U.S. patent application number 12/476406 was filed with the patent office on 2010-01-14 for mesh network services for devices supporting dynamic direction information.
This patent application is currently assigned to MICROSOFT CORPORATION. Invention is credited to Moe Khosravy, Lev Novik.
Application Number | 20100008255 12/476406 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 41432085 |
Filed Date | 2010-01-14 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100008255 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Khosravy; Moe ; et
al. |
January 14, 2010 |
MESH NETWORK SERVICES FOR DEVICES SUPPORTING DYNAMIC DIRECTION
INFORMATION
Abstract
With the addition of directional information in the environment,
a variety of service(s) can be provided on top of user
identification or interaction with specific object(s) of interest.
For instance, a user can opt into a mesh network and leverage
services available via the mesh network. The user can also
contribute to knowledge within the mesh network by allowing for
information related to the user to be aggregated and employed by
others, e.g., targeted provisioning of services. The interaction
with the mesh network can occur passively (e.g., as a background
application not generally visible to the user), or actively where
for example the user can initiate collecting or logging of
information from/to the mesh network.
Inventors: |
Khosravy; Moe; (Bellevue,
WA) ; Novik; Lev; (Bellevue, WA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
MICROSOFT CORPORATION
ONE MICROSOFT WAY
REDMOND
WA
98052
US
|
Assignee: |
MICROSOFT CORPORATION
Redmond
WA
|
Family ID: |
41432085 |
Appl. No.: |
12/476406 |
Filed: |
June 2, 2009 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
61074415 |
Jun 20, 2008 |
|
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|
61074590 |
Jun 20, 2008 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
370/254 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G01C 21/3664 20130101;
H04W 4/026 20130101; G06F 1/1626 20130101; G06F 2200/1637 20130101;
H04W 4/021 20130101; G06F 3/04883 20130101; G01C 21/20 20130101;
H04W 4/023 20130101; G06F 1/1694 20130101; G06F 3/017 20130101;
G06Q 30/02 20130101; G01C 21/32 20130101; H04W 4/21 20180201 |
Class at
Publication: |
370/254 |
International
Class: |
H04L 12/28 20060101
H04L012/28 |
Claims
1. A portable electronic device, comprising: a memory that stores
at least information related to at least direction information
representing information pertaining to orientation of the device,
position information representing information pertaining to
location of the device and point of interest information
representing information pertaining to points of interest
substantially within interactive range of the device; a positional
component for receiving the position information as a function of a
location of the portable electronic device; a directional component
that measures the direction information as a function of an
orientation of the portable electronic device; and a transmission
component that transmits device data regarding interaction with
points of interest by the portable electronic device to at least
one remote device for aggregation of data regarding interaction
with at least some of the points of interest from a set of peer
devices of a mesh network.
2. The device of claim 1, wherein the device is provisioned with a
set of direction based services tailored to the device based on an
analysis of the aggregated data by the at least one remote
device.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the transmission component
transmits device data including any one or more of user activity,
state, or context within the mesh network.
4. The device of claim 1, further comprising: at least one
processor configured to process the position information and the
direction information to determine at least one identifier of at
least one point of interest substantially within interactive
proximity of the device, to receive information corresponding to
the at least one identifier of the at least one point of interest,
and to display information if the device interacts with the at
least one point of interest with the device.
5. A method for provisioning direction based services, comprising:
inferring or determining a device has entered into a mesh network
of cooperating devices; inferring or determining goals of the
device; mapping the goals to a set of direction based services,
which are based at least partly on device orientation, available
within the mesh network; and provisioning a subset of the direction
based services to the device.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the mapping act comprises mapping
based on at least one of: user demographics, user state, user
context, user preferences, or available resources.
7. The method of claim 5 further comprising: identifying a set of
direction based services that are not provisioned to the
device.
8. The method of claim 5, further comprising: refining a knowledge
base or data model utilized in connection with direction based
services provisioning based on results relating to the provisioning
of direction based services.
9. The method of claim 5, wherein the provisioning includes
provisioning the device with at least one targeted
advertisement.
10. The method of claim 5, further comprising: analyzing activity
regarding a plurality of devices within the mesh network, and based
on the analyzing, tailoring the provisioning of direction based
services in real-time or future.
11. The method of claim 5, further comprising: analyzing activity
regarding a plurality of devices within the mesh network, and based
on the analyzing, determining at least one of: user traffic, wait
time for service, resource availability, or user density.
