Systems, devices, and methods for sharing geographic location

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9769605-B2
Application number	US-201514608712-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 29, 2015
Priority date	Sep 24, 2013
Publication date	Sep 19, 2017
Grant date	Sep 19, 2017

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a terminal including a processor-readable storage medium including a set of instructions for geographic location sharing between the terminal and a target terminal; and a processor in communication with the storage medium. The processor is configured to execute the set of instructions to establish a communication with a target terminal of a target user remote to the terminal though a social networking application installed in the terminal; acquire a current geographic location information of the terminal at an interval of a preset period of time; and send the current geographic location information of the terminal to the target terminal at an interval of a preset period of time.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A terminal, comprising:
a processor-readable storage medium including a set of instructions of an instant communication social networking application for sharing geographic location information between the terminal and a target terminal; and
a processor in communication with the storage medium, wherein when executing the set of instructions of the instant communication social networking application, the processor is directed to:
acquire a current geographic location of the terminal at a preset interval of time from a positioning application installed in the terminal;
receive a tracking instruction from an interface of an instant communication social networking application to track a target terminal;
receive, in response to the tracking instruction, a geographic location information update of the target terminal indicative of a current geographic location of the target terminal;
determine, in response to the geographic location information update of the target terminal, a change of the current geographic location of the target terminal;
determine an updated travel path between the current geographic location of the terminal and the current geographic location of the target terminal in response to the change in the current geographic location of the target terminal; and
display, on a map interface of the instant communication social networking application, the updated travel path.

2. The terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute the set of instructions to:
repeatedly acquire a geographic location information update of the terminal at the first preset interval of time, the geographic location information update of the terminal indicative of the current geographic location of the terminal;
determine the updated travel path between the current geographic location of the terminal and the current geographic location of the target terminal in response to the geographic location information update of the terminal; and
display, on the map interface of the instant communication social networking application, the updated travel path in response to the geographic location information update of the terminal.

3. The terminal according to claim 2 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute the set of instructions to:
display a profile photo of a profile associated with the instant communication social networking application at the current geographic location of the terminal on the map interface.

4. The terminal according to claim 3 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute the set of instructions to:
detect a drag action executed on the map interface;
move the map according to the drag action;
hide the profile photo displayed on the map interface when moving the map; and
resume displaying the profile photo on the map interface after a preset period of time since an end of the drag action.

5. The terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the communication between the terminal and the target terminal includes at least one of a voice information interaction, a text information interaction, a picture information interaction, and a video information interaction.

6. The terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions to:
receive traffic information along the updated travel path;
determine, in response to the change of the current geographic location of the target terminal, an updated travel time between the terminal and the target terminal along the updated travel path based on the traffic information; and
display, on the map interface of the instant communication social networking application, the updated travel time.

7. The terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions to:
display a profile photo of a profile associated with the target terminal at the current geographic location of the target terminal on the map interface.

8. The terminal according to claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions to:
acquire user information of the profile; and
display, on the instant communication social networking application, the user information of the profile in response to a selection of the profile photo.

9. The terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions to:
obtain a speed of the target terminal; and
determine, in response to the change of the current geographic location of the target terminal, an updated time the target terminal will reach a preset location based on the speed of the target terminal, and
display, on the map interface of the instant communication social networking application, the updated time.

10. The terminal according to claim 6 wherein the processor is further configured to execute the set of instructions to:
display, on the map interface of the instant communication social network application, textual descriptions descriptive of the updated travel path.

11. A method for sharing a geographic location, comprising:
providing a terminal as a first terminal
the first terminal including a processor-readable storage medium and a processor in communication with the storage medium to perform the method, and
the first terminal is in communication with a second terminal an instant communication social networking application installed in the first terminal;

displaying, on a map interface of the instant communication social network application of the first terminal, a first set of highlights indicative of a travel path between a geographic location of the first terminal and a geographic location of the second terminal;
acquiring, by the first terminal, a current geographic location of the first terminal at a first preset interval of time, the current geographic location acquired from a positioning application installed in the terminal;
receiving, by the first terminal, a tracking instruction from an interface of the instant communication social networking application to track the geographic location of the second terminal;
receiving, by the first terminal and in response to the tracking instruction, geographic location information updates of the second terminal, each of the geographic location information updates including an indication of a corresponding updated geographic location of the second terminal;
determining, by the first terminal and in response to each of the geographic location information updates of the second terminal, an update to the travel path between the geographic location of the first terminal and the corresponding updated geographic location of the second terminal; and
refreshing, on the map interface of the instant communication social networking application installed on the first terminal, the first set of highlights to display the update to the travel path.

12. The method according to claim 11 , further comprising:
repeatedly acquiring, by the first terminal, the current geographic location information of the first terminal at the first preset interval of time;
repeatedly sending, by the first terminal, the current geographic location information of the first terminal to the second terminal at a second preset interval of time; and
displaying, by the first terminal, the current geographic location of the first terminal on the map interface.

13. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising:
displaying, by the first terminal, a profile photo at the current geographic location of the first terminal on the map interface.

14. The method according to claim 13 , further co

Assignees

• Tencent Tech Shenzhen Co Ltd

Inventors

• Shan Yi
• Chen Pinlin
• Zhuo Dacheng
• Wu Liang
• Li Ling
• Wang Jun

Classifications

• H04L51/32

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W4/02 Primary

  Services making use of location information · CPC title

• H04W4/023 Primary

  using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds · CPC title

• H04W4/206

  Electricity · mapped topic

• G01S5/0072

  Transmission between mobile stations, e.g. anti-collision systems · CPC title