System for communicating through maps

• US 20020103892A1
• Filed: 12/26/2001
• Published: 08/01/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HERE Global B.V. (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Acuity Mobile, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Rieger, Charles J. III
• Granted Patent: US 7,136,915 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/88 Mark-up to mark-up conversion conversion for visualization in web browsing G06F16/9577
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/20 Point-of-sale [POS] network systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/222 using geographical location information, e.g. messages transmitted or received in proximity of a certain spot or area
• 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]

Abstract

A communications system to post arbitrary information to any geographical region simply by outlining the region on a map in the system'"'"'s user interface and attaching the information to the outlined region is provided. The outlined region can be of any size, e.g., a city block, a neighborhood, a county, and defines the information'"'"'s “region of relevance”. Any user of the system can also browse and receive these geographically relevant postings simply by identifying a point or region of interest on one of the system'"'"'s maps. Uses of the system range from personal communication of questions and announcements to a geographically identified group, to governmental and commercial news and announcements aimed at a particular population, to “virtual billboards” for advertising.

Claims

1. A method of communicating a posting to a target user community, comprising the steps of:

(a) enabling an originator of the posting to select a broadcast channel, wherein said broadcast channel has a channel description related to the posting;

(b) providing a user interface to enable the originator to input the posting, wherein the posting is comprised of one or more of an identification tag, an information component, and a broadcast region descriptor; and

(c) transmitting the posting to the target user community over the broadcast channel, wherein the target user community is defined by the broadcast region descriptor.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said information component is comprised of one or more of text data, image data, audio data, and linking data for accessing a page on the Internet.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of enabling the originator of the posting to select one or more behavioral options, said behavioral options including one or more of whether to reveal a name associated with the originator to the target user community, whether to reveal an electronic mail address associated with the originator, and whether to allow a member of the target community to communicate a reply to said originator.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the broadcast region descriptor is determined by enabling the originator to define one or more bounded objects on a geographical map view.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the broadcast region descriptor is determined by enabling the originator to select one or more predefined bounded objects.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of enabling the originator to define a personal icon.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said personal icon is a bitmap image.

8. The method of claim 6,wherein said personal icon is transmitted with the posting.

9. A method of communicating postings to a target user community, comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving a posting to be communicated over a designated broadcast channel to a target user community;

(b) retrieving a set of geographical boundaries for each region located within said broadcast region;

(c) identifying a set of virtual antennas located within said set of geographical boundaries; and

(d) communicating said posting to said virtual antennas.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said receiving step (a) further comprises receiving one or more behavioral options associated with said posting.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of generating a posting object, said posting object comprising said posting and said one or more behavioral options.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein said target user community is defined by a broadcast region descriptor.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising the step of verifying that said received posting contains information needed to communicate said posting.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein each virtual antenna is tuned to receive postings on said designated broadcast channel.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of generating a ping object, wherein said ping object comprises the ping and said broadcast region.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said virtual antennas are visible on a geographical map view.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein step (f) further comprises communicating one or more behavioral options associated with said response from each virtual antenna.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein said behavioral options include one or more of whether to reveal a name associated with an originator of said response, whether to reveal an electronic mail address associated with the originator, and whether to allow said user to communicate a reply to said originator.

15. A method of communicating a ping to a target user community, comprising the steps of:

(a) enabling an originator of the ping to select a broadcast region into which the ping is to be communicated;

(b) enabling the originator to input the ping, wherein the ping is comprised of one or more key words; and

(c) transmitting the ping to the target user community within said broadcast region.

17. A method of communicating a ping to a target user community, comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving a ping comprised of one or more key words to be communicated to a broadcast region from a user;

(b) retrieving a set of geographical boundaries for each region located within said broadcast region;

(c) identifying a set of virtual antennas located within said set of geographical boundaries;

(d) comparing said ping to a keyword expression associated with each virtual antenna in said set of virtual antennas;

(e) generating a hit list comprising a response from each virtual antenna in said set of virtual antennas having a keyword expression matching said ping; and

(f) communicating said hit list to said user.

21. A method of communicating a posting to a target user community, comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving a request for postings received by a user antenna;

(b) identifying said postings; and

(c) transmitting said postings to an originator of said request.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein said user antenna is located within a broadcast region.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein said user antenna is tuned to receive postings on a designated broadcast channel.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein said identifying step (b) comprises identifying said postings communicated to said broadcast region over said designated broadcast channel.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein said identifying step (b) further comprises identifying one or more behavioral options associated with said postings.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising the step of generating a posting object, said posting object comprising said postings and said one or more behavioral options.

27. The method of claim 21, wherein said user antenna is a mobile user antenna.

29. The system of claim 28, further comprising a map manager for generating geographical map views covering the target user community.

30. The system of claim 29, further comprising a user interface for accepting a personal icon to be associated with a user account.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein said personal icon is a visible element in said postings.

