GB2371718A - Providing information on physical geography to a mobile - Google Patents
Providing information on physical geography to a mobile Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- GB2371718A GB2371718A GB0127382A GB0127382A GB2371718A GB 2371718 A GB2371718 A GB 2371718A GB 0127382 A GB0127382 A GB 0127382A GB 0127382 A GB0127382 A GB 0127382A GB 2371718 A GB2371718 A GB 2371718A
- Authority
- GB
- United Kingdom
- Prior art keywords
- information
- electronic device
- physical geography
- data
- network
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Withdrawn
Links
Classifications
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
- H04W4/00—Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
- H04W4/02—Services making use of location information
- H04W4/029—Location-based management or tracking services
-
- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
- H04W4/00—Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
- H04W4/02—Services making use of location information
Abstract
An electronic communications device determines its position within an area covered by a number of base stations and provides information on that location. The GSM or UMTS radio telephone network may provide a database and data processing so that information such as tide tables, sunrise/sunset times may be calculated. This process may occur automatically when the mobile is switched on or on handover, and may use WAP or SMS messaging. The position may be entered manually via a keyboard. Thus bulky tide coefficient, moon phase handbooks may be dispensed, and empirical computations used instead.
Description
Device for determining information on physical geography and method for
communicating this information to such a device An object of the present invention is a device for determining information on 5 physical geography as well as a method for communicating this information to such a device. More particularly, the invention relates to an electronic device capable of transmitting information through a telecommunications network that has the capacity to determine information on physical geography with precision. The invention also relates to a method for determining information on physical geography for an 10 electronic telecommunications device through which a user of the electronic device can obtain information on physical geography specific to the place in which the electronic device is located, if necessary by making use of steps for communication and for the exchange of information between the device and the telecommunications network to it belongs.
15 Throughout the present document, the term "physical geography" designates a set of data pertaining to geographical parameters such as sunrise time, sunset time, the different moon phases or again, in coastal regions, tide times and tide coefficients.
The specific feature of all this information is that, in a relatively extensive territory, for example of the size of a country, it differs according to the specific place in this territory 20 that is being considered.
The information on physical geography, as defined here above, can be calculated for each point of the territory whatever the date or time for which it needs to be known. The computations make use of empirical mathematical laws that are known. However, owing to its nature, which varies as a function of position, this 25 information cannot easily be listed in a handbook. Indeed, unless it is excessively thick, a handbook of this kind quite obviously cannot be complete.
Consequently, the information given is generally limited to approximate information given in various bulletins for an entire territory. The values given generally correspond to average values for the totality of this territory.
30 However, certain people may need to have precise and exact knowledge of one or more items of information on physical geography. At present, they are forced either to obtain this knowledge in a handbook that is bulky and not complete or else to consult specialised organizations to obtain the desired information. These specialized organizations however are not known to everybody and, besides, they cannot be 35 consulted at all times of the day or week.
The device and method according to the invention can be used to mitigate all the problems that have just been described. Indeed, in the invention, means for finding the position of an electronic device are used to determine its position in terms
of longitude and latitude. Once the position of the electronic device has been evaluated, the various items of information on physical geography may be determined.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the electronic device is a mobile telephone forming part of a cellular radio telephony network. This type of network makes use of 5 information relays, known as base stations, that are distributed over a given territory so that the greatest part of this territory is covered by the network considered. The territory is thus divided into adjacent cells. Each of these cells represents the coverage zone of a base station that is proper to it. The telephony standard used may for example be the GSM standard or the UMTS standard.
10 In a first exemplary embodiment of the invention, the position of the electronic device considered may be automatically determined by the base station covering the ceil of the territory in which it is located. Indeed, by definition, a ceil of a communications network such as this is smallsized and has a maximum radius of 20 kilometres, so much so that the position of the electronic device is determined with a 15 precision sufficient to obtain an exact determination of the information on physical geography at the place in which the electronic device is located.
