METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR BROADCASTING THE LOCATION OF A
DEVICE
Field
The present invention concerns a method and a system for
broadcasting the location of a device or user, in particular on communication
platforms, also known as "social networks".
Related Art
This section introduces aspects that may be helpful in facilitating a
better understanding of the invention. Accordingly, the statements of this
section are to be read in this light and are not to be understood as admissions
about what is in the prior art or what is not in the prior art.
Existing services for broadcasting location are known, for example
Foursquare TM, registered to Foursquare Labs, Inc, Facebook Places T ,
registered to Facebook, Inc, etc. These services leverage geolocation
services to identify the location of the user through his portable device, often a
mobile phone.
The term broadcasting is commonly referred to as "checking in" to a
place, or a venue. The term "venue" is commonly used to refer to a
geographic area of interest that the user can check into. It may be as small
as a room or arbitrarily large such as an entire state. These services allow
users to broadcast to their friends which venue they are currently located, or
were located when they used the checking-in service. Some services allow for
the users to customize which venue information to broadcast, while other
services do not allow this customization.
A difficulty of using these services or systems, is that the user should
pick which venue information is the most relevant to the greatest number of
his peers on the social network.
Example embodiments provide an alternative solution.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Example embodiments provide a method for broadcasting the location
of a device on a communication platform, the device being configured to
communicate with a server including venue location data. The method
includes sending, by the device, geolocation data of the device to the server.
Receiving, by the device from the server, a list of venues whose boundaries
include the geolocation data. Selecting, on the device, a plurality of venues
selected from the list. And, sending said plurality of venues to a
communication platform for broadcasting thereon.
Another example embodiment includes a venue distribution system.
The venue distribution system includes a storage device for storing a plurality
of location coordinate data and corresponding venue information and a
communication device adapted for receiving location coordinate data of a
user, and for returning to said user a plurality of venues whose pre-defined
boundaries contain said location coordinate data.
Another example embodiment includes a portable device.The portable
device includes a geolocation device, configured to obtain location coordinate
data, a user interface service configured to interact with a user and a
communication module configured to communicate with a communication
platform. The portable device is configured to poll a storage device
comprising location coordinate data and corresponding venue information,
and send simultaneously a plurality of said corresponding venue information
to a communication platform via the communication module.
Another example embodiment includes a computer program configured
to execute the aforementioned method.
According to example embodiments a user of the portable device may
simultaneously broadcast different venue information to different people, thus
increasing the probability that someone will find the venue information useful,
increasing the interest of others in the whereabouts of the user in question.
Some embodiments also allow the user to selectively control privacy levels so
that different degrees of location precision are disclosed to different peers.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Some embodiments of devices and methods in accordance with
embodiments of the present invention are now described, by way of example
only, and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
figure 1 schematically illustrates an example embodiment of a
communication system;
figure 2 illustrates a mode of operating the example embodiment of
figure ;
figure 3 schematically illustrates an example embodiment of a location
coordinate corresponding to various venues;
figure 4 schematically illustrates an example embodiment of a user
interface situation;figure 5 schematically illustrates another mode of operating
the example embodiment of figure 1; and
figures 6 and 7 illustrate schematically yet other example embodiments
of a user interface situation.
It should be noted that these Figures are intended to illustrate the
general characteristics of methods, structure and/or materials utilized in
certain example embodiments and to supplement the written description
provided below. These drawings are not, however, to scale and may not
precisely reflect the precise structural or performance characteristics of any
given embodiment, and should not be interpreted as defining or limiting the
range of values or properties encompassed by example embodiments. For
example, the relative thicknesses and positioning of molecules, layers,
regions and/or structural elements may be reduced or exaggerated for clarity.
The use of similar or identical reference numbers in the various drawings is
intended to indicate the presence of a similar or identical element or feature.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS
While example embodiments are capable of various modifications and
alternative forms, embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the
drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be understood,
however, that there is no intent to limit example embodiments to the particular
forms disclosed, but on the contrary, example embodiments are to cover all
modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the scope of the
claims. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout the description of the
figures. Before discussing example embodiments in more detail, it is noted
that some example embodiments are described as processes or methods
depicted as flowcharts. Although the flowcharts describe the operations as
sequential processes, many of the operations may be performed in parallel,
concurrently or simultaneously.
