System and method for aggregating information to determine users' locations

• US 20020145984A1
• Filed: 01/31/2001
• Published: 10/10/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 01/31/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Terrace Licensing LLC (IP Edge LLC)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: White Eagle, Brian Lee, Krauszer, Adam, Babu, Anand Naga, Paterson, Roy, Heifets, Abraham S.
• Granted Patent: US 7,139,252 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/312
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

The present invention is a system and method that acquires and aggregates information to determine users'"'"' locations. The goal of the present invention is to allow users to collect and evaluate information from multiple sources, and thus make proper use of all available location information. Location sources for the present invention include mobile electronic devices such as mobile telephones, cell phones, hand-held computers, personal digital assistants, pagers, Global Positioning System (GPS) devices, and other pervasive computing devices. Satellite-based or network-based positioning technologies make it possible to determine the geographic location of these wireless electronic devices and their users (e.g. location-based services for users of mobile telephones use such positioning technologies). Location sources for the present invention also include computer-based models, schedules or calendars that give a person'"'"'s expected location depending on the date and time. One aspect of the present invention is a method for aggregating information to determine users'"'"' locations. Another aspect of the present invention is a system for executing the method of the present invention. A third aspect of the present invention is as a set of instructions on a computer-usable medium, or resident in a computer system, for executing the method of the present invention.

Claims