CA2255352A1 - Enhanced locating and communication service - Google Patents

Abstract

A communications system receives location data from a first cellular telephone, pager, or other similar communications unit representing the location of the first communications unit. Using the location data, the communications system may select at least a second communications unit different from the first unit based on the proximity of the second communications unit to the first communications unit. The communications system may also send a notification to a communications device if a different communications device moves into or out of a pre-defined area.

Description

CA 022~3~2 1998-12-09 ENHANCED LOCATING AND COMMUNICATION SERVICE
s Technical Field This invention relates to systems and methods for implementing improved locating and communication services, and more specifically to systems and methods for locating and o communicating with mobile communications units.
Background of the Invention There is an increasing need to communicate or otherwise keep in touch with others while rem~ining mobile. To communicate while rem~ining mobile, a person may subscribe to a telephone "follow-5 me" service, which allows someone who desires to communicate withthe subscriber of the follow-me service to call a predetermined telephone number. Using such a service, the telephone service network forwards the telephone call to a predetermined telephone number that the subscriber has arranged. A problem with these 20 follow-me services is that one must supply a forwarding telephone number to the service. Furthermore, if one changes location frequently and wants to be accessible, one must either submit a schedule or update the service every time that person changes location. Thus, conventional follow-me service can be inconvenient 2s to the user.
One may avoid the inconvenience of scheduling or updating a follow-me service by carrying a wireless communications device such as a cellular telephone or a pager. However, cellular telephones can be expensive to use, especially if the user is not in a home 30 cellular service area. Pagers are not useful for extended CA 022~3~2 1998-12-09 communications. Thus, if a person carrying a pager wishes to have a two-way live conversation with a person who contacted him, the person carrying the pager must typically find a telephone and call back that person.
Thus, there is a need for a way of communicating while rem~ining mobile without the inconvenience of a conventional follow-me service and the expense of a cellular telephone call.
Summary of the Invention The present invention overcomes the shortcomings of the o prior art by providing improved systems and techniques for locating and communicating with others. According to aspects of the present invention, a mobile user may be contacted automatically at a land line telephone or other communications device that is near the mobile user. Upon receiving a request from a caller to establish a connection 15 with the mobile user, a telephone service network may query the mobile user's communications unit (e.g., a pager or wireless telephone combined with a triangulation device) for its location.
Based on the location of the mobile communications unit, the network selects a particular land line telephone that is proximate to 20 the mobile user and attempts to establish a connection between the caller and the selected land line telephone. Since the mobile user does not need to m~n~l~lly update his location nor provide a predetermined forwarding telephone number, the present invention provides the convenience of a cellular phone. Furthermore, since the 25 mobile user may be contacted via a nearby land line phone, the expense of extended cellular telephone communication may be avoided.
In alternate aspects of the invention, the network may select, from a pre-defined subscriber group, a member that is the most 30 proximate to a predetermined location. This feature is useful for . _ CA 022~3~2 1998-12-09 repair services, rescue services, ambulance services, paramedics, or police. When a caller requests a particular subscriber group, the network may attempt to establish a connection between the caller and the member of the subscriber group that is most proximate to the predetermined location.
The present invention may also allow a user to monitor a mobile subscriber's location relative to a pre-defined geographic area.
When a mobile communications unit moves outside of the pre-defined area, the mobile communications unit may send data to the o network. In response, the telephone service network may notify a particular user of the occurrence.
Furthermore, information representing the location of a mobile user may be provided to a caller in the form of text, speech, and/or a graphical representation such as a map.
Brief Description of the Drawin~s The present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to preferred embodiments of the invention, given only by way of example, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:
Fig. 1 illustrates a system and data flow therein according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a flow chart illustrating steps of an exemplary method according to the present invention.
Fig. 3 is a flow chart illustrating steps of another exemplary method according to the present invention.
Fig. 4 is a flow chart illustrating steps of another exemplary method according to the present invention.
Fig. 5 is a flow chart illustrating steps of yet another exemplary method according to the present invention.
Detailed Description CA 022~3~2 1998-12-09 Illustrative systems and methods for implementing an enhanced locating and communication service will be described according to the present invention. While the system described below relates to a traditional telephone/pager system, it is to be 5 understood that the present invention can be applied to all types of communications systems including, but not limited to, land line systems, radio systems, satellite systems (e.g., the IRIDIUMTM
satellite communications system), cellular systems, and digital personal communications services (PCS). It will be further o understood that all information, data, and signals described herein may be analog or digital and may be sent using any known type of wired or wireless tr~n.~mi~.sion techniques.
Referring to Fig. 1, a network 9 may be connected to a plurality of communications units lA-D. The network 9 may be, for 5 example, a private or public switched telephone network, the Internet, an intranet, any other type of communication services system or network, or any combination thereof. Each of the communications units lA-D may include a land line telephone, a cellular telephone, a digital PCS telephone, a satellite telephone, a cordless telephone, a 20 video phone, a one or two-way pager, a computer, a one or two-way radio, a transmitter, any other well-known wired or wireless communications device, or any combination thereof. Fig. 1 illustrates four particular communications units lA-D. However, no particular quantity of communications units is required according to 25 the present invention. In Fig. 1, communications units lA, lC, and lD are land line telephones, and communications unit lB is a wireless device such as a cellular telephone or a two-way pager.
Although not required for the purposes of the present invention, it may be desirable to include one or more user interface 30 units 2 connected with one or more communications units (in this ,_~

