Method and apparatus for providing precise location information through a communications network
First Claim
1. A method of obtaining a geographic location of a mobile station, comprising the steps of:
- obtaining a digital image of a geographic location proximate the mobile station;
wirelessly transmitting said digital image from said mobile station to a mobile communications network;
contacting a computer network through said mobile communications network;
obtaining a general location identifier of the mobile station from said mobile communications network; and
comparing the general location identifier and information corresponding to said digital image to pre-stored data accessible through said computer network to determine the geographic location of the mobile station.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for obtaining information about an object through interaction between a mobile station (MS) and a computer network such as the Internet, and communicating the information to the MS. A digital camera obtains an image of an object, such as a geographic region proximate the MS, which is then transmitted through the mobile communications system to the computer network. A converter server such as an Optical Character Reader (OCR) server interfaced with the global computer network converts the digital image to a text format which is then compared, along with a general location identifier of the MS to geographic data stored in a location database connected to the global computer network. Based on a comparison of the converted text data and the general location identifier of the MS to the geographic data stored in the location server, a precise location of the MS is determined and transmitted to the MS.
467 Citations
23 Claims
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1. A method of obtaining a geographic location of a mobile station, comprising the steps of:
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obtaining a digital image of a geographic location proximate the mobile station;
wirelessly transmitting said digital image from said mobile station to a mobile communications network;
contacting a computer network through said mobile communications network;
obtaining a general location identifier of the mobile station from said mobile communications network; and
comparing the general location identifier and information corresponding to said digital image to pre-stored data accessible through said computer network to determine the geographic location of the mobile station. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An apparatus for obtaining a geographic location of a mobile station comprising:
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a digital camera capable of interfacing with the mobile station for obtaining a digital image of a geographic area proximate the mobile station and for conveying the digital image to the mobile station;
a mobile communications network for receiving the digital image from the mobile station, said network having means for determining a general location identifier of the mobile station;
a computer network in communication with said mobile communications network for receiving the digital image and the general location identifier of the mobile station from said mobile communications network;
a location server having access to a library of stored geographic location data; and
means for comparing the means for comparing information corresponding to the digital image and the general location identifier to the stored geographic location data to identify the geographic location of the mobile station. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification