TECHNIQUES FOR TRACKING DESTINATIONS ON A MOBILE COMPUTING DEVICE

• US 20090318163A1
• Filed: 06/24/2008
• Published: 12/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Palm, Inc. (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Inventors: George, Moses
• Granted Patent: US 8,180,280 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 1/3822 specially adapted for use in vehicles H04B1/3827 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/48 for in-vehicle communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination

Abstract

Various embodiments of systems and techniques for tracking destinations on a mobile computing device are described. In one or more embodiments, the mobile computing device may comprise or implement hardware and/or software configured to determine arrival at a destination and what is situated at the destination. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a mobile computing device communicating by way of a short range wireless communication system and;

a vehicle based communication device communicating with the mobile computing device by way of the short range wireless communication system, the mobile computing device or the vehicle based communication device establishing a location-based service (LBS) communications session and storing a description of what is situated at the location when the mobile computing device and the vehicle based communication device reach a destination.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the description of what is situated at the location is stored in a destination database.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the destination database is stored in memory of the mobile computing device.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the LBS communications session comprises a global positioning system (GPS) communications session.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the LBS communications session comprises a cell global identity technique.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the location-based services (LBS) communications session is performed by the mobile computing device.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the mobile computing device and the vehicle based communication device have reached a destination when the mobile computing device and the vehicle based communication device cease communicating on the short range wireless communication system.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the mobile computing device and the vehicle based communication device have reached a destination when a key is removed from the vehicle.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of the mobile computing device and the vehicle based communication device stores a time when the mobile computing device and the vehicle based communication device reach the destination.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of the mobile computing device and the vehicle based communication device stores a date when the mobile computing device and the vehicle based communication device reach the destination.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of the mobile computing device and the vehicle based communication device stores the location when the mobile computing device and the vehicle based communication device reach a destination.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein at least one of the mobile computing device and the vehicle based communication device stores a time when the mobile computing device and the vehicle based communication device leave a destination.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the mobile computing device and the vehicle based communication device leave a destination when the mobile computing device and the vehicle based communication device next begin communicating on the short range wireless communication system after the mobile computing device and the vehicle based communication ceased communicating on the short range wireless communication system.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein at least one of the mobile computing device and the vehicle based communication device stores a time when the mobile computing device and the vehicle based communication device leave a destination.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising the mobile computing device displaying the description of what is situated at the location.

16. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising the mobile computing device displaying the time when the mobile computing device and the vehicle based communication device reach the destination.

17. A method comprising:

determining when a destination has been reached;

determining the location of the destination;

determining a time of arrival at the location;

storing the time of arrival at the location;

ascertaining a description of what is situated at the destination location; and

storing a description of what is situated at the destination location.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein determining whether a destination has been reached includes sensing the loss of short range wireless communication between the mobile computing device and the vehicle based communication device.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein determining whether a destination has been reached includes sensing when a key has been removed from the vehicle.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein ascertaining a description of what is situated at the destination location includes referring to a map database.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein determining the time of arrival at the location includes determining the date of arrival at the location.

22. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

determining a time of departure from the location; and

storing the time of departure from the location;

23. The method of claim 22, wherein determining a time of departure from the location includes sensing the resumption of short range wireless communication between the mobile computing device and the vehicle based communication device.

24. The method of claim 17, further comprising retrieving the description of what is situated at the destination location.

25. The method of claim 17, further comprising retrieving the time of arrival at the destination location.

26. A mobile computing device, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory communicatively coupled to the processor, the memory to store a date at which the mobile computing device ceased to communicate with a vehicle based communication device, a time at which the mobile computing device ceased to communicate with the vehicle based communication device, and a description of what is situated at the location where the mobile computing device ceased to communicate with the vehicle based communication device.

27. The mobile communication device of claim 26, wherein the latitude and longitude of the mobile computing device at the time the mobile computing device ceased to communicate with the vehicle based communication device is stored in the memory.

28. The mobile communication device of claim 26, wherein the date when the mobile computing device next communicated with the vehicle based communication device is stored in the memory.

29. The mobile communication device of claim 26, wherein the time when the mobile computing device next communicated with the vehicle based communication device is stored in the memory.

30. A computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that if executed enable a computing system to:

determine when a destination has been reached;

determine the location of the destination;

determine a time of arrival at the location;

store the time of arrival at the location;

ascertain a description of what is situated at the destination location; and

store a description of what is situated at the destination location.

31. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 30, wherein the instructions if executed enable the computing system to determine whether a destination has been reached by sensing the loss of short range wireless communication between the mobile computing device and the vehicle based communication device.

32. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 30, wherein the instructions if executed enable the computing system to determine whether a destination has been reached by sensing when a key has been removed from the vehicle.

33. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 30, wherein the instructions if executed enable the computing system to ascertain a description of what is situated at the destination location by referring to a map database.

34. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 30, wherein the instructions if executed enable the computing system to determine the time of arrival at the location by determining the date of arrival at the location.

35. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 30, wherein the instructions if executed enable the computing system to further:

determine a time of departure from the location; and

store the time of departure from the location;

36. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 35, wherein the instructions if executed enable the computing system to determine a time of departure from the location by sensing the resumption of short range wireless communication between the mobile computing device and the vehicle based communication device.

37. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 30, wherein the instructions if executed enable the computing system to further retrieve the description of what is situated at the destination location.

38. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 30, wherein the instructions if executed enable the computing system to further retrieve the time of arrival at the destination location.