Location-based mobile device alarm

• US 8,195,203 B1
• Filed: 09/30/2011
• Issued: 06/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Tseng, Erick
• Primary Examiner(s): Magloire, Vladimir
• Application Number:
  US13/249,457
• Time in Patent Office: 249 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456, 455/566
• US Class Current: 455/457
• 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 in a specified circumstance;

determining whether the user is located in the home environment or the travel environment, including by (a) using a global positioning system receiver or a network address to determine a geographic location for the mobile computing device, (b) comparing the determined geographic location relative to prior travel patterns, and (c) 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;

based on determining whether the user is located in the home environment or the travel environment;

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 detecting the specified circumstance; 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,

wherein the travel configuration defines presentation modules that (i) are different than modules for the home configuration, (ii) are common to multiple travel locations, and (ii) receive different content for each of the different travel locations, and

wherein activating the alarm application causes the home or travel configuration to replace a prior display on the mobile computing device.

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

monitoring user interaction with wireless user device that does not include an explicit selection by the user of a home environment or a travel environment;

determining whether the user interaction with the wireless device is indicative of whether the user is in the home environment or whether the user is in the travel environment; and

using the determination of whether the user interaction with the wireless device is indicative of whether the user is in home environment or whether the user is in the travel environment to configure the alarm application to load the home configuration or the travel configuration.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining whether the user interaction with the wireless device is indicative of whether the user is in home environment or whether the user is in 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.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein determining whether the user interaction with the wireless device is indicative of whether the user is in home environment or whether the user is in 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.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the user instruction to invoke the alarm application in the specified circumstance includes receiving a user request to generate an alarm at a specified time.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the user instruction to invoke the alarm application in the specified circumstance includes receiving a user request to generate an alarm in response to receiving a specified message.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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.

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

11. The method of claim 1, further including:

updating the home environmental information if the home configuration has been loaded by periodically accessing the home environmental information, or updating the travel environmental information if the travel configuration has been loaded by periodically accessing the travel environmental information.

12. 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;

determining a location of the mobile computing device, including by (a) using a global positioning system receiver or a network address to determine a geographic location for the mobile computing device, (b) comparing the determined geographic location relative to prior travel patterns, and (c) determining, based on the comparison of the location relative to prior travel patterns, whether the user is located in a home environment or a travel environment;

selecting an alarm configuration based on the determination of the location of the mobile computing device, wherein the alarm configuration is a home configuration when the location is the home environment, and the alarm configuration is a travel configuration when the location is the travel environment; and

causing the alarm to be presented according to the selected alarm configuration;

wherein the travel configuration defines presentation modules that (i) are different than modules for the home configuration, (ii) are common to multiple travel locations, and (ii) receive different content for each of the different travel locations, and

wherein causing the alarm application to be presented causes the home or travel configuration to replace a prior display on the mobile computing device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein determining that an alarm should be presented on the mobile computing device comprises selecting a time for causing the alarm to be presented based on the selecting of the alarm configuration.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the time is dependent on the location of the mobile computing device.

15. The method of claim 13, 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.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein causing the alarm to be presented according to the selected alarm configuration 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.

17. 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;

determining a location of the mobile computing device, including by (a) using a global positioning system receiver or a network address to determine a geographic location for the mobile computing device, (b) comparing the determined geographic location relative to prior travel patterns, and (c) determining, based on the comparison of the location relative to prior travel patterns, whether the user is located in a home environment or a travel environment;

selecting an alarm configuration based on the determination of the location of the mobile computing device, wherein the alarm configuration is a home configuration when the location is the home environment, and the alarm configuration is a travel configuration when the location is the travel environment; and

causing the alarm to be presented according to the selected alarm configuration;

wherein the travel configuration defines presentation modules that (i) are different than modules for the home configuration, (ii) are common to multiple travel locations, and (ii) receive different content for each of the different travel locations, and

wherein causing the alarm application to be presented causes the home or travel configuration to replace a prior display on the mobile computing device.

18. The tangible non-transitory recordable storage medium of claim 17, wherein determining that an alarm should be presented on the mobile computing device comprises selecting a time for causing the alarm to be presented based on the selecting of the alarm configuration.

19. The tangible non-transitory recordable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the time is dependent on the location of the mobile computing device.

20. The tangible non-transitory recordable storage medium of claim 17, 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.

21. The tangible non-transitory recordable storage medium of claim 17, wherein causing the alarm to be presented according to the selected alarm configuration 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.