System and Method for Location Based Inventory Management

• US 20130339185A1
• Filed: 08/21/2013
• Published: 12/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BillJCo LLC
• Original Assignee: William J. Johnson
• Inventors: Johnson, William J.
• Granted Patent: US 9,078,095 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/26.8
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0833 Tracking
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/087 Inventory or stock management, e.g. order filling, procurement or balancing against orders
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 20/16 Arrangements for broadcast or for distribution of identical information repeatedly
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/104 Peer-to-peer [P2P] networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/069 using certificates or pre-shared keys
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/20 based on geographic position or location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/244 using a network of reference devices, e.g. beaconing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

Provided is a distributed system and method for enabling new and useful location dependent features and functionality to mobile data processing systems. Mobile data processing Systems (MSs) interact with each other as peers in communications and interoperability. Data is shared between mobile data processing systems to carry out novel Location Based eXchanges (LBX) of data for new mobile applications. Information transmitted inbound to, transmitted outbound from, is in process at, or is application modified at a mobile data processing system triggers processing of actions in accordance with user configured permissions, charters, and other configurations. In a preferred embodiment, a user configurable platform is provided for quickly building well behaving LBX applications at MSs and across a plurality of interoperating MSs. Tools, triggered interfaces and integrated applications are disclosed for a breadth of MS LBX configurations and functionality.

Claims

1. A method by a mobile data processing system with phone call capability, the method comprising:

maintaining user configured inventory information including an inventory description and a stock count;

maintaining a configuration for a location based event to invoke inventory application processing, the configuration including;

at least one condition including a condition for the mobile data processing system recognizing when the mobile data processing system is located in proximity of a particular location, and

an action for starting the inventory application processing;

monitoring for the at least one condition;

detecting the at least one condition including when the mobile data processing system is located in proximity of the particular location;

invoking the action for starting the inventory application processing upon the detecting the at least one condition;

determining with the inventory application processing the stock count for one or more inventory items, of the inventory information, associated to the particular location; and

modifying the inventory information using the stock count determined by the mobile data processing system.

2. The method of claim 1 including using the inventory information for shopping information.

3. The method of claim 2 including altering application data of another application with the shopping information.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the another application is a calendar application.

5. The method of claim 2 including providing a user interface for reconciling the shopping information.

6. The method of claim 1 including processing for purchasing at least one of the one or more inventory items.

7. The method of claim 6 including processing for authorizing the purchasing at least one of the one or more inventory items.

8. The method of claim 6 including providing a user interface for tracking delivery of the purchasing at least one of the one or more inventory items.

9. The method of claim 6 including providing a user interface for maintaining payment information for the purchasing at least one of the one or more inventory items.

10. The method of claim 1 including providing a user interface for managing the inventory information and maintaining the inventory information in a group or category.

11. The method of claim 1 including terminating the inventory application processing upon detecting when the mobile data processing system departs being located in proximity of the particular location.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one condition includes a condition for the mobile data processing system detecting receipt of a transmission from a remote data processing system in the proximity of the mobile data processing system wherein the transmission was solicited by the mobile data processing system.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one condition includes a condition for the mobile data processing system detecting receipt of an unsolicited transmission from a remote data processing system in the proximity of the mobile data processing system.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one condition includes a condition for the mobile data processing system detecting a particular data processing system being located at a configured location.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one condition includes a condition for the mobile data processing system detecting a particular data processing system being located in proximity of a plurality of data processing systems.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one condition includes a condition for the mobile data processing system detecting a particular data processing system being located a configured distance to the particular location.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one condition includes a condition for the mobile data processing system detecting a particular data processing system being located in proximity of the particular location at a particular time.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one condition includes a condition for the mobile data processing system to determine at least one of:

information for an email application,

information for a messaging application,

information for a calendar application,

information for an address book application,

information for a phone application,

information for a map application,

information for a storage application,

information for a file system application,

information for a database application,

information for a search application,

information for an internet browser application,

information included in a Whereabouts Data Record received by the mobile data processing system from a remote data processing system,

information included in a Whereabouts Data Record of the mobile data processing system,

information associated to an application of a remote data processing system,

information associated to an application of the mobile data processing system,

information for a statistic,

information for historical data,

information for a geofence specification,

information for a nearby specification,

information for a nearness specification,

information for a specification using a distance,

information for a vicinity specification,

information for a situational location specification,

information associated to a file,

information associated to a directory,

information for SQL database data,

information for a group,

information for a plurality of data processing systems,

information for a date specification,

information for a time specification,

information for an arrival,

information for a departure,

information for a profile match percentage,

information for a profile tag match count,

information for a Whereabouts Programming Language specification,

information for an XML specification,

an atomic operator,

information for a point,

information for a radius,

information for a perimeter,

information for a sphere,

information for a region,

information for a Boolean value,

information for a physical location address,

information for a two dimensional region specification,

information for a three dimensional region specification,

information for an emergency application,

information for a RFID application,

information for a hotspot application,

information for a services application,

information for a traffic application,

information for an appliance application,

information for a device application,

information for an account management application,

information for a public transportation application,

information for a carpool application,

information for an advertising application,

information for a news application,

information for a picture application,

information for a video application,

information for a parking lot application,

information for an employment application,

information for a real estate application,

information for a line,

information for a polygon,

information for a mathematical coordinate system,

information for a specification described by a set of geographical coordinate system points,

information for a specification described by a set of spatial coordinate system points,

a plurality of identifier information for the mobile data processing system,

a plurality of identifier information received in a wireless data record by the mobile data processing system from a remote data processing system for the remote data processing system,

geofence information received in a wireless data record by the mobile data processing system from a remote data processing system,

waymark information received in a wireless data record by the mobile data processing system from a remote data processing system,

deliverable content information received in a wireless data record by the mobile data processing system from a remote data processing system,

halo information received in a wireless data record by the mobile data processing system from a remote data processing system,

information for a direction, or

information for data created by a user of the mobile data processing system with a user interface to a map.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more inventory items is associated to a RFID device.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the configuration for the location based event includes an associated privilege governing processing of the configuration for the location based event.

21. A mobile data processing system with phone call capability, comprising:

one or more processors;

a user interface;

at least one memory coupled to the one or more processors, wherein the at least one memory includes executable instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, results in the system;

maintaining user configured inventory information including an inventory description and a stock count;

maintaining a configuration for a location based event to invoke inventory application processing, the configuration including;

at least one condition including a condition for the mobile data processing system recognizing when the mobile data processing system is located in proximity of a particular location, and

an action for starting the inventory application processing;

monitoring for the at least one condition;

detecting the at least one condition including when the mobile data processing system is located in proximity of the particular location;

invoking the action for starting the inventory application processing upon the detecting the at least one condition;

determining with the inventory application processing the stock count for one or more inventory items, of the inventory information, associated to the particular location; and

modifying the inventory information using the stock count determined by the mobile data processing system.