Patent Application
20100273460
The apparatus, methods and systems disclosed, illustrated and claimed in this document pertain generally to an alert system. More particularly, the alert system of this document integrates both scheduled events and information pertaining to geographic location, displays the scheduled event and geographic location on a mobile wireless communication instrument, and prompts the user of the mobile wireless communications instrument about either the happening or occurrence of one scheduled event, and the happening or occurrence of at least one geographic location, and/or the integration of the occurrence of both a scheduled event and a geographic location by providing an alert notification to the user of the mobile wireless communications instrument.
Software and associated algorithms and protocols installed in mobile communications instruments, such as cellular telephones and personal digital assistants (“PDA's”), allow a user of a mobile wireless communications instrument to schedule events by entering data concerning the event into software, hardware, and/or firmware of the mobile wireless communications instrument. Other systems have been developed to alert either a user of a mobile wireless communications instrument, or alternatively, to alert a network management center that in turn may alert one or more users of a mobile wireless communications instrument of the happening or occurrence of the event. The data and information is communicable across a mobile wireless communications system.
At least one limitation of such prior approaches is the fact that, unlike the integrated alert system described in this document, the data and information in connection with scheduled events and geographic location are not integrated to operate substantially in unison. For example, current systems may provide a user with what generally are referred to as to-do lists containing scheduled events displayed on one or more event windows. Target completion dates may be associated with the to-do lists. Other events may be associated with calendar dates and times. What is absent from the current system is what is disclosed in this document, namely an integrated alert system enabling a user of a mobile wireless communications instrument to specify one or more desired alerts based on a combination of the happening or occurrence of a scheduled event in unison with the happening or occurrence of the coincidence of the scheduled event and one or more geographic locations. The location determination information may trigger an alert based either on imminent proximity to a predetermined geographic location, and/or if appropriate or desired by the user, also by association with a scheduled event.
A need exists in the industry for a new and useful integrated alert system that is capable of providing a single alert on the occurrence and confluence of both a scheduled event and a geographic location.
The problem solved by the integrated alert system of this document is to provide a user with a single alert based on the combined data and information associated with geographic locations and scheduled events occurring substantially in unison.
The apparatus, methods and systems disclosed, illustrated and claimed in this document address the above-stated needs by providing an integrated alert notification system. The integrated alert system includes at least one mobile wireless communications instrument. The mobile wireless communications instrument includes and is operatively connected to a programmable algorithm stored in the mobile wireless communications instrument. The programmable algorithm preferably is stored in a data processing system installed on the mobile wireless communications instrument. In addition, the mobile wireless communications instrument is operatively connectable to a location determination system for obtaining geographic location data. In one aspect of the integrated alert system, a graphical mapping subsystem also may be operatively connected to the programmable algorithm and to the location determination system for providing visual variety in the form of the geographic location data displayed on the mobile wireless communications instrument. A user may enter one or more scheduled events into the programmable algorithm, and also may enter one or more geographic locations into the programmable algorithm. On the occurrence of a scheduled event, in combination with the occurrence of imminent proximity to a geographic location, and/or actual entry into a geographic location, the programmable algorithm sends an alert notification in a variety of different visual presentations to be sensed, heard, or seen by the user of a mobile wireless communications instrument.
It will become apparent to one skilled in the art that the claimed subject matter as a whole, including the structure of the apparatus, and the cooperation of the elements of the apparatus, combine to result in a number of unexpected advantages and utilities. The structure, and co-operation of structure, of the integrated alert system will become apparent to those skilled in the art when read in conjunction with the following description, drawing figures, and appended claims.