In addition, the order of operations may be re-arranged. The
processes may be terminated when their operations are completed, but may
also have additional steps not included in the figure. The processes may
correspond to methods, functions, procedures, subroutines, subprograms,
etc. Methods discussed below, some of which are illustrated by the flow
charts, may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware, middleware,
microcode, hardware description languages, or any combination thereof.
When implemented in software, firmware, middleware or microcode, the
program code or code segments to perform the necessary tasks will be stored
in a machine or computer readable medium such as a storage medium. A
processor(s) will perform the necessary tasks. Specific structural and
functional details disclosed herein are merely representative for purposes of
describing example embodiments of the present invention. This invention
may, however, be embodied in many alternate forms and should not be
construed as limited to only the embodiments set forth herein.
It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. may be
used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be
limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element
from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second
element, and, similarly, a second element could be termed a first element,
without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein,
the term "and/or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the
associated listed items. It will be understood that when an element is referred
to as being "connected" or "coupled" to another element, it can be directly
connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may be
present. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being "directly
connected" or "directly coupled" to another element, there are no intervening
elements present. Other words used to describe the relationship between
elements should be interpreted in a like fashion (e.g., "between" versus
"directly between," "adjacent" versus "directly adjacent," etc.).
The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular
embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example
embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a," "an" and "the" are
intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly
indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises,"
"comprising," "includes" and/or "including," when used herein, specify the
presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements and/or
components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more
other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components and/or
groups thereof. It should also be noted that in some alternative
implementations, the functions/acts noted may occur out of the order noted in
the figures. For example, two figures shown in succession may in fact be
executed concurrently or may sometimes be executed in the reverse order,
depending upon the functionality/acts involved.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific
terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one
of ordinary skill in the art to which example embodiments belong. It will be
further understood that terms, e.g., those defined in commonly used
dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with
their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an
idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.
Portions of the example embodiments and corresponding detailed
description are presented in terms of software, or algorithms and symbolic
representations of operation on data bits within a computer memory. These
descriptions and representations are the ones by which those of ordinary skill
in the art effectively convey the substance of their work to others of ordinary
skill in the art. An algorithm, as the term is used here, and as it is used
generally, is conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of steps leading to a
desired result. The steps are those requiring physical manipulations of
physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take the
form of optical, electrical, or magnetic signals capable of being stored,
transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven
convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to
these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers,
or the like.
In the following description, illustrative embodiments will be described
with reference to acts and symbolic representations of operations (e.g., in the
form of flowcharts) that may be implemented as program modules or
functional processes include routines, programs, objects, components, data
structures, etc., that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract
data types and will be implemented using existing hardware at existing
network elements. Such existing hardware may include one or more Central
Processing Units (CPUs), digital signal processors (DSPs), applicationspecific-
integrated-circuits, field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs)
computers or the like.
It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar terms
are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely
convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated
otherwise, or as is apparent from the discussion, terms such as "processing"
or "computing" or "calculating" or "determining" of "displaying" or the like, refer
to the action and processes of a computer system, or similar electronic
computing device, that manipulates and transforms data represented as
physical, electronic quantities within the computer system's registers and
memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within
the computer system memories or registers or other such information storage,
transmission or display devices.
Note also that the software implemented aspects of the example
embodiments are typically encoded on some form of program storage
medium or implemented over some type of transmission medium. The
program storage medium may be magnetic (e.g., a floppy disk or a hard drive)
or optical (e.g., a compact disk read only memory, or "CD ROM"), and may be
read only or random access. Similarly, the transmission medium may be
twisted wire pairs, coaxial cable, optical fiber, or some other suitable
transmission medium known to the art. The example embodiments not limited
by these aspects of any given implementation.
An example embodiment of a communication system is illustrated
schematically on figure 1. The system 1 includes a mobile device 2, a
broadcasting system 6 and a client geolocation management server 20.The
mobile device 2 may be configured to communicate wirelessly with a
communication network 4 . The broadcasting system 6 may be configured to
communicate with the mobile device 2 via the communication network 4. The
client geolocation management server 20 may be configured to communicate
with the mobile device 2 via the communication network 4 .
