WO2003107541A2

WO2003107541A2 - Method and system for providing local based information services

Info

Publication number: WO2003107541A2
Application number: PCT/IL2003/000511
Authority: WO
Inventors: Yaron Kalish; Dan Kalish
Original assignee: Niragongo Inc
Priority date: 2002-06-17
Filing date: 2003-06-15
Publication date: 2003-12-24
Also published as: AU2003231914A8; WO2003107541A3; AU2003231914A1

Abstract

The present invention provides a new method for handling location-based messages in a wireless communication network. Users of a wireless network can transmit massages, which are associated with their current location. These messages are stored in a remote database of a wireless network and are at a future time retrieved and transmitted to at least one available cellular phone, which is positioned in the same location area as the originator cellular phone. The location-based messages are transmitted to users upon demand, or automatically when a user reaches a certain location.

Description

Method And System For Providing Local Based Information Services

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to providing information services, and in particular to a method and apparatus for providing integrated location-based information.

Description of the Related Art

In an age of ever-expanding information resources, such resources provide useful and potentially vital information for reliable and accurate decision making. At the same time, society is increasingly mobile, with people spending more and more time traveling to and from their offices, homes, and other destinations, usually in their automobiles or other forms of transportation.

People traveling in unfamiliar cities or towns frequently desire location-based information. For example, a person traveling in a vehicle, in an unfamiliar area may desire to receive information about local places of interest such as the nearest restaurants, hotels, gas stations, etc., or directions on how to get to local places of interest.

An increasing number of people have access to cellular phones. Cellular phone networks provide access to telephone networks over virtually the entire industrialized world. Therefore, many people that travel to unfamiliar towns and cities take a cellular phone with them. The cellular phone can be used to contact an operator who can provide some local information including phone numbers of places of interest, but the traveler must usually know in advance the names of the places of interest.

Further more, people located at different places occasionally wish to state their opinion, set reminders concerning respective area or leave messages to future visitors of said places.

According to current available services, for accomplishing such goals, the customers need to actually write down the local based information and pass on the information to other people. For example, if a person has visited a restaurant in a foreign country and wishes to recommend this restaurant to his friends, he needs to write down the relevant information and give it to his friends, in any conventional way such as phone, electronic messages etc.

In most cases, such local based information is lost, as people usually don't bother to write down the information and can't memorize all relevant information. Sometimes, they might remember names of places but they will hardly ever remember their addresses.

Based on the foregoing, it would be desirable to have a system associated with cellular phone network enabling the storage and retrieval of location-based information in an easy to use manner to users of cellular phones.

The present invention provides location-based information services based on personal messages sent through cellular network.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention is suggested a method for handling location associated messages in a wireless communication network, using wireless communication devices, wherein the location of each specific wireless device is available for retrieval, said method comprising the steps of: receiving at least one messages from at least one originating cellular phone wherein the message is associated with the location area of the originating device, recording said message/s, retrieving said messages in future time , and transferring the retrieved messages to at least one available cellular phone which is positioned in the same location area as the originator cellular phone was.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and further features and advantages of the invention will become more clearly understood in light of the ensuing description of a few preferred embodiments thereof, given by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein-

Fig. 1 is a general diagrammatic representation of the environment in which the present invention is practiced;

Fig. 2 is a general block diagram of information service center according to the present invention is practiced;

Fig. 3 is a flow-chart of storing local based information according to the present invention;

Fig. 4 is a flow-chart of retrieving local based information according to the present invention; Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments

Fig.l illustrates the environment in which the present invention is practiced. The information system-server 10 is connected to the cellular network 12. The cellular net 12 comprises cellular antennas 14, which are located at different geographic areas 16. Each antenna receives cellular transmission of cellular devices 20 which are located at designated area 16("cell area"). The cellular monitoring system 18 is updated with each of the cellular devices 20 location. The devices location may be achieved by any known technologies, such as signals interrogation based on mobile cell area network such as GSM network, or using satellite based methodologies (e.g. GPS)

The system according to the present invention may have two alternative architectures: centralized architecture wherein all messages are stored in one central database or distributional architecture using plural (interconnected) database servers, wherein each servers stores collection of messages relating to one geographical zone.

The information system server (20) block diagram is illustrated in Fig. 2. All users' messages, which were received and handled by the service application 24, are stored in database 22. The messages can be generated by the user utilizing SMS capabilities or using wireless Browsing messaging utilities. The identification module 26 detects messages source of location and respective user ID based on information from the cellular network monitoring system 18. The classification module 28 organizes the massage according to their location and pre-defined user profile 30 of the identified user. The service application module 24 further receives requests from users for retrieving personalized location based information. The filtering module 32 checks the messages database 20 for messages relevant for the specific locations and user profiles, the selected message are retrieved and transferred by the service module application utilizing SMS technologies or any other electronic messages or posting service (the messages may be transferred by e-mail, or accessible via markup pages to users with internet-enabled cellular devices or other wireless data accessible devices).