32. The system of claim 31, further comprising a virtual antenna.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein said postings manager is configured to display a visible graphical element representing said virtual antenna on said geographical map views.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein a user is permitted to activate said visible graphical element thereby causing a user-defined URL to be opened and displayed on at least one of said plurality of client computers.

35. The system of claim 32, further comprised of a plurality of ping topics associated with said virtual antenna, each said ping topic comprising a ping topic keyword pattern and a ping topic response.

36. The system of claim 28, wherein said postings manager is configured to accept a photo attachment, said photo attachment comprising (1) a digital photograph, (2) descriptive information about said digital photograph, and (3) behavioral preferences associated with said digital photograph.

37. The system of claim 36, wherein said photo attachment is associated with an attachment point, said attachment point being a point on said geographical map views.

38. The system of claim 28, wherein said postings manager is further configured to enable a plurality of user dialogs, each said user dialogs comprising a plurality of messages between a source user and a recipient user.

39. The system of claim 28, further comprising a channel tree comprising a plurality of named system channels interrelated hierarchically.

40. The system of claim 39, further comprising a plurality of user channels, each of said user channels being owned by said user and comprising (1) a name, (2) a parent system channel, said parent system channel being one of said plurality of named system channels, and (3) a region descriptor.

41. The system of claim 28, further comprising a mobile antenna.

42. The system of claim 28, further comprising an account manager for assigning each user an account type, said account type comprising a system feature table and a usage limits table.

28. A system for communicating information to a target user community using geographical maps, comprising:

(a) a posting information database for storing one or more postings; and

(b) a postings manager in communications with said posting information database, wherein said postings manager communicates a plurality of said stored postings to a plurality of client computers in the target user community.

43. A computer program product having a computer readable medium having control logic stored therein, said control logic enabling a processor to communicate a posting to a target user community, said control logic comprising:

means for enabling a processor to enable an originator of the posting to select a broadcast channel, wherein said broadcast channel has a channel description related to the posting;

means for enabling a processor to provide a user interface to enable the originator to input the posting, wherein the posting is comprised of one or more of an identification tag, an information component, and a broadcast region descriptor; and

means for enabling a processor to transmit the posting to the target user community over the broadcast channel, wherein the target user community is defined by the broadcast region descriptor.

44. A computer program product having a computer readable medium having control logic stored therein, said control logic enabling a processor to communicate information to a target user community using geographical map view, said control logic comprising:

means for enabling a processor to store one or more postings in a posting information database;

means for enabling a processor to provide a user interface to enable an originator of said one or more postings to define a broadcast region on the geographical map view in order to identify the target user community; and

means for enabling said processor to communicate a plurality of said one or more postings to the target user community.

45. The computer program product of claim 44, wherein said control logic further comprises means for enabling a processor to generate the geographical map view.

46. The computer program product of claim 45, wherein said control logic further comprises means for enabling said processor to accept a personal icon to be associated with a user account.

47. The computer program product of claim 46, wherein said personal icon is a visible element in said postings.

48. The computer program product of claim 47, wherein said control logic further comprises means for enabling said processor to create a virtual antenna.

49. The computer program product of claim 48, wherein said control logic further comprises means for enabling said processor to display a visible graphical element representing said virtual antenna on said geographical map view.

50. The computer program product of claim 49, wherein said control logic further comprises means for enabling said processor to enable a user to activate said visible graphical element thereby causing a user-defined URL to be opened and displayed on at least one of said plurality of client computers.

51. The computer program product of claim 48, wherein said control logic further comprises means for enabling said processor to associate a plurality of ping topics with said virtual antenna, each said ping topic comprising a ping topic keyword pattern and a ping topic response.

52. The computer program product of claim 44, wherein said control logic further comprises means for enabling said processor to accept a photo attachment, said photo attachment comprising (1) a digital photograph, (2) descriptive information about said digital photograph, and (3) behavioral preferences associated with said digital photograph.

53. The computer program product of claim 52, wherein said control logic further comprises means for enabling said processor to associate said photo attachment with an attachment point, said attachment point being a point on said geographical map view.

54. The computer program product of claim 44, wherein said control logic further comprises means for enabling said processor to enable a plurality of user dialogs, each said user dialogs comprising a plurality of messages between a source user and a recipient user.

55. The computer program product of claim 44, wherein said control logic further comprises means for enabling said processor to generate a channel tree comprised a plurality of named system channels interrelated hierarchically.

56. The computer program product of claim 55, wherein said control logic further comprises means for enabling said processor to enable a user to define a plurality of user channels, each of said user channels being owned by said user and comprising (1) a name, (2) a parent system channel, said parent system channel being one of said plurality of named system channels, and (3) a region descriptor.

57. The computer program product of claim 44, wherein said control logic further comprises means for enabling said processor to create a mobile antenna.

58. The computer program product of claim 44, wherein said control logic further comprises means for enabling said processor to assign each user an account type, said account type comprising a system feature table and a usage limits table.