TRACKING A GROUP OF MOBILE TERMINALS

• US 20080096519A1
• Filed: 10/23/2006
• Published: 04/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications USA Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications USA Incorporated (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Miegel, Magnus
• Granted Patent: US 7,831,264 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/404.2
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0072 Transmission between mobile stations, e.g. anti-collision systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/08 Mobility data transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/14 between corresponding nodes

Abstract

A method performed by a mobile terminal may include setting a tracking parameter for a group of mobile terminals, transmitting text and position information messages of each of the mobile terminals, and displaying the messages based on priority. The method may further include automatically generating messages relating to the position of a mobile terminal.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

setting at least one tracking parameter for a plurality of mobile terminals;

receiving position information from each of the plurality of mobile terminals; and

automatically displaying a message on at least one of the plurality of mobile terminals based on the at least one tracking parameter and a position of the at least one mobile terminal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one tracking parameter includes at least one of a distance or an area.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one mobile terminal comprises a first mobile terminal, the method further comprising:

generating the message when the position of the first mobile terminal has exceeded the at least one tracking parameter.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the automatically displayed message on the at least one of the mobile terminals comprises text indicating at least one of a position alert, a speed alert, an acceleration alert or a heading alert.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the setting the at least one tracking parameter for a plurality of mobile terminals comprises:

designating a leader mobile terminal, wherein the leader mobile terminal sends prioritized messages to the plurality of mobile terminals.

6. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a memory for storing tracking information;

a display; and

logic configured to;

receive position messages relating to a position of each of a plurality of mobile terminals; and

control the display to display the position of each of the plurality of mobile terminals based on the received position messages from each of the plurality of mobile terminals.

7. The mobile terminal of claim 6, wherein the logic is further configured to:

compare the position of the mobile terminals to the stored tracking information.

8. The mobile terminal of claim 6, wherein the logic is further configured to:

control the display to display a text message relating to the position of the mobile terminal based on the comparing the position of the mobile terminal to the stored tracking information.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 6, wherein the logic is further configured to:

receive text messages from the plurality of mobile terminals;

determine a priority level associated with the received position messages and text messages; and

display received messages based on the determined priority level.

10. The mobile terminal of claim 9, wherein a received message with a highest determined priority level corresponds to an emergency message.

11. A method comprising:

receiving position messages relating to position information of each of a plurality of mobile terminals;

receiving text messages from at least one of the plurality of mobile terminals;

determining a priority level for each of the position and text messages; and

displaying a received message with a highest determined priority level.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

storing a message priority level associated with a plurality of message types.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the plurality of message types comprise:

emergency text messages, position alert text messages, leader text messages, text messages and position messages.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

setting tracking parameters relating to positions of the plurality of mobile terminals.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

automatically generating a text message based on comparing a position of one of the mobile terminals to the tracking parameters.

16. A mobile terminal, comprising:

a memory configured to store message priority levels associated with a plurality of message types;

a display; and

logic configured to;

receive a position message relating to a position of a second mobile terminal;

receive a text message from a third mobile terminal;

determine a priority level of the received text message and the received position message; and

control the display to display one of the received messages based on the determined priority level associated with the received position message and the received text message.

17. The mobile terminal of claim 16, wherein a received text message relating to an emergency corresponds to a highest priority level message.

18. The mobile terminal of claim 16, wherein the memory is further configured to store tracking parameters relating to the position of a plurality of mobile terminals.

19. The mobile terminal of claim 18, wherein the logic is further configured to:

compare a position of the mobile terminal to the stored tracking parameters.

20. The mobile terminal of claim 19, wherein the logic is further configured to:

automatically generate a text message based on the comparing a position of the mobile terminal to the stored tracking parameters.