The communication network 4 may be a private or public
communication network. For example, the communication network 4 may be
the internet. The communication network 4 may be configured to enable or
leverage various other communication services, like Foursquare TM, or
Facebook Places TM, which a user may interact with from a mobile device
(e.g., mobile device 2) in communication with the internet.
The mobile device 2 may be, for example, a mobile phone, a laptop
computer, or a tablet device adapted to access the internet or other
communication network 4, etc. The mobile device 2 may include a User
Interface 8, a localization module 10, a wireless communication module 12,
and a user application space 14.The user interface 8 may include at least a
screen for a user to view information and input means such as a keyboard for
entering in data.
The localization module 10 may be configured to determine the
location of the mobile device 2. The localization module 10 may, for example,
include a GPS apparatus configured to communicate with Global Positioning
System (GPS) satellites 6 or the like. Alternatively and/or in addition to, the
localization module 10 may communicate with pseudolites or the like. The
localization module 10 may be controlled via an application software or
hardware in the user application space 14 of the mobile device 2.The wireless
communication module 12 may be configured to communicate with the
communication network 4 over an air interface, although example
embodiments are not limited to wireless communication, and also applies to
wireline communication networks. The wireless communication module 12
may, for example, be configured to operate using one or more of the following
protocols: Wifi, GSM, CDMA, Bluetooth, etc.
The client geolocation management server 20 may be configured to
receive, via the communication network 4, geolocation information indicative
of the position of a GPS receiver or user, and is further adapted to return, via
the communication network 4, venue information corresponding to said
geolocation information.
For example, the client geolocation management server 20 may be
associated with a storage device 22 (e.g., a database device) that includes a
list of venues, and for each venue an indication of localization (e.g.,
longitude/latitude coordinates), and size (e.g., radius information).According to
at least one example embodiment, each venue may be associated with a
customized shape and size to more accurately represent the venue, for
example a polygon representation by way of a plurality of vertices.
The database may contain different named venue objects with different levels
of granularity for the same geolocation point. For example, a given
geolocation coordinate may correspond to a business venue, a street venue,
a suburb venue, a city venue, and a state venue in the database, all of which
may contain that particular geolocation coordinate.
The storage device 22 may be embedded within the client geolocation
management server 20, or alternatively, could the storage device 22 may be
physically remote or even distributed around a network (e.g., distributed
around the communication network 4). In at least one example embodiment,
the storage device 22 may be local to the mobile device 2.The broadcasting
system 6 may be configured to receive localization information from the
mobile device 2 and may be configured to broadcast the localization
information on a particular communication platform 24, for example a "social
network" platform (e.g., Facebook TM, Foursquare T , etc.).
As such, the broadcasting system 6 may be configured to manage the
settings to one or more communication platforms 24, and may be configured
to post, reformat or adapt the data, as necessary, to the user's selected venue
information to one or more communication platforms 24. For example, the
communication platform 24 may be configured to post a plurality of
localization information for an individual user simultaneously. For example,
the communication platform 24 may be configured to post a same geolocation
coordinate but with different degrees of precision.
In at least one example embodiment, the communication platform 24
may be configured to broadcast a desired (or, alternatively, a predetermined)
localization information to selective addressees. For example, the mobile
device 2 may associate a particular privacy policy, or broadcast policy, for
each localization broadcasting operation, such that a particular localization
information broadcast may only be visible to certain addressees. The
selection of privacy groups or individuals may depend on the communication
platform 24 onto which the localization information is broadcast, and may be
managed by the broadcasting system 6.
The following operation of the example embodiments of figure 1 will be
illustrated in conjunction with figure 2 . Referring to figure 2, in step S 110 the
user, on his or her mobile device 2, uses the localization module 10 to poll, for
example, the GPS satellites 16 to obtain the current latitude/longitude
coordinates (lat/long coordinates) of the localization module 10. In step S 1 2,
the GPS satellites then return the user's current lat/long coordinates, for
example to the controlling application of the Localization module 10.
In step S 113, an application (e.g., in the user application space 14 of
the mobile device 2) sends the lat/long coordinates obtained by the
Localization module 10 to the geolocation management server 20 for
processing. In step S 114, the client geolocation management server 20
queries associated storage device 22 for predefined venues whose pre
defined boundaries contain the lat/long coordinates.