In a second exemplary embodiment of the invention, the information on position may be contained in a memory module of the mobile telephone, and may be associated for example with the name of a city.
20 In a third exemplary embodiment of the invention, the information on the position of the electronic device is entered manually by a user of the electronic device.
In a fourth exemplary embodiment of the invention, the information on physical geography can be computed by means of a special algorithm that is contained in a programme memory of the mobile telephone.
25 In a fifth exemplary embodiment of the invention, a user is connected from his mobile telephone to a communications network that uses a remote data-processing server that has access to a set of databases. The user can then either consult information on position pertaining to a place in which he is located or else directly consult the information on physical geography associated with the place in which he is 30 located or, as the case may be, with any other place. He can also send previously obtained information on position to a programme memory of the remote data processing server. A specified algorithm of the memory is then capable of computing a set of information elements on physical geography.
The invention therefore relates to an electronic device capable of transmitting 35 information through a telecommunications network that makes use of base stations distributed over a territory to be covered, characterized in that the device comprises: - position-finding means to determine a piece of information on position constituted by a piece of data on longitude and a piece of data on latitude
corresponding to a location of the device; - means for determining information on physical geography specific to the location of the device.
In a first example, the position-finding means comprise a reception module to 5 receive especially a positioning message from a database. In a second example, the position-finding means comprise a memory module containing a set of names of geographical places associated with their positions. In a third example, the position finding means comprises a keyboard to manually enter the position of the device.
In one example, the means used to determine information on physical 10 geography comprise a particular application in a programme memory for the computation, from the information on position of the device, of the information on physical geography. In another example, these means comprises means of connection to a remote data-processing server having access to a set of databases used to consult information on physical geography associated with the information on 15 the position of the device.
Another object of the invention is a method for determining information on physical geography for an electronic telecommunications device forming part of a communications network that brings into play especially base stations located in a territory to be covered, each base station being associated with a cell of the territory, 20 wherein the method comprises the different steps consisting in: - locating the position of the electronic device by determining a piece of information on position; establishing information on physical geography associated with the information on position.
25 In a first embodiment of the method according to the invention, the different steps are implemented automatically as soon as the device is turned on, and the step of locating the position of the electronic device is achieved by means of a local base station, the information on position being sent from the base station to the electronic device. 30 In a second embodiment of the method according to the invention, the step for establishing information on physical geography comprises the different stages consisting in: - storing the information on position in a specific memory unit; - establishing a connection between the electronic device and a remote data 35 processing server belonging to a communications network; - sending the information on position to the remote data- processing server; - extracting the information on physical geography associated with the information on position from a database of the communications network of which the
data-processing server forms a part; - transmitting the information on physical geography to the electronic device.
Finally, the step of establishing information on physical geography may comprises the additional step consisting in: 5 - implementing a computation algorithm internal to the electronic device to establish the information on physical geography on the basis of the information on position of the device.
The invention and its various applications will be understood more clearly from the following description and the appended figure. This figure is given purely by way
10 of an indication and in no way restricts the scope of the invention. In particular, the electronic device that is the object of the invention is described in the case of a mobile telephone. However, this description is not limited to a mobile telephone.
The single figure 1 shows a drawing that illustrates the implementation of the method according to the invention and, at the same time, is a representation of the 15 device according to the invention.
Figure 1 shows a territory 100 divided into cells 101. These cells are not necessarily equal in size. Their size depends especially on the density of population present in each of the cells. Indeed, the greater the concentration of the population, the smaller must the cells be in order to meet the communications needs of the users.
20 Each of the cells 101 has a base station 102, called a BTS or base transceiver station.
A mobile telephone 103 that is located in one of the cells 102 may exchange information with the base station associated with this cell, called a local base station.
