Displaying a map on a handheld wireless telecommunication device

• US 8,458,611 B2
• Filed: 07/06/2012
• Issued: 06/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Smith Micro Software Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Smith Micro Software Incorporated
• Inventors: Othmer, Konstantin
• Primary Examiner(s): BAUTISTA, XIOMARA L
• Application Number:
  US13/543,352
• Publication Number:
  US 20120276884A1
• Time in Patent Office: 333 Days
• Field of Search: 715/705, 715/708, 715/760, 715/764, 715/765, 715/781, 715/788, 715/809, 715/835, 715/864, 715/866, 719/328, 719/329, 345/157, 345/172, 340/990, 340/995.1, 340/995.15, 340/995.17, 340/995.19, 701/200, 701/201, 701/207, 701/213, 701/214
• US Class Current: 715/774
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72451 according to schedules, e.g. using calendar applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72454 according to context-related or environment-related conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• 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 4/185 by embedding added-value information into content, e.g. geo-tagging
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/23 for mobile advertising

Abstract

Tickers are populated with location-based information that is selected according to the geographic location of communication devices. The location of a communication device is identified based on a GPS system, proximity to transmitters in a wireless network, user input, or using other techniques. Location-appropriate content is obtained either in real-time from the network or from a local data store at the communication device. In general location-based, context-aware content can be displayed on tickers associated with a variety of communication devices, including mobile communication devices and “immobile” or stationary personal computers. When a ticker item is selected from the ticker, a location associated with the selected ticker item and/or a location of the communication device is used to generate a map that is displayed on the display of the device to the user.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a handheld wireless telecommunication device that includes a local data store and a display device, the handheld wireless telecommunications device being configured to;

receive ticker items from a ticker server, at least one particular ticker item including information that includes a map associated therewith;

store the received ticker items in the local data store of the telecommunication device;

display the particular ticker item in a ticker on the display device of the telecommunications device;

receive input from a user that selects the particular ticker item, the selected ticker item being associated with a destination location; and

present information associated with the selected ticker item, wherein the information includes the map associated with the particular ticker item that is generated based on at least one of a current location of the communication device and the destination location.

2. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the handheld telecommunications device, when presenting information associated with the selected ticker item, is configured to access a mapping server to request the map using at least one of the current location and the destination location.

3. The system as defined in claim 2, wherein the handheld telecommunications device, when accessing the mapping server, is configured to provide the mapping server with at least one of the current location of the communication device and the destination location associated with the selected ticker item.

4. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the handheld telecommunications device is configured to display the map on the display of the telecommunication device.

5. The system as defined in claim 4, wherein the handheld telecommunications device is configured to display a path between the location of the telecommunication device and the destination device.

6. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the handheld telecommunications device is configured to scale the map based on a distance between the current location of the telecommunication device and the destination location.

7. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the handheld telecommunications device is configured to receive a link in response to selecting the ticker item, wherein the link includes the destination location.

8. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the handheld telecommunications device is configured to identify the current location of the telecommunication device from at least one of the telecommunication device and the ticker server.

9. The system as defined in claim 1, wherein the handheld telecommunications device is configured to display the map on the display of the telecommunications device, wherein, as the current location of the telecommunications device changes, a scale of the map dynamically varies depending on a changing distance between the current location of the telecommunications device and the destination location.

10. A system comprising:

a handheld wireless telecommunication device that includes a local data store and a graphical display device, the handheld wireless telecommunications device being configured to;

receive ticker items from a ticker server, at least one particular ticker item including information that includes a map associated therewith;

store the received ticker items in the local data store of the telecommunication device;

display a ticker that includes the particular ticker item on the graphical display device of the telecommunication device;

obtain geographical information that specifies a current location of the telecommunication device;

receive input from a user that selects the particular ticker item, the selected ticker item being associated with a destination location; and

display the map, including the destination location and the current location of the telecommunication device, on the graphical display device.

11. The system as defined in claim 10, wherein the handheld telecommunications device is configured to obtain location-based content from the ticker server, wherein the location-based content corresponds to the ticker items in the ticker.

12. The system as defined in claim 10, wherein the handheld telecommunications device is configured to make a request for the map from the ticker server.

13. The system as defined in claim 12, wherein the handheld telecommunications device is configured to

include the current location of the telecommunication device in the request for the map;

and

include the destination location in the request for the map.

14. The system as defined in claim 10, wherein the handheld telecommunications device, when displaying the map, is configured to include a trace between the current location of the telecommunication device and the destination location on the map.

15. The system as defined in claim 10, wherein the handheld telecommunications device is configured to obtain the current location of the telecommunication device from at least one of the telecommunication device and the ticker server.

16. The system as defined in claim 10, wherein the handheld telecommunications device is configured to scale the map based on a distance between the current location of the telecommunication device and the destination location.

17. The system as defined in claim 10, wherein the handheld telecommunications device is configured to display additional location-based and context-aware information related to the selected ticker item along with the map.

18. The system as defined in claim 10, wherein the handheld telecommunications device is configured to receive a link that, when selected by the user, accesses the ticker server to request the map, the link including at least the destination location.

19. The system as defined in claim 10, wherein the handheld telecommunications device, when obtaining geographical information, is configured to identify the current location using at least one of a GPS system, a proximity to transmitters in a wireless network, and user input.

20. A system comprising:

a handheld wireless telecommunication device that includes a local data store and a display device, the handheld wireless telecommunications device being configured to;

receive ticker items from a ticker server, at least one particular ticker item including information that includes a map associated therewith;

use a scheduling system of the telecommunications device to schedule the ticker items using one or more proximity rules;

store the received ticker items in a local data store of the telecommunications device;

display the particular ticker item in a ticker on the display device of the telecommunications device according to the scheduling system;

receive input from a user that selects the particular ticker item, the selected ticker item being associated with a destination location; and

present information associated with the selected ticker item, wherein the information includes the map associated with the particular ticker item that is generated based on at least one of a current location of the telecommunications device and the destination location.