In step S 115, the storage device 22 returns the corresponding venues
to the client geolocation management server 20.The corresponding venues
will correspond to the lat/long coordinates according to various degrees of
precision, depending on the boundaries of the venue that have been pre
defined. These boundaries may be pre-defined by some radius around the
geolocation coordinates, either manually or automatically by the geolocation
management server 20.
Alternatively and/or in addition to, the boundaries may be defined by
the vertices of some polygon that has previously been manually placed
around the geolocation coordinates by this user or by other users through use
of the geolocation management server 20. For example, if the lat/long
coordinates sent by the user device at step S 113 were 40°41 '40.55"N,
74°10'26.80"W, the storage database 22 may return the following venues, as
illustrated at figure 3, Gate 99; Terminal C; Newark Airport; Newark, New
Jersey; and New Jersey.ln step S 116, the client geolocation management
server 20 returns the matching polled venues to the mobile device 2 .
In step S 1 17, the user interface 8 and the associated application of the
user application space 14 of the mobile device 2 prompts the user for which of
the matching geolocation venues he or she wants to broadcast, or "check
into'Mn step S 118, the user, via the user interface 8 of the mobile device 2,
selects which of the matching geolocation venues he or she wishes to
broadcast on the communication platform 24. See, for example, the nonlimiting
example embodiment illustrated in Figure 4. The broadcast of
geolocation presence or venues is sometimes referred to as "checking in" on
certain communication platforms or social network platforms 24.
In step S 119, the venue choices (as selected by the user of the mobile
device 2) are sent to the broadcasting system 6 for, for example, preparation,
adaptation, and formatting. In step S120, the broadcasting system 6 sends
the formatted choices to the appropriate communication platform 24. In step
S121 , the communication platform 24 confirms the correct broadcast of
venues, and the broadcasting system 6 in turn confirms the success of the
operation to the mobile device 2.
It is to be noted that the mobile device 2 may be preconfigured with the
required user names and passwords and applications, if required, to access,
communicate, and broadcast information on the communication platform 24.
The broadcasting system 6 may receive this identification information from the
mobile device 2, and/or may have a locally stored copy.
Figure 5 illustrates another mode of operating the example
embodiments of figure 1. n the example embodiment illustrated by figure 5,
the user of the mobile device 2 may expose differing levels of specificity about
the user's location broadcasts, or check-ins, to third party users. In other
words, the user will set different privacy levels, or broadcasting rights, of
selected matching venues to different predefined groups of third parties of the
communication platform 24. For example, the communication platform 24 may
already have set up two different groups of users on the communication
platform 24: one group being "Friends & Family" and the other group being
"Merchants". In this mode of operation, according to example embodiments,
the user may let the user's "Friends & Family" group know that the user is
checked into Gate 99, and let the "Merchants" group know that she is
checked into Terminal C.
Following this operation, nearby friends may direct themselves to Gate
99, and Merchants in Terminal C may contact the user with, for example,
discount offers in Terminal C.
Returning to figure 5, a user may perform steps S 110 to S 118 as
described above with regard to figure 2. In other words, the user may poll the
satellites for geocoordinate information (S1 10), then query the client
geolocation management server 20 and its associated storage means 22 for
predefined venues associated with the corresponding at long coordinates
(S1 13 and S 114), before selecting which venues to broadcast on the
communication platform 24 (S1 17 and S 118).According to the present
example embodiment, in step S 30, the user queries the communication
platform 24 for the identities of existing groups of users.
In step S131 , the communication platform 24 returns to the mobile
device 2 the existing and predefined groups registered on the mobile device's
2 account on the communication platform 24. The predefined groups of users
may, for example, be "Friends & Family" and/or "Merchants", etc.
Alternatively or in addition, the communication platform may return the
individual names of peers (commonly called "friends") of the user.
In step 132, via the user interface 8 in portable device 2, the user pairs
matched venues to broadcast with user groups or individual users to
broadcast to.For example, as illustrated at figure 6, the user interface 8 may
present two graphical windows, one window showing the preselected venues
to broadcast (selected in step S 18), and a second window a list of the
groups received in step S131 for broadcasting to.