CA 022~3~2 1998-12-09 exemplary embodiment, communications unit lA) for providing an interface between the network 9 and a user of a communications unit.
The user interface unit 2 may include a text-to-speech interface or any other device for translating data sent from the service provider's s network 9 into a format that is readily useable by a user of the communications unit lA.
One or more wireless interfaces 6A-C may be connected to the network 9 for communicating with one or more of the communications units lA-D. A wireless interface may be a cellular, 0 digital PCS, satellite, or any other type of wireless transmitter and/or receiver. No particular quantity of.wireless interfaces is necessary according to the present invention; the three wireless interfaces 6A-C
are shown for illustrative purposes. Furthermore, a land line communications unit may be coupled to the network 9 via any type of s land line interface.
The network 9 may have a switch 3, which may be any type of switch such as a typical cross-bar switch used in many telephone networks today. The network 9 may also have a locator database 4 and/or a follow-me database 5. Together, these databases may relate 20 such information as the telephone numbers and identity of a communications unit with the physical location of a communications unit. As will be further described below, these databases 4, 5 may be used for selecting a communications unit that is proximate to another communications unit or to a predetermined location. Any type of 2s storage and processing system may be used to perform these functions.
Some or all of the communications units may be arranged into subscriber groups. A "subscriber group" is any functional collection or grouping of communications units. Thus, for example, each 30 member of a repair team may have his or her own communications CA 022~3~2 1998-12-09 unit, wherein each of these communications units may be considered by the network to be a particular user-defined subscriber group.
Also, a particular communications unit may belong to more than one subscriber group.
Referring to figures 1 and 2, a first user may locate and/or communicate with a second user or with several users. In such a situation, the first user ("caller") may submit a request 50 to the network 9 via a communications unit (step S1), which for illustrative purposes is communications unit 1 A ("calling unit"). Also for lo illustrative purposes, the second user whom the caller wishes to contact uses communications unit lB. For exemplary purposes, communications unit 1 B will hereafter be referred to as the "requested unit." It is to be understood that any of the communications units lA-D, if properly configured, could be the calling unit or the requested unit. The request 50 that the caller submits may be in the form of, for example, a land line or wireless telephone call, internet query (e.g., by accessing a particular web page), e-mail request, and/or radio tr~n~mi~.sion. Thus, the network 9 may receive the request 50 via any type of land line or wireless 20 interface, including the wireless interfaces 6A-C. The request 50 may include information representing the identity of the caller, the identity of the calling unit lA, the location of the calling unit lA or any other predetermined location, the identity of the requested unit IB, the identity of a subscriber group, and/or a priority status. The priority 25 status of a request 50 may represent the urgency of a request, such as whether it is an emergency. The priority status also determines which members of a subscriber group are contacted or in which order they are contacted. Further, the network 9 may treat requests differently depending upon their priority status.
The caller's request 50 may be routed and/or processed within CA 022~3~2 1998-12-09 the network 9, for instance at the switch 3. Responsive to the caller's request, the network 9 may send a request-to-report-location 51 to one or more of the wireless interfaces 6A-C, which may transmit the request-to-report-location 51 to one or more communications units 5 (step S2), in this case the requested unit lB. The request-to-report-location 51 may include information representing the priority status of the caller's request, the identity of the caller, the identity of the calling unit lA, and/or the identity of the requested unit lB, requested units, or requested subscriber group. The requested unit 1 B
o may then send location data 52 back to the network 9 via one or more of the wireless interfaces 6A-C (step S3). The location data 52 may include information such as the identity, location, speed, and/or trajectory of the requested unit lB. The request-to-report-location 51 and the location data 52 may be transmitted to the wireless interfaces 5 in any manner, such as over a cellular telephone channel such as an identification channel or a digital PCS channel. The location data 52 may also be directed to a predetermined telephone number.
