User Defined Location Based Notification for a Mobile Communications Device Systems and Methods

• US 20110081921A1
• Filed: 12/13/2010
• Published: 04/07/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/12/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qwest Communications International Incorporated (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Owest Communications International, Inc.
• Inventors: Casey, Steven M.
• Granted Patent: US 8,725,173 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.3
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention comprise systems and methods related to the provision of location based services via a mobile communications device. In different embodiments, a communication system is described, comprising a mobile communications device, a mobile communications base station, and a server computer system. The location of the device may be correlated with certain user preferences stored on the server computer system. In various embodiments, components of the larger system are described. In some cases, various location related mapping functions for a device are discussed. In other embodiments, systems and methods which provide for activities to be undertaken based on the location of a device are described. In still other embodiments, the disclosure addresses systems and methods of efficiently determining the location of a mobile device. In some embodiments, different notification schemes based on the location of a device and specified preferences are described. In various other embodiments, the disclosure addresses systems and methods for keyword monitoring based on the location of a device.

Claims

1. A system for providing user defined notification information using the location of a mobile communications device, which comprises:

the mobile communications device configured to;

receive a set of data identifying the location of the device; and

transmit the set of data;

a mobile communications base station, in communication with the mobile communications device via a wireless connection; and

a server computer system in communication with the base station, the server computer system configured to;

maintain a database containing;

a user profile for a user of the device, wherein the user profile includes a listing of contact preferences of the user of the device; and

data related to a plurality of product and service providers, wherein each of the plurality of product and service providers are associated with directives for contacting the user of the device related to the location of the device and the contact preferences,

receive the set of data;

associate the set of data with the user profile;

correlate the set of data, the listing of contact preferences, and the directives for contacting the user;

create data which provides information related to at least one of the plurality of product and service providers according to the correlated data; and

transmit the data which provides information related to at least one of the plurality of product and service providers to the user.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the set of data comprises GPS coordinate data.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the GPS coordinate data comprises GPS codes and a GPS navigation message.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein,

the mobile communications device is further configured to transmit data which modifies the user profile;

and

the user profile may be modified by the user from the device.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile communications device is further configured to receive the data which provides information related to at least one of the plurality of product and service providers.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein,

the user profile further includes a plurality of preference levels;

each of the plurality of product and service providers are assigned within one of the plurality of preference levels; and

the correlating step includes consideration of the preference level assigned.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein each of the plurality of product and service providers are assigned a preference level based on inferences from collected information about usage patterns of the user.

8. A method for providing user information from a mobile communications device, which comprises:

providing a server computer system;

maintaining a database which contains;

a user profile for a user of the device, wherein the user profile includes preferences of the user regarding sharing location data and other data in the user profile; and

data related to a plurality of product and service providers;

receiving a set of data identifying the location of the device, the set of data transmitted from the device and stored in the database;

associating the set of data with the user of the device;

correlating the set of data, preferences of the user regarding sharing location data and other data in the user profile, and at least one of the plurality of product and service providers;

transmitting the location data and the other data in the user profile to at least one of the plurality of product and service providers.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the set of data comprises GPS coordinate data.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the GPS coordinate data comprises GPS codes and a GPS navigation message.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the user profile further includes a plurality of access levels granting different access rights to data in the user profile, and the correlating step includes consideration of the plurality of access levels.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the user specifies access levels for each of the plurality of product and service providers.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the user profile further includes a plurality of preference levels corresponding to product and service providers, and the correlating step includes consideration of the preference levels.

14. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the computer-implementable method of claim 8 for providing user information from a mobile communications device.

15. A method for providing user defined notification information using the location of a mobile communications device, which comprises:

providing a server computer system;

maintaining a database which contains;

a user profile for a user of the device, wherein the user profile includes a listing of contact preferences of the user of the device; and

;

data related to a plurality of product and service providers, containing directives for contacting the user of the device;

receiving a set of data identifying the location of the device, the data transmitted from the device and stored in the database;

associating the set of data with the user of the device and the user profile;

correlating the set of data, the listing of contact preferences, and the data related to a plurality of product and service providers; and

transmitting a subset of the data related to a plurality of product and service providers to the user.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the set of data comprises UPS coordinate data.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the GPS coordinate data comprises UPS codes and a GPS navigation message.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the mobile communications device comprises a cellular telephone.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the subset comprises an alert based on changes in the set of data.

20. The method of claim 15, which further comprises receiving data which identifies an other location, wherein the correlating step further comprises correlating the other location.