The foregoing has outlined broadly the more important features of the integrated alert system to better understand the detailed description that follows, and to better understand the contributions to the art. The integrated alert system is not limited in application to the details of construction, and to the arrangements of the components, provided in the following description or drawing figures, but is capable of other embodiments, and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. The phraseology and terminology employed in this disclosure are for purpose of description, and therefore should not be regarded as limiting. As those skilled in the art will appreciate, the conception on which this disclosure is based readily may be used as a basis for designing other structures, methods, and systems. The claims, therefore, include equivalent constructions. Further, the abstract associated with this disclosure is intended neither to define the integrated alert system, which is measured by the claims, nor intended to limit the scope of the claims. The novel features of the integrated alert system are best understood from the accompanying drawing, considered in connection with the accompanying description of the drawing, in which similar reference characters refer to similar parts, and in which:
To the extent that the numerical designations in the drawing figures include lower case letters such as “a,b” such designations include multiple references, and the letter “n” in lower case such as “a-n” is intended to express a number of repetitions of the element designated by that numerical reference and subscripts.
The term “mobile wireless communications instrument” and “portable wireless communications instrument” as used in this document means at least a wireless communication instrument used in a wireless communications system that, in general, includes an array of operatively connected communication devices adapted to receive and transmit at least electromagnetic signals across the system without cables using at least infrared light and radio signals, and also includes a telecommunications system in which electromagnetic waves, rather than some form of wire, carry the signal over all or part of the communication path. The mobile wireless communications instrument may also receive and transmit signals from satellites, including satellites that are part of the Global Positioning System (“GPS”), Galileo, GLONASS, NAVSTAR, GNSS, a system that uses satellites from a combination of these systems, or any satellite positioning and/or location determination system (collectively referred to generally in this document as a Satellite Positioning System (“SPS”)). As used in this document, an SPS also includes pseudolite (pseudo-satellite) systems. In addition, the mobile wireless communications instrument may also receive and transmit signals from terrestrial resources including, but not limited to, ground based triangulation positional tracking services and devices such as GSM Localization. The term “GSM Localization” refers to use of multilateration to determine the location of a GSM-enabled mobile wireless communications instrument such as, for example, a mobile wireless telephone, usually with the intent of identifying the location of a user. The term “multilateration” includes hyperbolic positioning, the process of positional tracking by accurate computation of time difference of arrival of a signal emitted from the object to be located to a plurality of receivers and/or transceivers.
The term “instrument” in combination with the words “mobile wireless communications” and “portable wireless communications instrument” means and includes at least a cellular telephone, cell phone, pager, satellite telephone, two-way pager, personal digital assistant (“PDA”) having wireless capabilities, portable computer having wireless capabilities, home entertainment system control boxes, wireless local area network apparatus, and any other type of wireless device having transmission capabilities that may also be one or more versions of a personal communications services device (“PCS”) including time division multiple access (“TCMA”), a code division multiple access (“CDMA”), a global system for mobile (“GSM”), non-voice communications apparatus, and text transmission apparatus, among others.
The term “alert” or “alerting” as used in this document means an aural, visual, vibratory, or any other way of notifying a user of a mobile wireless communications instrument about an imminent or actual event or other occurrence of interest to a user of a mobile wireless communications instrument. At least one contribution to the art by the integrated alert system disclosed in this document is integrating speed and velocity factors as spatial criteria. In one non-exclusive example, vehicle speed limits along transit routes in urban areas are subject to frequent changes as the transit route traverses commercial, semi-commercial, residential and construction zones. The integrated alert system includes data and information about such varying speed limits. Accordingly, alerts may be one or more pre-recorded audio warnings to a user of the integrated alert system that the speed limits along the transit route is being exceeded or is about to change to a different speed limit.
The term “event” means a planned or optional action or omission, a reminder, a geographical location, or any item of information a user of a mobile wireless communications instrument desires to recall or respond to.
The term “scheduled event” is an event that a user has entered into the integrated alert system described, illustrated and claimed in this document.
The term “coordinates” means any set of numbers or other data used to specify the geographic location of a point on a line, surface, or in space, such as the location of the beginning and end of one or more identified transit segments of a transportation network.