Alternatively or in addition, as illustrated schematically by figure 7, the
user interface 8 may present a list of the preselected venues to broadcast
(selected in step S 118), along with the space to match each selected venue to
a reference number , '2', etc. referencing each group of users on the
communication platform 24. In step S133, upon selection by the user of the
mobile device 2 of the venues to be broadcast, and to which groups of people,
these choices are sent to the communication platform 24 for broadcasting. In
step S134, the communication platform 24 confirms the correct broadcast of
venues.
As with the previous described example embodiments, it is to be noted
that the mobile device 2 may be preconfigured with the required user names
and passwords and applications, if required, to access, communicate, and
broadcast information on the communication platform 24. The broadcasting
system 6 can receive this identification information from the mobile device 2 ,
or may have a locally stored copy.
In at least one example embodiment, the same functionalities may be
accomplished by integrating the client geolocation management server 20 and
the associated storage device 22 into the mobile device 2. In at least one
example embodiment, a database from such an integrated storage device 22
may be regularly updated with new information from the communication
network 4.Furthermore, although the foregoing specification described
embodiments wherein the broadcasting system 6 is delocalized in a
communication network, one skilled in the art will recognize the functionalities
may readily be implemented inside the mobile device 2.
A person of skill in the art would readily recognize that steps of various
above-described methods can be performed by programmed computers.
Herein, some embodiments are intended to cover program storage devices,
e.g., digital data storage media, which are machine or computer readable and
encode machine-executable or computer-executable programs of instructions
where said instructions perform some or all of the steps of methods described
herein. The program storage devices may be, e.g., digital memories, magnetic
storage media such as a magnetic disks or tapes, hard drives, or optically
readable digital data storage media. The embodiments are also intended to
cover computers programmed to perform said steps of methods described
herein.
While example embodiments have been particularly shown and
described, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that
variations in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the
spirit and scope of the claims.
The present inventions may be embodied in other specific apparatus
and/or methods. The described embodiments are to be considered in all
respects as only illustrative and not restrictive. In particular, the scope of the
invention is indicated by the appended claims rather than by the description
and figures herein. All changes that come within the meaning and range of
equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope.

WE CLAIM:
. A method for broadcasting the location of a device (2) on a communication
platform ( 1 ) , the device being configured to communicate with a server (20)
including venue location data, the method comprising:
sending (S1 13), by the device, geolocation data of the device to the
server;
receiving (S 15), by the device from the server, a list of venues whose
boundaries contain said geolocation data;
selecting (S1 18), on the device, a plurality of venues from the list;
sending (S1 19) the plurality of venues to a communication platform for
broadcasting thereon.
2 . A method for broadcasting according to claim 1, wherein the step of
sending venues to the communication platform is associated with a privacy
setting for each venue, thereby permitting a different venue to be seen by a
chosen subset of users on the communication platform.
3. A method for broadcasting according to claim 1, wherein each venue is
defined by a location data and an associated boundary around the location
data.
4 . A method for broadcasting according to claim 1, wherein each venue
corresponds to a 2D surface, the 2D surface being defined by a polygon.
5. A method for broadcasting according to claim 1, wherein a venue
corresponds to a vertical delimitation of space defined by a 3D shape
encompassing all points within the 3D volume defined by the shape.
6. A method for broadcasting according to claim 1, wherein said
communication platform is a social network platform.
7. A venue distribution system, comprising:
a storage device (22) configured to store a plurality of location
coordinate data and corresponding venue information;
a communication device (20) configured to receive location coordinate
data of a user (2), and configured to return, to said user, a plurality of venues
whose pre-defined boundaries include said location coordinate data.
8. The venue distribution system according to claim 8, wherein the storage
device includes polygon surface definitions of at least a subset of venues
stored therein.
9. A portable device comprising:
a geolocation device (10) configured to obtain location coordinate data;
a user interface service (8) configured to interact with a user; and
a communication module (12) configured to communicate with a
communication platform, wherein the portable device is configured to,
poll a storage device including location coordinate data and
corresponding venue information, and
send simultaneously a plurality of the corresponding venue
information to a communication platform via the communication
module.
10. The portable device according to claim 10, wherein each of the
corresponding venue information sent to the communication platform is
associated with a privacy indication, such that different venues are seen by a
chosen subset of users on the communication platform.