Patent Application
20110201356
The present application relates generally to mobile devices, and more particularly, to systems and methods for providing location data to users of mobile devices during wireless communications between users.
Conventional mobile devices may provide information to users in the form of, for example, a name, a phone number, one or more status indicators (e.g., icons) provided as part of a display, etc. during, for example, a wireless telephone communication established using a mobile device.
The embodiments herein may provide an improved system and method for providing location data to users of mobile devices in connection with wireless telephone communications between users.
Referring to
As shown in
Display 18 may comprise a capacitive touch screen, a mutual capacitance touch screen, a self capacitance touch screen, a resistive touch screen, a touch screen using cameras and light such as a surface multi-touch screen, proximity sensors, or other touch screen technologies, and so on. Display 18 may be configured to receive inputs from finger touches at a plurality of locations on display 18 at the same time. Display 18 may be configured to receive a finger swipe or other directional input, which may be interpreted by a processing circuit to control certain functions distinct from a single touch input. Further, a gesture area 30 may be provided adjacent to (e.g., below, above, to a side, etc.) or be incorporated into display 18 to receive various gestures as inputs, including taps, swipes, drags, flips, pinches, and so on. One or more indicator areas 39 (e.g., lights, etc.) may be provided to indicate that a gesture has been received from a user.
According to an exemplary embodiment, housing 12 is configured to hold a screen such as display 18 in a fixed relationship above a user input device such as user input device 20 in a substantially parallel or same plane. This fixed relationship excludes a hinged or movable relationship between the screen and the user input device (e.g., a plurality of keys) in the fixed embodiment.
Device 10 may be a handheld computer, which is a computer small enough to be carried in a hand of a user, comprising such devices as typical mobile telephones and personal digital assistants, but excluding typical laptop computers and tablet PCs. The various input devices and other components of device 10 as described below may be positioned anywhere on device 10 (e.g., the front surface shown in
According to various exemplary embodiments, housing 12 may be any size, shape, and have a variety of length, width, thickness, and volume dimensions. For example, width 13 may be no more than about 200 millimeters (mm), 100 mm, 85 mm, or 65 mm, or alternatively, at least about 30 mm, 50 mm, or 55 mm. Length 15 may be no more than about 200 mm, 150 mm, 135 mm, or 125 mm, or alternatively, at least about 70 mm or 100 mm. Thickness 17 may be no more than about 150 mm, 50 mm, 25 mm, or 15 mm, or alternatively, at least about 10 mm, 15 mm, or 50 mm. The volume of housing 12 may be no more than about 2500 cubic centimeters (cc) or 1500 cc, or alternatively, at least about 1000 cc or 600 cc.
Device 10 may provide voice communications functionality in accordance with different types of cellular radiotelephone systems. Examples of cellular radiotelephone systems may include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) cellular radiotelephone communication systems, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) cellular radiotelephone systems, third generation (3G) systems such as Wide-Band CDMA (WCDMA), or other cellular radio telephone technologies, etc.
In addition to voice communications functionality, device 10 may be configured to provide data communications functionality in accordance with different types of cellular radiotelephone systems. Examples of cellular radiotelephone systems offering data communications services may include GSM with General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) systems (GSM/GPRS), CDMA/1×RTT systems, Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution (EDGE) systems, Evolution Data Only or Evolution Data Optimized (EV-DO) systems, Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, etc.
Device 10 may be configured to provide voice and/or data communications functionality in accordance with different types of wireless network systems. Examples of wireless network systems may further include a wireless local area network (WLAN) system, wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN) system, wireless wide area network (WWAN) system, and so forth. Examples of suitable wireless network systems offering data communication services may include the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.xx series of protocols, such as the IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n series of standard protocols and variants (also referred to as “WiFi”), the IEEE 802.16 series of standard protocols and variants (also referred to as “WiMAX”), the IEEE 802.20 series of standard protocols and variants, and so forth.
Device 10 may be configured to perform data communications in accordance with different types of shorter range wireless systems, such as a wireless personal area network (PAN) system. One example of a suitable wireless PAN system offering data communication services may include a Bluetooth system operating in accordance with the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) series of protocols, including Bluetooth Specification versions v1.0, v1.1, v1.2, v2.0, v2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate (EDR), as well as one or more Bluetooth Profiles, and so forth.
Referring now to
Device 10 comprises a receiver 38 which comprises analog and/or digital electrical components configured to receive and transmit wireless signals via antenna 22 to provide cellular telephone and/or data communications with a fixed wireless access point, such as a cellular telephone tower, in conjunction with a network carrier, such as, Verizon Wireless, Sprint, etc. Device 10 can further comprise circuitry to provide communication over a local area network, such as Ethernet or according to an IEEE 802.11x standard or a personal area network, such as a Bluetooth or infrared communication technology.
Device 10 further comprises a microphone 36 (see
Device 10 further comprises a location determining application, shown in
Device 10 may be arranged to operate in one or more location determination modes including, for example, a standalone mode, a mobile station (MS) assisted mode, and/or an MS-based mode. In a standalone mode, such as a standalone GPS mode, device 10 may be arranged to autonomously determine its location without real-time network interaction or support. When operating in an MS-assisted mode or an MS-based mode, however, device 10 may be arranged to communicate over a radio access network (e.g., UMTS radio access network) with a location determination entity such as a location proxy server (LPS) and/or a mobile positioning center (MPC).
Referring now to
Referring to
First, in response to a request from a user, a first device 10 initiates a call (step 62), which may be a mobile device such as device 10. In one embodiment, device 10 initiates a cellular telephone communication with a second mobile device such as device 50. Upon initiation of the call, device 10 provides (e.g., registers, etc.) its phone number and location data such as a current location to a server such as server 54 (step 64). Additional or different data may also be provided to server 54. According to one embodiment, rather than device 10 transmitting location data to server 54, server 54 may obtain location data such as a current location of device 10 from a different source, such as another server, etc. In some embodiments, the current location may be determined using a GPS system, such that server 54 receives GPS coordinates from device 10 or another source and stores the location data in, for example, a database. In other embodiments, device 10 and/or server 54 may use any suitable method or technology to determine a current location of device 10.
Upon a second user receiving the call (step 66), for example, at a second device such as device 50, server 54 retrieves the location data (e.g., current location, etc.) for the first device (e.g., by utilizing a “reverse lookup” feature based on the phone number of the first device, or other suitable method) and determines additional location data for the first device (step 68), such as a street address that corresponds to the GPS coordinates of the current location, a personal and/or business name or other point of interest name associated with the current location and/or street address, a map image that indicates the current location of the first device on a street map or other type of map, etc. In some embodiments, the additional location data may be determined by server 54 accessing one or more computer databases to identify the additional location data corresponding to a current location of device 10 (or, similarly, device 50). Server 54 then transmits the additional location data for the first device to the second device (step 70).
Upon the second device receiving the call, the second device provides its phone number and location data such as a current location to a server such as server 54 (step 72). Server 54 is configured to then determine additional location data for the second device (step 74), such as a street address that corresponds with the GPS coordinates of the current location, a personal and/or business name or other point of interest name associated with the current location and/or street address, a map image that indicates the current location of the device on a street map or other type of map, etc. Server 54 then transmits the additional location data for the second device to the first device (step 76).
After receiving the additional location data from server 54, one or both of devices 10, 50 may display the additional location data for the other device during the call (step 78), such that in addition to the information that is typically displayed during a phone call (e.g., a name, phone number, call duration), other information associated with the other party may also be displayed simultaneously, including a street address, a city, state, or other identifier, a map image, a personal and/or business name associated with a location or street address, etc. According to various other embodiments, other information may further be displayed during wireless telephone communications, such as an image (not shown) of a person associated with a phone number, additional data or information from a contacts application, etc.
It should be noted that the various steps shown in
Referring to
It should be noted that while
In some embodiments, device 10 may provide the user with the option to save additional location data to a contacts or similar application. For example, if a first user knows that he or she is receiving a call from a second user who is at home, the first user may be provided with the home address of the second user during the call and may save the home address of the second user to a contacts application. Referring to
According to an exemplary embodiment, devices 10, 50 and/or server 54 are configured to periodically (e.g., at regular or irregular intervals, at predetermined intervals, at user-defined intervals, etc.) update the current location of device 10 and/or device 50. Server 54 then may utilize the updated current location to further update the street address, business name, or other information that is transmitted and displayed on devices 10, 50. In this way, if one or more participants to a call are moving during a phone call, the location data displayed for that user may be updated periodically for the other users to view. Referring to
According to an exemplary embodiment, the additional location data displayed during a phone call on devices 10, 50 may be or comprise one or more selectable links. For example, an address may be or include a selectable link that directs a user to yet additional data, such as textual and/or graphical driving directions to the address from a current location, etc., for example, by launching a mapping program such as Google Maps. The option to provide directions may alternatively be provided in a drop-down menu or via a selectable icon. Further, a thumbnail image may be selectable to direct processing circuit 46 to provide an enlarged or enhanced image of a map or other information or data. Other links may be provided in connection with the additional location data according to various alternative embodiments.
The features disclosed herein may provide many benefits to users with regard to location data of other parties to a phone call. For example, parents may be able to locate children by simply calling a phone in the possession of the children. Similarly, should a person be meeting a friend, the person may place a call to the friend and immediately be provided with a street address, map or similar information indicating the current location of the friend. Furthermore, if a user knows a caller is calling their home or business, the user can easily save their contact information to an appropriate contact entry (e.g., either new or existing) in a contacts application on their mobile device. Various other benefits may be provided by the various components and features discussed herein.
Various embodiments disclosed herein may include or be implemented in connection with computer-readable media (e.g., a non-transmissive or non-transitory computer-readable medium) configured to store machine-executable instructions therein, and/or one or more modules, circuits, units, or other elements that may comprise analog and/or digital circuit components configured or arranged to perform one or more of the steps recited herein. By way of example, computer-readable media may include RAM, ROM, CD-ROM, or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage, or any other medium capable of storing and providing access to desired machine-executable instructions.
While the detailed drawings, specific examples, and particular formulations given describe exemplary embodiments, they serve the purpose of illustration only. The hardware and software configurations shown and described may differ depending on the chosen performance characteristics and physical characteristics of the computing devices. The systems shown and described are not limited to the precise details and conditions disclosed. Furthermore, other substitutions, modifications, changes, and omissions may be made in the design, operating conditions, and arrangement of the exemplary embodiments without departing from the scope of the present disclosure as expressed in the appended claims.