A simplified representation of the mobile telephone shows that it consists especially of: 25 - an antenna 200 connected to a transmission unit 201, consisting of a sending module 202 and a reception module 203 to be able to exchange information with the local base station 102; - a programme memory 204 that contains a set of applications dedicated to specific tasks necessary for the working of the mobile telephone and, more 30 particularly, to the implementation of the method according to the invention; these applications may be replaced by specific electronic circuits in different alternative embodiments of the device according to the invention.
- a data memory 205 designed to store a set of parameters necessary for the working of the mobile telephone and, more particularly, a set of information necessary 35 for determining information on physical geography; - a microprocessor 206, that controls the totality of the operations coming into play within the mobile telephone, especially in managing the control, data and address exchanges that go through a twoway communications bus 207; this bus is connected
to all the elements that have just been described, except for the antenna 200.
When a user of the mobile telephone 103 wishes to obtain information on physical geography specific to the zone in which he is located, the method according to the invention is implemented. This method can be subdivided into two main steps, 5 namely the determining of information on position and then the determining of information on physical geography associated with this information on position.
In a first mode of implementation, the local BTS locates the position of the mobile telephone 103 and assigns it a piece of information on position comprising a piece of data on longitude 150 and a piece of data on latitude 151. The data may 10 correspond, for example, to the mean longitude and latitude associated with the local BTS. The information on position is then transmitted from the BTS 102 to the mobile telephone 103 by means of a message 104 known as a positioning message. This message is, for example, an SMS (short service message) type of message. The pieces of data on longitude 150 and latitude 151 are thus stored by means of an 15 application 140, known as a storage application, in a first memory unit 161 and a second memory unit 162 respectively of the data memory 205 of the mobile telephone 203. In a second mode of implementation, the data memory 205 has a memory module 163 containing a database 152 comprising a set of place names distributed 20 throughout the territory 100. Thus, for example, there are the names of the main cities and/or the main, important geographical sites of the territory 100. Each of the place names is associated in the database 152 with a piece of data on longitude and on latitude. Thus, the user may use an application 141, known as a selection application, to select a place, for example the place in which he is located, and prompt the writing 25 of the piece of data on longitude 150 and the piece of data on longitude 151, associated with this place, in the memory units 161 and 162. This writing is done by means of the storage application 141. This mode of implementation can advantageously be used when the mobile telephone is not in a reception zone or when the user wishes to obtain information on physical geography pertaining to a place 30 other than the one in which he is located.
A third mode of implementation may consist of the manual entry of the data on longitude and latitude by means of a keyboard 208 of the mobile telephone 103. An application 142, known as a manual entry application, may also be used for this purpose. Here again, this mode of implementation may advantageously be used when 35 the mobile telephone is not in a reception zone and when it has no databases 152 available to determine a position from the indication of a place.
Once the pieces of data on longitude 150 and latitude 151 are written in the specific memory units 161 and 162, the step for determining the information on
physical geography may be implemented.
In one mode of implementation, a particular application 143 with an algorithm for computing information on physical geography is used in order to determine a set of items of information of physical geography from the information on position.
5 In another mode of implementation of the invention, which does not require the presence of the computation algorithm 143 in the mobile telephone, the information on longitude and latitude is sent to a communications network 105, for example of the Internet type, and more particularly to a remote data-processing server 106 of this network, through a local base station 102. To this end, an application 144, known as a 10 connection application, and then an application 145, known as a transmission application, are implemented respectively to connect the mobile telephone 103 to the communications network 105 and the information on position to the server 106. To ensure the connection of the telephone 103 to the communications network 105, the WAP (Wireless Application Protocol) may be used for example. The server 106 has 15 access to a set of databases 107 through which, on the basis of the data on latitude and longitude transmitted to this server, it is possible to determine all the information on physical geography desired by the user. In this mode of implementation, the server, instead of consulting the databases 107, can call upon a specific computation unit 108 which can be used, by means of empirical formulae, to compute all the 20 parameters of physical geography. This mode of implementation may also make it possible to obtain other information on the position of the mobile telephone 103. For example, the databases 107 can contain information on the temperature of the region in which the telephone is located.