Using the location data 52, the network 9 may generate connection data 53 corresponding to at least one communications 20 unit, or "secondary unit," different from the requested unit lB (step S4). The connection data 53 may include such information as the identity of the secondary unit, the identity of the caller, the identity of the calling unit lA, the identity of the requested unit 1 B, the identity of a subscriber group, and/or the priority status. The secondary unit 25 may be selected by the network 9 based on a variety of algorithms.
For instance, the secondary unit may be determined based on its proximity to the requested unit lB, the type of the communications unit (e.g., land line or wireless), the identity of the requested unit 1 B, the identity of the calling unit lA, the identity of the caller, the 30 subscriber group or groups the communications unit belongs to, the CA 022~3~2 1998-12-09 priority status of the caller's request, and/or the availability of the communications unit. Thus, in some embodiments, the communications unit that is the closest to the requested unit lB may become the secondary unit. In further embodiments, a list of the N
s most close or proximate communications units may be generated, each being a secondary unit (and possibly each having a relative priority).
In still further embodiments, only communications units in a particular subscriber group may be eligible to become a secondary 0 unit. For instance, only particular types of communications units, such as land line telephones, might be members of one particular subscriber group and thus might be the only type of communications unit that could become a secondary unit. Alternatively, only communications units located in publicly-accessible areas such as in 5 hotel lobbies or public pay phones might be members of another particular subscriber group.
The nature or content of the request 50 may determine which subscriber group or groups are selected by the network 9. Some subscriber groups may be accessible only by certain predetermined 20 calling units. Careful definition of subscriber groups can prevent a private telephone in a private home from becoming a secondary unit when the user of the requested unit lB has no relationship with the owner of the private home. It should be understood that any subscriber group or groups may be defined for the purpose of 25 narrowing the population of communications units that may be eligible for becoming a secondary unit.
Once the connection data 53 is generated, the switch 3 may be configured according to the connection data 53 to establish a connection between the calling unit lA and at least one of the 30 secondary units (step S5). If a connection is not successfully CA 022~3~2 1998-12-09 established, different secondary units may be selected and connection with them may be attempted. This connection establishment process may be repeated until a connection is established, or termin:~ted at the network's or the caller's discretion. If no connection is established, a 5 message could be left in a voice mailbox.
It is important that the requested unit 1 B be physically locatable. Location may be determined in one dimension (i.e., on a line), two dimensions (i.e., on a planar surface), or three dimensions (i.e., within a space). Location may also be determined at varying o levels of precision. In some embodiments of the present invention, the requested unit may be configured to be self-locating by integrating or otherwise equipping the requested unit lB with a global positioning device or other self-locating system such as triangulation system. Such a system may deterrnine location based 5 on, for instance, radio, microwave, light, or sound tr~n~mi~ions from sources such as satellites (e.g., the satellite constellation of the Global Positioning System), wireless interfaces 6A-C, or other transmitters such as those on radio/microwave towers. Depending upon the number of sources being used, the location of the requested unit lB
20 may be determined in one, two, or three dimensions. Furthermore, the velocity, direction of movement, and/or acceleration of the requested unit lB may be deterrnined. From the viewpoint of the requested unit lB, this method of locating uses a passive system, because the locating system of the requested unit lB does not need to 2s transmit anything to determine its location, but only needs to "listen"
for tr~n.cmi~ions from the sources.
Alternatively, the network 9 may be capable of determining the location of the requested unit 1 B. In such alternative embodiments, the requested unit lB would not need to have a self-30 locating system such as a triangulation system. Tn~tça(1, at least two .. . . ...