12. A mesh-network based host computer system for provisioning
services, comprising: at least one storage device that stores a
data model that facilitates provisioning of services within a mesh
network, the data model employs aggregated and processed data
relating to prior user or device interactions within the mesh
network; a monitor component that receives data regarding user or
device interaction within the mesh network; an analysis component
that analyzes the received data, and infers or determines a user or
device goal; and a provisioning component that employs the data
model and results of the data analyses to identify and provision a
set of pointing based services to the user or device within the
mesh network.
13. The system of claim 12, the analysis component factors as part
of the analyses at least one of: user demographics, user state,
user context, user preferences, or available resources.
14. The system of claim 13, wherein the provisioning component
provisions targeted advertisements to the user or device.
15. The system of claim 13, wherein as part of the analyses the
analysis component infers or determines level of user traffic at a
store, and wait time to completion of a commercial transaction, and
the provisioning component recommends another store as a function
of the analyses.
16. The system of claim 15, wherein the analysis component factors
user goals, and time constraints as part of the analysis.
17. The system of claim 13, wherein the provisioning component
orders items to be provisioned to the user or device based on a
pre-defined ordering algorithm.
18. The system of claim 17, wherein the provisioning component
employs a utility-based analysis in connection with ordering and
provisioning of pointing based services.
19. The system of claim 13, wherein results of provisioning of
pointing based services is employed to train the data model.
20. The system of claim 13, wherein the data model can adaptively
interact with other data models.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional
Application Ser. No. 61/074,415, filed on Jun. 20, 2008, entitled
"MOBILE COMPUTING SERVICES BASED ON DEVICES WITH DYNAMIC DIRECTION
INFORMATION," and U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/074,590,
filed on Jun. 20, 2008, entitled "MOBILE COMPUTING SERVICES BASED
ON DEVICES WITH DYNAMIC DIRECTION INFORMATION", the entireties of
which are incorporated herein by reference.
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0002] The subject disclosure relates to provision of
direction-based services based on direction information and/or
other information, such as location information, of a device, and
to opting into mesh network(s) and related services that leverage
information gathered from multiple devices supporting the
direction-based services.
BACKGROUND
[0003] By way of background concerning some conventional systems,
mobile devices, such as portable laptops, PDAs, mobile phones,
navigation devices, and the like have been equipped with location
based services, such as global positioning system (GPS) systems,
WiFi, cell tower triangulation, etc. that can determine and record
a position of mobile devices. For instance, GPS systems use
triangulation of signals received from various satellites placed in
orbit around Earth to determine device position. A variety of
map-based services have emerged from inclusion of such location
based systems that help users of these devices to be found on a
map, and to facilitate point to point navigation in real-time and
search for locations near a point on a map.
[0004] However, such navigation and search scenarios are currently
limited to displaying relatively static information about endpoints
and navigation routes. While some of these devices with location
based navigation or search capabilities allow update of the bulk
data representing endpoint information via a network, e.g., when
connected to a networked portable computer (PC) or laptop, such
data again becomes fixed in time. Accordingly, it would be
desirable to provide a set of richer experiences for users than
conventional experiences predicated on location and conventional
processing of static bulk data representing potential endpoints of
interest.
[0005] The above-described deficiencies of today's location based
systems and devices are merely intended to provide an overview of
some of the problems of conventional systems, and are not intended
to be exhaustive. Other problems with the state of the art and
corresponding benefits of some of the various non-limiting
embodiments may become further apparent upon review of the
following detailed description.
SUMMARY
[0006] A simplified summary is provided herein to help enable a
basic or general understanding of various aspects of exemplary,
non-limiting embodiments that follow in the more detailed
description and the accompanying drawings. This summary is not
intended, however, as an extensive or exhaustive overview. Instead,
the sole purpose of this summary is to present some concepts
related to some exemplary non-limiting embodiments in a simplified
form as a prelude to the more detailed description of the various
embodiments that follow.
[0007] Direction based pointing services are provided for portable
devices or mobile endpoints. Mobile endpoints can include a
positional component for receiving positional information as a
function of location of the portable electronic device, a
directional component that outputs direction information as a
function of an orientation of the portable electronic device and a
processing engine that processes the positional information and the
direction information to determine a subset of points of interest
relative to the portable electronic device as a function of the
positional information and/or the direction information.