The term “location determination system” means an apparatus, method and/or system that is capable of providing at least geographical locations to at least to a mobile wireless communications instrument. Position determination techniques described in this document may be used for various wireless communication networks such as a wireless wide area network (WWAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN), and so on. The term “network” and “system” are often used interchangeably. A WWAN may be a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network, a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) network, a Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) network, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) network, a Single-Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) network, and so on. A CDMA network may implement one or more radio access technologies (RATs) such as cdma2000, Wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA), and so on. Cdma2000 includes IS-95, IS-2000, and IS-856 standards. A TDMA network may implement Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Digital Advanced Mobile Phone System (D-AMPS), or some other RAT. GSM and W-CDMA are described in documents from a consortium named “3rd Generation Partnership Project” (3GPP). Cdma2000 is described in documents from a consortium named “3rd Generation Partnership Project 2” (3GPP2). 3GPP and 3GPP2 documents are publicly available. A WLAN may be an IEEE 802.11x network, and a WPAN may be a Bluetooth network, an IEEE 802.15x, or some other type of network. The techniques may also be used for any combination of WWAN, WLAN and/or WPAN.
The term “graphical mapping subsystem” means a method for identifying a geographical location operatively connectable to a mobile wireless communications instrument.
The term “geographic location” means not only a location identified by specific geographic coordinates, but also a geographic area, a postal zip code or similar postal delivery area, an identifiable boundary, a user-created boundary or area, a geographic distance between a mobile wireless communications instrument and a desired geographic location, and any other location identification.
The term “shape” means an illustration of a box, polygon, line, circle or any other figure or character used by the alert system of this document to identify and/or define a geographic location.
The term “user” means a subscriber and/or user of a mobile wireless communications instrument.
The term “network management center” means at least one or more base stations that may be operated to monitor, receive, store, process and transmit data and information across a mobile wireless communications system.
The term “exemplary” means serving as an example, instance, or illustration; any aspect described in this document as “exemplary” is not intended to mean preferred or advantageous over other aspects of the invention.
As illustrated by cross-reference between
Into the programmable algorithm a user may enter one or more scheduled events, one or more geographic locations, exit or entry into one or more geographic locations, and exit, entry, and/or traversal of a geographic boundary or area. On the occurrence of a scheduled event, in combination with the occurrence of imminent proximity to a geographic location, or actual entry into a geographic location, the programmable algorithm sends an alert notification in a variety of different methods of presentation to be sensed, heard, or seen by the user of a mobile wireless communications instrument.
More specifically, as illustrated by cross-reference between
A general example of the data processing system 12 of the mobile wireless instrument 14 is illustrated in a non-exclusive example in the block diagram of
External storage 24 may include machine-readable media such as a floppy disk, a removable hard drive, a magnetic tape, CD-ROM, and even other computers connected via a communications line. The distinction between secondary storage 22 and external storage 24 is primarily for convenience in describing the integrated alert system. As such, a person skilled in the art will appreciate that there is substantial functional overlap between and among the components. Computer software and user programs can be stored in a software storage medium such as memory 18, secondary storage 22, and external storage 24. Executable versions of computer software can be read from a storage medium such as non-volatile memory, loaded for execution directly into volatile memory, executed directly out of non-volatile memory, or stored on the secondary storage 22 prior to loading into volatile memory for execution.
In addition, those skilled in the art also will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with aspects of the invention disclosed in this document may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combination of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative and non-exclusive components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described in this document generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends on the particular application and design constraints imposed on an overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present invention.
The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed in this document may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices such as, in a non-exclusive example, a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.
As also illustrated by cross reference between
As also illustrated by cross-reference between
As indicated, the integrated alert system 10 is capable of integrating both scheduled events and geographic locations, and displaying that information on a monitor 32 of the mobile wireless communications instrument 14. The algorithm and protocol in the form of an executable program is programmable by a user of the mobile wireless communications instrument 14.
