing device.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein causing the alarm to be presented comprises causing a plurality of modules to be displayed, the plurality of modules having been selected by the user to correspond to the selected alarm configuration.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the location of the mobile computing device comprises comparing a current geographic location of the mobile computing device to a location at which the mobile computing device has been determined to be most frequently located.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein causing the alarm to be presented comprises obtaining from a hosted computer service remote from the mobile computing device, real-time data that represents a current condition in a geographic area around the mobile computing device.

15. A tangible non-transitory recordable storage medium having recorded therein instructions, that when executed, perform actions comprising:

determining that an alarm should be presented on the mobile computing device at a specified time;

determining a location of the mobile computing device, including by monitoring inputs by the user to the device other than inputs that explicitly identify a home environment or a travel environment, to determine inputs that are indicative of the home environment or the travel environment;

selecting an alarm configuration based on the determination of the location of the mobile computing device;

at a time in advance of the specified time, accessing environmental information with the mobile computing device and based on the location of the mobile computing device; and

in response to determining that the current time is the specified time, causing the alarm to be presented by displaying the accessed environmental information.

16. The tangible non-transitory recordable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the specified time is dependent on the location of the mobile computing device.

17. The tangible non-transitory recordable storage medium of claim 15, wherein causing the alarm to be presented comprises causing a plurality of modules to be displayed, the plurality of modules having been selected by the user to correspond to the selected alarm configuration.

18. The tangible non-transitory recordable storage medium of claim 15, wherein determining the location of the mobile computing device comprises comparing a current geographic location of the mobile computing device to a location at which the mobile computing device has been determined to be most frequently located.

19. The tangible non-transitory recordable storage medium of claim 15, wherein causing the alarm to be presented comprises obtaining from a hosted computer service remote from the mobile computing device, real-time data that represents a current condition in a geographic area around the mobile computing device.