Once determined, the information on physical geography is sent to the mobile 25 telephone 103.
A display application 146 is used to consult this information on a screen 209 of the mobile telephone 103.
The method according to the invention can be implemented at the user's request or automatically as soon as the user turns on his mobile telephone 103, or 30 again as soon as the user moves and thus makes the mobile telephone go from one cell to another. An application 147, known as a power-on detection application, and an application 148, known as a cell-change detection application, are designed for this purpose in the programme memory 204.
Claims (1)
1- An electronic device capable of transmitting information through a telecommunications network bringing into play base stations distributed over a territory to be covered, wherein the device comprises: 5 position-finding means to determine a piece of information on position constituted by a piece of data on longitude and a piece of data on latitude corresponding to a location of the device; and - means for determining information on physical geography specific to the location of the device.
10 2- An electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the positionfinding means comprise a reception module to receive especially a positioning message from a database.
3- An electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the positionfinding means comprise a memory module containing a set of names of geographical places 15 associated with their positions.
4- An electronic device according to claim 1, wherein the positionfinding means comprises a keyboard to manually enter the information on the position of the device. 5- An electronic device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein 20 the means for determining information on physical geography comprise a particular application in a programme memory to compute the information on physical geography from the information on the position of the device.
6- An electronic device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the means for determining information on physical geography comprise means of 25 connection to a data-processing server having access to a set of databases used to consult the information on physical geography associated with the information on the position of the device.
7- An electronic device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the telecommunications network is a radiotelephony cell network.
30 8- An electronic device according to claim 7, wherein the radiotelephony cell network is the GSM network or the UMTS network.
9- An electronic device according to claim 2, wherein the positionlocating message is an SMS type message.
10- A method for determining information on physical geography for an 35 electronic telecommunications device forming part of a communications network that
brings into play especially base stations located in a territory to be covered, each base station being associated with a cell of the territory, wherein the method comprises the different steps of: - locating the position of the electronic device by determining a piece of 5 information on position; and - establishing information on physical geography associated with the information on position.
11- A method according to claim 10, wherein the different steps are implemented automatically as soon as the electronic device is powered on.
10 12- A method according to either claim 10 or claim 11, wherein the different steps are implemented automatically as soon as a change in cell associated with the electronic device is detected.
13- A method according to any one of claims 10 to 12, wherein the step of locating the position of the electronic device is achieved by means of a local base 15 station, the information on position being sent from the base station to the electronic device. 14- A method according to any one of claims 10 to 13, wherein the step for establishing information on physical geography comprises the different stages of: - storing the information on position in a specific memory unit in the electronic 20 device; - establishing a connection between the electronic device and a remote data-
processing server belonging to a communications network; - sending the information on position to the remote data-processing server; - extracting the information on physical geography associated with the 25 information on position from a database of the communications network of which the data-processing server forms a part; - transmitting the information on physical geography to the electronic device.
15- A method according to the claim 14, wherein the connection between the electronic device and the communications network is set up according to the WAP 30 protocol.
16- A method according to one of the claims 10 to 12, wherein the step of establishing information on physical geography comprises the additional step of: - implementing a computation algorithm internal to the electronic device to establish the information on physical geography from the information on the position of 35 the device.
