Patent Application
20090030999
The present disclosure generally relates to contact proximity notification.
A mobile user may be near one or more of his contacts without realizing it. The user may want to know if one or more of his contacts are nearby.
Overview
In one embodiment, a contact proximity notification application identifies a contact in a contact list of a user, determines a current proximity between the contact and the user and automatically generates a notification of the current proximity between the contact and the user for automatic communication to the user.
Description
Endpoints 14 enable users at endpoints 14 to communicate with each other, with other components of system 10, or both. As an example and not by way of limitation, an endpoint 14 may include a mobile telephone (which may, but need not, have voice over internet protocol (VoIP) capabilities), a personal digital assistant (PDA), a computer system, or another endpoint 14 or a combination of two or more such endpoints 14. A mobile telephone may be a wireless telephone capable of connecting to an 802.11 or other WLAN, a cellular telephone network, or both. A computer system may be a notebook computer system capable of connecting to an LAN, a WLAN, or both. The present invention contemplates any suitable endpoints 14.
Network 12 includes a contacts server 18. In particular embodiments, contacts server 18 includes one or more contacts servers 18. In particular embodiments, contacts server 18 is hardware, software, or embedded logic component or a combination of two or more such components residing at one or more servers in network 12. In particular embodiments, contacts server 18 includes or has access to one or more databases capable of storing contacts data 20. A user may have his contacts profile on contacts server 18. A user may have a contacts list on the contacts server 18. The contacts list identifies the contacts of the user. The contacts list provides information on each contact of the user. Contacts data 20 may include one or more contacts name, address, phone-numbers, email address, fax number and other information like birthday or favorite preferences etc.
The contacts server 18 may receive updated contacts information from different contacts applications. In particular embodiments, the contacts server 18 may periodically query a contacts application for updated contact information of a particular user. The contacts application may respond with updated contact information list for the user. In particular embodiments, the contacts server 18 may request the contacts application to periodically send updated contact information for the user. The contacts application on receiving update request from a contacts server 18 may periodically send the updated contact information to the contacts server 18. In particular embodiments, the contacts applications are Plaxo, LinkedIn, Messenger applications, Email Exchange servers and/or databases.
In particular embodiments, the contacts server 18 may receive updated contacts information from an input device, a user interface, and a software application or web page developed to accept such information. In particular embodiments, the contacts server 18 may receive updated contacts information from an endpoint 14. The contacts server 18 may query an endpoint 14 to receive contact data. The endpoint 14 may respond by sending an updated contact list. In particular embodiments, the contacts server 18 may request the endpoint 14 to periodically send updated contact data information. The endpoint 14 may accept or reject such a request. If the endpoint 14 accepts such a request, the endpoint 14 from that point onwards would periodically transmit updated contact data information to the contacts server 18.
Network 12 also includes a location server 22. In particular embodiments, location server 22 includes one or more location servers 22. In particular embodiments, location server 22 is hardware, software or embedded logic component or a combination of two or more such components residing at one or more servers in network 12. In particular embodiments, location server 22 includes or has access to one or more databases capable of storing location data 24. A user may have location data 24 associated with him. The location data 24 of a user identifies the user's location at a given time. Location data 24 may include user name and location information. In particular embodiments, the location server 22 is wireless, wired or combination of wireless and wired location appliance server. In particular embodiments, the location server 22 is a global positioning system.
In particular embodiments, the endpoints 14 periodically send their current location information to be updated to the location server 22. In particular embodiments, the location server 22 may periodically query the endpoints 14 to receive current location information. In particular embodiments, a contact may have an endpoint 14 associated with him. When the contact moves to another location the location server 22 receives updated location data 24 for the contact. The location server 22 aggregates different location data 24 from different contacts on the contacts list given by the contacts server 18. In particular embodiments, the location server 22 may compare and calculate the proximity information for different contacts based on the location data 24 of the contacts with the location data 24 of the user.
Network 12 also includes a proximity notification server 26. In particular embodiments, proximity notification server 26 includes one or more proximity notification servers 26. In particular embodiments, proximity notification server 26 is hardware, software or embedded logic component or a combination of two or more such components residing at one or more servers in network 12. In particular embodiments, proximity notification server 26 includes or has access to one or more databases capable of storing proximity notification data 28. Proximity notification data 28 gives the proximity information of a user to a contact. The proximity notification data 28 is deduced from the location data 24 of the user and the contact. For example, the proximity notification data may tell the user if a given contact is within 25 miles of the user. Proximity notification data 28 may include a combination of contact data and location data including approximate distance between the contact and the user. In particular embodiments, the proximity notification server 26 sends automatic proximity notification to endpoints 14. The proximity notification sent to the endpoints 14 could be presented in several forms. In particular embodiments, the proximity notification is a pop-up message, voice mail message or web-browser based form.
In particular embodiments, the proximity notification server 26 may periodically receive proximity notification data 28 from the location server 22. In particular embodiments, the proximity notification server 26 may periodically receive location data 24 from the location server 22 for a contacts list of a user. The proximity notification server 26 may calculate the proximity data for a user compared to the contact based on the location data 24 for both the user and the contact. In particular embodiments, the proximity notification server 26 may periodically request the location server 22 to give proximity notification data 28 for a contacts list of a user. In particular embodiments, the location server 22 may be configured to send an updated location data 24 whenever there is change in the location data 24 for a contacts list of a user to a proximity notification server 26.
A user is available to receive proximity notifications through endpoints 14. The proximity notification server 26 identifies a contact on the contact list of a user by communicating with the contacts server 18. The proximity notification server 26 then communicates with the location server 22 to receive the current location data of the identified contact. On receiving the current location data, the proximity notification server 26 sends an automatically generated notification of the current proximity between the contact and the user for automatic communication to the user.
In particular embodiments, the proximity notification is only sent to the user based on rules specified by the user. In particular embodiments, the user may specify a contact list to act on and generate automatic proximity notification. In particular embodiments, the user may specify the maximum proximity between the contact and the user to receive notification. In particular embodiments, the user may have the option of turning off the feature of receiving automatic proximity notifications. In particular embodiments, the user may choose particular day or time to receive automatic proximity notification and disable receiving automatic proximity notification at other times. In particular embodiments, the automatic proximity notification may be sent based on whether the contact and the user are on a same floor of a same building or whether the contact and the user are in the same airport of a same city.
The present disclosure encompasses all changes, substitutions, variations, alterations, and modifications to the example embodiments described herein that a person having ordinary skill in the art would comprehend. Similarly, where appropriate, the appended claims encompass all changes, substitutions, variations, alterations, and modifications to the example embodiments described herein that a person having ordinary skill in the art would comprehend.
