Methods and apparatus to analyze and present location information

• US 7,218,938 B1
• Filed: 03/26/2003
• Issued: 05/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/24/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: IpVenture, Inc.
• Original Assignee: IpVenture, Inc.
• Inventors: Lau, Chung, Tong, Peter P., Thomas, C. Douglass
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Quynh H.
• Application Number:
  US10/397,472
• Time in Patent Office: 1,511 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.1, 455/456.2, 455/456.3, 455/404.2, 455/414.2, 455/440, 340/539.13, 340/825.49, 340/988, 342/357.01, 342/357.06, 342/357.07, 342/357.13, 342/457, 701/213, 701/214, 701/215
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/005 with correlation of navigation data from several sources, e.g. map or contour matching G01C21/30 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• 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 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

Method and apparatus to analyze and present location information in an easy-to-digest manner are disclosed. In one embodiment, each piece of location information can include a piece of location-designating information and a piece of location-related information. Location-designating information is primarily for identifying location. Location-related information is information related to location-designating information. The location-designating information and the location-related information can be supplied by a mobile device. With the help of location-related information, each piece of location-designating information can be more accurately transformed into a label to help identify a location. The amount of location information can be reduced. All of the location-designating information pertaining to a given area can be consolidated into one piece of location-designating information related to the label. Consolidation of some of the information may not occur if a piece of location-related information changes by more than a preset value. To better present location information in an easy-to-digest manner, location information can be compared to standards. Presentation can be on a display with respect to a reference location.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

retrieving at least a first piece of location-designating information from a location-designating device, the location-designating information identifying the location of the location-designating device, and being associated with a time;

transforming the first piece of location-designating information into a first label for identifying the location; and

retrieving a first piece of location-related information related to the first piece of location-designating information;

wherein the label is typically a name of the location, and the label is stored in a memory device to allow the process of transforming to access it, and

wherein the method further comprises;

retrieving a second and a third piece of location-designating information from the location-designating device, which identify the locations of the location-designating device at later times than the time associated with the first piece of location-designating information, all three pieces of location-designating information being different from each other, and the second and the third piece of location-designating information being coupled to a corresponding second and third piece of location-related information respectively,

transforming the second and the third pieces of location-designating information into a second and a third label, the second label being the same as the first label and the third label being different from the first label, and

presenting the first and the third label chronologically to show the change in location of the location-designating device as a function of time, and

presenting the first piece of location-related information and the third piece of location-related information, but not presenting at least a portion of the second piece of location-related information.

2. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1 wherein the first piece of location-related information is related to a piece of information regarding the environment where the location-designating device is located.

3. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1 wherein the first piece of location-related information is related to time.

4. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1 wherein the first piece of location-related information is related to direction.

5. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 4 wherein

the first piece of location-related information related to direction is from a digital compass;

and

the method further comprises increasing the accuracy of the digital compass in identifying direction.

6. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1 wherein the first piece of location-related information is related to a history of locations visited by a user.

7. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1

wherein the second piece of location-related information is not stored for additional analysis.

8. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 7 wherein the second piece of location-related information is still stored for additional analysis if the second piece of location-related information differs from the first piece of location-related information by more than a pre-set value.

9. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 8 wherein the first piece of location-related information is related to temperature.

10. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 8 wherein the first piece of location-related information is related to humidity.

11. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 8 wherein the first piece of location-related information is related to pressure.

12. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 8 wherein the first piece of location-related information is related to direction.

13. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 8 wherein the first piece of location-related information is related to wind speed.

14. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 8 wherein the first piece of location-related information is related to time.

15. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 8 wherein the first piece of location-related information is related to an input from a user.

16. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 8 wherein the first piece of location-related information is related to a chemical compound.

17. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 8 wherein the first piece of location-related information is related to acceleration.

18. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1 further comprising analyzing two pieces of location-designating information to compare with a standard.

19. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 18 wherein the standard is related to the amount of time an object travels between the locations corresponding to the two pieces of location-designating information.

20. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1 further comprising allowing a person to edit so as to change the first label.

21. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1 wherein at least one label is attached to an electronic mail.

22. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 21 wherein

another label is attached to another electronic mail;

and

the electronic mails can be sorted based on location information from the attached labels.

23. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1 wherein at least one label is attached to a telephone call.

24. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 23,

wherein at least another label is attached to another telephone call, and

wherein the two telephone calls can be sorted based on location information from the attached labels.

25. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1 wherein the labels are presented chronologically on a map.

26. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1 wherein at least one label is presented on a map, and at least one piece of location-related information is represented via a clickable icon on the map.

27. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 1 wherein

the labels are presented on a display of a handheld device;

and

the handheld device can be coupled to a screen larger than the display to present the labels.

28. A computer-implemented method comprising:

retrieving at least a first piece of location-designating information from a location-designating device, which identifies the location of the location-designating device;

transforming the first piece of location-designating information into a first label for identifying the location;

wherein the process of transforming depends on at least a piece of location-related information related to the first piece of location-designating information to better identify the location of the location-designating device,

wherein the label is typically a name of the location,

wherein the method further comprises;

retrieving a plurality of pieces of location-designating information of the location-designating device at a plurality of locations;

transforming the plurality of pieces of location-designating information into a plurality of labels; and

presenting the locations of the location-designating device in terms of at least two labels,

wherein the locations of the location-designating device are presented on a display relative to a specific location,

wherein there are a plurality of labels between each of the locations of the location-designating device and the specific location, and

wherein at a specific time, whether a label between the location of the location-designating device and the specific location is displayed or not depends on the distance between the location of the location-designating device and the specific location.

29. A computer-implemented method comprising:

retrieving at least a first piece of location-designating information from a location-designating device, which identifies the location of the location-designating device;

transforming the first piece of location-designating information into a first label for identifying the location;

wherein the process of transforming depends on at least a piece of location-related information related to the first piece of location-designating information to better identify the location of the location-designating device,

wherein the label is typically a name of the location,

wherein the method further comprises;

retrieving a plurality of pieces of location-designating information of the location-designating device at a plurality of locations;

transforming the plurality of pieces of location-designating information into a plurality of labels; and

presenting the locations of the location-designating device in terms of at least two labels,

wherein the locations of the location-designating device are presented on a display relative to a specific location,

wherein there are a plurality of labels between each of the locations of the location-designating device and the specific location, and

wherein at a specific time, the ratio of labels being presented on the display and the total number of labels between the location of the location-designating device and the specific location depends on the distance between the location of the location-designating device and the specific location.

30. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 29 wherein the specific location is the location of another location-designating device.

31. A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 29 wherein a label is displayed due to the preference of a user.

32. A computer-implemented method comprising:

retrieving a first piece of location-designating information from a location-designating device, the location-designating information identifying the location of the location-designating device, and being associated with a time; and

retrieving a second piece of location-designating information from the location-designating device, which identifies the location of the location-designating device at a later time than the time associated with the first piece of location-designating information;

wherein the method further comprises;

transforming the first and the second piece of location-designating information into a first and a second label respectively for identifying the corresponding locations, with the labels typically being the names of the corresponding locations, and with the labels being stored in a memory device to allow the process of transforming to access them; and

presenting the two labels chronologically to show the change in location of the location-designating device as a function of time;

wherein the locations of the location-designating device are presented on a display relative to a specific location,

wherein there are a plurality of points of interest between each of the locations of the location-designating device and the specific location, and

wherein whether at least one point of interest between at least one location of the location-designating device and the specific location is displayed or not depends on the distance between that location of the location-designating device and the specific location.