[0008] Devices or endpoints can include compass(es), e.g., magnetic
or gyroscopic, to determine a direction, and location based systems
for determining location, e.g., GPS. To supplement the positional
information and/or the direction information, devices or endpoints
can also include component(s) for determining speed and/or
acceleration information for processing by the engine, e.g., to aid
in determination of gestures made with the device.
[0009] With the addition of directional information in the
environment, a variety of service(s) can be provided on top of user
identification or interaction with specific object(s) of interest.
For instance, a user can opt into a mesh network and leverage
services available via the mesh network. The user can also
contribute to knowledge within the mesh network by allowing for
information related to the user to be aggregated and employed by
others, e.g., targeted provisioning of services. The interaction
with the mesh network can occur passively (e.g., as a background
application not generally visible to the user), or actively where
for example the user can initiate collecting or logging of
information from/to the mesh network.
[0010] An aspect of the claimed subject matter relates to
optimizing the mesh network and interaction therewith so as to
facilitate provisioning of services. User and/or device data can be
collected and mined in connection with improving services
provisioned to users/devices. For example, demographic information
can be collected and correlated with actions taken as well as
extrinsic evidence (e.g., weather, time of day, user or device
context, state of user or device, holidays, weekend versus business
day, path of navigation, . . . ) to map preferences among like
users or devices. Accordingly, such mapping can be leveraged to
provision targeted services to users or devices within the mesh
network. Suggestions regarding products or services based on the
data aggregation and/or mappings can be improved. Automated actions
can be taken based on a utility-based analysis, e.g., a cost
benefit analysis where the benefit associated with a particular
automated action with a given confidence level outweighs the cost
of taking an incorrect or undesired action.
[0011] These and other embodiments are described in more detail
below.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0012] Various non-limiting embodiments are further described with
reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
[0013] FIGS. 1 and 2 are block diagrams of non-limiting
architectures for mesh network interaction systems in accordance
with one or more embodiments;
[0014] FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a non-limiting process for data
collection in connection with a mesh network;
[0015] FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a non-limiting process for data
processing in connection with a mesh network;
[0016] FIGS. 5 and 6 are flow diagrams of non-limiting processes
for service(s) provisioning in connection with a mesh network;
[0017] FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of a non-limiting process for
targeted advertisement provisioning in connection with a mesh
network;
[0018] FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of a non-limiting process for
advertisement pricing in connection with a mesh network;
[0019] FIG. 9 is a flow diagram of a non-limiting process for
modification of services provisioning in connection with a mesh
network;
[0020] FIG. 10 is a flow diagram of a non-limiting process for data
collection and filtering across multiple devices in connection with
a mesh network;
[0021] FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of a non-limiting process for
matching users with services in connection with a mesh network;
[0022] FIGS. 12 and 13 are flow diagrams of non-limiting processes
for services provisioning in connection with a mesh network;
[0023] FIG. 14 is a flow diagram of a non-limiting process for
marking points of interest for later interaction;
[0024] FIG. 15 is a flow diagram of a non-limiting process for
designating points of interest for later interaction;
[0025] FIG. 16 is a block diagram of a device illustrating a
specific apparatus for marking points of interest for delayed
interaction in connection with direction based services;
[0026] FIG. 17 is a flow diagram of a non-limiting process for
designating points of interest associated with a given place for
later interaction;
[0027] FIG. 18 is a block diagram of an exemplary device
architecture for device that supports direction based services in
accordance with one or more embodiments;
[0028] FIG. 19 illustrates an exemplary sequence for delayed
interaction with POIs at a location as a future advertising
source;
[0029] FIG. 20 is a block diagram illustrating a non-limiting
implementation in which POIs are scanned based on encoding
information;
[0030] FIG. 21 is a block diagram illustrating market players in an
overall advertising model established based on interest in
satisfying the delayed interactions defined according to one or
more embodiments herein;
[0031] FIG. 22 is a block diagram illustrating a variety of ways in
which user intent can be inferred or implied with respect to points
of interest;
[0032] FIGS. 23 and 24 illustrate representative scenarios where a
delayed interaction facilitates a better timing for a transaction
regarding a given item of interest;
[0033] FIG. 25 is a block diagram illustrating the formation of
motion vectors for use in connection with location based
