Identifying and locating users on a mobile network

• US 8,971,924 B2
• Filed: 05/23/2011
• Issued: 03/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Pai, Raghu, Hurley, Timothy S., Gautier, Patrice Olivier, Narayanan, Karthik, Parthasarathi, Murthy, Veron, Maxime
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Ajit
• Assistant Examiner(s): Irace, Michael
• Application Number:
  US13/113,856
• Publication Number:
  US 20120302256A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,380 Days
• Field of Search: 455/562.1, 455/562.2, 455/457, 455/404.2, 455/414.2
• US Class Current: 455/456.2
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0072 Transmission between mobile stations, e.g. anti-collision systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/28 Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A system and method of locating “friends” having mobile devices connected to a network and associated with a user account is disclosed. The method includes sending a request to a mobile device, the mobile device determining its present geographic location and responding to the requestor with this information. This information may be in the form of a coordinate location such as a GPS location or it may be in the form of a name that the mobile device owner assigned to a particular area (e.g., “home”). Having this location information, a user is able to view the location of the friend that is associated with the mobile device.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, at a server, a request for a location of one or more requested devices from a requesting device;

determining, by the server, whether the request for the location requires a relatively accurate response or only an approximate response, wherein the server determines a relatively accurate response is required when the request specifies a single requested device and the server determines only an approximate response is required when the request specifies more than one requested device;

and sending, by the server, a shallow locate request to the one or more requested devices when it is determined that the request for location requires only an approximate response, the shallow locate request indicating an acceptable accuracy range for each of the one or more requested devices, allowing each of the one or more requested devices to determine a location using a degree of accuracy that is permitted under the acceptable accuracy range, and directing each of the one or more requested devices to provide the location to the server.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the shallow locate request allows each of the one or more requested devices to determine the location using a rate of power consumption that is permitted under the acceptable accuracy range.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the shallow locate request can be interpreted by each of the one or more requested devices to be fulfilled without using an available global positioning system device.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the requesting device, a request for permission to receive location information relating to a requested device.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, wherein the request for permission is for a set period of time.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving, from the requested device, permission to receive location information relating to the requested device.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the permission to receive location information relating to a requested device is for a set period of time.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the requesting device has permission to receive location information relating to each requested device.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the requesting device has permission to receive location information relating to each requested device.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

sending a deep locate request to the requested devices when it is determined that the request for location requires a relatively accurate response.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 19, wherein the deep locate request can be interpreted by the receiving device to be fulfilled using a global positioning system device.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the requested device is a mobile device.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the sending of the shallow locate request comprises wirelessly transmitting the shallow locate request to the requested device.

23. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the shallow locate request can be interpreted by the receiving device to be fulfilled using a lower power mechanism.

27. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving, at the server, a request for permission to receive location information relating to one or more of the requested devices;

receiving, at the server, an approval or denial of the request for permission from at least one requested device; and

determining whether the requesting device has permission to receive location information relating to each requested device.

28. The computer-implemented method of claim 27, wherein an approval of the request specifies a start time and an end time when the requesting device has permission to receive location information relating to each requested device.

10. A system comprising:

a server configured to receive a request for location information of a requested device from a requesting device, process the received request for location with a shallow locate heuristic, wherein the server determines that an approximate location of the requested device will satisfy the received request when the request specifies more than one requested device, and to wirelessly issue a shallow location request to the requested device;

and the requested device is configured to wirelessly receive the shallow location request, interpret the shallow location request for an acceptable accuracy range, to determine its location using a less accurate, and lower power mechanism when the acceptable accuracy range permits, and sending a location response to the server.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the location response comprises a location and an accuracy delta.

24. The system of claim 10, wherein the requested device is further configured to determine its location using a global positioning system (GPS) device when the acceptable accuracy range does not permit using a less accurate mechanism.

25. The system of claim 10, wherein the requesting device and requested device are each user devices.

29. The system of claim 10, wherein the server is further configured to process the received request for location with a deep locate heuristic such that the server determines that a relatively accurate location of the requested device will satisfy the received request when the request specifies only one requested device.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions which, when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by a server, a location request from a requesting device, wherein the location request calls for a geographic location of a requested device;

applying a shallow locate heuristic to determine whether the request can be answered with an approximate location, wherein the shallow locate heuristic determines that the request can be answered with an approximate location when the request specifies more than one requested device;

sending, by the server, a shallow location request to the requested device when the shallow locate heuristic determines that the request can be answered with an approximate location, the shallow locate request indicating an acceptable accuracy range for the requested device, allowing the requested device to determine a location using a degree of accuracy that is permitted under the acceptable accuracy range, and directing the requested device to provide the location to the server;

receiving, by the server, the location response from the requested device; and

sending, by the server, the current geographic location information to the requesting device.

13. The instructions of claim 12, wherein the shallow location request, allows the requested device to determine the location using a rate of power consumption that is permitted under the acceptable accuracy range.

14. The instructions of claim 12, wherein the server is further configured to process the received request for location with a shallow locate heuristic, wherein, the server determines that an approximate location of the requested device will satisfy the received request.

15. The instructions of claim 12, wherein the location is associated with an accuracy delta.

16. The instructions of claim 12, the operations further comprising:

receiving, from the requested device, permission to receive location information relating to the requested device.

17. The instructions of claim 16, wherein the permission to receive location information relating to a requested device is for a set period of time.

18. The instructions of claim 12, the operations further comprising:

determining whether the requesting device has permission to receive location information relating to each requested device.

26. The instructions of claim 12, the operations further comprising:

sending a deep location request when the shallow locate heuristic determines that the request cannot be answered with an approximate location.