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
  • H04W4/021—Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• • 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
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L51/00—User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
  • H04L51/21—Monitoring or handling of messages
  • H04L51/224—Monitoring or handling of messages providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
  • H04L67/50—Network services
  • H04L67/52—Network services specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
  • H04L67/50—Network services
  • H04L67/54—Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• • 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
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L12/00—Data switching networks
  • H04L12/02—Details
  • H04L12/16—Arrangements for providing special services to substations
  • H04L12/18—Arrangements for providing special services to substations for broadcast or conference, e.g. multicast
  • H04L12/1895—Arrangements for providing special services to substations for broadcast or conference, e.g. multicast for short real-time information, e.g. alarms, notifications, alerts, updates
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
  • H04L67/00—Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications
  • H04L67/01—Protocols
  • H04L67/04—Protocols specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability

Definitions

• the present invention relates, in general, to the field of communication networks, and more specifically, to a method and system for providing notification in communication networks.
• the various functions of communication devices enable a user to connect to any other communication device in the network.
• the various forms of electronic address of a user include, but are not limited to, an E- mail address, a mobile phone number, an Internet Protocol (IP) address and the like.
• IP Internet Protocol
• a user needs these address details to access or connect to a contact.
• the details are generally stored with the service provider of the communication network, in the case of an E-mail address, or at the communication device, in the case of mobile phone numbers.
• the service providers of a communication network include, but are not limited to, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), E-mail web portals, chat and messaging web portals and Multi-Service Operators (MSO) and mobile phone service providers.
• ISPs Internet Service Providers
• Locating a user for communication eliminates the need to locate the user physically. That is, the detail of actual physical location of user is not required for communication with the user. As the user location is based on the communication devices used by the user, the variability in the location of the device makes the location of the users mobile.
• the use of address details, such as E-mail address, mobile phone number, etc. has eliminated the necessity of knowing the physical location of the user of the communication device.
• the physical location of a user's contact may be required by the user. A typical scenario of this requirement is encountered when a user and his contact are physically located in vicinity but none of them has the information about the presence of the other in the vicinity. A user may require these details when approaching the physical location of his/her contacts or vice-versa.
• a user may utilize a variety of tracking methods to find the location of his/her contact, so as to check the presence of the contact in vicinity. But this requires a great deal of effort on the part of the user. Further, the user may only require the information pertaining to the entrance of the contact in vicinity, rather than complete details of the physical location
• FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary network where various embodiments of the present invention can be practiced
• FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for notifying a user of an electronic device of the entrance of one or more contacts of the user within an area of interest, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention
• FIG. 3 and 4 illustrates a flowchart describing the steps of the method of notifying a user of an electronic device of the entrance of one or more contacts of the user within an area of interest, in accordance with another embodiment of the invention
• FIG. 5 illustrates a network with a device for notifying a user of an electronic device of the entrance of one or more contacts of the user within an area of interest, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
• the present invention resides primarily in combinations of method steps related to notifying a user of the entrance of a contact in an area of interest. Accordingly, the apparatus components and method steps have been represented, where appropriate, by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent for an understanding of the present invention, so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those with ordinary skill in the art, having the benefit of the description herein.
• the terms “comprises,” “comprising”, or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, article or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not include only those elements but may include other elements that are not expressly listed or inherent in such a process, method, article or apparatus.
• An element proceeded by "comprises ... a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article or apparatus that comprises the element.
• the term “another,” as used in this document, is defined as at least a second or more.
• the terms “includes” and/or “having”, as used herein, are defined as comprising.
• a method for notifying a user of an electronic device of the entrance of one or more contacts of the user within an area of interest is provided.
• the electronic device is present in a network of plurality of electronic devices.
• the method includes tracking the location of each of the one or more contacts based on the location of the one or more electronic devices associated with the one or more contacts in the network. Further, the method includes sending the notification of the entrance of each of the one or more contacts in the area of interest to the user.
• a device for notifying a user of an electronic device of the entrance of the one or more contacts of the user within an area of interest is provided.
• the electronic device is present in a network of plurality of electronic devices.
