Location-aware content and location-based advertising with a mobile device

• US 9,282,446 B2
• Filed: 08/06/2010
• Issued: 03/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Golba LLC
• Original Assignee: Golba LLC
• Inventors: Moshfeghi, Mehran
• Primary Examiner(s): LI, SUN M
• Application Number:
  US12/852,446
• Publication Number:
  US 20110035284A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,041 Days
• Field of Search: 701/207, 455/456.1, 455/456.2, 455/456.3, 707/3, 705/14, 705/14.4, 705/14.71, 705/14.73
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

Many mobile devices such as smart phones can generate content ranging from text and audio, to images and videos that are taken with their cameras. These devices are also equipped with wireless radios and magnetometers that can be used to obtain position and orientation information. It is possible to allow the user of the mobile phone to add the position and orientation information of the mobile and date/time to the content that the mobile generates. Thus, emails, Short Message Service (SMS) messages, blog entries, audio recordings, and pictures/video that are generated with the mobile can be geotagged with the mobile'"'"'s position and orientation, as well as the date and time. This information can then be used by a location-based contextual advertising server to provide more relevant on-line ads.

Claims

1. A method of receiving location-based information at a mobile device from a set of one or more servers, the method comprising:

disabling location reporting from the mobile device to said set of servers in response to receiving, by the mobile device, a user selection to disable location reporting from the mobile device to the set of servers, disabling location reporting from the mobile device comprising disabling broadcasting of the location of the mobile device to the set of servers;

activating geotagging of at least a portion of content generated at the mobile device in response to receiving, by the mobile device, a user selection to activate geotagging of at least a portion of content generated at the mobile device;

activating time-stamping of at least a portion of the content generated at the mobile device in response to receiving, by the mobile device, a user selection to activate time-stamping of at least a portion of the content generated at the mobile device;

generating content at the mobile device;

geotagging and time-stamping, by the mobile device, at least a portion of the generated content;

sending the generated content and the associated geotag and time-stamp from the mobile device to the set of servers; and

sending location-based information from the set of servers to the mobile device based on a location of the mobile device indirectly derived by the set of servers from the geotag and the time-stamp of the content sent by the mobile device to the set of servers while location reporting from the mobile device to said set of servers is disabled.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said content sent from the mobile device to the set of servers comprises a context, the method further comprising:

generating location-based contextual information at the set of servers based on the context of said content sent from the mobile device to the set of servers;

sending said location-based contextual information from the set of servers to the mobile device; and

receiving said location-based contextual information at the mobile device from the set of servers.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein geotagging the content comprises selectively geotagging a portion of the content based on said received user selection for activating geotagging at least a portion of the content generated at the mobile device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein geotagging the content comprises geotagging a coarse location for the content based on a set of security privacy settings.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the location-based information sent from the set of servers to the mobile device is associated with a service provider, the method further comprising:

sending a telephone link of the service provider associated with the location-based information from the set of servers to the mobile device; and

receiving the telephone link of the service provider associated with the location-based information at the mobile device from the set of servers.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the telephone link is a link to a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) server to make a call.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising displaying a map associated with the location-based information on the mobile device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein activating geotagging of at least a portion of the content comprises activating geotagging of a first set of content types, the method further comprising:

by the mobile device, receiving a user selection for deactivating geotagging of a second set of content types, wherein geotagging said at least a portion of the content comprises geotagging content types in the first set of content types.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein content types generated at the mobile device comprise one or more of pictures, audios, videos, and text.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising activating geotagging for content generated by a first set of applications and deactivating geotagging for content generated by a second set of applications, wherein geotagging said at least a portion of the content comprises geotagging content generated by the applications in the first set of applications.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein activating time-stamping of at least a portion of the content comprises activating time-stamping of a first set of content types, the method further comprising:

deactivating time-stamping of a second set of content types by the mobile device in response to receiving a user selection for deactivating time-stamping of the second set of content types, wherein time-stamping at least a portion of the content comprises time-stamping content types in the first set of content types.

12. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

activating time-stamping for content generated by a first set of applications and deactivating time-stamping for content generated by a second set of applications; and

time-stamping, by the mobile device, at least a portion of the content,

wherein sending the content from the mobile device to the set of servers further comprises sending the time-stamp associated with the content from the mobile device to the set of server,

wherein receiving location-based information at the mobile device comprises receiving location-based information at the mobile device from the set of servers based on a location of the mobile device derived from the time-stamp received by the set of servers from the mobile device.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein geotagging at least a portion of the generated content comprises geotagging the portion of the generated content with an orientation of the mobile device in three dimensions.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein an accuracy of said indirectly determined location of the mobile device by the set of servers decreases with increasing of an elapsed time since location reporting is disabled at the mobile device.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein disabling location reporting from the mobile device comprises disabling live tracking of the location of the mobile device.

16. A system comprising:

a mobile device; and

a set of servers;

the mobile device configured to;

disable location reporting from the mobile device to said set of servers in response to receiving a user selection to disable location reporting from the mobile device to the set of servers, disabling location reporting from the mobile device comprising disabling broadcasting of the location of the mobile device to the set of servers;

activate geotagging of at least a portion of content generated at the mobile device in response to receiving a user selection to activate geotagging of at least a portion of content generated at the mobile device;

activate time-stamping of at least a portion of the content generated at the mobile device in response to receiving a user selection to activate time-stamping of at least a portion of the content generated at the mobile device;

generate content at the mobile device;

geotag and time-stamp at least a portion of the generated content; and

send the generated content and the associated geotag and time-stamp to the set of servers;

the set of servers configured to;

send location-based information to the mobile device based on a location of the mobile device indirectly derived by the set of servers from the geotag and the time-stamp of the content sent by the mobile device to the set of servers while location reporting from the mobile device to said set of servers is disabled.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein said content sent from the mobile device to the set of servers comprises a context, the set of servers further configured to:

generate location-based contextual information based on the context of said content sent from the mobile device to the set of servers;

send said location-based contextual information to the mobile device; and

the mobile device further configured to receive said location-based contextual information from the set of servers.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein geotagging content comprises selectively geotagging a portion of the content based on said user selection for activating geotagging at least a portion of the content generated at the mobile device.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein geotagging the content comprises geotagging a coarse location for the content based on a set of security privacy settings.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the location-based information sent from the set of servers to the mobile device is associated with a service provider,

the set of servers further configured to send a telephone link of the service provider associated with the location-based information to the mobile device;

and

the mobile device further configured to receive the telephone link of the service provider associated with the location-based information from the set of servers.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein the telephone link is a link to a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) server to make a call.

22. The system of claim 16, the mobile device further configured to display a map associated with the location-based information on the mobile device.

23. The system of claim 16, wherein activating geotagging of at least a portion of the content comprises activating geotagging of a first set of content types, the mobile device further configured to receive a user selection for deactivating geotagging of a second set of content types, wherein geotagging said at least a portion of the content comprises geotagging content types in the first set of content types.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein content types generated at the mobile device comprise one or more of pictures, audios, videos, and text.

25. The system of claim 16, the mobile device further configured to activate geotagging for content generated by a first set of applications and deactivate geotagging for content generated by a second set of applications, wherein geotagging said at least a portion of the content comprises geotagging content generated by the applications in the first set of applications.

26. The system of claim 16, wherein enabling time-stamping of at least a portion of the content comprises activating time-stamping of a first set of content types, the mobile device further configured to:

deactivate time-stamping of a second set of content types in response to receiving a user selection for deactivating time-stamping of the second set of content types, wherein time-stamping at least a portion of the content comprises time-stamping content types in the first set of content types.

27. The system of claim 16, the mobile device further configured to:

activate time-stamping for content generated by a first set of applications and deactivating time-stamping for content generated by a second set of applications; and

time-stamp, by the mobile device, at least a portion of the content,

wherein sending the content from the mobile device to the set of servers further comprises sending the time-stamp associated with the content from the mobile device to the set of server,

wherein receiving location-based information at the mobile device comprises receiving location-based information at the mobile device from the set of servers based on a location of the mobile device derived from the time-stamp received by the set of servers from the mobile device.

28. The system of claim 16, wherein geotagging at least a portion of the generated content comprises geotagging the portion of the generated content with an orientation of the mobile device in three dimensions.

29. The system of claim 16, wherein an accuracy of said indirectly determined location of the mobile device by the set of servers decreases with increasing of an elapsed time since location reporting is disabled at the mobile device.

30. The system of claim 16, wherein disabling location reporting from the mobile device comprises disabling live tracking of the location of the mobile device.