Methods and apparatuses for controlling distribution of location information
First Claim
1. A method for communicating a location for a mobile system comprising:
- obtaining a location for a first mobile system;
obtaining permission criteria associated with the first mobile system; and
transmitting the location for the first mobile system to a second mobile system in accordance with the permission criteria.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A mobile system, such as a wireless phone, communicates its location or other position information, such as pseudoranges, to a server system and optionally sends permission criteria defining which other mobile systems are allowed to access its location. In the case where the mobile system does not provide its location, the server determines the location using the other position information provided (e.g. pseudoranges for satellites in view of the mobile system). The server system sends the location to other mobile systems in accordance with the permission criteria, with or without a request from another mobile system for the location. If no permission criteria has been sent by the mobile system, the server system queries the mobile system for the permission criteria in response to a request for the location. If no permission criteria is sent by the mobile system, or if the permission criteria sent denies the request, the server system can, alternately, not reply to the request or reply with an error message. The permission criteria can include additional access limitations such as dates or times during which access is permitted or denied, and geographic areas in which access is permitted or denied.
28 Citations
38 Claims
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1. A method for communicating a location for a mobile system comprising:
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obtaining a location for a first mobile system;
obtaining permission criteria associated with the first mobile system; and
transmitting the location for the first mobile system to a second mobile system in accordance with the permission criteria. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A communications system for locating a mobile system comprising:
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a first mobile system operable for connecting to a network and for sending position information for the first mobile system and a permission criteria associated with the first mobile system to the network;
a server system operable for connecting to the network, for receiving the position information and permission criteria associated with the first mobile system from the network, and for sending a location of the first mobile system derived from the position information to the network in accordance with the permission criteria; and
a second mobile system operable for connecting to the network and for receiving the location of the first mobile system sent by the server system from the network. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A mobile communications system comprising:
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a processor coupled to a memory and further operable for connecting to a network;
a communication process executed by the processor from the memory to cause the processor to send position information for the mobile communications system to the network and to further cause the processor to send a permission criteria pertaining to another mobile communications system to the network. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23)
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24. A server system comprising:
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a processor coupled to a system bus and further operable for connecting to a network;
a memory coupled to the processor through the system bus; and
a computer-readable medium coupled to the processor through the system bus and having stored thereon a location service, wherein execution of the location service by the processor causes the processor to receive position information for a mobile system and a permission criteria associated with the mobile system from the network, to derive a location for the first mobile system from the position information, and to send the location for the mobile system to the network. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27)
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28. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon computer-executable instructions to cause a server system and a mobile communications system to perform a method comprising:
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sending, by the mobile communication system to the server system, position information for the mobile communications system;
receiving, by the server system, the position information;
sending, by the server system to a different mobile communications system, a location derived from the position information in accordance with a permission criteria for the different mobile communications system. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31)
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32. A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a permissions criteria data structure comprising:
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an owner identifier field containing data representing an identifier for a first mobile communications system that owns the permissions criteria data structure; and
a requestor entry containing data representing permissions granted to a second mobile communications system by the first mobile communications system identified by the owner identifier field. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35)
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36. A method of obtaining payment for supplying location services to mobile communications systems comprising:
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recording each request for a location received from a first mobile communications system based on an identifier for the first mobile communications system;
recording each permission criteria sent from a second mobile communications system based on an identifier for the second mobile communications system; and
charging the first and second mobile communications systems a first rate for the requests received and a second rate for the criteria sent. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38)
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Specification