Internet based geographic location referencing system and method

• US 6,202,023 B1
• Filed: 02/25/1999
• Issued: 03/13/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: WGRS Licensing Company, LLC
• Original Assignee: Go2 Systems Inc (xAd, Inc)
• Inventors: Morrison, Scott D., Dana, Peter H., Hancock, S. Lee
• Primary Examiner(s): Zanelli, Michael J.
• Application Number:
  US09/257,462
• Time in Patent Office: 747 Days
• Field of Search: 701/201, 701/208, 701/211, 701/213, 340/995, 342/357.09, 342/357.1, 709/203, 455/456, 455/457
• US Class Current: 701/201
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/20 Instruments for performing navigational calculations G01C21/24, G01C21/26 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 29/106 using electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/30 Profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• 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 4/026 using orientation information, e.g. compass
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A system and method for automatically providing services over a computer network, such as the Internet, for users in a mobile environment based on their geographic location. A client computer system is equipped with a local storage device, a wireless transceiver, an input device, an output device and an automatic location identifying (ALI) device. An application program is installed on the client computer system that prompts the user to input information. The application program builds a data packet comprising location information and user information and stores the data packet on the local client storage device. The client computer system connects with a server coupled to a computer network, such as the Internet. Upon connection, the client automatically transmits the electronic data packet to the server. The primary server maintains a database that contains a list of enhanced services. The information in the data packet is used to formulate a database query. The result of the database query is an address of a particular enhanced server that matches the client'"'"'s request. A specific universal resource locator (URL) that contains the address of the enhanced server is transmitted to the client. The client computer system launches a web browser and connects to the enhanced server. Upon connection relevant data customized for the client'"'"'s location is automatically displayed without additional input from the user.

Claims

1. A method for automatically providing informational services based on a geographical location of a client computer system, wherein said informational services are provided by a server attached to a computer network, said method comprising the steps of:

executing an application program on said client computer system for collecting user data and location information representative of the geographical location of the client computer system;

constructing a data packet comprising said user data and location information;

connecting to the server;

transmitting said data packet to the server;

parsing said data packet to extract said user data and location information;

converting said location information into a grid coordinate system comprising a plurality of pre-defined grids, each of said grids corresponding to a geographical area and having;

a plurality of cells;

a reference location;

global coordinates of said reference location; and

at least one parameter defining cell size and orientation;

formulating a database query from said user data and location information;

issuing a database query on a database coupled to the server; and

downloading a result from said database query relating to the geographical location of the client computer system to said client.

2. A method for automatically providing informational services based on a geographical location of a client computer system, wherein said informational services are provided by a server attached to a computer network, said method comprising the steps of:

executing an application program on said client computer system for collecting user data and location information representative of the geographical location of the client computer system, said application program including a user interface module, a web browser module, a data packet module and an ALI polling module, said user interface module comprises the steps of;

location prompting for accepting parameters for defining a particular location, wherein location prompting includes the step of prompting the user to specify whether said location information is based on a current or projected location; and

user preference prompting for accepting one or more user preferences;

constructing a data packet comprising said user data and location information;

connecting to the server;

transmitting said data packet to the server;

parsing said data packet to extract said user data and location information;

formulating a database query from said user data and location information;

issuing a database query on a database coupled to the server; and

downloading a result from said database query relating to the geographical location of the client computer system to said client.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said projected location is based on a user specified elapsed time, a current speed, a current bearing and current road topology.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein said projected location is based on information that is relayed to an Intelligent Transportation System.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein said projected location is based on a specified elapsed time and a pre-defined route.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said pre-defined route is specified using a routing program.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said routing program is executed on the client computer system.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein said routing program is executed on the server.

