SYSTEM AND METHOD INCLUDING ASYNCHRONOUS LOCATION-BASED MESSAGING

• US 20070161382A1
• Filed: 01/09/2007
• Published: 07/12/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/09/2006
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Kamida
• Original Assignee: Kamida
• Inventors: Sharon, Eyal, Melinger, Daniel
• Application Number:
  US11/621,391
• Publication Number:
  US 20070161382A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A system and method including asynchronous location-based messaging is provided. Multimedia content may be created and associated with a specific geographic location. Notification messages associated with location-based content may be designated for receipt by particular users, for example, when the users are located within a predetermined distance of the geographic location. The notification messages, which may be transmitted to users'"'"' mobile computing devices, may include information about, as well as a pointer to, the location-based content to enable the content to be accessed immediately or at a later time through any number of interfaces.

Claims

1. A method of notifying a user of the availability of accessible content associated with one or more geographic locations located proximal to the user'"'"'s location, comprising:

determining a location of a mobile computing device associated with a user;

identifying, based on the determined location and one or more filtering criteria, one or more location-based messages available to the user, wherein a location-based message comprises location identifier data and content associated with the location-identifier data; and

transmitting, for each identified location-based message available to the user, a notification message to the user'"'"'s mobile computing device, wherein a notification message includes information about its corresponding location-based message, as well as a pointer to its corresponding location-based message to enable the user to access the location-based message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a location of a mobile computing device further comprises:

determining the location of the mobile computing device at a predetermined time interval; and

decreasing the predetermined time interval if the location of the mobile computing device has changed by more than a predetermined distance from a previously-determined location.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the location identifier data comprises geographic coordinates.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the location identifier data comprises a street address.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the location identifier data comprises a zip code.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the content of a location-based message comprises text.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the content of a location-based message comprises audio.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the content of a location-based message comprises one or more images.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the content of a location-based message comprises video.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the content of a location-based message comprises any combination of media selected from among text, audio, images, and video.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more filtering criteria comprises one or more message parameters defined by a creator of a location-based message.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein a message parameter comprises a designation of one or more users authorized to access the location-based message.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein a message parameter comprises a geographic area within which the location-based message will be made available.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the geographic area is defined in relation to location-identifier data specified for the location-based message.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein a message parameter comprises a specified life-cycle for the location-based message.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein a message parameter comprises a predetermined time during which the location-based message will be made available.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling a user to specify one or more delivery settings governing transmission of notification messages to the user'"'"'s mobile computing device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein a delivery setting comprises a specified time during which the user does not wish to receive notification messages.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising storing undelivered notification messages in a user-specific queue for later retrieval by the user.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein a delivery setting comprises a designation of one or more users from which a user does not wish to receive notification messages via their mobile computing device.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising storing undelivered notification messages in a user-specific queue for later retrieval by the user.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the information in a notification message, about its corresponding location-based message, comprises an identifier of the creator of the location-based message.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the information in a notification message, about its corresponding location-based message, comprises a description of the subject matter of the location-based message.

24. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing a notification message, corresponding to each identified location-based message available to the user, in a user-specific queue.

25. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing each identified location-based message available to the user in a user-specific queue.

26. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling the user to add comments to a location-based message that the user has accessed, wherein the comments will be stored with the location-based message and made available to subsequent users accessing the location-based message.

27. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling the user to rate the content of a location-based message that the user has accessed.

28. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling the user to add content to a location-based message that the user has accessed.

29. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling the user to add a keyword to a location-based message that the user has accessed that describes the subject matter of the content of the location-based message.

30. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing a notification message corresponding to each identified location-based message available to the user, in a user-specific queue; and

enabling the user to sort notification messages according to one or more criteria.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein one criterion by which the user may sort notification messages is according to the identity of the creator of the corresponding location-based messages.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein one criterion by which the user may sort notification messages is according to the subject matter of the content of the corresponding location-based messages.

33. The method of claim 30, wherein one criterion by which the user may sort notification messages is according to a rating of the content of the corresponding location-based messages.

34. The method of claim 30, wherein one criterion by which the user may sort notification messages is according to the date of creation of the corresponding location-based messages.

35. The method of claim 30, wherein one criterion by which the user may sort notification messages is according to the date of access by the user of the corresponding location-based messages.

36. The method of claim 30, wherein one criterion by which the user may sort notification messages is according to one or more keywords identifying the subject matter of the content of the corresponding location-based messages.

37. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing each identified location-based message available to the user, in a user-specific queue; and

enabling the user to sort location-based messages according to one or more criteria.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein one criterion by which the user may sort location-based messages is according to the identity of the creator of the location-based messages.

39. The method of claim 37, wherein one criterion by which the user may sort location-based messages is according to the subject matter of the content of the location-based messages.

40. The method of claim 37, wherein one criterion by which the user may sort location-based messages is according to a rating of the content of the location-based messages.

41. The method of claim 37, wherein one criterion by which the user may sort location-based messages is according to the date of creation of the location-based messages.

42. The method of claim 37, wherein one criterion by which the user may sort location-based messages is according to the date of access by the user of the location-based messages.

43. The method of claim 37, wherein one criterion by which the user may sort location-based messages is according to one or more keywords identifying the subject matter of the content of the location-based messages.

44. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling the user to subscribe to a topic-centric collection of location-based messages.

45. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving location identifier data from the user;

receiving content associated with the location identifier data from the user;

creating a location-based message based on the location identifier data and the content; and

storing the location-based message.

46. The method of claim 44, further comprising:

receiving one or more message parameters from the user relating to the location-based message.

47. A system for notifying a user of the availability of accessible content associated with one or more geographic locations located proximal to the user'"'"'s location, comprising:

means for determining a location of a mobile computing device associated with a user;

means for identifying, based on the determined location and one or more filtering criteria, one or more location-based messages available to the user, wherein a location-based message comprises location identifier data and content associated with the location-identifier data; and

means for transmitting, for each identified location-based message available to the user, a notification message to the user'"'"'s mobile computing device, wherein a notification message includes information about its corresponding location-based message, as well as a pointer to its corresponding location-based message to enable the user to access the location-based message.