A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The last few years have seen an avalanche of content published via electronic media. Blogs make it very simple to voice one's opinion on virtually any subject. Publishers such as YouTube have amassed millions of clips made by amateurs, from teenagers singing a popular song, to serious pieces about politics and current events. Many people simply want to express themselves, and have their message reach out to the public. Accordingly, systems and methods which can enable users to locate people, goods, and services in their immediate surroundings are desirable.
The internet allows a user to connect with merchants and friends all around the world. It makes no difference where a person is located geographically. While this makes world wide advertising of goods and services easy, it makes it difficult to browse the immediate surroundings, or a predefined geographic area, for interesting information. The internet can help you find a specialized part dealer on the other side of the globe, but it is not very useful when you want to browse around for a doctor in a crowd of people. Similarly, cell phone technology allows users to make and receive calls all over the world, but does very little to aid users in locating people and information in a user's immediate surroundings. Mobile navigation systems are useful in providing directions, static information about particular locations (e.g. shops and service stations near your current location), and even providing dynamic information such as traffic status on major roadways. However, as of yet there has not yet been a system for individual users to publish or advertise their own content to a localized audience.
Currently, content published on the web is accessible to anyone across the world. There is little or no possibility to publish to a given local geographic area. To some degree, the Internet has become so large that it is now difficult to browse for things that are in your local area.
Systems and methods for content publishing are described herein, including systems and methods for geographically discriminated digital content publishing.
In one embodiment, a system for publishing digital content is described which includes a beacon device associated with a first user configured to transmit position information indicating the current position of the beacon device, and identification information identifying the beacon. A browsing device includes a display configured and adapted to display to a second user a representation of a local geographical area, and to selectively display to the second user, based at least in part on whether the location of the beacon device is within the local geographical area, content information associated with the first user.
In another embodiment, a system for publishing digital content is described that includes a browsing device having a display configured and adapted to display to a first user a representation of a local geographical area and content information associated with a second user, wherein the content information is displayed selectively based at least in part on the location of the second user as determined by a beacon device associated with the second user.
In another embodiment, a method for publishing digital content is described which includes displaying with a browsing device to a first user a representation of a local geographical area and content information associated with a second user, wherein the content information is displayed selectively based at least in part on the location of the second user as determined by a beacon device associated with the second user.
In another embodiment, a system for publishing digital content is described which includes a receiver system adapted and configured to repeatedly receive from a beacon device associated with a first user transmissions of position information indicating the current position of the beacon device. A processing system is configured and adapted to calculate the position of the beacon device based at least in part on the received transmissions of position information, and link content information associated with the first user with the calculated position. A transmission system is adapted and configured to selectively transmit the content information to a browsing device configured and adapted to display to a second user a local geographical area and the content information, the content information being selectively displayed based at least in part on whether the calculated position is within the local geographical area.
In another embodiment, a method for publishing digital content is described which includes repeatedly receiving from a beacon device associated with a first user, position information indicating the current position of the beacon device; and transmitting to a second user using a browsing device, a representation of a local geographical area and content information associated with the first user, wherein the content information can be displayed selectively based at least in part on whether the location of the beacon device is within the local geographical area.
In yet another embodiment, a system for publishing digital content is described which includes a beacon device associated with a first user configured to repeatedly transmit to a landscape service position information indicating the current position of the beacon device, such that the landscape service is capable of selectively transmitting content information associated with the first user to a browsing device selectively based at least in part on whether the beacon device is positioned within a geographical area local to the browsing device
In another embodiment, a method for publishing digital content is described which includes repeatedly transmitting to a landscape service with a beacon device associated with a first user, position information indicating the current position of the beacon device, such that the landscape service is capable of selectively transmitting content information associated with the first user to a browsing device selectively based at least in part on whether the beacon device is positioned within a geographical area local to the browsing device.
It will be appreciated that these systems and methods are novel, as are applications thereof and many of the components, systems, and methods employed therein. It should be appreciated that embodiments of the presently described inventive body of work can be implemented in numerous ways, including as processes, apparatuses, systems, devices, methods, computer readable media, and/or as a combination thereof. Several illustrative embodiments are described below.
