LOCATION BASED MEDIA ITEMS

• US 20090006336A1
• Filed: 01/25/2008
• 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, Tiene, Kevin, Borchers, Robert E.
• Granted Patent: US 8,332,402 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce

Abstract

Media items can be distributed to mobile devices based on the location of the media device. The media items can be associated with location information, which can be examined and distributed to those devices whose proximate area includes the location information associated with the media items.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

communicating location information associated with a device to a server, the location information including boundary information defining a geographic area depicted by a current map display associated with the device;

receiving at the device media items from the server, the media items comprising vicinity content associated with the location information, the vicinity content comprising content associated with the geographical area defined by the boundary information; and

presenting the media items received at the device to a user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the media items comprise images of locations associated with the geographical area within a proximate distance to the user based on the location information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the media items comprise videos associated with the geographical area within a proximate distance to the user based on the location information.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the media items comprise routes associated with the geographical area within a proximate distance to the user based on the location information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the media items comprise a multimedia tour presentation associated with the geographical area within a proximate distance to the user based on the location information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the media items comprise music associated with the geographical area within a proximate distance to the user based on the location information.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving location information from a positioning system.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the positioning system derives location information from satellite data received from a plurality of satellites.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the positioning system uses dead reckoning to derive location information associated with the user.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the positioning system uses a wireless signal strength of a device associated with the user to derive location information associated with the user.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting the media items to the user in a multi-touch environment.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving at the device from a user a scale request;

determining a boundary information delta based on the scale request; and

retrieving only those media items associated with the boundary information delta;

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

deriving new location information;

determining a boundary information delta based on the scale request; and

retrieving only those media items associated with the boundary information delta.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting preference data associated with the user of the device to the server; and

wherein the received media items are further based on the transmitted preference data.

15. A method comprising:

receiving current location information associated with a current location of a mobile device, the current location information including boundary information defining a geographic area depicted by a current map display associated with the device;

filtering a plurality of media items based on a geographic area defined by the boundary information identified by the location information, the media items comprising content associated with the geographic area defined by the boundary information; and

transmitting the filtered media items to the mobile device for presentation.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

retrieving one or more user preferences associated with a user of the mobile device; and

filtering the plurality of media items based on the one or more user preferences and based upon the geographic area proximate to a location identified by the location information, the media items comprising content identified by user preferences and associated with the geographic area.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the media items comprise one or more of a music item, a video item, a multi-media tour presentation item, a picture item, or a route item.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the media items comprise traffic information.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving user defined media; and

adding the user defined media items to the plurality of media items;

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the user defined media items are received using a web interface.

21. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

retrieving any content provider media items from third party content providers; and

adding the content provider media items to the plurality of media items.

22. A system comprising:

a positioning system operable to derive location information associated with a device;

a preferences engine operable to receive and store preferences associated with a user of the device;

a communications interface operable to communicate preferences and location information associated with the device to a server, the communications interface being further operable to receive media items from the server based on the preferences and location information, wherein the media items include content based on the preferences and the location information; and

a user interface operable to overlay the media items onto a map section and present the map section to a user associated with the device.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the media items comprise one or more of video content, picture content, audio content, multimedia content or routing content associated with the geographical area within a proximate distance to the user based on the location information.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein the media items comprise user contributed content associated with the geographical area within a proximate distance to the user based on the location information.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein the media items comprise commercial content associated with the geographical area within a proximate distance to the user based on the location information.

26. The system of claim 25, further comprising a payment engine operable to adjust an account associated with the user based on receiving a request for commercial content, the payment engine being further operable to adjust an account associated with a provider of the commercial content.

27. The system of claim 22, wherein the positioning system is operable to derive location information from satellite data received from a plurality of satellites.

28. The system of claim 22, wherein the positioning system uses dead reckoning to derive location information associated with the user.

29. The system of claim 22, wherein the positioning system uses a wireless signal strength associated with the device to derive location information associated with the device.

30. A system comprising:

a communications interface operable to receive location information associated with a current location of a mobile device and user preferences associated with the mobile device;

a location based media engine operable to identify one or more media items based on the one or more user preferences and a geographic area proximate to a location associated with the received location information, the one or more media items comprising content associated with the geographic area and identified by user preferences; and

the communications interface being further operable to overlay the media items onto a map section and to communicate the map section with the overlay to the mobile device for presentation to a user associated with the mobile device.

31. The system of claim 30, wherein the one or more media items comprise one or more of a music item, a video item, a multi-media tour presentation item, a picture item, or a route item.

32. The system of claim 30, wherein the media items comprise one or more of user contributed content or commercial content.

33. The system of claim 30, wherein the media items comprise traffic information associated with roads proximate to the location identified by the location information.

34. The system of claim 30, further comprising a payment engine operable to adjust an account associated with the user based on receiving a request for commercial content, the payment engine being further operable to adjust an account associated with a provider of requested commercial content.

35. The system of claim 30, further comprising a preference engine operable to store the user preferences associated with a user of the mobile device.

36. The system of claim 30, wherein the location information comprises a route and the one or more media items are identified based upon being associated with a geographic location proximate to the route.

37. A method comprising:

communicating route information associated with a device to a server, the route information comprising an origin and a destination;

receiving at the device media items from the server, the media items being associated with vicinity content related to the route information, the vicinity content comprising content associated with a geographical area proximate to a route associated with the route information; and

presenting the media items received at the device to a user.

38. The method of claim 37, further comprising:

receiving a route associated with the route information from the server; and

presenting the route received at the device to the user;

wherein presenting the media items comprises overlaying symbols associated with the vicinity content on a map associated with the route.

39. The method of claim 37, wherein the vicinity content comprises user contributed content, wherein the user contributed content is contributed by other users and associated with a location.