Data structures and methods for location-based services within a wireless network

• US 20040203902A1
• Filed: 12/20/2002
• Published: 10/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wilson, Brian, Bhuyan, Krishna, Feinstein, Jacob
• Granted Patent: US 7,181,227 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A system for providing wireless telecommunications services to mobile or wireless devices includes data structures and related functionality. One data structure includes at least one location-based services data structure for a wireless device or a user of the wireless device. The location-based services data structure includes first and second data structures representing tables of friends. The first data structure represents a table of friends who may receive a location of the user'"'"'s wireless device, while the second data structure represents a table of friends who have permitted the user to receive a location of wireless devices associated with them. Various other data structures, functionality and systems are disclosed.

Claims

1. An apparatus for use in a wireless telephone network for providing communication between a wireless phone and multiple network access points, the apparatus comprising:

a database storing tables for multiple subscribers to the wireless telephone network, wherein the subscribers subscribe to location-based services provided under the wireless telephone network, and wherein the tables include for each given user-subscriber;

a first list of subscriber-friends that have permitted the given user-subscriber to locate them;

a second list of subscriber-friends who the given user-subscriber has permitted them to locate that given user-subscriber;

a subscriber data table, wherein the subscriber data table includes data regarding a subscriber-friend or the given user-subscriber, and includes a user name field, a mobile telephone number field and an electronic address field, wherein the electronic address field is an email address, an instant messaging handle or a user name alias; and

an RSVP list, wherein the RSVP list represents pending permission requests, where the permission requests represent a request by the given user-subscriber to locate another subscriber, or a request by another subscriber to locate the given user-subscriber; and

a server computer coupled to the database, wherein the sever computer is configured to;

receive requests from wireless phones to obtain location information associated with subscribers having other wireless phones,

for each request, accessing tables in the database to determine whether a given table permits location information to be provided based on the request, and

determining whether to provide the location information based on the given table.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the database further comprises:

a user-subscriber defined deny always list of subscribers not to be permitted to locate the user-subscriber; and

a public user-subscriber table, wherein the public user-subscriber table includes publicly available fields associated with the user-subscriber, and wherein the public fields include a name, interest and geographic location data for the user-subscriber.

3. A computer-readable medium containing a data structure for use by a wireless system that provides communication between a wireless device and multiple network access points, the data structure comprising:

at least one location-based services data structure for a wireless device or a user of the wireless device, wherein the location-based services data structure comprises;

a first data structure representing a table of friends who may receive, via the system, a current location of the user'"'"'s wireless device; and

a second data structure representing a table of friends who have permitted the user to receive, via the system, a location of wireless devices associated with them.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein the first and second data structures are stored as separate first and second location-based services data structures, wherein the first and second location-based services data structures are stored in a database coupled to a server associated with the wireless system, and wherein each friend in the first and second location-based services data structures is represented as a user name or mobile telephone number.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein the first and second data structures are stored as separate first and second location-based services data structures.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein a single location-based services data structure stores the first and second data structures.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein the location-based services data structure is stored on the user'"'"'s wireless device.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein the location-based services data structure is stored on the wireless system.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein the location-based services data structure further comprises a third data structure representing a table of friend data, wherein the table of friend data includes, for each friend, an email address, username, or username alias.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 3, further comprising a third data structure representing a table of friends who may not receive, via the system, the current location of the user'"'"'s wireless device.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein each friend in at least the first data structure is represented by a mobile number, email address or user name.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein each friend in at least the first data structure is represented by an instant messaging handle, user name alias or electronic image for each of the friends.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein each friend in at least the first data structure is represented by a facsimile number, pager number, universal resource locator (URL) or computer network address.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 3, further comprising a public user-data structure, wherein the public user-data structure includes publicly available fields associated with the user, which include a name, interest and geographic location data for the user.

15. The computer-readable medium of claim 3, further comprising a third data structure representing times of day or geographic locations when the current location of the user'"'"'s wireless device is not to be provided to others.

16. The computer-readable medium of claim 3, further comprising a third data structure representing conditions when the current location of the user'"'"'s wireless device is not to be provided to others, wherein a priority is associated with each condition.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 3, further comprising a third data structure representing at least one friend for whom the current location of the user'"'"'s wireless device is always to be provided.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 3, further comprising a third data structure representing conditions when the current location of the user'"'"'s wireless device is not to be provided to others.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 3, wherein at least the first data structure includes:

locate flags associated with each friend in the table of friends who may receive the current location of the user'"'"'s wireless device, and

additional friends who currently lack locate flags and may not receive the current location of the user'"'"'s wireless device.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 3 wherein the computer-readable medium is a memory of a telecommunications server of the wireless system.

21. The computer-readable medium of claim 3 wherein the computer-readable medium is a logical node in the wireless system receiving the contents.

22. The computer-readable medium of claim 3 wherein the computer-readable medium is a computer-readable disk.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 3 wherein the computer-readable medium is a data transmission medium carrying a generated data signal containing the data structure.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 3 wherein the computer-readable medium is microcode.