The inventive body of work will be readily understood by referring to the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
A detailed description of the inventive body of work is provided below. While several embodiments are described, it should be understood that the inventive body of work is not limited to any one embodiment, but instead encompasses numerous alternatives, modifications, and equivalents. In addition, while numerous specific details are set forth in the following description in order to provide a thorough understanding of the inventive body of work, some embodiments can be practiced without some or all of these details. Moreover, for the purpose of clarity, certain technical material that is known in the related art has not been described in detail in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the inventive body work.
Systems and methods are described for publishing and/or browsing digital content using dynamic geographical update and discrimination. Preferred embodiments enable users to advertise and browse information in a continually changing geographic environment. Users can present arbitrary information connected to their location, even as the location is changing. Goods and services can be advertised with the benefit of reaching customers within any appropriately defined local area.
The Internet allows users to connect with merchants and friends all around the world. It makes little or no difference where a person is located geographically. While this makes worldwide advertising of goods and services easy, it makes it difficult to browse one's immediate surroundings (or a predefined geographic area) for interesting information. Although the Internet can help you find a sprocket dealer on the other side of the globe, it is not as useful when you want to browse around for a doctor in a crowd of people. Embodiments of the systems and methods described herein can help ameliorate some or all of these problems, and enable users to locate people, goods, and services in their immediate surroundings.
According to some embodiments, browsers, beacons, and landscape servers may reside on the same computing device, such as combination device 134, or on separate computing devices connected by a network. In other words, device 134 can contain a beacon, and all of, or part of, a landscape service, and part or all of a browser. According to other embodiments, the beacon and browser functionality can be combined into a single device such as devices 130 and 132.
A beacon registers its position and identity with the landscape service by sending a message to the landscape service. For example, the message can be sent to the landscape service with a certain frequency containing the location of the beacon obtained via a GPS system within or associated with the beacon, or it can be sent on some event such as a change in external parameters (e.g., a change in direction or speed of the beacon), or as a result of a calculation based on internal operating parameters. In
In some embodiments, beacons may alternatively, or in addition, register other geographical positions than the actual position at which the beacon is located. This will make the beacon appear to be in a different geographic location in the information landscape. Similarly, in some embodiments a beacon may register with many landscape services either directly or via a proxy service to landscape services.
In one embodiment, the landscape service maintains a representation of the geographic locations of the beacons and browsers registered with this service. The landscape service provides browsers with one or more views of the information landscape. For example, browser 120 and combination device 130 register with the landscape service via transceiver 110, and browser 122 registers via transceiver 116. Each landscape transceiver has a certain range which is denoted in
The information landscape is a representation of the geographical landscape, beacon identities and/or positions, and/or browser positions and/or directions. A landscape service operates on this representation to create information landscape views for browsers.
In one embodiment, the views the landscape service sends back to the browser devices 120, 122, 130, 132 and 134 can be in the form of delta views of the information landscape, which decreases the amount of data to be transmitted.
An information landscape view is a representation of the view from a browser's perspective. According to some embodiments, the information landscape view is processed by a processing system within the browser to create a presentation of the information landscape for the user of the browser.
The geographical size of the information landscape displayed by a browser can vary depending upon what type of information is being published or disseminated, preferences of the publishing user, the landscape service and/or the browsing user. The geographical size can also depend on a various policies as discussed in further detail below. According to some embodiments, the geographical size of the information landscape displayed by a browser is less than about 10 Km. According to some other embodiments, the geographical size is less than about 1 Km. According to some other embodiments, the geographical size is less than about 100 meters. According to some other embodiments, the geographical size is less than about 10 meters.
In one embodiment, the landscape service calculates the information landscape. The calculations can include estimation of position based on the speed and location of a beacon, and/or on estimation of the geographical conditions the beacon is traveling in, or on other external or internal parameters. Calculations can also include expected events, and check points for the beacon. In one embodiment, users can modify the parameters of the calculation.
In one embodiment, a browser provides the landscape service with a location and a direction. In return, the landscape service returns a computed view to the browser. In one embodiment, a browser can simultaneously obtain and process views from several landscape services.