services;
[0034] FIG. 26, FIG. 27 and FIG. 28 illustrate aspects of
algorithms for determining intersection endpoints with a pointing
direction of a device;
[0035] FIG. 29 represents a generic user interface for a mobile
device for representing points of interest based on pointing
information;
[0036] FIG. 30 represents some exemplary, non-limiting alternatives
for user interfaces for representing point of interest
information;
[0037] FIG. 31 represents some exemplary, non-limiting fields or
user interface windows for displaying static and dynamic
information about a given point of interest;
[0038] FIG. 32 illustrates a sample overlay user interface for
overlaying point of interest information over a camera view of a
mobile device;
[0039] FIG. 33 illustrates a process for predicting points of
interest and aging out old points of interest in a region-based
algorithm;
[0040] FIG. 34 illustrates a first process for a device upon
receiving a location and direction event;
[0041] FIG. 35 illustrates a second process for a device upon
receiving a location and direction event;
[0042] FIG. 36 is a block diagram representing an exemplary
non-limiting networked environment in which embodiment(s) may be
implemented; and
[0043] FIG. 37 is a block diagram representing an exemplary
non-limiting computing system or operating environment in which
aspects of embodiment(s) may be implemented.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Overview
[0044] As discussed in the background, among other things, current
location services systems and services, e.g., GPS, cell
triangulation, P2P location service, such as Bluetooth, WiFi, etc.,
tend to be based on location of the device only, and tend to
provide static experiences that are not tailored to a user because
the data about endpoints of interest is relatively static, or fixed
in time. Another problem is that experiences of a single user are
by definition limited, and thus services predicated on information
from the single user are limited to scope of that information. In
such a system, a user may interact with a number of different
points of interest (POIs), and such user data about the
interactions can be stored in a cloud, but as mentioned, not much
can be inferred from a single user alone.
[0045] An aspect of the claimed subject matter provides a way for
users to opt into a mesh network, which enables collective data to
be integrated into the application experience. For instance, a
single user path based on directional vector information recorded
from a direction based services enabled device does not show much
about human behavior, but aggregate user paths charted over time
can indicate a lot about traffic in a roadway, for instance, or
peak times to avoid getting coffee at a certain coffee shop. In
this respect, most any POI can have statistical data about how
users interact with it, and applications can be built on that
statistical data to the benefit of mesh users. A variety of
real-time scenarios are explored where mesh data is used for
particular user beneficial applications.
[0046] At least partly in consideration of these deficiencies of
conventional location based services, various embodiments of a
portable device are provided that collect or provide information
from/to the user or device in connection with employing services
associated with the mesh network. A dynamic data aggregation scheme
can be employed that builds a knowledge base of the mesh network.
Information regarding user or device interaction with the mesh
network can be collected, aggregated, analyzed, conditioned,
filtered, mined, and the like to improve accuracy of a data model
that facilitated provisioning of services associated with the mesh
network. As noted herein, interaction with the mesh network can
occur passively (e.g., as a background application not generally
visible to the user), or actively where for example the user can
initiate collecting or logging of information from/to the mesh
network. Various incentives can be employed to facilitate gathering
of such user or device data. For example, enhanced services, free
goods or services, discounts, tertiary products/services (e.g.,
free media) can be offered in exchange for a user or device
providing valuable personal data. Likewise, a point, reward,
sharing threshold system or the like can be employed to encourage
contributing to the mesh network knowledge base.
[0047] As a result of building a robust and accurate mesh network
services model, targeted services can be provided that facilitate
provisioning of services to users or devices within the mesh
network. For example, observing user or device interaction within a
particular geographic region, or at certain times of the day can
result in learning that users of a particular demographic profile
(e.g., particular age, income level, . . . ) traverse from point A
to point B with population density F during time range H and have a
J probability of responding to a targeted advertisement for coffee
with a confidence level of M where (A, B, F, H, J, and M are
variables). Additionally, enhanced filtering schemes can be
employed that prevent nuisance data interruptions from reaching a
user or device. It is to be appreciated that information desirable
to one individual may be a nuisance to another. The above-noted
knowledge base can facilitate provisioning of services so that it
enhances a user or device experience so that data and type thereof
is provided when desired and useful, and undesired or non-useful
information is filtered with high confidence level.