25. In a telecommunications system providing location-based services, an apparatus for managing location requests from subscribers to the location-based service, the apparatus comprising:

means for maintaining a first list of friends who have permission to receive location information regarding a location of a mobile device associated with the user, or a second list of friends that have allowed the user to receive location information regarding locations of mobile devices associated with them, wherein each friend in the first or second lists of friends is identified by, at least in part, a subscriber identifier,

means, coupled to the means for maintaining, for receiving a request to allow the user to receive location information regarding a location of a mobile device associated with another subscriber, or a request to allow another subscriber to receive location information regarding the user'"'"'s mobile device; and

means, coupled to the means for receiving, for managing the received requests and updating the first or second lists of friends.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, further comprising:

means for providing a list of pending requests to the user, wherein the list of pending requests is a list of subscribers who are requesting to receive location information regarding the user'"'"'s mobile device.

27. The apparatus of claim 25, further comprising:

means for querying one of the first or second lists of friends based on a query request received from the user, wherein the subscriber identifier includes a username and mobile number for a particular subscriber, and wherein the means for querying is configured to provide at least the particular subscriber'"'"'s username to the user'"'"'s mobile device based on the received query request.

28. The apparatus of claim 25, further comprising:

means for querying a subscriber data table based on a query request received from the user, wherein the subscriber data table includes data regarding a particular subscriber, and wherein the means for querying is configured to provide at least some data from the subscriber data table to the user'"'"'s mobile device based on the received query request.

29. The apparatus of claim 25, further comprising:

means for providing to the user'"'"'s mobile device a list of last known locations of mobile devices associated with at least some of the friends on the list of friends that have allowed the user to receive location information regarding locations of mobile devices associated with them.

30. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the means for managing further comprises:

means for maintaining, for each user, a first set of pending requests by subscribers to receive location information regarding a location of the user'"'"'s mobile device, and a second set of pending requests by the user to receive location information regarding locations of mobile devices associated with other subscribers.

31. The apparatus of claim 25 wherein the subscriber identifier is a mobile number, username, email address, instant messaging handle or username alias.

32. In a telecommunications system providing location-based services, a method:

receiving user data from a user, wherein at least a portion of the user data is to be provided to the public, and wherein the user is a subscriber to the location-based services; and

creating a user data structure representing a table based on the received user data, wherein the table includes at least some publicly available fields associated with the user, and wherein the publicly available fields include information about the user that the user has agreed to provide to at least subscribers to the location-based services;

receiving a request, from a subscriber to the location-based services, for at least some data from the user data structure; and

providing at least some of the fields in the user data structure based on the request.

33. The method of claim 32 wherein receiving a request includes receiving a query with respect to at least one field in the user data structure.

34. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

providing the user with access to the user data structure via a public computer network.

35. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

providing the user with access to the user data structure to modify the user data structure.

36. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

before receiving permission from the user to provide location information regarding the user to a specific subscriber, providing data from a user data structure associated with the specific subscriber.

37. The method of claim 32 wherein the publicly available fields include:

a user name;

geographic location data for the user; and

an age, hobby or interest associated with the user.

38. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

receiving a request from the user to locate subscribers, wherein the request includes a query associated with one of the publicly available fields; and

searching multiple user data structures associated with subscribers based on the query; and

identifying subscribers matching the query.

39. The method of claim 32 wherein the publicly available fields include an electronic image of the user.

40. The method of claim 32 wherein the publicly available fields include an instant messaging handle of the user.

41. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

identifying some of the publicly available fields as being available to only subscribers in a specified class; and

providing at least some of the fields in the user data structure based on a request from a subscriber in the specified class.

42. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

identifying some of the publicly available fields as being available to only location-based services in a specified class; and

providing at least some of the fields in the user data structure to a location-based service in the specified class.

43. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

identifying some of the publicly available fields as being available to only subscribers in a specified location; and

providing at least some of the fields in the user data structure based on a request from a subscriber in the specified location.

44. A computer-readable medium containing a data structure for use by a wireless system for providing communication between a wireless device and multiple network access points, the data structure comprising:

at least one location-based services data structure for wireless devices or users of the wireless device, wherein each location-based services data structure comprises;

a deny always data structure representing a table of subscribers who may not receive, via the system, a current location of the user'"'"'s wireless device.

45. A wireless data processing apparatus comprising at least a display device and a memory, wherein the display is configured to display a visual representation of a data structure stored in the memory,

wherein the visual representation includes multiple user-selectable choices associated with location-based services provided by a telecommunications service provider,

wherein the choices are arranged in a hierarchical set of choices, and wherein a top-level set of choices in the hierarchical set of choices includes user-selectable choices for:

obtaining location information with respect to wireless devices associated with friends;

prohibiting friends from obtaining location information with respect to the wireless data processing apparatus; and

altering a list of friends who have permission to receive location information regarding a location of the wireless data processing apparatus, or altering a list of the friends that have allowed the wireless data processing apparatus to obtain location information regarding locations of wireless devices associated with them.

46. The apparatus of claim 45 wherein the top-level set of choices includes a visual indication of a pending request for permission to receive location information regarding a location of the wireless data processing apparatus.

47. The apparatus of claim 45, further comprising:

a wireless transceiver; and

a processor coupled to the transceiver, memory and display device, wherein the processor is configured to authenticate the wireless data processing device with an external server, provide a submenu of choices listing friends, and provide a geographic location of a user-selected wireless device after receiving from the user a menu choice selecting a friend from the submenu.

48. The apparatus of claim 45, wherein the hierarchical set of choices includes a submenu of choices listing friends, wherein the submenu does not display a friend who has revoked permissions to provide location information.