SUPPORTING MANAGEMENT OF GROUPS OF MOBILE DEVICES

• US 20170339523A1
• Filed: 05/17/2016
• Published: 11/23/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Hamahata, Kenji, Nishitani, Koichi, Yoshida, Tadayuki
• Granted Patent: US 10,038,980 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• 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 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management

Abstract

A method comprising: storing, by a computer, a list of mobile devices; creating, by the computer, a plurality of groups of the mobile devices, each group including at least one mobile device, based on locations of the mobile devices; providing, by the computer, at least one mobile device of the plurality of groups with information of a target location; and handling, by the computer, information for a mutual interaction between at least two groups of the plurality of groups.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

storing, by a computer, a list of mobile devices;

creating, by the computer, a plurality of groups of the mobile devices, each group comprising at least one mobile device, based on locations of the mobile devices;

providing, by the computer, at least one mobile device of the plurality of groups with information of a target location; and

handling, by the computer, information for a mutual interaction between at least two groups of the plurality of groups, wherein the handling of information for the mutual interaction includes exchanging a mobile device between the at least two groups of the plurality of groups when the mobile device reaches a targeted location.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

collecting, by the computer, locations of the mobile devices of each group; and

identifying, by the computer, a location of each group based on the locations of the mobile devices of the each group.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising transmitting, by the computer, the location of the plurality of groups to the mobile devices of each group.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the handling includes facilitating, by the computer, an exchange of information of a meeting place between the at least two groups.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the facilitating includes

receiving, by the computer, a suggestion of the meeting place from a representative mobile device of a first group among the at least two groups, and

transmitting, by the computer, the suggestion to at least a second group among the at least two groups.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the facilitating further includes:

receiving, by the computer, an agreement, a denial or a counter suggestion of the meeting place from a representative mobile device of the second group, and

transmitting, by the computer, the agreement, the denial or the counter suggestion to the representative mobile device of the first group.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising estimating, by the computer, a time that the at least two groups will meet at the meeting place based on the locations of the at least two groups.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

calculating, by the computer, moving speeds of the at least two groups; and

the estimating comprising updating, by the computer, the time that the at least two groups will meet at the meeting place based on the moving speeds of the at least two groups.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the calculating is performed based on speeds of median points of the at least two groups that move faster than a threshold speed.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the handling includes merging, by the computer, the at least two groups of the plurality of groups into a new group.

11. The method of claim 10, the merging comprising determining, by the computer, a new representative mobile device among representative mobile devices of the at least two groups, based on the numbers of mobile devices of the at least two groups or based on which group of the at least two groups suggested a meeting.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising determining, by the computer, a new representative mobile device of the new group based on locations of mobile devices of the new group.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting, by the computer, a stray mobile device apart from the group that the stray mobile device belongs to; and

informing, by the computer, a representative mobile device of the group with a location of the stray mobile device.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the handling includes changing, by the computer, mobile devices of at least one group dynamically.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

collecting, by the computer, locations of the mobile devices; and

wherein the creating includes dividing the mobile devices into the plurality of groups based on the locations of the mobile devices.

16. A non-transitory computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium having program code embodied therewith, the program code executable by a processor of a computer to perform a method comprising:

storing a list of members, wherein the members attend an event;

creating a plurality of groups, each group including at least one member, based on locations of the members;

guiding each of the plurality of groups for attending the event; and

handling a mutual interaction between at least two groups of the plurality of groups, wherein the handling the mutual interaction includes exchanging a mobile device between the at least two groups of the plurality of groups when the mobile device reaches a targeted location.

17. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 16, wherein the instructions are executable by the computer to cause the computer to further perform:

collecting locations of the members of each group; and

identifying a location of each group based on the locations of the members of the each group.

18. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 16, wherein the instructions are executable by the computer to cause the computer to further perform transmitting the location of the plurality of groups to the members of each group.

19. A non-transitory computer system, the computer system comprising:

one or more computer processors;

one or more computer-readable storage media;

program instructions stored on the computer-readable storage media for execution by at least one of the one or more processors, the program instructions comprising;

instructions to store a list of members, wherein the members attend an event;

instructions to create a plurality of groups, each group including at least one member, based on locations of the members;

instructions to guide each of the plurality of groups for attending the event; and

instructions to handle a mutual interaction between at least two groups of the plurality of groups, wherein the instructions to handle the mutual interaction includes exchanging a mobile device between the at least two groups of the plurality of groups when the mobile device reaches a targeted location.

20. The non-transitory computer system of claim 19, further comprising:

a collecting section to collect locations of the members of each group; and

an identifying section to identify a location of each group based on the locations of the members of the each group.