Directional messaging among mobile devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10021541-B2
Application number	US-201414481337-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 9, 2014
Priority date	Sep 9, 2014
Publication date	Jul 10, 2018
Grant date	Jul 10, 2018

Abstract

A system and method are provided for directional messaging among mobile devices. An input is received from a first mobile device, identifying a directional range for sending a message to a second mobile device within the directional range. The second mobile device located in the directional range identified in the input is identified. A location indicator showing the location of the second mobile device within the identified directional range is sent to the first mobile device. A message to be sent to the second mobile device is received from the first mobile device. In response to receiving the message, the message is sent to the second mobile device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, at a server and from a first mobile device, an input identifying a directional range;
identifying, at the server, a second mobile device located in the directional range identified in the input;
sending, from the server and to the first mobile device, a location indicator, wherein the location indicator provides sufficient information about a location of the second mobile device, to enable the first mobile device to display the location of the second mobile device on a map;
upon sending the location indicator to the first mobile device, receiving, from the first mobile device and at the server, a text message to be sent to the second mobile device; and
in response to receiving the text message, sending the text message from the server to the second mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the second mobile device includes:
receiving, at the server, a group contact list associated with the first mobile device including a plurality of Mobile Directory Numbers (MDNs);
identifying a location associated with each MDN in the group contact list;
determining whether the identified location associated with at least one of the MDNs in the group contact list falls within the identified directional range; and
upon determining that at least one of the MDNs listed in the group contact list falls within the identified directional range, identifying a mobile device associated with the at least one MDN as the second mobile device.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the group contact list is received, at the server, from the first mobile device, from a memory location within the server, from another server, or a combination thereof.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein identifying the location associated with each MDN in the group contact list includes:
sending a message to each MDN in the group contact list requesting location data associated with the MDN; and
receiving the location data from the each MDN.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
identifying the second mobile device includes identifying a plurality of mobile devices,
sending the location indicator includes sending a plurality of location indicators to the first mobile device, the plurality of location indicators providing sufficient information about locations of each of the plurality of mobile devices to enable the first mobile device to display the locations on a map,
receiving the text message to be sent to the second mobile device includes receiving at least one text message to be sent to the plurality of mobile devices, and
sending the text message includes sending the at least one text message to the plurality of mobile devices.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein:
receiving the at least one text message to be sent to the plurality of second mobile devices includes receiving a plurality of text messages to be sent to the plurality of mobile devices, and
sending the text message includes simultaneously sending the plurality of text messages to the plurality of mobile devices such that at least two of the plurality of mobile devices each receives a different text message of the plurality of text messages.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein:
receiving the at least one text message to be sent to the plurality of mobile devices includes receiving at least one text message to be sent to a subset of the plurality of mobile devices associated with a subset of the plurality of location indicators, wherein the subset of the plurality of mobile devices is selected by a user of the first mobile device, and
sending the text message includes sending the at least one text message to the subset of the plurality of mobile devices.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the input includes a base-location and the directional range from the base-location, the method further comprising:
providing data associated with an area surrounding the base-location to the first mobile device, wherein the directional range is a part of the area surrounding the base-location selected by a user of the first mobile device.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein a radius of the area surrounding the base-location is determined based on a selection by the user of the first mobile device, based on a preset value, or a combination thereof.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the base-location is a current location of the first mobile device.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the input identifying the directional range includes a reference to one or more cardinal directions or combinations thereof.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the input identifying the directional range includes moving the first mobile device in a desired direction.

13. A server comprising:
a processing device; and
a memory storing executable instructions for causing the processing device to:
receive, at the server and from a first mobile device, an input identifying a directional range;
identify, at the server, a second mobile device located in the directional range identified in the input;
send, from the server and to the first mobile device, a location indicator, wherein the location indicator provides sufficient information about a location of the second mobile device, to enable the first mobile device to display the location of the second mobile device on a map;
upon sending the location indicator to the first mobile device, receive, from the first mobile device and at the server, a text message to be sent to the second mobile device; and
in response to receiving the text message, send the text message from the server to the second mobile device.

14. The server of claim 13 , wherein the instructions causing the processing device to identify the second mobile device further include instructions to cause the processing device to:
receive, at the server, a group contact list associated with the first mobile device including a plurality of Mobile Directory Numbers (MDNs);
identify a location associated with each MDN in the group contact list;
determine whether the identified location associated with at least one of the MDNs in the group contact list falls within the identified directional range; and
upon determining that at least one of the MDNs listed in the group contact list falls within the identified directional range, identify a mobile device associated with the at least one MDN as the second mobile device.

15. The server of claim 13 , wherein:
the instructions causing the processing device to identify the second mobile device further include instructions to cause the processing device to identify a plurality of mobile devices,
the instructions causing the processing device to send the location indicator further include instructions to cause the processing device to send a plurality of location indicators to the first mobile device, the plurality of location indicators providing sufficient information about locations of the plurality of mobile devices to enable the first mobile device to display the locations on a map,
the instructions causing the processing device to receive the text message to be sent to the second mobile device further include instructions to cause the processing device to receive at least one text message to be sent to the plurality of mobile devices, and
the instructions causing the processing device to send the at least one text message further include instructions to cause the processing device to send the at least one text message to the plurality of mobile devices.

16. The server of claim 15 , wherein:
the instructions causing the processing device to receive the at

Assignees

• Verizon Patent & Licensing Inc

Inventors

• Joseph Peter
• Ravi Guruharan

Classifications

• H04W4/14 Primary

  Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD] · CPC title

• H04W4/025

  using location based information parameters · CPC title

• H04W4/08

  User group management · CPC title

• H04W4/021

  Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences · CPC title