Device availability notification and scheduling

• US 9,147,214 B2
• Filed: 05/15/2014
• Issued: 09/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Causey, Mark Edward, Andrus, Scott, Luu, Adrianne B., Jones, Kevin W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lau, Hoi
• Application Number:
  US14/277,965
• Publication Number:
  US 20140250019A1
• Time in Patent Office: 502 Days
• Field of Search: 340/573.1, 340/286.06, 340/932.2, 340/539.14, 340/3.7, 340/533, 340/679, 700/83, 709/203, 68/120.1, 379/106.01, 705/418, 705/13, 705/1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0645 Rental transactions; Leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 1/08 using electric transmission ; transformation of alarm signals to electrical signals from a different medium, e.g. transmission of an electric alarm signal upon detection of an audible alarm signal

Abstract

An availability notification for a device can be provided to a mobile device. The availability notification can be provided based on a configuration established by a subscriber of a mobile device as well as a characteristic of the mobile device. The subscriber can interact with an interface provided by the network provider to establish the configuration. Additionally, the subscriber can reserve the device via his or her mobile device. For example, a reservation interface may be provided to the subscriber via his or her mobile device that includes reservation options that can be selected by the subscriber to reserve the device. The reservation interface can further include the availability notification that indicates the device is currently available.

Claims

1. A computer readable storage medium that is not a propagating signal, the computer readable storage medium comprising executable instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising:

receiving, from a mobile device, a characteristic associated with the mobile device, the characteristic comprising a location of the mobile device;

determining, in accordance with the characteristic, at least one device among a plurality of devices for inclusion in an interface, each of the at least one device capable of providing a respective availability indication representative of an availability of the at least one device;

providing the interface to the mobile device, the interface comprising an indication of respective selectable representations corresponding to each of the at least one device that are selectable via highlighting on a display of the mobile device;

receiving a notification selection, from the mobile device, the notification selection indicative of a selected device of the at least one device;

providing an availability indication pertaining to the selected device, the availability indication based on the received notification selection;

generating a device configuration based on the received notification selection;

receiving a credential corresponding to a subscriber of the mobile device;

associating the device configuration with the credential; and

storing the associated device configuration and credential.

2. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the selected device comprises at least one of a washing machine, a dryer, workout equipment, a parking meter, or a computer access terminal.

3. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an availability indication from a respective one of the plurality of devices;

determining whether the respective one of the plurality of devices corresponds to the selected device; and

if the respective one of the plurality of devices corresponds to the selected device, providing the availability indication to the mobile device via a wireless broadcast.

4. The computer readable storage medium of claim 3, wherein determining whether the respective one of the plurality of devices corresponds to the selected device comprises comparing an identifier of the respective one of the plurality of devices with stored identifiers in the device configuration.

5. The computer readable storage medium of claim 3, wherein the availability indication is provided to the mobile device if the identifier of the respective one of the plurality of devices matches at least one of the stored identifiers in the device configuration.

6. The computer readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising:

providing a reservation interface to the mobile device, the reservation interface representative of respective reservation options associated with the selected device;

receiving a reservation selection via the reservation interface, the reservation selection indicative of a selection of a particular reservation option;

determining whether to reserve the selected device based on the reservation selection; and

reserving the selected device if, based on the determination, the reservation selection indicates to reserve the selected device.

7. The computer readable storage medium of claim 6, wherein the selected device is currently unavailable and the particular reservation option comprises a reservation for use of the selected device at a time when the selected device is available.

8. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

memory coupled to the processor, the memory comprising executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising;

storing a device identifier associated with a first device, the device identifier indicating that the first device is configured to generate availability notifications indicative of an availability of the first device; and

storing respective availability notifications generated by the first device;

storing a device configuration associated with a mobile device, the device configuration indicating that availability notifications generated by the first device should be provided to the mobile device; and

providing a configuration interface to the mobile device, the configuration interface comprising an indication of a selectable representation of the first device that is selectable via highlighting on a display of the mobile device;

receiving a selection from the mobile device;

generation, responsive to receiving the selection, the device configuration;

storing the device configuration in the reservation and notification module;

receiving an availability notification generated by the first device;

responsive to receiving the availability notification, determining whether the availability notification should be provided to the mobile device; and

if, based on the determination, the availability notification should be provided to the mobile device, providing the availability notification to the mobile device by wireless broadcast.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein determining whether the availability notification should be provided to the mobile device comprises accessing the device configuration.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, the operations further comprising receiving a characteristic associated with the mobile device.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the characteristic is indicative of at least one of a location of the mobile device, a date, or a time.

12. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the configuration interface comprises respective selectable representations of a plurality of devices that includes the first device.

13. The apparatus of claim 8, the operations further comprising selecting the first device for inclusion in the configuration interface based at least partially on the characteristic.

14. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

memory coupled to the processor, the memory having stored thereon executable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the processor to effectuate operations comprising;

receiving, from a mobile device, a characteristic associated with the mobile device, the characteristic comprising a location of the mobile device;

determining, in accordance with the characteristic, at least one device among a plurality of devices for inclusion in an interface, each of the at least one device capable of providing a respective availability indication representative of an availability of the at least one device;

providing the interface to the mobile device, the interface comprising an indication of respective selectable representations corresponding to each of the at least one device that are selectable via highlighting on a display of the mobile device;

receiving a notification selection, from the mobile device, the notification selection indicative of a selected device of the at least one device;

providing an availability indication pertaining to the selected device, the availability indication based on the received notification selection;

generating a device configuration based on the received notification selection;

receiving a credential corresponding to a subscriber of the mobile device;

associating the device configuration with the credential; and

storing the associated device configuration and credential.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the selected device comprises at least one of a washing machine, a dryer, workout equipment, a parking meter, or a computer access terminal.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, the operations further comprising:

receiving an availability indication from a respective one of the plurality of devices;

determining whether the respective one of the plurality of devices corresponds to the selected device; and

if the respective one of the plurality of devices corresponds to the selected device, providing the availability indication to the mobile device via a wireless broadcast.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein determining whether the respective one of the plurality of devices corresponds to the selected device comprises comparing an identifier of the respective one of the plurality of devices with stored identifiers in the device configuration.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein the availability indication is provided to the mobile device if the identifier of the respective one of the plurality of devices matches at least one of the stored identifiers in the device configuration.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the reservable device is currently unavailable and the reservation selection comprises a reservation for use of the reservable device at a time when the selected device is available.

20. The apparatus of claim 14, the operations further comprising:

providing a reservation interface to the mobile device, the reservation interface representative of respective reservation options associated with the selected device;

receiving a reservation selection via the reservation interface, the reservation selection indicative of a selection of a particular reservation option;

determining whether to reserve the selected device based on the reservation selection; and

reserving the selected device if, based on the determination, the reservation selection indicates to reserve the selected device.