MAPPING AN EVENT LOCATION VIA A CALENDAR APPLICATION

• US 20090036148A1
• Filed: 08/01/2007
• Published: 02/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: YACH, David
• Granted Patent: US 8,983,500 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/457
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72451 according to schedules, e.g. using calendar applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• 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 method of mapping a location of an event that is scheduled in a calendar application includes steps of identifying a contact associated with the event, determining address information associated with the contact, obtaining map data for the address information, and generating a map of the location associated with the contact based on the map data. Meeting or event locations can thus be mapped even if there is no event location or address information specified directly in the meeting request or appointment.

Claims

1. A method of determining a location of an event that is scheduled in a calendar application, the method comprising steps of:

identifying a contact associated with the event;

determining location information associated with the contact; and

presenting the location information to a user of the calendar application as indicative of the location of the event.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the location information comprises address information stored in an address book accessible by the calendar application.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2 further comprising steps of:

obtaining map data for the address information; and

generating a map of the location associated with the contact based on the map data.

4. The method as claimed in claim 3 further comprising steps of:

displaying a list of all contacts associated with the event; and

enabling a user to select one of the contacts for determining a map of the location associated with the contact selected by the user.

5. The method as claimed in Claim 4 wherein the step of enabling the user to select one of the contacts comprises steps of:

displaying a plurality of addresses associated with the selected contact; and

enabling the user to select one of the plurality of addresses associated with the contact.

6. The method as claimed in claim 4 further comprising a step of configuring the calendar application to automatically select a work address associated with the contact if an event time lies within specified work hours and to automatically select a home address associated with the contact if the event time lies outside specified work hours.

7. The method as claimed in claim 3 further comprising steps of:

determining a current location of a wireless communications device; and

providing route directions from the current location of the device to the location associated with the contact.

8. The method as claimed in claim 3 further comprising a step of configuring the calendar application to automatically select the contact who has invited the user to the event.

9. The method as claimed in claim 3 further comprising a step of configuring the calendar application to automatically select the contact whose location was previously used for a recurring event.

10. The method as claimed in claim 3 further comprising a step of configuring the calendar application to automatically select the contact whose location was previously used for a previous event attended by the same set or subset of contacts.

11. The method as claimed in claim 3 further comprising steps of:

determining a current location of a wireless communications device on which the calendar application is executing, the current location being determined at a time corresponding to the event; and

associating the current location of the event with a future event having related attributes in order to enable the calendar application to predict a probable location of the future event.

12. A computer program product comprising code which, when loaded into memory and executed on a processor of a wireless communications device, is adapted to perform the steps of:

identifying a contact associated with the event;

determining address information associated with the contact;

obtaining map data for the address information; and

generating a map of the location associated with the contact based on the map data.

13. The computer program product as claimed in claim 12 wherein the code is adapted to further perform steps of:

displaying a list of all contacts associated with the event; and

enabling a user to select one of the contacts for determining a map of the location associated with the contact selected by the user.

14. The computer program product as claimed in claim 13 wherein the step of enabling the user to select one of the contacts comprises steps of:

displaying a plurality of addresses associated with the selected contact; and

enabling the user to select one of the plurality of addresses associated with the contact.

15. The computer program product as claimed in claim 13 wherein the code is adapted to further perform a step of configuring the calendar application to automatically select a work address associated with the contact if an event time lies within specified work hours and to automatically select a home address associated with the contact if the event time lies outside specified work hours.

16. The computer program product as claimed in claim 12 wherein the code is adapted to further perform a step of:

determining a current location of a wireless communications device; and

generating route directions from the current location of the device to the location associated with the contact.

17. A wireless communications device for obtaining and presenting location information about a location of a calendar event, the wireless communications device comprising:

a memory and a processor for storing and executing a calendar application that stores an event, the calendar application identifying a contact associated with the event; and

a display for displaying location information associated with the contact as being indicative of the location of the calendar event.

18. The wireless communications device as claimed in claim 17 wherein the location information comprises address information stored in an address book on a memory of the device for retrieval by the calendar application.

19. The wireless communications device as claimed in claim 17 wherein the processor instructs a radio-frequency transceiver to wirelessly download map data from a map server for displaying a map of the location of the event.

20. The wireless communications device as claimed in claim 17 further comprising a GPS receiver for determining a current location of the device to enable the calendar application to selectively provide route directions from the current location of the device to the location of the event.

21. The wireless communications device as claimed in claim 17 wherein the calendar application displays a list of all contacts associated with the event to enable a user to select one of the contacts for determining a map of the location associated with the contact selected by the user.

22. The wireless communications device as claimed in claim 21 wherein the calendar application enables the user to select one of the contacts by displaying a plurality of addresses associated with the selected contact and enabling the user to select one of the plurality of addresses associated with the contact.

24. The wireless communications device as claimed in claim 17 further comprising a GPS receiver for determining a current location of the device at a time corresponding to the calendar event, the memory and processor associating the current location of the calendar event with a future event having related attributes in order to enable the calendar application to predict a probable location of the future event.

23. The wireless communications device as claimed 21 the calendar application is configured to automatically select a work address associated with the contact if an event time lies within specified work hours and to automatically select a home address associated with the contact if the event time lies outside specified work hours.