[0048] An aspect of the claimed subject matter relates to
optimizing the mesh network and interaction therewith so as to
facilitate provisioning of services. User and/or device data can be
collected and mined in connection with improving services
provisioned to users/devices. For example, demographic information
can be collected and correlated with actions taken as well as
extrinsic evidence (e.g., weather, time of day, user or device
context, state of user or device, holidays, weekend versus business
day, path of navigation, . . . ) to map preferences among like
users or devices. Accordingly, such mapping can be leveraged to
provision targeted services to users or devices within the mesh
network. Suggestions regarding products or services based on the
data aggregation and/or mappings can be improved. Automated actions
can be taken based on a utility-based analysis, e.g., a cost
benefit analysis where the benefit associated with a particular
automated action with a given confidence level outweighs the cost
of taking an incorrect or undesired action.
[0049] While each of the various embodiments herein are presented
independently, e.g., as part of the sequence of respective Figures,
one can appreciate that a portable device and/or associated network
services, as described, can incorporate or combine two or more of
any of the embodiments. Given that each of the various embodiments
improve the overall services ecosystem in which users wish to
operate, together a synergy results from combining different
benefits. Accordingly, the combination of different embodiments
described below shall be considered herein to represent a host of
further alternate embodiments.
[0050] A non-limiting device provisioned for direction based
services includes an engine for analyzing location information
(e.g., GPS), direction information such as compass information
(e.g., North, West, South, East), and optionally movement
information (e.g., accelerometer information) to allow a platform
for pointing to and thereby finding objects of interest in a user's
environment. A variety of scenarios are contemplated based on a
user finding information of interest about objects of interests,
such as restaurants, or other items around an individual, or
persons, places or events of interest nearby a user and tailoring
information to that user (e.g., coupons, advertisements), however
at a time later than the finding.
[0051] Details of various other exemplary, non-limiting embodiments
are provided below.
Mesh Network Services for Devices Supporting Dynamic Direction
Information
[0052] Referring now to the drawings, with reference initially to
FIG. 1, computer-implemented system 100 can aggregate information
regarding a set of devices or users interacting with services,
devices, individuals, groups, or the like. Generally, system 100
can include provisioning component 102 that can interface with
network-accessible data storage service 104, and facilitate
provisioning of targeted services to respective users or devices.
Data storage service 104 can facilitate archival of data associated
with customers, clients, devices (e.g., user 106) of data storage
service 104 as well as retrieval of any such archived data 108 by
user 106. Moreover, as described in greater detail infra data
storage service 104 can store a knowledge base or data model which
can facilitate provisioning of services in accordance with
embodiments described herein. The knowledge base or data model can
be stored at a single location, in a distributed framework, or a
hybrid (e.g., individual knowledge bases or data models can
dynamically integrate or interact in a mesh network like fashion).
It is to be appreciated that the term "user" can apply to an
individual, group, device(s), services or the like. Both archival
or retrieval of archived/aggregated data 108 are labeled and
referred to herein as transactions 110, which can generalize other
transactions associated with archived/aggregated data 108 as well,
such as on-demand conversion or migration requested by user 106 and
so forth. Moreover, it should be understood that data storage
service 104 can be constructed to operate according to very
particular networking configurations or topologies, which are
discussed infra in connection with FIG. 2. Appreciably,
provisioning component 102 (as well as other components described
herein) can be configured in a distinct or specific manner based
upon the configuration of data storage service 104.
[0053] While still referring to FIG. 1, but turning now also to
FIG. 2, diagram 200 depicts an example topology to which data
storage service 104 conforms. In particular, in one or more aspects
of the claimed subject matter, data storage service 104 can be
configured as a distributed network and/or a mesh network. Mesh
networking is a way to route data, voice and instructions between
nodes (also referred to as "peers"). It allows for continuous
connections and reconfiguration around broken or blocked paths by
"hopping" from node to node until a destination is reached. A mesh
network whose nodes are all connected to each other is a fully
connected network. Mesh networks differ from other networks in that
the component parts can all connect to each other via multiple
hops. As employed herein mesh networks are type(s) of ad hoc
network, and the term is intended to include mobile ad hoc networks
(MANET) which provides for mobility of the nodes.
[0054] Mesh networks can be self-healing: the network can still
operate even when a node breaks down or a connection goes bad. As a
result, such mesh network is very reliable. This concept is
applicable to wireless networks, wired networks, and software
interaction.