Browsers, such as devices 120, 122, 130, 132 and 134 present the information landscape to the user. For example, the presentation can be computed from one or more landscape service views. In one embodiment, the views can be further computed before and/or after they are combined to a presentation.
One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the systems and methods described herein can be practiced with devices similar or identical to that illustrated in
Browsers may also declare geographic locations and directions other than the actual geographic location of the browser. In one embodiment, the user will in this case see a view of the information landscape from that point and in that direction.
According to one embodiment, browser 200 keeps a cache of landscape views and landscape view deltas in storage 214 in order to reduce bandwidth demands.
In one embodiment, browser 200 modifies the view calculations it receives from a landscape service. For instance, the browser may want to further restrict the depth of field, the width of angle, or the vantage point for the view.
The browser may also adjust the view calculation based on physical parameters and measurements obtained through the operation of the browser, or in response to user input.
The browser may also call on other services separate and apart from the landscape service to obtain parameters for its view calculation.
For example, a user might point the browser North by North West and indicate “Tomorrow's Weather”. This information could be sent to the landscape service, which would contact a weather prognosis service to find tomorrow's weather report relative to the direction indicated by the user's browser. As a result the browser might display a raincloud in the indicated direction.
As another example, a user might instruct the browser to display homes older than 10 years with a red dot superimposed. The landscape service could contact the county's building service to find a list of the ages of buildings in the browser's vicinity, and send this information back to the browser for display.
In some embodiments, a browser may further restrict the calculated view to fit in with the presentation of the view to the user. For instance, the presentation of menus may obscure the view of the information landscape. Presentation calculations may also include images obtained from instruments other than the browser device itself, or physical parameters or operating parameters obtained from third party services.
In some embodiments, beacon users can constrain visibility in the information landscape by issuing policies for physical parameters such as geographic distance, browser type, or declarations that the browser presents.
Similarly, in some embodiments, browsers can constrain their detection of beacons using policies based on geographical parameters or information content associated with the beacons, and/or landscape services can constrain their views of a browser and the visibility of a beacon based on policies established in the particular landscape service. In some embodiments, landscape services can constrain the exchange of information between its peers based on policies established in the landscape service. For example, browsers and beacons may be required to present appropriate digital certificates attesting to their (or their users') membership in certain groups or satisfaction of certain requirements in order for certain types of information to be displayed. It will be appreciated, however, that any suitable policies can be employed. A variety of systems and methods can be used to implement and enforce such policies, such as the systems and methods described in commonly assigned, co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/583,693 (Publication No. 2007/0180519) (“the '693 application”), and/or the service orchestration technology described in commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/863,551 (Publication No. 2005/0027871) (“the '551 application”). The entirety of both the '693 application and the '551 application are hereby incorporated by reference into the present application.
In some embodiments, content associated with a beacon can be provided by the user of the beacon on an ongoing basis from the beacon itself. Content can also be associated with the beacon by the user using a tool to associate externally hosted information with the beacon. For instance, the user can declare that a beacon is associated with a URL. In one embodiment, the content associated with a beacon can be provided to the browser as a part of the view the browser receives from the landscape service.
In some embodiments, users represent their beacon(s) to one or more landscape services in the form of computed or cached multimedia images. The landscape service may also provide a default representation of the beacon to the browser depending on the specific policies that are in force. A beacon may also register its representation with third party services.
In some embodiments, content associated with a beacon may also be associated with a multimedia image. This representation may be provided by the beacon, or a third party service.
Depending on the beacons, their position, their associated presentation, their associated content, the content's presentation, and/or other physical and/or operational parameters, the browser may choose to represent a beacon or the beacon's associated content as a separate multimedia image.
In one embodiment, a user of a browser can signal a desire to change view back to the landscape service via the browser. The user can also signal intent to change viewing direction, and/or intent to follow hyperlinks, to the browser.
In one embodiment, the user of a browser pages through the representations of beacons on the browser's calculated presentation. As the calculated presentation is updated, beacon representations appear and disappear from the presentation. In one embodiment, the user can freeze the update using signaling events, and the user can follow hyperlinks in the presentation, in which case the browser will behave as a standard web browser, or call on a web browser to follow the link.
