Method and system for collecting and displaying aggregate presence information for mobile media players

• US 7,433,922 B2
• Filed: 05/10/2002
• Issued: 10/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Varia Holdings LLC
• Inventors: Engstrom, G. Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): Lin; Kenny S
• Application Number:
  US10/477,049
• Publication Number:
  US 20040172481A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,342 Days
• Field of Search: 709/201, 709/205, 709/216, 709/217, 709/218, 709/206, 709/239, 715/738
• US Class Current: 709/205
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G07C 13/00 Voting apparatus
• CPC Class Codes: H03J 1/0058 provided with channel identification means arrangements for monitoring the use made of broadcast services H04H60/31
• CPC Class Codes: H03J 2200/20 Radio receiver with possibility to choose a station with a certain program style
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/33 Arrangements for monitoring the users' behaviour or opinions
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/45 for identifying users
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/46 for recognising users' preferences
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/51 of receiving stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/52 of users
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/64 for providing detail information
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/65 for using the result on users' side
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/80 characterised by transmission among terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72415 for remote control of appliances
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72427 for supporting games or graphical animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7243 with interactive means for internal management of messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72442 for playing music files
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72445 for supporting Internet browser applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 : Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 : Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 : Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/00 : Wireless network protocols or protocol adaptations to wireless operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/04 : Large scale networks; Deep hierarchical networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 : Terminal devices

Abstract

The invention is directed to mobile device (FIG. 5, No 502) that obtains presence information for multiple users of other mobile devices (FIG. 5, No 508) and aggregating this information for display by at least one of the users. The aggregated presence information can include the physical (FIG. 5, No 516), virtual and ordinal (FIG. 5, Nos 512 and 514) locations for multiple users of the invention. Each user can opt in to, or out of, displaying at least a portion of the aggregated presence information in real time or over time (FIG. 5, No 504). Also statistics can be provided for analyzing presence information over time.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

(a) determining location information for each of a plurality of subscriber mobile devices, the location information including an ordinal location for at least one of the plurality of subscriber mobile devices;

(b) aggregating the determined location information; and

(c) displaying, on a subscriber mobile device, a selective summated display of the aggregated location information corresponding to a particular ordinal location, the selective summated display including the ordinal location of the at least one of the plurality of subscriber mobile devices, the ordinal location comprising a location within a user interface display different from the selective summated display or a position within a streamed and/or broadcast content.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the selective summated display includes a selective display of a summated statistic related to the aggregated location information corresponding to a particular virtual location.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the selective summated display includes a selective display of members of a pal list who are subscribers of wireless service and whose mobile devices are determined to be present at a particular ordinal location.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the aggregated location information includes virtual locations for a subset of the plurality of subscriber mobile devices including a virtual location for a second one of the plurality of subscriber mobile devices, and wherein the displaying further comprises displaying the virtual location for the second one of the plurality of subscriber mobile devices, the virtual location comprising a current page being browsed by the second one of the plurality of subscriber mobile devices, a current position within a multi-dimensional virtual environment, or a current position within an interactive multimedia presentation.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling at least a portion of the aggregated location information in a summated manner on a stationary computing device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the displaying comprises displaying at least a portion of the aggregated location information in a summated manner in real time.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a manually entered location of a subscriber mobile device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the subscriber mobile devices are subscriber mobile devices of a wireless service, and wherein the physical location for at least one of the plurality of subscriber mobile devices is within a service area of the wireless service.

9. A server, comprising:

(a) a memory for storing logical instructions;

(b) a network interface unit for sending and receiving data and

(c) a processor coupled to the memory and the network interface for executing the logical instructions stored in the memory, the execution of the logical instructions causing actions to be performed, including;

(i) receiving data related to location information of a plurality of subscriber clients, the location information including an ordinal location for each of the plurality, the ordinal location comprising a position within a streamed and/or broadcast content,

(ii) aggregating the received location information for a plurality of locations, including the ordinal locations for each of the plurality; and

(iii) enabling at least a portion of the aggregated location information of the plurality of locations to be displayed by a requesting subscriber client, including the ordinal location of each of the plurality of subscriber clients.

10. The server of claim 9, wherein the server comprises a stationary computing device.

11. The server of claim 9, wherein the location information further comprises at least one location type selected from the group consisting of a physical, a virtual, and a manual location type.

12. A mobile device, comprising:

(a) a memory for storing logical instructions;

(b) a wireless interface unit for sending and receiving data; and

(c) a processor coupled to the memory and the wireless interface unit for executing the logical instructions stored in the memory, the execution of the logical instructions causing actions to be performed, including;

(i) receiving aggregated location information of a plurality of subscriber mobile devices, the location information including a physical location for at least one of the plurality; and

(ii) enabling at a selective summated display of the aggregated location information corresponding to a particular physical location to be displayed on the mobile device, including the physical location for the at least one of the plurality, and an ordinal location of at least another one of the plurality, the ordinal location comprising a location within a user interface display different from the selective summated display or a position within a streamed and/or broadcast content.

13. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the actions caused to be performed further comprise enabling playing of at least one selected from a group consisting of a radio broadcast, television broadcast and streamed content.

14. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the actions caused to be performed further comprise enabling a web page to be browsed.

15. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the aggregated location information includes at least one location type selected from the group consisting of a virtual location type, an ordinal location type, and a manual location type.

16. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the selective summated display comprises members of a pal list corresponding to a subset of the plurality of subscriber mobile devices wherein the received aggregated location information includes a location of at least one of the members.

17. The mobile device of claim 12, further comprising enabling at least a portion of the aggregated location information in a summated manner in real time.

18. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the mobile device is a selected one from the group consisting of a wireless mobile phone, a pager, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a palm-sized computing device, a laptop computer, a portable radio, a portable MPx player, and a portable CD/DVD player.

19. The mobile device of claim 12, wherein the actions caused to be performed further comprise determining a current location of the subscriber mobile device, and reporting the determined current location of the subscriber mobile device.

20. An apparatus, comprising:

(a) means for determining location information for a plurality of subscriber mobile devices including a physical location for at least one of the plurality,

(b) means for aggregating location information of the mobile devices and

(c) means for enabling a selective summated display of the aggregated location information corresponding to a particular physical location to be displayed on at least one of the plurality of subscriber mobile devices, the selective summated display including a display of the physical location for at least the one of the plurality, and an ordinal location of another one of the plurality including a location within a user interface display different from the selective summated display or a position within a streamed and/or broadcast content.

21. A method comprising:

(a) determining location information for each of a plurality of subscriber mobile devices, the location information including a physical location for at least one of the plurality of subscriber mobile devices,

(b) aggregating the determined location information;

(c) displaying a selective summated display of the aggregated location information corresponding to a particular physical location on a subscriber mobile device, the selective summated display including the physical location of the at least one of the plurality of subscriber mobile devices wherein the aggregated location information includes ordinal locations for a subset of the plurality of subscriber mobile devices including an ordinal location for a second one of the plurality of subscriber mobile devices and wherein the displaying comprises displaying the ordinal location for the second one of the plurality of subscriber mobile devices, the ordinal location comprising a location within a user interface display or a position within a streamed and/or broadcast content.