• the device includes a tracker module that tracks the location of each of the one or more contacts by locating one or more electronic devices associated with the one or more contacts in the network.
• the device includes a notification module that sends the notification of the entrance of each of the one or more contacts in the area of interest to the user.
• FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary network 100, wherein various embodiments of the invention can be practiced.
• the network 100 can be a wired network, a wireless network, or a combination therein. Examples of the network 100 include, but are not limited to, a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), the Internet, a mobile network and a cable network.
• a user 102 utilizes an electronic device 104 that is part of a plurality of electronic devices forming the network 100.
• the network 100 includes electronic devices 104, 106, 108 and 110. Examples of electronic devices 104, 106, 108 and 110 include computational devices, mobile devices and set-top boxes.
• the user 102 of the electronic device 104 has one or more contacts 112, 114 and 116.
• the contacts 112, 114 and 116 utilize electronic devices 106, 108 and 110, respectively.
• An area of interest 118 is defined by a service provider, based on the location of the user 102.
• a service provider include, but are not limited to, an Internet Service Provider (ISP), a Mobile Service Provider, a web-based portal, and a Multi- Service Operator (MSO).
• ISP Internet Service Provider
• MSO Multi- Service Operator
• the service provider identifies the area of interest, based on the location of the user 102.
• the service provider tracks the location of the contacts 112, 114 and 116. For, tracking the location of the contacts 112, 114 and 116 the service provider does not require the user 102 and the contacts 112, 114 and 116 be in communication link with each other using their electronic devices.
• the service provider further notifies the user 102 about the entrance of each of the contacts 112, 114 and 116 in the area of interest 118.
• the notification is sent to the user 102 automatically.
• the service provider is a network service provider of the network 100.
• the service provider identifies the area of interest 118, based on the location of the mobile device 104 of the user 102.
• the area of interest 118 can be the area in the vicinity of the user.
• Exemplary definitions of the area of interest 118 can be area related to Zone Improvement Plan (ZIP) code of the location of the user 102, PIN Code of user 102, city of the user 102, state of the user 102 and country of the user 102. According to the present invention, the user 102 is notified about the entrance of the contacts 112, 114 and 116 in the area of interest 118.
• ZIP Zone Improvement Plan
• FIG. 2 illustrates a flowchart describing the steps of the method of notifying the user 102 of the electronic device 104 of the entrance of the contacts 112, 114 and 116 of the user within the area of interest 118, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.
• the location of each of the contacts 112, 114 and 116 of the user 102 is tracked.
• the electronic devices 106, 108 and 110 associated with them are tracked.
• the locations of the electronic devices 106, 108 and 110 are identified, based on an identification of one or more of the IP addresses, the global position of the electronic devices 106, 108 and 110, and their registration at a Multi-Service Operator.
• step 204 it is determined whether any of the contacts 112, 114 and 116 have entered the area of interest 118. If it is determined at step 204 that none of the contacts 112, 114 and 116 have entered the area of interest 118, the step 202 of tracking the location of the contacts 112, 114 and 116 is repeated. If it is determined that .any of the contacts 112, 114 and 116 have entered the area of interest 118, at step 206 a notification of the entrance of each of the contacts 112, 114 and 116 entering the area of the interest 118 is sent to the user 102. The notification is sent to the user 102 automatically without the user 102 requesting for notification.
• the methods of sending the notification include, but are not limited to, a Short Message Service (SMS) message, an Instant Message (IM), an E-mail message, an audio message, a text message, a Multi-media Message Service (MMS) message and a visual display message
• SMS Short Message Service
• IM Instant Message
• E-mail electronic mail
• audio message an audio message
• text message a text message
• MMS Multi-media Message Service
• FIG. 3 and 4 illustrates a flowchart describing the steps of the method of notifying the user 102 of the electronic device 104 of the entrance of the contacts 112, 114 and 116 of the user within the area of interest 118, in accordance with another embodiment of the invention.
• the area of interest 118 is identified, based on the location of the user 102.