CA 022~3~2 1998-12-09 of wireless interfaces 6A-C would receive location data 52 from the requested unit lB. Based on the relative timing of receipt of the location data 52 at each of the wireless interfaces being used the network 9 may determine the location of the requested unit 1 B. From s the viewpoint of the requested unit lB, this method of locating uses an active system, because the locating system of the requested unit 1 B transmits an identifying signal (i.e., an embodiment of the location data 52) that the network 9 uses to determine its location.
When the network 9 determines the location of the requested unit lB, o the location data 52 does not need to include information representing the location of the requested unit lB, since the mere existence of the location data 52 is sufficient to triangulate a location. For example, the location data 52 might include only information representing the identity of the requested unit 1 B.
The connection data 53 may be generated using the locator and follow-me databases 4, 5. The follow-me database 5 may feed information representing the location of the requested unit lB to the locator database 4, which may be capable of relating phone numbers with their corresponding locations or addresses. The locator ~l~t~h~e 20 4 may process the information and produce one or more phone numbers or other data representing the secondary unit based on an algorithm as discussed above. The follow-me ~l~t~b~e 5 may then process the data received from the locator ~l~t~bzlce 4 to generate the connection data 53.
2s In some embodiments, the locator database 4, the follow-me database 5, the switch 3 the user interface 2, and/or the wireless interfaces 6A-6C may be part of the network 9 or may be external to the network 9. For instance, the databases 4, 5 may be located in a system external to the netwo,rk 9. In such an embodiment, it may be 30 desirable to transfer the location data 52 and the connection data 53 CA 022~3~2 1998-12-09 between the network 9 and the external system. Thus, the external system may receive the location data 52 from the network 9, generate the connection data 53, and then send the connection data 53 back to the network 9. Such a transfer may occur over, for instance, a s predetermined telephone number.
As an added feature, the network 9 may send a notification 54 to the calling unit lA. The notification 54 may include information representing the location of the requested unit lB and/or the identity of the communications units with which the network has attempted to o establish a connection or has successfully established communication. Such notification may avoid confusion by the caller.
Im~gine calling someone's number only to have the call answered by the front desk of a hotel. Notification of the requested unit's location mitigates any confusion that may arise in such a situation. The s information representing the location of the requested unit 1 B may be in the form of coordinates (e.g., latitude and longitude), or it may be in a more complex or user-friendly form such as a street address. The network 9, the user interface unit 2, or the calling unit IA may translate information contained in the notification 54 into, for 20 instance, digitized speech, pre-recorded speech, text (e.g., form~tted for display by a television or a computer), and/or graphic maps (e.g., showing the location of the requested unit superimposed or highlighted on a street map). The digitized or pre-recorded speech may contain a single or repeating message giving the location of the 2s requested unit lB at various levels of detail as required by the caller.
For example, the caller may by default receive only a general notification of location (e.g., "Madison Square Garden"), but the caller may be able to receive more detailed information upon request, such as an actual street address. The level of detail may be controlled 30 by the network 9, the user interface unit 2, the requested unit lB, , . , , _ CA 022~3~2 1998-12-09 and/or the calling unit 1 A.
In some embodiments, as described above, the location data 52 sent by the requested unit lB is responsive to the network 9 sending a request-to-report-location. Alternatively, as illustrated in the method of Fig. 3, the requested unit lB may send the location data 52 independent of a request-to-report-location 51 from the network 9. For example, a user may manually command the requested unit lB to send the location data 52, or the requested unit lB may send the location data 52 automatically on a periodic basis or o at predetermined times (step S20). In these embodiments, the network 9 may receive the location data 52 and either store the location data, or it may generate and store connection data 53 for later use based on the location data 52 (step S2 1). Then, if a caller sends a request 50 to contact the requested unit lB (step S22), the network 9 may use the stored location data 52 corresponding to the requested unit to generate connection data 53 as needed (step S23), or the network 9 may use the stored connection data to establish a connection (step S24). This may be useful if the requested unit IB
