Apparatus and method for providing position information in a mobile communication system

• US 8,750,907 B2
• Filed: 11/29/2010
• Issued: 06/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Won, Young-Min
• Primary Examiner(s): ZEWDU, MELESS NMN
• Application Number:
  US12/927,910
• Publication Number:
  US 20110077023A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,289 Days
• Field of Search: 455410-411, 455/412.2, 455418-420, 4554561-4563, 455/456.6, 455/457, 455/459, 455/466, 455/550.1, 455/556.2, 455/566, 348 1401- 1404, 348 1407- 1409, 348/14.16, 342/357.22, 342/357.25, 34235739-3574, 34235743-35744
• US Class Current: 455/457
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• 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 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for providing position information in a mobile communication system includes setting, at a mobile communication terminal which requests to provide the position information, a position condition to provide the position information. The mobile communication terminal generates a message including the position condition, and sends the generated message to a correspondent terminal of which the position information is to be acquired. The mobile communications terminal also receives a position information request message including the position condition from a correspondent terminal, determines whether the position condition is violated or not by periodically acquiring its position information, and sends a message informing of the position information violation to the correspondent terminal when the position condition is violated.

Claims

1. A method of a mobile communication terminal requesting to provide position information, the method comprising:

displaying a map for a user of the terminal;

detecting a plurality of touches of the user;

identifying a plurality of coordinates of the map corresponding to the touches;

generating a designated position region based on the identified coordinates;

generating a message comprising a position condition for a correspondent terminal, wherein the position condition comprises information identifying the designated position region, and wherein the information identifying the designated position region comprises start coordinates corresponding to a first touch of the user, a latitude and a longitude corresponding to the start coordinates, an aspect ratio of the map, and a plurality of region coordinates corresponding to touches of the user other than the first touch;

sending the generated message to the correspondent terminal; and

receiving a message indicating whether the position condition is violated from the correspondent terminal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the position condition further comprises at least one of a service type, an appointed time, a designated radius, a Short Message Service automatic transmission setting, and memo information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the message comprising the position condition is a message requesting to provide the position information using a message type.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

requesting the correspondent terminal to periodically provide the position information;

periodically receiving the position information of the correspondent terminal; and

calculating and displaying a distance and a direction of the correspondent terminal with respect to the terminal using the position information of the correspondent terminal and the position information of the terminal.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

calculating and displaying a distance and a direction of the correspondent terminal with respect to the designated position region of the position condition.

6. A method of a mobile communication terminal requested to provide position information, the method comprising:

receiving a message comprising a position condition from a correspondent terminal, wherein the position condition comprises information identifying a designated position region, wherein the designated position region comprises a plurality of coordinates of a map corresponding to a plurality of touches of a user, and wherein the information identifying the designated position region comprises start coordinates corresponding to a first touch of the user, a latitude and a longitude corresponding to the start coordinates, an aspect ratio of the map, and a plurality of region coordinates corresponding to touches of the user other than the first touch;

determining whether the position condition is violated by periodically acquiring position information of the terminal; and

sending a message indicating whether the position condition is violated to the correspondent terminal.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the position condition further comprises at least one of a service type, an appointed time, a designated radius, a Short Message Service automatic transmission setting, and memo information.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

when the position condition is violated, displaying a message informing of the position condition violation or producing a warning sound.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein determining whether the position condition is violated by periodically acquiring the position information of the terminal comprises:

when the service type is a position warning service and the terminal does not move out of the designated position region within the appointed hour, determining that the position condition is violated; and

when the service type is a position monitoring service and the terminal moves out of the designated position region within the appointed hour, determining that the position condition is violated.

10. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

receiving a message requesting a periodic position report from the correspondent terminal;

determining whether the correspondent terminal is authorized to monitor the position of the terminal; and

periodically transmitting position information of the terminal to the correspondent terminal.

11. An apparatus for use in a mobile communication terminal configured for requesting to provide position information, the apparatus comprising:

a display unit configured to display a map for a user of the terminal;

a controller configured to detect a plurality of touches of the user, identify a plurality of coordinates of the map corresponding to the touches, generate a designated position region based on the identified coordinates, and generate a message comprising a position condition for a correspondent terminal, wherein the position condition comprises information identifying the designated position region, and wherein the information identifying the designated position region comprises start coordinates corresponding to a first touch of the user, a latitude and a longitude corresponding to the start coordinates, an aspect ratio of the map, and a plurality of region coordinates corresponding to touches of the user other than the first touch; and

a transceiver configured to send the generated message to the correspondent terminal under the control of the controller and further configured to receive a message from the correspondent terminal, the message indicating whether the position condition is violated.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the position condition further comprises at least one of a service type, an appointed time, a designated radius, a Short Message Service automatic transmission setting, and memo information.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the message comprising the position condition is a message requesting to provide the position information using a message type.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the controller is further configured to request the correspondent terminal to periodically provide the position information, to receive periodically the position information of the correspondent terminal through the transceiver, and to calculate a distance and a direction of the correspondent terminal with respect to the terminal using the position information of the correspondent terminal and position information of the terminal, and wherein the display unit is further configured to display the distance and the direction calculated at the controller.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the controller is further configured to calculate a distance and a direction of the correspondent terminal with respect to the designated position region of the position condition.

16. An apparatus of a mobile communication terminal requested to provide position information, the apparatus comprising:

a transceiver configured to receive a message comprising a position condition from a correspondent terminal, wherein the position condition comprises information identifying a designated position region, wherein the designated position region comprises a plurality of coordinates of a map corresponding to a plurality of touches of a user, and wherein the information identifying the designated position region comprises start coordinates corresponding to a first touch of the user, a latitude and a longitude corresponding to the start coordinates, an aspect ratio of the map, and a plurality of region coordinates corresponding to touches of the user other than the first touch;

a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver configured to acquire position information of the terminal; and

a controller configured to determine whether the position condition is violated by periodically acquiring the position information of the terminal through the GPS receiver and configured to control the transceiver to send a message indicating whether the position condition is violated to the correspondent terminal.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the position condition further comprises at least one of a service type, an appointed time, a designated radius, a Short Message Service automatic transmission setting, and memo information.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising:

a display part configured to, when the position condition is violated, display a message informing of the position condition violation under control of the controller; and

an alarm part configured to produce a warning sound notifying the position condition violation under the control of the controller.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein, when the service type is a position warning service and the terminal does not move out of the designated position region within the appointed hour, the controller is further configured to determine that the position condition is violated, and

when the service type is a position monitoring service and the terminal moves out of the designated position region within the appointed hour, the controller is further configured to determine that the position condition is violated.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the controller is further configured to determine whether the correspondent terminal is authorized to monitor the position of the terminal when receiving a message requesting a periodic position report from the correspondent terminal and to control a function to periodically transmit the position information of the terminal to the correspondent terminal.