• the area of interest 118 can be identified based on the ZIP code of location of the user 102, the city of the user 102, the state of the user 102, the country of the user 102 or any other location parameter of the user 102. Other parameters may include, but are not limited to, region utilizing same server as that of the user 102, region utilizing same mobile tower as that of the user 102, region utilizing same Multi Service Operator as that of the user 102, and the like.
• the user 102 can define the area of interest 118.
• the user 102 may wish to define the area of interest 118, apart from his/her location, based on his/her interests or requirements. For instance, while traveling, the user 102 may define the area of interest 118, based on his/her destination location. Once the area of interest 118 is defined, step 304 is performed.
• details pertaining to the contacts 112, 114 and 116 are uploaded at a server of the service provider by the user 102.
• the service provider stores the details pertaining to the contacts 112, 114 and 116. Consequently, the service provider tracks the location of the contacts 112, 114 and 116, based on the stored details, and notifies the user 102 of the entrance of the contacts 112, 114 and 116.
• the details of the contacts 112, 114 and 116 can be a mobile number, an E-mail address.
• Other examples of the details of the contacts 112, 114, and 116 can be login identification details of the contacts 112, 114 and 116 for the messaging service providers, for the set- top box and for a web portal and, a combination therein.
• the electronic devices 106, 108 and 110 associated with the contacts 112, 114 and 116 are located.
• the location of the electronic devices 106, 108 and 110 is identified based on one or more of the Internet Protocol address, the global position, the registration at a Multi-Service operator of the electronic devices 106, 108 and 110. Locating the electronic devices 106, 108 and 110 does not require communication link with the electronic device 104 of the user 102. Once the locations of the electronic devices 106, 108 and 110 are known, the locations of the contacts 112, 114 and 116 associated with the electronic devices 106, 108 and 110 are tracked at step 308.
• step 310 it is determined whether any of the contacts 112, 114 and 116 has entered the area of interest 118, based on the tracked location of the contacts 112, 114 and 116. In one example, if the tracked location of any of the contacts 112, 114 and 116 lies within the area of interest 118 then it is confirmed that the contacts 112, 114 and 116 have entered the area of interest 118. In another example, steps 306- 310 are repeated if the tracked location of none of the contacts 112, 114 and 116 lies within the area of interest 118.
• a notification is sent to the user 102 about the entrance of each of the contacts 112, 114 and 116 that has entered the area of interest 118. For example, if the contact 112 has entered the area of interest 118, a notification is sent to the user 102 of the entrance of the contact 112 in the area of interest 118.
• a notification is sent to each of the contacts 112, 114 and 116 that have entered the area of interest 118 about the presence of the user 102 in the area of interest 118.
• a notification is sent to the contact 112 about the presence of the user 102 in the area of interest 118 when the contact 112 has entered the area of interest 118.
• the type of messages that can be sent as notification include, but are not limited to, an SMS message, an Instant Message, an E-mail message, an audio message, a text message, an MMS message and a visual display message.
• One or all of the above mentioned methods could be used for sending the notification, depending on the electronic device 104 of the user 102 and the electronic devices 106, 108 and 110 used by the contacts 112, 114 and 116.
• the method of sending notification could be one or all of sending a SMS message, an MMS message, an Audio message, an E-mail message and a text message.
• the type of messages depend on the various functions of the electronic devices 104, 106, 108 and 110. For instance, if the electronic devices 104, 106, 108 and 110 have E-mail facility then the method of sending notification can be an E-mail message.
• the presence of each of the one or more contacts 112, 114 and 116 that have entered the area of interest 118 is tracked, at regular intervals of time.
• the intervals of time can be pre-defined or modified either by the service provider or by the user 102.
• the tracking of the each of the contacts 112, 114 and 116 that have entered the area of interest 118 is performed based on the location of the electronic devices 106, 108 and 110 used by the contacts 112, 114 and 116.
• a notification is sent to the user 102 about the presence of each of the contacts 112, 114 and 116 in the area of interest 118 to the user 102.
• a notification is sent to the user 102 about the presence of the contact 112 in the area of interest 118.
• FIG. 5 illustrates a network 500 with a device 502 for notifying a user of an electronic device of the entrance of one or more contacts of the user within an area of interest, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.