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| FR0014810A FR2816798B1 (en) | 2000-11-16 | 2000-11-16 | APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY INFORMATION AND METHOD FOR COMMUNICATING SUCH INFORMATION TO SUCH AN APPARATUS |
Publications (2)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| GB0127382D0 GB0127382D0 (en) | 2002-01-09 |
| GB2371718A true GB2371718A (en) | 2002-07-31 |
Family
ID=8856556
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| GB0127382A Withdrawn GB2371718A (en) | 2000-11-16 | 2001-11-15 | Providing information on physical geography to a mobile |
Country Status (3)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| DE (1) | DE10156141A1 (en) |
| FR (1) | FR2816798B1 (en) |
| GB (1) | GB2371718A (en) |
Families Citing this family (2)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DE102008031314A1 (en) | 2008-07-02 | 2010-01-14 | Landscape Printer GbR (vertretungsberechtigter Gesellschafter: Stefan Trebbin, 99423 Weimar) | Image and/or text applying method for landscape for advertising application, involves applying seeds on landscape, where seeds are controlled in intensity and/or color such that increasing plants result in desired images and/or texts |
| DE102011000678A1 (en) * | 2011-02-11 | 2012-08-16 | Analemma Apps Gmbh | Device for predetermining solar radiation at a defined location |
Citations (6)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US5438518A (en) * | 1994-01-19 | 1995-08-01 | Bianco; Joseph A. | Player positioning and distance finding system |
| US6014090A (en) * | 1997-12-22 | 2000-01-11 | At&T Corp. | Method and apparatus for delivering local information to travelers |
| WO2000004734A1 (en) * | 1998-07-16 | 2000-01-27 | Ericsson Inc. | Mobile telephone communication system and method for transmitting information associated with a geographic area to a subscriber |
| WO2001008339A2 (en) * | 1999-07-23 | 2001-02-01 | Lextron Systems, Inc. | Enhanced weather and traffic information from mobile communication devices |
| GB2354128A (en) * | 1999-08-11 | 2001-03-14 | Nec Corp | Map display terminal |
| GB2360421A (en) * | 1999-11-10 | 2001-09-19 | Ibm | Transmission of geographic information to mobile devices |
Family Cites Families (5)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US5678194A (en) * | 1994-03-10 | 1997-10-14 | Motorola, Inc. | Method for providing geographic dependent instructions to a user of a communications unit |
| FI103701B (en) * | 1996-10-30 | 1999-08-13 | Nokia Telecommunications Oy | A mobile communication system and method for generating position information for an application |
| DE19746745A1 (en) * | 1997-10-23 | 1999-05-06 | Deutsche Telekom Ag | Digital communication system as well as mobile and stationary end device for it |
| US6088594A (en) * | 1997-11-26 | 2000-07-11 | Ericsson Inc. | System and method for positioning a mobile terminal using a terminal based browser |
| WO2000030380A1 (en) * | 1998-11-17 | 2000-05-25 | Mobeo, Inc. | Method and system for providing localized information |
-
2000
- 2000-11-16 FR FR0014810A patent/FR2816798B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
-
2001
- 2001-11-15 GB GB0127382A patent/GB2371718A/en not_active Withdrawn
- 2001-11-15 DE DE10156141A patent/DE10156141A1/en not_active Ceased
Patent Citations (6)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US5438518A (en) * | 1994-01-19 | 1995-08-01 | Bianco; Joseph A. | Player positioning and distance finding system |
| US6014090A (en) * | 1997-12-22 | 2000-01-11 | At&T Corp. | Method and apparatus for delivering local information to travelers |
| WO2000004734A1 (en) * | 1998-07-16 | 2000-01-27 | Ericsson Inc. | Mobile telephone communication system and method for transmitting information associated with a geographic area to a subscriber |
| WO2001008339A2 (en) * | 1999-07-23 | 2001-02-01 | Lextron Systems, Inc. | Enhanced weather and traffic information from mobile communication devices |
| GB2354128A (en) * | 1999-08-11 | 2001-03-14 | Nec Corp | Map display terminal |
| GB2360421A (en) * | 1999-11-10 | 2001-09-19 | Ibm | Transmission of geographic information to mobile devices |
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| FR2816798B1 (en) | 2004-04-16 |
| DE10156141A1 (en) | 2002-05-29 |
| GB0127382D0 (en) | 2002-01-09 |
| FR2816798A1 (en) | 2002-05-17 |
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Legal Events
| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| WAP | Application withdrawn, taken to be withdrawn or refused ** after publication under section 16(1) |