[0055] More specifically, the mesh or distributed network can
include multiple peers, denoted here as peers 202.sub.1-202.sub.N,
where N can be substantially any integer. Each peer 202 can be
connected to other peers 202, by way of any suitable connectivity
scheme or architecture such as a wide area network (WAN) or a local
area network (LAN), labeled here as WAN/LAN 204. The mesh network
can be a full mesh network in which every peer 202 is connected to
all other peers 202. Alternatively, the mesh network can be
configured according to a partial mesh topology in which one peer
202 can be connected to all other peers 202, while a second peer
202 is connected only to a subset of all other peers 202, typically
only the peers 202 in which the second peer 202 communicates with
the most or exchanges the most data.
[0056] Each peer 202 can represent a node in the mesh network (or
another distributed network) and can be physically implemented by a
server, workstation, personal computer, laptop, game console,
phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), or substantially any other
suitable device. Moreover, regardless of the type of device that
constitutes a given peer 202, that peer 202 can store all or a
portion of archived/aggregated data 108 as well as post-aggregated,
processed data. In other words, multiple peers 202 can each store a
respective portion of data 108. In some cases, each portion of data
(labeled data 108.sub.1-108.sub.N) can be mutually exclusive (e.g.,
no file included in data 108 exists on more than one peer 202),
while in other cases each portion can be unique (e.g., the set of
files included in each portion of data 108 is unique even though
multiple peers 202 can include the same file), while in still other
cases substantially identical file sets can be included on multiple
peers 202 or devices associated therewith. Alternatively, the data
can persist and be managed at a central storage 206, and a subset
thereof selectively streamed to respective users 106 on an as
needed or desired basis.
[0057] Furthermore, regardless of the networking topology, it
should be appreciated and understood that any portion of data 108
hosted by peer 202 can reside not only on the peer 202 proper, but
also on devices attached to or inserted in that peer 202. For
example, consider a CD-ROM drive (e.g., attached device) associated
the user's laptop (e.g., peer 202).
[0058] Regardless of whether or not data storage service 104 is
implemented according to a distributed networking topology, data
storage service 104 can, according to one or more aspects, maintain
a network-accessible data repository that stores or hosts at least
a portion of data 108. Thus, one example device that embodies a
peer 202 can be device 206 illustrated as an example for peer
202.sub.1. Likewise, one or more peers 202 can be embodied by a
device 208, which can be, e.g., a home computer or laptop
associated with user 106, as illustrated in connection with peer
202.sub.2. Moreover, other devices 210 that are not directly
associated with user 106 or data storage service 104 can embody a
peer (e.g., peer 202.sub.N) as well. For example, peers 202 can be
hosted by contacts of user 106 or members of a community associated
with user 106 or data storage service 104.
[0059] It should be appreciated that the examples depicted for each
peer 202.sub.1-202.sub.N are intended to be exemplary in nature,
and need not necessarily be representative of ordering or a
constituent composition of peers 202. Moreover, data storage
service 104 need not in all aspects maintain any data repository at
all. For example, peers 202 need not include data storage service
104, and data 108 regardless of apportionment can be stored by
other devices or data stores, even if at least transactions 110 are
managed by data storage service 104.
[0060] Continuing the discussion of FIG. 1, system 100 can further
include monitor component 112 that can perform a variety of
examination and monitoring tasks. For example, in accordance with
one or more aspects of the claimed subject matter, monitor
component 112 can monitor user 106 action, context, state, etc., in
connection with data collection features discussed above. An
aggregation component 114 can process, structure, filter, and/or
aggregate the data to facilitate utilizing the aggregated data in
connection with provisioning of services to respective users 106.
The aggregated, processed, and/or conditioned data can be employed
to populate a knowledge base or data model residing in storage 104.
System 100 can also include analysis component 120 that can
determine a respective cost-benefit 122 for each of a plurality of
data monitoring, collection, aggregation, and/or provisioning
scenarios.
