Location based media items

• US 8,332,402 B2
• Filed: 01/25/2008
• Issued: 12/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Forstall, Scott, Christie, Gregory N., Borchers, Robert E., Tiene, Kevin
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Hung Q
• Application Number:
  US12/020,202
• Publication Number:
  US 20090006336A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,782 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/736
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce

Abstract

Media items can be distributed to mobile devices based on the location of the media device. The media items can be associated with location information, which can be examined and distributed to those devices whose proximate area includes the location information associated with the media items.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining, at a mobile device, boundary information defining a geographic area depicted by a current map display associated with the mobile device;

communicating location information associated with the mobile device to a server, the location information including the boundary information;

receiving, at the mobile device, media item abstracts representing content comprising photos, videos, audio, routes, commercial content, or tours, the media item abstracts being associated with a location within the geographical area defined by the boundary information;

associating the received media item abstracts with two or more groups by category;

displaying two or more groups of the received media item abstracts on the current map display;

receiving, at the mobile device, input selecting one of the displayed groups of received media item abstracts;

determining that at least one item of content associated with the selected group of media item abstracts is not stored on the mobile device;

based on determining that the at least one item of content is not stored on the mobile device, requesting the at least one item of content from the server;

receiving, at the mobile device, the at least one item of content associated with the selected group of media item abstracts; and

providing access to content associated with the selected group of media item abstracts, including the at least one item of content, on the mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the received content comprises images of locations associated with the geographical area within a proximate distance to the mobile device based on the location information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the received content comprises videos associated with the geographical area within a proximate distance to the mobile device based on the location information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the received content comprises routes associated with the geographical area within a proximate distance to the mobile device based on the location information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the received content comprises a multimedia tour presentation associated with the geographical area within a proximate distance to the mobile device based on the location information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the received content comprises music associated with the geographical area within a proximate distance to the mobile device based on the location information.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving location information from a positioning system.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the positioning system derives location information from satellite data received from a plurality of satellites.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the positioning system uses dead reckoning to derive location information associated with the user.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the positioning system uses a wireless signal strength of a mobile device associated with the user to derive location information associated with the user.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting the received content in a multi-touch environment.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving at the mobile device from a user a scale request;

determining a boundary information delta based on the scale request; and

retrieving only those media item abstracts associated with the boundary information delta.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

deriving new location information;

determining a boundary information delta based on the scale request; and

retrieving only those media item abstracts associated with the boundary information delta.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting preference data associated with the user of the mobile device to the server, and wherein the received media item abstracts are identified based on the transmitted preference data.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that at least one item of content associated with the selected group of media item abstracts is not stored on the mobile device comprises:

comparing the group of media item abstracts to media items currently stored on the mobile device; and

determining that the at least one of the group of media item abstracts does not have a corresponding media item stored on the mobile device.

16. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, from a mobile device, current location information associated with a current location of the mobile device, the current location information including boundary information determined at the mobile device, the boundary information defining a geographic area depicted by a current map display associated with the mobile device;

identifying a plurality of media item abstracts representing content comprising photos, videos, audio, routes, commercial content, or tours, the media item abstracts being associated with a location within the geographical area defined by the boundary information;

grouping the identified media item abstracts into two or more groups by category;

transmitting the grouped media item abstracts to the mobile device;

receiving, from the mobile device, information identifying content associated with one of the groups of transmitted media item abstracts that was selected by a user of the mobile device and that was determined to not be currently stored on the mobile device; and

transmitting, to the mobile device, the content associated with the selected group of media item abstracts that is not currently stored on the mobile device.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

retrieving one or more user preferences associated with a user of the mobile device; and

filtering the plurality of grouped media item abstracts based on the one or more user preferences and based upon the location within the geographical area defined by the boundary information, the media item abstracts representing content identified by user preferences and associated with the geographic area.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the content comprises one or more of a music item, a video item, a multi-media tour presentation item, a picture item, or a route item.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the content comprises traffic information.

20. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving user-defined content; and

adding media item abstracts representing the user-defined content to the plurality of media item abstracts.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the user-defined content is received using a web interface.

22. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

retrieving content from third party content providers; and

adding media item abstracts representing the retrieved content to the plurality of media item abstracts.

23. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable medium coupled to the processor and having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform operations comprising;

obtaining location information associated with a mobile device, the location information including boundary information defining a geographic area depicted by a current map display associated with the mobile device;

receiving and storing preferences associated with one or more categories of content comprising photos, videos, audio, routes, commercial content, or tours;

communicating the preferences and the location information associated with the mobile device to a server;

receiving media item abstracts from the server based on the preferences and the location information, wherein the media item abstracts represent content associated with a location within the geographical area defined by the boundary information;

associating the received media item abstracts with two or more groups by category;

overlaying the two or more groups of the received media item abstracts onto the map display;

receiving, at the mobile device, input selecting one of the overlaid groups of received media item abstracts;

determining that at least one item of content associated with the selected group of media item abstracts is not stored on the mobile device;

based on determining that the at least one item of content is not stored on the mobile device, requesting the at least one item of content from the server;

receiving, at the mobile device, the at least one item of content associated with the selected group of media item abstracts; and

providing access to content associated with the selected group of media item abstracts, including the at least one item of content, on the mobile device.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the received content comprises one or more of video content, picture content, audio content, multimedia content or routing content associated with the geographical area within a proximate distance to the mobile device based on the location information.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the received content comprises user contributed content associated with the geographical area within a proximate distance to the mobile device based on the location information.

26. The system of claim 23, wherein the received content comprises commercial content associated with the geographical area within a proximate distance to the user based on the location information.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the operations further comprise:

adjusting an account associated with the user based on receiving a request for commercial content; and

adjusting an account associated with a provider of the commercial content.

28. The system of claim 23, wherein the location information is derived from satellite data received from a plurality of satellites.

29. The system of claim 23, wherein the positioning system uses dead reckoning to derive location information associated with the user.

30. The system of claim 23, wherein the positioning system uses a wireless signal strength associated with the mobile device to derive location information associated with the mobile device.

31. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable medium coupled to the processor and having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving location information associated with a current location of a mobile device and user preferences associated with the user of the mobile device, the location information including boundary information defining a geographic area depicted by a current map display associated with the mobile device, the boundary information determined at the device;

identifying one or more media item abstracts representing content comprising photos, videos, audio, routes, commercial content, or tours, the media item abstracts being associated with a location within the geographical area defined by the boundary information, wherein the one or more media item abstracts are identified based on the one or more user preferences;

associating the received media item abstracts with two or more groups by category;

generating an overlay of the two or more groups of the received media item abstracts;

communicating the generated overlay to the mobile device for presentation on the map display associated with the mobile device;

receiving, from the mobile device, information identifying content associated with one of the overlaid groups of received media item abstracts that was selected by a user of the mobile device and that was determined to not be currently stored on the mobile device; and

transmitting, to the mobile device, the content associated with the selected group of media item abstracts that is not currently stored on the mobile device.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the content comprises one or more of a music item, a video item, a multi-media tour presentation item, a picture item, or a route item.

33. The system of claim 31, wherein the content comprises one or more of user contributed content or commercial content.

34. The system of claim 31, wherein the content comprises traffic information associated with roads proximate to the location identified by the location information.

35. The system of claim 31, wherein the operations further comprise:

adjusting an account associated with the user based on receiving a request for commercial content; and

adjusting an account associated with a provider of requested commercial content.

36. The system of claim 31, wherein the operations further comprise:

storing the user preferences associated with the user of the mobile device.

37. The system of claim 31, wherein the location information comprises a route and the one or more media item abstracts are identified based upon being associated with a geographic location proximate to the route.

38. A method comprising:

communicating route information associated with a mobile device to a server, the route information comprising an origin and a destination, the route information determined at the mobile device;

receiving at the mobile device media item abstracts from the server, the media item abstracts representing content comprising photos, videos, audio, routes, commercial content, or tours, the media item abstracts being associated with vicinity content related to the route information, the vicinity content comprising content associated with a geographical area proximate to a route associated with the route information;

associating the received media item abstracts with two or more groups by category;

presenting two or more groups of the received media item abstracts received at the mobile device on a map display;

receiving, at the mobile device, input selecting one of the displayed groups of media item abstracts;

determining that at least one item of content associated with the selected group of media item abstracts is not stored on the mobile device;

based on determining that the at least one item of content is not stored on the mobile device, requesting the at least one item of content from the server;

receiving, at the mobile device, the at least one item of content associated with the selected group of media item abstracts; and

presenting content associated with the selected group of media item abstracts, including the at least one item of content, on the mobile device.

39. The method of claim 38, further comprising:

receiving the route associated with the route information from the server; and

presenting the route received at the mobile device on the map display, wherein presenting the media item abstracts comprises overlaying symbols associated with the content on a map associated with the route.

40. The method of claim 38, wherein the content comprises user contributed content, wherein the user contributed content is contributed by other users and associated with a location.