9. A method for automatically providing informational services relevant to a geographical location of a client computer system, wherein said geographical location is described in terms of a grid referencing system comprising a plurality of pre-defined grids, each of said grids corresponding to a geographical area and having a plurality of cells, a reference location, global coordinates of said reference location, and at least one parameter defining cell size and orientation, said method comprising the steps of:

executing an application program on said client computer system for collecting user data and location information representative of the geographical location of the client computer system;

constructing a data packet comprising said user data and location information;

connecting to a server coupled with a computer network;

transmitting said data packet to said server;

parsing said data packet to extract said user data and location information;

formulating a database query from said user data and location information;

issuing a database query on a database coupled to the server; and

downloading a result from said database query relating to the geographical location of the client computer system to said client.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said location information is provided by an automatic location identifying device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said automatic location identifying device is a Global Positioning Satellite receiver.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein said automatic location identifying device is based on a wireless cellular network connection.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein said location information is manually provided by a user.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein said data packet comprises a location, a category of interest, a search radius and user profile information.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein said result from said database query includes a network address of an enhanced server.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein said computer network is the Internet.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising the steps of:

reading said result from said database query to extract a URL associated with an enhanced server;

launching a web browsing program; and

connecting to said enhanced server to receive one or more web pages representing relevant information based on said location information.

18. The method of claim 9, further comprising the steps of:

reading said result from said database query to extract a network address of an enhanced server and;

connecting to said enhanced server to receive relevant information based on said location information.

19. The method of claim 9, wherein said result from said database query comprises information that is customized for a particular location based on said location information.

20. A system for automatically providing informational services based on a geographical location of a client computer system, wherein said informational services are provided by a server attached to a computer network, said system comprising:

executing means for collecting user data and location information on said client computer system, said location information representative of the geographical location of the client computer system;

constructing means for generating a data packet on said client computer system comprising said user data and location information;

connecting means for connecting to the server;

transmitting means for sending said data packet to the server;

parsing means for parsing said data packet on said server for extracting said user data and location information;

formulating means for formulating a database query from said user data and location information;

converting means for converting said location information into a grid coordinate system comprising a plurality of pre-defined grids, each of said grids corresponding to a geographical area and having;

a plurality of cells;

a reference location;

global coordinates of said reference location; and

at least one parameter defining cell size and orientation;

issuing means for issuing a database query on a database coupled to the server; and

downloading means for transmitting a result from said database query relating to the geographical location of the client computer system to said client.

21. A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having computer program logic stored therein, said computer program logic enabling a computer to automatically provide informational services based on a geographical location of a client computer system, wherein said informational services are provided by a server attached to a computer network, wherein said computer program logic comprising:

executing means enabling the computer to collect user data and location information on said client computer system, said location information representative of the geographical location of the client computer system;

constructing means for enabling the computer to generate a data packet on said client computer system comprising said user data and location information;

connecting means for enabling the computer to connect to the server;

transmitting means for enabling the computer to send said data packet to the server;

parsing means for enabling the computer to parse said data packet on said server for extracting said user data and location information;

formulating means for enabling the computer to formulate a database query from said user data and location information;

issuing means for enabling the computer to issue a database query on a database coupled to the server; and

enabling means for enabling the computer to convert said location information into a grid coordinate system comprising a plurality of pre-defined grids, each of said grids corresponding to a geographical area and having;

a plurality of cells;

a reference location;

global coordinates of said reference location; and

at least one parameter defining cell size and orientation;

downloading means for enabling the computer to transmit a result from said database query relating to the geographical location of the client computer system to said client.

22. In a computational apparatus, a method of addressing a selected location within a geographical area comprising the following steps:

selecting a geographical area from a plurality of geographical areas;

defining a grid corresponding to the selected geographical area, the grid having a plurality of grid cells, a reference point, global coordinates defined in accordance with a known global referencing system, and a name;

subdividing a cell corresponding to the selected location into as many levels of hierarchically-arranged sub-cells as necessary to obtain a desired addressing precision;

associating each sub-cell with a sub-cell code;

identifying each sub-cell with a hierarchical arrangement of codes;

addressing the selected location within the geographical area with an address formed by appending to the name of the grid a hierarchical arrangement of codes corresponding to the selected location; and

appending a predefined alpha code to said hierarchical arrangement of codes, said predefined alpha code representing a specific object associated with said address to further identify a specific characteristic of said address.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein said specific characteristic can include one or more of the following said specific characteristics:

aisle, apartment, address, box, bin, bay, column, case, door, depth, day, elevator, entry, elevation, escalator, floor, field, garage, gate, height above ellipsoid, height above geoid, height orthometric, height above sea level, height above topographical surface, house, locker, level, number, P.O. box, phone, room, row, road, street, suite, security code, section, seat, time, tram, train, track, unit, intersection and zipcode.