[0061] Accordingly, system 100 facilitates a dynamic data
aggregation scheme that can be employed to build a knowledge base
of the mesh network. Information regarding user or device
interaction with the mesh network can be collected, aggregated,
analyzed, conditioned, filtered, mined, or the like to improve
accuracy of a data model that facilitates provisioning of services
associated with the mesh network. As noted supra, interaction with
the mesh network can occur passively (e.g., as a background
application not generally visible to the user), or actively where
for example the user can initiate collecting or logging of
information from/to the mesh network. Various incentives can be
employed to facilitate gathering of such user or device data. As a
result of building a robust and accurate mesh network services
model, targeted services can be provided that facilitate
provisioning of services to users or devices within the mesh
network. An aspect of the claimed subject matter relates to
optimizing the mesh network and interaction therewith so as to
facilitate provisioning of services. User and/or device data can be
collected and mined in connection with improving services
provisioned to users/devices. Suggestions regarding products or
services based on the data aggregation and/or mappings can be
improved. Automated actions can be taken based on a utility-based
analysis, e.g., a cost benefit analysis where the benefit
associated with a particular automated action with a given
confidence level outweighs the cost of taking an incorrect or
undesired action
[0062] FIGS. 3-11 illustrate various exemplary methodologies
associated with aggregating, analyzing, data mining, and
provisioning of services in connection with a mesh network. It is
to be appreciated that the acts are described in connection with
functional modules or blocks. Moreover, the order in which the acts
are described is intended to be non-limiting, and any suitable
arrangement of modules or blocks, or subset thereof can be
implemented in connection with carrying out aspects described and
claimed herein.
[0063] Turning now to FIG. 3, a methodology in connection with
collecting data from a user or device to facilitate populating a
knowledge database or model of a mesh network is described. At 300
identification, inference or determination is made of a user or
device entering into the mesh network. This act can be accomplished
through any of a variety of suitable manners. For example, a user
device logging onto an access point within the mesh network. It is
to be appreciated that authentication schemes can be employed to
facilitate identifying the user as well as determine level of
access rights and privileges. At 310, a manner of collecting data
from the user or device is determined. For example, the data can be
collected passively, e.g., as a background application or service,
or actively (e.g., direct interaction with the user). At 320, level
and type of data collection is determined. The volume of data as
well as type of data to be collected is determined. It is
appreciated that as device capabilities increase over time the
amount and type of data that can be collected from respective
devices can be voluminous. Accordingly, selective data collection
schemes can be employed to facilitate gathering information
relevant to building the mesh network data model or knowledge base.
For example, various types of contextual information or the like
can be employed to facilitate selective data collection. If a user
is pointing a device at a certain item, data collection can be
focused on the POI and data not deemed relevant to the POI or user
goal is not collected. At 330, data collection is initiated.
[0064] FIG. 4 illustrates a methodology relating to aggregating
collected data to facilitate building the mesh network data model
or knowledge base. At 400 collected data is conditioned or
schematized to facilitate working therewith or analyzing the data.
At 410, the conditioned data is processed or analyzed. For example,
the data can be learned such that mappings, correlations,
dependencies, etc, are identified. At 420 a data model is
generated, or for existing data models it is refined based on newly
collected data as well as aged out data. The data aggregation can
facilitate provisioning of services to respective users in a
tailored manner. For example, based on aggregated and learned data,
the data model can infer or determine that other individuals
similar to the current user (e.g., in demographics, interest group,
genre, current goal, or the like) can provide recommendations,
automated action, etc.
[0065] FIG. 5 illustrates a high-level methodology in connection
with provisioning of services within a mesh network. At 500,
identification, inference, or determination is made that a user or
device has entered into the mesh network. At 510, the user or
device is analyzed. For example, user or device location, state,
speed, direction, intent is inferred or determined. It is to be
appreciated that artificial intelligence based techniques can be
employed in connection with making such inferences or
determinations. Statistical, probabilistic, linear, non-linear,
deterministic, non-deterministic, and other suitable mathematical
techniques can be utilized in connection with gleaning relevant
context-based information regarding the user or device.
Additionally, extrinsic evidence (e.g., time of day, weather,
business conditions, third party information, historical data, user
preferences, etc.) can be considered. At 520, a mapping is
performed in connection with mapping services to be provisioned to
the user from the mesh network. Given a certain set of evidence
(e.g., collected, stored, received . . . ) most suitable services
given user/device state, desires, expectations, etc. are identified
for potential provisioning to the user/device. A utility-based
analysis can be employed that factors the cost of provisioning an
undesired service to the user versus the benefit of provisioning a
service that is desired by the user or device. At 530 a
determination is made to provision or not provision various subsets
of available services.
