Use of global positioning satellites (GPS) to discover and select local services

• US 6,992,619 B2
• Filed: 08/01/2003
• Issued: 01/31/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tahoe Research Limited (f/k/a Learndale Limited) (Vector Capital Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Harrison, Edward R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Issing, Gregory C.
• Application Number:
  US10/633,073
• Publication Number:
  US 20050024264A1
• Time in Patent Office: 914 Days
• Field of Search: 342/357.13, 455/186.1
• US Class Current: 342/357.51
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/51 of receiving stations

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for associating location information corresponding to a geographic location with information about services available at the geographic location. The information may be stored in a database for subsequent use.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining location information corresponding to a first geographic location using a positioning system at a first time;

discovering one or more services available at the first geographic location;

associating the discovered one or more services with the location information;

storing information about the discovered one or more services and the associated location information in a storage device;

retrieving information about a service from the storage device using the location information corresponding to the first geographic location at a second time; and

using the location lnformation to recommend a second geographic location when the second geographic location is associated with one or more services fitting a criteria better than the one or more services associated with the first geographic location.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the positioning system is a global positioning satellites (GPS) system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more services includes network services.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more services includes radio broadcast information.

5. A computer readable medium containing executable instructions which, when executed in a processing system, causes the processing system to perform a method comprising:

discovering one or more services available at a first geographic location at a first time determining location information of the first geographic location;

storing information about the discovered one or more services and the location information in a database;

when positioned at the first geographic location at a second time, retrieving information about a service fitting a criteria from the database using the location information of the first geographic location; and

when there exists a second geographic location nearby that offers one or more services fitting the criteria better than the first geographic location, suggesting the second geographic location.

6. The computer readable medium of claim 5, wherein the criteria includes one or more of cost, bandwidth, and signal strength.

7. A system, comprising:

a positioning receiver to determine location information corresponding to a first geographic location during a first time period;

a storage device to store information about a network service identified by a discovery process at the first geographic location during the first time period; and

a service selection logic to select a network service during the second time period at the first geographic location without repeating the discovery process, and to suggest an alternate geographic location, when the alternate geographic location is better than the first geographic location base on predetermined criteria.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the positioning receiver is associated with a global positioning satellites (GPS) system.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the network service includes a radio broadcast information.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the network service includes a wireless communication service.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the discovery process is configured to identify the network service at the geographic location during the first time period based on the predetermined criteria.