changes locations relatively infrequently such that previously 20 received location data 52 is likely to be accurate. This technique may also be useful if the user of the requested unit chooses to have calls forwarded to a particular location, regardless of the precise location of the requested unit. Furthermore, this storage and pre-generation technique allows the network 9 to process the location data at a time 25 that is convenient (e.g., when the network is not under heavy use) instead of at the time of a caller's request. As a result, processing Ioads may be leveled such that smaller and cheaper processing equipment might be used to implement what otherwise might require larger processing systems.
In some situations, such as those requiring quick response by CA 022~3~2 1998-12-09 fire, police, rescue, and repair services, a caller may contact the member of a particular subscriber group that is the most proximate to a predetermined location. According to embodiments of the present invention, the caller may request the subscriber group instead of a particular communications unit (step S40). The subscriber group may be identified by information contained in the request 50 or by the identity of a web page or telephone number selected by the caller.
For example, a caller might call a 1-800 number associated with a particular repair service, wherein the 1-800 number dialed identifies 0 the subscriber group (i.e., the repair service). Upon receiving a request for a particular subscriber group, then network 9 may send out a request-to-report-location 51 to all of the communications units that are members of the subscriber group (step S41). Each available communications unit within the subscriber group may then send back location data 52 to the network 9 (step S42), whereupon the network 9 may process the location data 52 to determine which communications unit is closest to a predetermined location (step S43). Once the nearest communications unit is determined, the network 9 may then attempt to establish a connection between the 20 calling unit and the nearest communications unit'(step S44). The predetermined location may be the location of the calling unit 1 A. In such a case, the network may also, if necessary, send out a request-to-report-location 51 to the calling unit to determine the calling unit's location. The predetermined location, however, may be any location.
25 The predetermined location may be included in the request 50 sent by the calling unit lA to the network 9. Thus, for example, a caller may send to the network 9 the location where a repairman needs to go to provide repair service. The network 9 would then determine which repairman is nearest that location. If the nearest communications unit 30 were unavailable, then the network 9 may choose the next-nearest CA 022~3~2 1998-12-09 communications unit. To establish unavailability, a particular communications unit might be set by a user to respond to a request-to-report-location 51 with a different type of location data 52 (e.g., with an "unavailability flag") or even not respond to the request-to-5 report-location 51 at all.
Referring now to Fig. 5, a communications unit ("restricted unit") might move outside of a pre-defined "home" area or into a pre-defined forbidden area or areas (step S60). Such pre-defined areas may be continuous or separated into noncontinuous blocks, and they o may be defined by a user of a communications unit or by the network 9. Furthermore, the pre-defined area may depend on the identity of the communications unit or the subscriber group to which the communications unit belongs. In some embodiments of the present invention, the restricted unit may send location data 52 to the network 5 9 responsive to moving outside of the area (step S61). The location data 52 in these embodiments may include information representing the identity of the restricted unit, the location of the restricted unit, the identity or description of the pre-defined area, the identity or description of the area into which the restricted unit has moved, 20 and/or status information as to whether the restricted unit is within the pre-defined area. Upon receiving the location data 52 from the restricted unit, the network 9 may notify at least a second communications unit different from the mobile communications unit lB (step S62). Such notification systems may be useful for keeping 25 track of the elderly, children, ~nim~l~, vehicles, moveable property, or even prisoners, to ensure that they do not leave a "home" area or enter a prohibited area. The notification in these embodiments 54 may include any of the information that may be included in the location data 52. In some embodiments, as described above, the 30 location system of the restricted unit determines its location (passive .. ... .. . . . ... . .