• the network 500 is a network of a plurality of electronic devices. Examples of the network 500 include, but are not limited to, a mobile network, the Internet, LAN, WAN, a network of set-top boxes, any wired or wireless network, or a combination therein.
• FIG. 5 also shows a user 504 uses an electronic device 506 to communicate with one or more contacts 508 and 510.
• the contacts 508 and 510 are exemplary personal contacts of the user 504, and use the electronic devices 512 and 514, respectively, for communication.
• the electronic devices 506, 512 and 514 are part of the network 500.
• the device 502 includes a tracker module 516.
• the tracker module 516 tracks the location of the one or more contacts 508 and 510 of the user 504.
• a server 518 in the device 502 stores the details of the contacts 508 and 510 of the user 504.
• the device 502 includes a notification module 520.
• the notification module 520 notifies the user 504 of the entrance of the contacts 508 and 510 of the user 504 in an area of interest 522.
• the device 502 is located at a network service provider of the network 500.
• the network 500 includes a plurality of mobile devices.
• the electronic devices 506, 512 and 514 are mobile devices.
• the server 518 stores the details of the contacts 508 and 510 of the user 504.
• the details of the contacts 508 and 510 are the mobile numbers of the mobile devices 512 and 514.
• the area of interest 522 is identified, based on the location of the user 504.
• the tracker module 516 tracks the location of the mobile device 506 of the user 504, and locates the user 504.
• the tracker module 516 consequently identifies the area of interest 522, based on the location of the user 504.
• the tracker module 516 also tracks the location of the contacts 508 and 510, based on the details stored in the server 518.
• Tracking the location of the mobile devices 512 and 514 is performed, based on the global position of the mobile devices 512 and 514, IP of the mobile devices 512 and 514 or from the service provider of the network 500.
• the tracker module 516 also registers the last known location of the contacts 508 and 510 in the server 518. Whenever there is a change in the location of any of the contacts 508 and 510 to the area of interest 522, the tracker module 516 identifies the change as the entrance of the particular contact in the area of interest 522.
• the tracker module 516 identifies the contact 508 as the contact entering the area of interest 522.
• the tracker module triggers the notification module 520.
• the notification module 520 then sends a notification to the user 504 about the entrance of the contact 508 in the area of interest 522.
• the notification of the entrance of the contact 508 is sent to the mobile device 506 of the user 504.
• the method of sending notification can be, but is not limited to, an SMS message, an MMS message, a visual display message, an audio message, an E-mail message and a text message.
• the notification module 520 sends a notification of the presence of the user 504 in the area of interest 522 to the contact 508.
• the tracker module 516 tracks the presence of the contact 508 at regular intervals of time in the area of interest 522. Further the notification module 520 sends a notification to the user 504 of the presence of the contact 508 in the area of interest 522 at regular intervals of time
• the network 500 is a network of a plurality of computational devices.
• the electronic devices 506, 512 and 514 are computational devices.
• the tracker module 516 locates the contacts 508 and 510, based on the location of the computational devices 512 and 514 used by the contacts 508 and 510.
• the tracker module 516 locates the computational devices 512 and 514 based on the IP address of the computational devices 512 and 514 and the details of the contacts 508 and 510.
• the details of the contacts 508 and 510 may include E-mail address, login details at an internet service provider, login at a web portal and the like.
• the details of the contacts 508 and 510 are stored in the server 518.
• the IP addresses of the computational devices 512 and 514 along with the login details of the contacts 508 and 510 enable the tracker module 516 to find the location of the contacts 508 and 510.
• the user 504 uses the computational device 506 to access a web portal.
• the user 504 utilizes an exemplary web portal www.abcd.com.
• the web portal www.abcd.com provides E-mail and chat facilities.
• the contacts 508 and 510 of the user 504 use the same web portal.
• the tracker module 504 locates the contacts 508 and 510, based on the IP address of the computational devices used by the contacts 508 and 510 to log into the web portal www.abcd.com.
• the contact 508 moves into the area of interest 522. Thereafter, the contact 508 logs into the web portal www.abcd.com using the computational device 512.
