Method and apparatus for associating physical locations to online entities

• US 9,710,484 B2
• Filed: 09/17/2013
• Issued: 07/18/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HERE Global B.V. (HERE Holding Corporation)
• Original Assignee: HERE Global B.V. (HERE Holding Corporation)
• Inventors: Marcon, Massimiliano, Madine, Simon, Mrohs, Bernd
• Primary Examiner(s): Truong, Cam-Y
• Application Number:
  US14/029,483
• Publication Number:
  US 20150081655A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,400 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/01 Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer G06F3/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/185 by embedding added-value information into content, e.g. geo-tagging

Abstract

An approach is provided for associating physical locations to websites. The element platform may determine one or more user interactions by at least one user with at least one user interface element embedded in at least one website of at least one online entity, wherein the at least one user interface element is associated with one or more physical locations of the at least one online entity. Then, the element platform may cause, at least in part, a storage of the one or more physical locations in at least one user collection database based, at least in part, on the one or more interactions.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

determining, by a processor, one or more user interactions by at least one user with at least one computer readable user interface element embedded in at least one website of at least one online entity, wherein the at least one computer readable user interface element encodes one or more physical locations, in the form of one or more respective addresses, of the at least one online entity as extractable data in computer code data;

electronically storing, by the processor, the one or more physical locations in at least one user collection database on a user storage device of a computer device based, at least in part, on the one or more user interactions;

presenting one or more graphical representations, on a graphical user interface of the computer device, of status information with respect to the one or more physical locations in the at least one user collection database, the status information comprising an indication that the one or more physical locations is electronically stored in the at least one user collection database;

in response to a request from a user to display a webpage of the website in the graphical user interface of the computer device, displaying the user interface element to the user as a graphical button on the webpage of the website, wherein the one or more interactions causes modifying the graphical button to indicate that the extractable data has been extracted; and

in response to the request from the user to display the webpage of the website in the graphical user interface of the computer device, presenting the graphical representation wherein a completion of the storage of the location information causes a modification in the graphical button for the indication that the one or more physical locations is electronically stored in the at least one user collection database.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

processing the computer code data to cause, at least in part, an extraction, of the one or more physical locations.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

creating the computer code data based, at least in part, on the one or more physical locations.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

accessing the at least one user collection database to one or more applications, one or more other websites, or a combination thereof.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

receiving user account information, authorization to access one or more user accounts, or a combination thereof; and

the accessing the at least one user collection database to the one or more applications, one or more other websites, or a combination thereof based, at least in part, on the user account information, authorization to access one or more user accounts, or a combination thereof.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a request from the at least one online entity for creation of the at least one computer readable user interface element, wherein the request specifies, at least in part, the one or more physical locations; and

generating the at least one computer readable user interface element as the computer code data that (1) includes the one or more physical locations as the extractable data;

(2) provides computer instructions for retrieving the one or more physical locations from at least one location database;

or (3) a combination thereof.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting one or more graphical representations of status information with respect to the one or more user interactions.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the presentation of one or more graphical representations of status information includes presenting a counter showing a number of times the extractable data is extracted.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the online entity includes, at least in part, a website, a blog, a magazine, an internet portal, or a combination thereof.

10. The method of claim 1, comprising:

displaying the user interface element to the user as a graphical button on a webpage of the website, wherein the one or more interactions causes generating and displaying to the user a graphical drop-down list of devices including the user storage device, the user storage device being selected from the graphical drop-down list before the storing, or a graphical drop-down list of locations associated with the location information.

11. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code for one or more programs,

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following;

determining, by the at least one processor, one or more user interactions by at least one user with at least one computer readable user interface element embedded in at least one website of at least one online entity, wherein the at least one computer readable user interface element encodes one or more physical locations of the at least one online entity as extractable data in computer code data;

electronically storing, by the at least one processor, the one or more physical locations in at least one user collection database of a user storage device of a computer device based, at least in part, on the one or more user interactions;

presenting one or more graphical representations, on a graphical user interface of the computer device, of status information with respect to the one or more physical locations in the at least one user collection database, the status information comprising an indication that the one or more physical locations is electronically stored in the at least one user collection database;

in response to a request from a user to display a webpage of the website in the graphical user interface of the computer device, displaying the user interface element to the user as a graphical button on a webpage of the website, wherein the one or more interactions causes modifying the graphical button to indicate that the extractable data has been extracted; and

in response to the request from the user to display the webpage of the website in the graphical user interface of the computer device, presenting the graphical representation wherein a completion of the storage of the location information causes a modification in the graphical button for the indication that the one or more physical locations is electronically stored in the at least one user collection database.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the at least one computer readable user interface element includes, at least in part, the computer code data, wherein the apparatus is further caused to perform:

processing the computer code data to cause, at least in part, extracting of the one or more physical locations.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

cause, at least in part, a creating the computer code data based, at least in part, on the one or more physical locations.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

cause, at least in part, accessing the at least one user collection database to one or more applications, one or more other websites, or a combination thereof.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

cause, at least in part, receiving user account information, authorization to access one or more user accounts, or a combination thereof; and

cause, at least in part, the accessing the at least one user collection database to the one or more applications, one or more other websites, or a combination thereof based, at least in part, on the user account information, authorization to access one or more user accounts, or a combination thereof.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the apparatus causes:

determining a request from the at least one online entity for creation of the at least one computer readable user interface element, wherein the request specifies, at least in part, the one or more physical locations; and

generating the at least one computer readable user interface element as the computer code data that (1) includes the one or more physical locations as the extractable data;

(2) provides computer instructions for retrieving the one or more physical locations from at least one location database;

or (3) a combination thereof.

17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the apparatus causes:

presenting one or more graphical representations of status information with respect to the one or more user interactions.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the presentation of one or more graphical representations of status information includes presenting a counter showing a number of times the extractable data is extracted.

19. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the online entity includes, at least in part, a website, a blog, a magazine, an internet portal, or a combination thereof.