In some embodiments, the landscape service provides for exchange of rights-protected content by storing content associated with beacons. For example, the systems and methods described in the '551 and '693 applications can be used to facilitate this process. Content exchange and further browsing of the content can be guided by the policies associated with the content.
The browser 514 provides the landscape service 512 with a position, direction and its identity. Browser 514 provides the display 516 with a presentation. In one embodiment, the calculation of the presentation uses external parameters such as images from the location of the browser, representations of the location obtained from third parties, the current browser policy, and/or user signals indicating display preferences. Finally, as shown in
Example—Micropublishing
Micropublishing allows a user to define and discriminate the geographic area that the user is publishing his or her data too. Micropublishing is somewhat similar to a user walking around with a boom-box with the user's own content. The difference is that other people can listen to the user's collection across the street if they want, or fully ignore it if they choose to.
As the user travels, the user can advertise the user's interests and goods to other people within a certain proximity to the user. The user can also easily identify people who share the user's interests. The user has the benefit of being right there if someone finds the user's content interesting.
The following is an example that illustrates a user publishing content to his or her consumer electronics device.
Next, the user performs a binding action where a beacon device 620 is associated with the content 610. The binding action is represented by arrow 614. This binding is then registered with the landscaping service or services that the user chooses to publish to. This can be accomplished via the internet or some other communication system between the user's personal computer and the landscaping service. Alternatively, the registration can be performed by the beacon device communicating with a landscape transceiver.
The user then puts the beacon device 620 in his pocket, and takes a walk. While the user is doing this, beacon device 620 periodically updates the landscaping service with the user's geographical location via a landscape transceiver 630. The update is represented by arrow 624.
While the user is busy publishing his content to the immediate area, a second user browses his surroundings for something interesting.
In the example described with respect to
Client devices, such as browser device 710 submit geographic position, direction, and identity information to the landscaping service. When a display request arrives at the landscaping service, the landscaping service computes the information landscape that the client will see. The computation involves, among other things, a client's desired visibility and the client's desired range of vision. For example, on browser device 710 button array 730 could be used to accept the user's input for desired angle of view (or zoom), as well as left-right or up-down navigation. Alternatively, or in addition, other discriminants may be applied.
The information that the landscaping service associates with the geographic location of the client can be collected from one or more of various sources. Among them are URLs, plain or formatted text, audio content, video content, or other forms of content that can be rendered.
Once the information landscape has been computed, the landscape information is sent back to the client where the information landscape is displayed via the client's browser device such as device 710.
Clients can subscribe to any number of landscaping services, and can make their geographic location known to those services either directly, or via some proxy.
Example—Browser Operation
In one embodiment, a browser is used that is aware of its geographic location and the direction it is pointed in. In some ways the browser can be thought of as a camera that takes photos of the cyber space around you.
Although the foregoing has been described in some detail for purposes of clarity, it will be apparent that certain changes and modifications may be made without departing from the principles thereof. It should be noted that there are many alternative ways of implementing both the processes and apparatuses described herein. Accordingly, the present embodiments are to be considered as illustrative and not restrictive, and the inventive body of work is not to be limited to the details given herein, which may be modified within the scope and equivalents of the appended claims.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/295,625 filed Mar. 7, 2019, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/664,683 (now U.S. Pat. No. 10,271,197) filed Jul. 31, 2017, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/058,416 (now U.S. Pat. No. 10,051,457) filed Oct. 21, 2013, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/180,208 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,565,781) filed Jul. 25, 2008; which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/952,492, filed Jul. 27, 2007, all of which are also incorporated by reference herein.
Number | Date | Country | |
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60952492 | Jul 2007 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 16295625 | Mar 2019 | US |
Child | 17559986 | US | |
Parent | 15664683 | Jul 2017 | US |
Child | 16295625 | US | |
Parent | 14058416 | Oct 2013 | US |
Child | 15664683 | US | |
Parent | 12180208 | Jul 2008 | US |
Child | 14058416 | US |