Method for selection of events based on proximity

• US 20010054043A1
• Filed: 01/11/2001
• Published: 12/20/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 01/12/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Active Network Incorporated (Cvent Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Duane Harlan
• Inventors: Harlan, Duane
• Granted Patent: US 6,778,973 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/025 Coordination of plural reservations, e.g. plural trip segments, transportation combined with accommodation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0686 Additional information in the notification, e.g. enhancement of specific meta-data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99944 Object-oriented database structure

Abstract

This invention provides a system for matching a user with an item in the nature of an activity, sporting or other event, or facility, referred to collectively as an ASEF, based on a request made by a user of the system. A database stores information related to the ASEF, such as the date, time and type of ASEF, along with the location of the ASEF. The database can represent the location of the ASEF in terms of latitude and longitude. The database can also include the latitude and longitude of each client user'"'"'s position or have such user position location provided separately. When a client user interrogates the database, such as through a computer based server, with a request for information on a specific ASEF, the server not only supplies the available related ASEF information, but also calculates the distance from the client user'"'"'s location to each of the ASEF'"'"'s related to the user'"'"'s request. If the client user requests that the activity lie within a given proximity, the server'"'"'s program only outputs those activities within the user'"'"'s requested proximity.

Claims

1. A method of providing information about at least one item in response to a request from a requester, the request related to a proximity of the requestor to the at least one item, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a request from the requester related to the at least one item at a server'"'"'s computer;

retrieving data in the server computer, the data comprising the latitudes and longitudes of locations of the at least one item;

determining the latitude and longitude of the position of the requestor;

computing distances between the locations of the at least one item and the position of the requestor;

determining a desired proximity range for the requestor; and

providing information to the requestor limited to the at least one item located within the desired proximity range.

2. The method of

claim 1

further including the steps of:

sorting the distances from the locations of the at least one item and the position of the requestor by said server computer; and

providing to the requester the information related to the at least one item with the at least one item closest to the requestor listed first.

3. The method of

claim 1

including the step of deriving the latitudes and longitudes for the at least one item from at least one geographical chart.

4. The method of

claim 1

including the step of deriving the latitudes and longitudes for the at least one item from at least one global positioning system receiver.

5. A system for providing information from a server in response to a request from a requester, said request related to an at least one item including the location of the at least one item, the system comprising:

a server computer;

a network connection available to said server computer whereby information may be transmitted between said server computer and a computer of the requester;

a database connected to said server computer, said database containing said at least one item'"'"'s location, said database further comprising related information taken from the group of related information including times of occurrence, availabilities and costs for said at least one item;

a means to determine the requestor'"'"'s position;

a distance computation program available in said server computer wherein distance information from said at least one item'"'"'s location and the requestor'"'"'s position may be computed; and

an output available from said server computer to said requestor providing related information related for said at least one item located within a desired proximity from the requestor'"'"'s position.

6. The system of

claim 5

wherein said location of said at least one item and said position of the requester are in the form of latitudes and longitudes.

7. The system of

claim 6

wherein said means to determine the requestor'"'"'s position includes calculating the requestor'"'"'s position from street address information provided by the requestor.

8. The system of

claim 7

wherein a plurality of items are included in said output and said output is sorted with items closer to the requestor listed first.

9. The system of

claim 8

wherein said related information is matchable to a request from the requestor so that only items which have related information matching the requestor'"'"'s request are included in said output.

10. The system of

claim 9

wherein said request includes a proximity limitation from the requestor and only items which are within the proximity limitation are included in said output.

11. A method for identifying availability of a desired item within a desired proximity of a user, the method including the steps of:

entering names of a plurality of items into a searchable database, at least a portion of the items taken from a group of items including activities, sporting events, non-sporting events and facilities available for reservation;

entering at least one descriptive characteristic into the database associated with each item in the database;

entering a location of each item into the database;

receiving a query from a user about availability of items that have at least one characteristic matching a characteristic specified in the query;

determining a position of the user;

determining a desired proximity range;

calculating a distance from the position of the user to at least the items that have at least one characteristic matching a characteristic specified in the query; and

outputting to the user at least one item matching at least one characteristic specified in the query and located within the desired proximity.

12. The method of

claim 11

wherein said at least one descriptive characteristic includes at least one characteristic taken from a group of characteristics including time of item availability, date of item availability, type of item and cost associated with item.

13. The method of

claim 12

wherein each said item within said database includes each of the descriptive characteristics included in the group of descriptive characteristics provided within the database for each of the items contained within the database.

14. The method of

claim 11

wherein said entering a location step and said determining a position step includes identifying a latitude and a longitude of the location of each item and a latitude and a longitude of the position of the user, such that distance calculations can be made based on the latitudes and longitudes of the items and the user.

15. The method of

claim 14

wherein said calculating step includes the steps of determining a difference in the latitude of at least one of the items and a latitude of the user and a difference between a longitude of at least one of the items and a longitude of the user;

and

deriving the distance between the location of at least one of the items and the position of the user by taking the square root of the sum of the square of the difference between the latitudes of at least one of the items and the user and the square of the difference between the longitude of at least one of the items and the user.

16. The method of

claim 11

wherein said determining a position of the user step includes the steps of entering information within the database about the user including the user'"'"'s position;

and

calling up the user'"'"'s position information when the user is identified.

17. The method of

claim 11

wherein said determining a position of the user step includes the steps of identifying a street address of the user and correlating the street address of the user with a latitude and longitude of the user.

18. The method of

claim 11

wherein said determining a desired proximity range step includes the step of allowing the user to select the proximity range and include this proximity range within the query of said receiving step.

19. The method of

claim 11

wherein said determining a desired proximity range step is preselected as a fixed distance within the database.

20. The method of

claim 11

including the further step of sorting the items of said outputting step such that closest items appear first and more distant items appear later.