Displaying location-specific images on a mobile device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9852462-B2
Application number	US-201615146769-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 4, 2016
Priority date	Oct 25, 2004
Publication date	Dec 26, 2017
Grant date	Dec 26, 2017

Abstract

A system is provided for providing location-specific images to a mobile device for display. The system generally comprises three components: a mobile device having a screen, a position identification system (e.g., a GPS receiver) that determines the position of the mobile device, and a database containing location-specific images taken at various locations. Each location-specific image is associated with geographic coordinates of the location at which the image was taken. Based on the position of the mobile device as determined by the position identification system, a location-specific image is selected from the database and displayed on the screen of the mobile device. For example, when a user is using the mobile device as a car navigation system, a location-specific image of the user's destination location can be selected and displayed when the determined position of the mobile device comes within a certain distance from the geographic coordinates of the destination location.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
determining a location of a mobile device comprising a global positioning system (GPS) interface unit, the GPS interface unit configured to calculate the location of the mobile device;
sending, by the GPS interface unit of the mobile device, information identifying the location of the mobile device to a mobile image system via a wireless communications network, wherein the mobile image system receives monitoring information that specifies the location of the mobile device;
sending, by the mobile device, user identification information to the mobile image system via the wireless communications network, wherein the mobile image system accesses a user profiles database to identify a user profile associated with the user identification information; and
receiving an alert on the mobile device from the mobile image system, the alert including points of interest associated with the user profile associated with the user identification information.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the mobile image system is configured to:
access the user profiles database based on the user identification information; and
identify one or more user locations stored in the user profiles database and associated with the user identification information, the one or more user locations including user-designated locations or system designated locations.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the mobile image system is further configured to:
compare the location of the mobile device to the one or more user locations associated with the user identification information; and
determine that the location of the mobile device is within a distance of at least one of the one or more user locations.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the system designated locations are determined automatically based on past locations of the mobile device.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the system designated locations are determined by a shopping assistance server that is configured to:
receive a shopping list from the mobile device, the shopping list including one or more items; and
identify a store location associated with at least one item of the one or more items, the store location identified based at least in part on the store location being a determined distance from the location of the mobile device, and an availability of the at least one item at the store location.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5 , further comprising:
determining one or more stores associated with each item of the one or more items;
determining a location and at least one location-specific image for each store of the one or more stores.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , further comprising:
determining that the location of the mobile device is within a distance of a store of the one or more stores; and
displaying the at least one location-specific image associated with the store.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the system designated locations are determined based on locations associated with one or more user designated favorite items stored in the user profiles database.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:
displaying, based on the alert, an image associated with the monitoring information.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9 , wherein the image associated with the monitoring information is displayed until a distance between the mobile device and the points of interest increases.

11. A computing system, comprising:
at least one processor;
a memory including instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the computing system to:
determine a location of a mobile device comprising a global positioning system (GPS) interface unit, the GPS interface unit configured to calculate the location of the mobile device;
send, by the GPS interface unit of the mobile device, information identifying the location of the mobile device to a mobile image system via a wireless communications network, wherein the mobile image system receives monitoring information that specifies the location of the mobile device;
send, by the mobile device, user identification information to the mobile image system via the wireless communications network, wherein the mobile image system accesses a user profiles database to identify a user profile associated with the user identification information; and
receive an alert on the mobile device from the mobile image system, the alert including points of interest associated with the user profile associated with the user identification information.

12. The computing system of claim 11 , wherein the mobile image system is configured to:
access the user profiles database based on the user identification information; and
identify one or more user locations stored in the user profiles database and associated with the user identification information, the one or more user locations including user-designated locations or system designated locations.

13. The computing system of claim 12 , wherein the mobile image system is further configured to:
compare the location of the mobile device to the one or more user locations associated with the user identification information; and
determine that the location of the mobile device is within a distance of at least one of the one or more user locations.

14. The computing system of claim 12 , wherein the system designated locations are determined automatically based on past locations of the mobile device.

15. The computing system of claim 12 , wherein the system designated locations are determined by a shopping assistance server that is configured to:
receive a shopping list from the mobile device, the shopping list including one or more items; and
identify a store location associated with at least one item of the one or more items, the store location identified based at least in part on the store location being a determined distance from the location of the mobile device, and an availability of the at least one item at the store location.

16. The computing system of claim 15 , wherein the shopping assistance server is further configured to:
determine one or more stores associated with each item of the one or more items;
determine a location and at least one location-specific image for each store of the one or more stores.

17. The computing system of claim 16 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the computing system to:
determine that the location of the mobile device is within a distance of a store of the one or more stores; and
display the at least one location-specific image associated with the store.

18. The computing system of claim 12 , wherein the system designated locations are determined based on locations associated with one or more user designated favorite items stored in the user profiles database.

19. The computing system of claim 11 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the computing system to:
display, based on the alert, an image associated with the monitoring information.

20. The computing system of claim 19 , wherein the image associated with the monitoring information is displayed until a distance between the mobile device and the points of interest increases.

Assignees

• A9 Com Inc

Inventors

• Manber Udi
• Dorfman Barnaby M
• Gold Jonathan A

Classifications

• G01C21/3629

  Guidance using speech or audio output, e.g. text-to-speech (text to speech systems per se G10L13/00) · CPC title

• H04W4/04

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L67/306

  User profiles · CPC title

• H04M1/72572

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L67/22

  Electricity · mapped topic