As illustrated by cross reference between
In another aspect, the distance D1 between a mobile wireless communications instrument 14 and at least one geographical location 48b may be identified. Further, in another aspect of the integrated alert system 10, the screen 38 on the mobile wireless communications instrument 14 may provide one or more shapes 48-c defining a geographic location in terms of an area or region rather than based on specific geographic coordinates. An alert as described in this document may be sent to the mobile wireless communications instrument based on any of the foregoing geographic location determinants, as well as on the happening or occurrence of one or more events.
Referring now to
The steps of operation as shown in flowchart 700 are as follows. Each event identified at step 702 is obtained from the event database 704. At step 706 the first decision criterion heuristic is extracted from the collection of heuristics criteria that comprise a potential event. There may be one criterion or a plurality of criteria in any event to be compared and tested. The time criterion will be first unless there is a plurality of time criteria for comparing and testing in an event. The current criterion selected at step 706 is then tested to see if the criterion is a spatial criterion at step 708. If it is a spatial criterion, the algorithm proceeds to step 710; if not, the algorithm proceeds to step 712. At step 710 the geographic location of the mobile wireless communications instrument is obtained through measurement using the available system level functionality. In step 714 the prerequisite geospatial information is obtained from the geolocation database 716. This geolocation database may, for example, contain shape information, zip code boundaries, highway information or store and restaurant information. The database may be stored or cached on the mobile wireless communications instrument, or obtained remotely over a digital wireless data service and temporarily cached on the mobile wireless communications instrument. The scope of the database query is limited by the geolocation obtained in step 710 and the known bounds of the test heuristic. The data obtained in step 710 and step 714 are then used in the specified heuristic query in step 718. If the test criteria results in a match, the algorithm proceeds to step 720. If not, the algorithm aborts the event as having failed one of the criteria and returns to step 702 to begin processing the next event. At step 720, if there are additional criteria remaining, then the algorithm proceeds to step 724 where the next criterion is obtained before proceeding to step 708 and processing this new heuristic. However, if at step 720 this is the final criteria which has been met with success, then an alert is generated and displayed in step 722. Step 722 may include the generation of graphical, aural and haptic alerts.
If at step 708 the heuristic criterion was a time based event, then the algorithm proceeds to step 712 where current date and time information is measured from the system clock or location determination system. The date and time information is compared to the date and time criteria associated with the particular heuristic criterion at step 712. If the date and time criterion is not met, then testing for the event is abandoned and the algorithm returns to step 702, and processing for the next event begins. If, however, the date and time heuristic produces a positive match, execution proceeds to step 720. As before, if this is the final successful criterion, all criteria have been met for the event, and an alert is generated at step 722. The inclusion of a dynamic scheduling database is envisioned as analogous to the geospatial query of steps 714 and 716, although simple event scheduling information may be stored in the event heuristic in one or more embodiments.
The spatial query heuristic at step 716 may include speed and velocity (velocity being speed with direction), the concepts of proximity to a location, the proximity to a collection of locations such as banks, gas stations or restaurants or geographic boundaries or drawn shapes, shapes and exiting or entering a region is also encapsulated through the operation of steps 710, 714, 716 and 718. In one embodiment, at step 710 a system level function will occur to poll the algorithm. The history of motion can either be available through system functionality or through persistent storage of positional information by step 710 for iterative use including tracking history to generate speed and velocity for use by step 718.
The flowchart of
A user also may form a link that alerts the user to buy groceries when the user is within, for example, a half mile of his favorite (and therefore pre-selected) grocery store 40a within a period of time on a specific day of the week. Likewise, a user could be alerted to purchase gasoline when passing a gasoline station offering lower than customary rates per gallon. In addition, alerts could occur either on entering a region 40c, leaving a region 40c, being within a certain distance of a region, or being outside a certain distance of a region 40c.
Claim elements and steps in this document have been numbered solely as an aid in understanding the description. The numbering is not intended to, and should not be considered as intending to, indicate the ordering of elements and steps in the claims. In addition, the integrated alert system illustrated drawing