Let us assume that a cellular network user who is traveling abroad wishes to recommend a nice restaurant, or an exciting show to his friends, family or colleges. According to the present invention the user may type short SMS messages including information of the place, his personal impression etc. The SMS message is transmitted to specific pre-defined cellular address. In first suggested architecture, all messages are routed to the central information system. In the alternative, distributed model, the messages travel to the information system, which serves the current location. Thus enabling a distribution of storage and messaging load.

Fig. 3 illustrates process of handling the received messages. Each message sender is identified by the system according to identified phone number or other unique ID (such as e.g. GSM IMSI, IMEI, etc.). The location of the respective cellular device is detected by the cellular monitoring system 18. The messages are classified according the their location origin and the pre-defined profile of the identified user. In accordance with their classification the messages are stored at the location based information database 22.

Users, subscribed to the local based information service, are entitled to retrieve information at any location covered by the cellular network. The information can be provided by pull or push methods.

The method of retrieving messages using the local based information service is illustrated in Fig. 4. According to the pull method, the user can request to retrieve local based information of messages, which were originated by the other users or by the user himself at the time they/he were present in his current location. The user may be interested in all available messages relating to his current location or only in classified information filtered according to his preferences. The user preferences are defined by criteria's, stored in user profile 30, which is filled in by the user when registering to the service. Alternatively the user preferences may be updated at any point during or before the users request for new information. User preferences may define time periods for omitting non-relevant historical information.

According to the push method, the user is provided with new local based information each time he arrives at a new location and relevant information of messages is available. The relevancy of the information is defined according to user pre-defined profile and the respective classification of the stored message. For example, if the user profiled defined certain group of people, only messages of those specific people will be delivered at the time to user is located in the specific area the messages were originated.

The information service system according to the present invention may have different purposes. Some users may use it for personal contacts, for leaving personal messages at certain place, where their relatives or friends are due to arrive in future time.

This service may have general use for storing and retrieving reviews and opinions relating certain locations such as restaurants, entertainment sites etc.,

Finally, it should be appreciated that the above-described embodiments are directed at a cellular communication environment. However, the invention in its broad aspect is equally applicable to computerized network communication in general, such as satellite, blue-tooth, and others.

While the above description contains much specificity, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the invention, but rather as exemplifications of the preferred embodiments. Those skilled in the art will envision other possible variations that are within its scope. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be determined not by the embodiments illustrated, but by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1) A method for handling location associated messages in a wireless communication network, using wireless communication devices, wherein the location of each specific wireless device is available for retrieval, said method comprising the steps of:

i) receiving at least one messages from at least one originating cellular phone wherein the message is associated with the location area of the originating device,

ii) recording said message/s,

iii) retrieving said messages in future time, and

iv) transferring the retrieved messages to at least one available cellular phone which is positioned in the same location area as the originator cellular phone was.

2) The method of claim 1 wherein the messages are classified according to location of originator cellular phone.

3) The method of claim 1 wherein the messages are classified according to defined identification details of the originating cellular phone user.

4) The method of claim 1 wherein the identification details of the originating cellular phone user are pre-defined by the user and stored in a user profile database.

5) The method of claim 1 wherein the retrieved messages are filtered according to defined preferences of the designated receiving cellular user. 6) The method of claim 5 wherein the defined preferences of the designated receiving cellular user include geographical, time or personal criteria's.

7) The method of claims 5 wherein the massages are retrieved and transferred to the wireless device upon receiving request for local based messages from wireless device associated with said cellular network.

8) A messages storage and retrieval system for providing users with location associated messages using wireless phone devices, said system comprising of:

i. At least one database server comprising a collection of messages which are classified according to originating wireless device location area;

ii. Monitoring application for identifying the location of a specific wireless device in a wireless communication network;

iii. Management database application for classifying messages according to location and users' profiles;

iv. Service application associated with the central database server and management application for retrieving and delivering messages according to retrieving users' current locations and defined profiles;

9) A messages storage and retrieval system according to claim 8 wherein the system architecture is centralized comprising one central database.

10) A messages storage and retrieval system according to claim 8 wherein the system architecture is distributed, comprising two or more database servers and/or two or more service applications, each handling messages associated with different geographical regions.

11) A messages storage and retrieval system according to claim 8 wherein the service application is utilizing push technologies transmitting location associated messages upon detecting change in user location by the monitoring application.

12) A messages storage and retrieval system according to claim 8 wherein the service application is utilizing pull technologies, transmitting location associated messages upon receiving users' requests for massages.

13) A messages storage and retrieval system according to claim 8 wherein the service application filters the messages in accordance with filtering parameters which are defined by the user.

14) A messages storage and retrieval system according to claim 8 wherein the service application filters the personalized message in accordance to filtering criteria which are defined by the user.

15) A messages storage and retrieval system according to claim 14 wherein the filtering criteria are pre-defined in a user profile.

16) A messages storage and retrieval system according to claim 14 wherein the filtering criteria are defined by the user before or during receiving the messages.

17) A messages storage and retrieval system according to claim 8 wherein the service application utilizes SMS (short messaging service) for transferring requests and messages.. 8) A messages storage and retrieval system according to claim 8, wherein the service application utilizes a wireless browsing service such as WAP (wireless application protocol) service for transferring requests and messages.