• the login details of the contact 508 are stored in the server 518.
• the tracker module 516 then identifies the contact 508 to have entered the area of interest 522, based on the IP address of the computational device 512 that is present in the area of interest 522. Further, the tracker module 516 triggers the notification module 520 to send notification of the entrance of the contact 508 to the user 504. The notification module 520 then sends an E-mail message to the E-mail address of the user 504 at www.abcd.com. After a pre-defined interval of time, the tracker module 516 again tracks the location of the contact 508, based on the IP address of the computational device 512 used for the last known login by the contact 508 in the portal www.abcd.com.
• the notification module 520 sends an E-mail message to the E-mail address of the user 504 at www.abcd.com informing the user 504 that the contact 508 is still present in the area of interest 522.
• the method of notification used by the notification module 520 can be, but is not limited to, an E-mail message, an instant message, and the like.
• the method of notification could be sending an instant message to the user 504.
• IM Instant Messaging
• the network is a plurality of Set-top boxes, and the electronic devices 506, 512 and 514 are also Set-top boxes.
• the tracker module 516 of the device 502 tracks the location of the contacts 508 and 510, based on their last known registration at a Multi-Service Operator using the Set-top boxes 512 and 514. Registration details of the contacts 508 and 510 are stored in the server 518.
• the tracker module 516 identifies the registration at the Multi-Service Operator by the contacts 508 and 510 using the registration details stored in the sever 518.
• the contact 508 enters the area of interest 522 and registers at the Multi-Service Operator using the Set- Top box 512 that is present in the area of interest 522.
• the tracker module 516 then identifies the contact 508 as a contact entering the area of interest 522.
• the tracker module 516 consequently triggers the notification module 520 to send a notification message of entrance of the contact 508 to the user 504.
• the method of sending notification used by the notification module 520 to notify the user 504 can be, but is not limited to, audio message and visual display on the Set-top box 506 of the user 504.
• the user 504 and his/her contacts 508 and 510 can use different electronic devices in the network 500.
• the tracker module 516 and the notification module 520 accordingly adjust themselves to the requirement of tracking or sending notification to the different electronic devices used by the user 504 and the contacts 508 and 510.
• the user 504 uses the computational device 506 and the contacts 508 and 510 use the mobile devices 512 and 514.
• the contact 508 with a mobile device 512 enters the area of interest 522 of the user 504.
• the tracker module 516 tracks the location the contact 508 based on the global positioning of the mobile device 512 of the contact 508. If the contact 508 enters the area of interest 522, the tracker module 516 then identifies the entrance of the contact 508 in the area of interest 522.
• the tracker module 516 On identifying the entrance of the contact 508 in the area of interest 522 the tracker module 516 triggers the notification module 520 to send a notification of entrance of the contact 508 to the user 504.
• the notification module 520 then sends a notification E-mail message to the E-mail address of the user 504 at www.abcd.com. Thereafter, the user 504 checks E-mail messages using the computational device 506.
• the present invention describes identifying the location of the area of interest, depending upon the location of the user. Further, the invention describes tracking of the contacts of the user. The invention also describes method and system for automatically notifying the user about the entrance of the contacts of the user in the area of interest, based on the tracking of the contacts of the user.
• the method and system for notifying the presence of contacts in vicinity of a user may comprise one or more conventional processors and unique stored program instructions that control the one or more processors, to implement, in conjunction with certain non-processor circuits, some, most, or all of the functions of the system described herein.
• the non-processor circuits may include, but are not limited to, signal drivers, clock circuits, power-source circuits, and user-input devices. As such, these functions may be interpreted as steps of a method for automatic notification of the presence of contacts in vicinity.
• some or all the functions can be implemented by a state machine that has no stored program instructions, or in one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), in which each function, or some combinations of certain of the functions, are implemented as custom logic.
• ASICs application-specific integrated circuits
• a combination of the two approaches can also be used.

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Citations (2)

• 2008
  • 2008-08-27 WO PCT/US2008/074384 patent/WO2009032663A1/en active Application Filing
  • 2008-08-27 CN CN200880104961A patent/CN101796784A/zh active Pending

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