LOCATION-BASED CATEGORICAL INFORMATION SERVICES

• US 20090005021A1
• Filed: 05/27/2008
• Published: 01/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/28/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Christie, Gregory N., Forstall, Scott, Borchers, Robert E.
• Granted Patent: US 8,311,526 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/414.300
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/22 including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector digitizers for touch screens G06F3/041
• 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 selection of a category of interest and location information is used to determine categorical information that is provided to a device. In some implementations, the device includes a touch-sensitive display and presents the categorical information on a map using an indicator. In some implementations, the categorical information can be shared and/or updated by others.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving first information associated with a category of interest from a mobile device;

receiving second information identifying a geographic location of the mobile device;

determining categorical information using the first information and the second information;

providing the categorical information to the mobile device including information used by the mobile device to represent the categorical information on a display associated with the mobile device; and

receiving third information to share the categorical information with a second user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

representing the categorical information on the map by a graphical object.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the categorical information in accordance with a zoom level of the map.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing, in response to a selection of the graphical object, additional information regarding the categorical information represented by the graphical object.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

synchronizing the categorical information on the mobile device with an information service.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the third information specifies access rights to the categorical information.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

providing the categorical information to a second device from which the third information was communicated.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving updates from the second user to the categorical information.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the geographic location is determined using GPS coordinate data.

10. A system comprising:

a positioning system operable to obtain a current location of a mobile device;

a data structure including a set of categorical information; and

a map application operable to provide a display of a map, the map including a graphical representation of an item in the set of categorical information, where the graphical representation is displayed at a location corresponding to an address of the item.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the display provides a current location of the mobile device on the map, and wherein the current location of the mobile device and one or more graphical representations of items in the set of categorical information change in response to movement of the mobile device.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein one or more graphical representations of items in the set of categorical information change in response to a zoom level of the map.

13. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

an information service operable to communicate an updated data structure containing updates to the categorical information.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the display is updated to display graphical representations of the updated items in the updated data structure.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the data structure is provided to an authorized requester.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the authorized requestor is specified by a user of the mobile device.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the set of categorical information is specified as updatable by the authorized requestor.

18. A method comprising:

providing first information associated with a category of interest;

providing second information associated with a location of a mobile device;

receiving categorical information using the first information and the second information;

displaying a map including graphical representations of one or more items in the categorical information, where the graphical representations are displayed at locations corresponding to addresses of the one or more items, and wherein the graphical representations are displayed based on a zoom level of the map.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

providing, in response to a selection of a graphical representation, additional information regarding the categorical information associated with the graphical representation.

20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

synchronizing the categorical information on the mobile device with an information service.

21. The method of claim 18, further comprising;

determining the geographic location is using GPS coordinates.

22. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

enabling the distribution of the categorical information in accordance with a preference set on the mobile device.

23. A method, comprising:

providing first information associated with a category of interest;

providing second information associated with a location of a first mobile device;

receiving categorical information using the first information and the second information at the mobile device; and

sharing the categorical information with a second mobile device.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

setting access rights to the categorical information at the first mobile device.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the access rights enable a user of the second mobile device to update the categorical information.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein the sharing is performed over a peer-to-peer connection between the first mobile device and the second mobile device.