CA 022~3~2 1998-12-09 location system). Alternatively, also as described above, the network 9 may determine the location of the restricted unit (active location system).
While particular embodiments of the present invention have 5 been described and illustrated, it should be understood that the invention is not limited thereto since modifications may be made by persons skilled in the art. The present application contemplates any and all modifications that fall within the spirit and scope of the underlying invention disclosed and claimed herein.

Claims (30)

What is claimed is:

1. In a communications system, a method comprising the steps of:
receiving location data associated with a location of a first communications unit; and selecting at least a second communications unit based on the location data, the second communications unit being different from the first communications unit.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the location data includes information representing a location of the first communications unit.

3. The method according to claim 1 including generating connection data associated with the second communications unit.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first communications unit comprises a wireless communications device.

5. The method according to claim 1 including the step of generating the location data using a global positioning system device, wherein the first communications unit comprises the global positioning system device.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of receiving includes receiving the location data over an identification channel.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of selecting includes selecting the second communications unit based on proximity of the second communications unit to the first communications unit.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the second communications unit is more proximate than a third communications unit to the first communications unit.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of selecting includes selecting the second communications unit from a predetermined subscriber group.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the step of selecting includes selecting the second communications unit based on proximity of the second communications unit to the first communications unit.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the step of selecting includes selecting the second communications unit based on proximity of the second communications unit to a predetermined location.

12. The method according to claim 7 wherein the step of selecting includes selecting a third communications unit when the second communications unit is unavailable.

13. The method according to claim 3 including the step of receiving a request from a third communications unit, the request being associated with the first communications unit.

14. The method according to claim 13 including attempting to establish a connection between the second communications unit and the third communications unit using the connection data.

15. The method according to claim 1 including the step of sending the location data from the first communications unit.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the step of sending the location data is responsive to the first communications unit receiving a request-to-report-location.

17. The method according to claim 1 including sending a notification to a third communications unit representing the location of the first communications unit.

18. In a communications system, a method comprising the steps of:
receiving location data transmitted from a first communications unit responsive to the first communications unit moving out of a pre-defined area; and sending a notification to a second communications unit responsive to the location data being transmitted.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein the first communications unit comprises a wireless communications device.

20. The method according to claim 18, wherein the pre-defined area depends upon an identity of the first communications unit.

21. The method according to claim 18 wherein the location data includes information representing a location of the first communications unit.

22. A communications system comprising:
a receiver for receiving location data associated with a first communications unit; and a processor coupled to said receiver for selecting a second communications unit based on said location data, the second communications unit being different from the first communications unit.

23. The communications system of claim 22, wherein the second communications unit is selected based on proximity of the second communications unit to the first communications unit.

24. In a communications system, a method comprising the steps of:
receiving a request associated with a subscriber group; and selecting at least a first communications unit associated with the subscriber group based on proximity of the first communications unit to a predetermined location.

25. The method according to claim 24 including receiving a request from a second communications unit.

26. The method according to claim 25, wherein the request includes information representing the predetermined location.

27. The method according to claim 25, wherein the predetermined location is a location of the second communications unit.

28. The method according to claim 24, wherein the first communications unit is more proximate than a third communications unit associated with the subscriber group to the predetermined location.

29. The method according to claim 24 including receiving location data associated with a location of at least the first communications unit.

30. A communications system comprising:
an interface for receiving a request associated with a subscriber group; and a processor for selecting at least a first communications unit associated with the subscriber group based on proximity of the first communications unit to a predetermined location.