[0066] FIG. 6 illustrates an example provisioning scenario. At 600,
user or device intent or goals are inferred or determined. The
inference or determination can be effected via numerous manners
such as, for example, employing state information, contextual
information, historical data, preference information, extrinsic
evidence, etc. As a function of the inference or determination, at
610 a subset of available services are identified for provisioning
as well as a subset of available services are identified for not
provisioning (e.g., blocking or filtering). At 620 a utility based
analysis is performed in connection with provisioning various
services. The cost benefit analysis can identify for example which
services to provision, order of provisioning, reordering of
provisioning, when, where, and how to provision respective
services. The above-noted data model or knowledge base is employed
in connection with such utility-based analyses. Demographic
information, state information, preferences, what like people have
done, historical data, available resources, user or device context,
value of information, authentication level, privacy concerns, cost
of interruption, user cognitive load, temporal value of
information, staleness of data, priority of information, etc. are
examples of data types, metrics, or information that can be
factored in connection with provisioning or not provisioning of
services within the mesh network.
[0067] FIG. 7 illustrates an advertising methodology in connection
with aspects of the claimed subject matter. At 700, user or device
intent or goals are determined. At 710 as a function of the
inferred or determined goals, targeted advertisements are
identified that have high probability of success with the targeted
user or device. Accordingly, factors such as user or device state,
location, demographics, direction of movement, speed, context,
preferences, and other metrics or data types described herein can
be considered in connection with provisioning of targeted
advertisements. At 720, any one or more of ordering, display, mode
of delivery, when, where, or how to deliver the targeted
advertisement(s) is determined. At 730 the subset of targeted
advertisements are provisioned. It is to be appreciated that
pricing of targeted advertisements or impressions can be a function
of confidence level of click through rate. For example, a mesh
network host service could vary pricing of impressions to merchants
as a function of likelihood of success of the targeted
advertisement that is provisioned as a function of the knowledge
data base or data model. The richness of the data model or
knowledge base increases probability of provisioning of services or
advertisements with high success rate. Accordingly, pricing can
vary as a function of the historical or expected success rate. At
740, an optional act of feeding back results of targeted
advertisement provisioning can be performed in connection with
training the data model or refining the knowledge base. Use of
feedback facilitates improving accuracy of the model as well as
adapting it to changing trends, preferences, conditions, etc.
[0068] FIG. 8 illustrates a methodology for effecting pricing of
advertisements or services within a mesh network. At 800 user,
device, or service provider goals are inferred or determined. It is
to be appreciated that at any given time, a matrix of price points,
user, device, customer, service provides goals or interest are in
variance. The subject methodology at 810 performs optimization
analyses in connection with dynamic data sets to set pricing points
in a manner to facilitate maximizing utility of service
provisioning. For example, based on user state, provider inventory,
available resources an optimal price can be determined that
increases likelihood of sale or a service or good. At 820 a
selective set of services are provisioned as a function of the
analyses. For example, given a certain set of evidence a same set
of services may be provisioned to user 1 at a higher price point
than user 2. Likewise, cost for an advertising impression can also
be dynamically varied across potential advertisers. A static
pricing model can also optionally be employed as well as a temporal
model where pricing changes over time but not necessarily each
target individual.
[0069] FIG. 9 illustrates a methodology for dynamically modifying
services to be provisioned, At 900 activities associated with a set
of users/devices within the mesh network are modified. For example,
population densities, traffic pattern, resource utilization,
service throughput, etc. At 910 the activity data is analyzed in
connection with modifying provisioning of services to another set
of users/devices. It is to be appreciated that there can be
commonality between various subsets of users/devices across the
respective sets. For example, if there is a high density of traffic
at a coffee shop, and the frequency of users/devices entering the
shop is greater than those exiting an inference can be made that
there may be a long wait time. Moreover, based on the analyzed data
an expected wait time can be calculated within a reasonable
standard deviation of error. Based on the analyses, at 930 services
to be provisioned can be tailored or modified. For example, a user
could be advised to not patronize the coffee shop he/she regularly
goes to because of traffic, long wait time, or the like, and to go
to another coffee shop that overall will provide for the user to
make an important meeting on time. Accordingly, shopping can be
substantially optimized to meet current user goals and
timeliness.
[0070] FIG. 10 illustrates a methodology relating to data
collection. At 1000, data related to user or device context is
collected from one or more devices. It is to be appreciated that a
user often is in proximity to and/or interacting with multiple
device concurrently. For example, a user may be in an automobile,
using a cell phone as well as a navigation system, and on-board
display as well as audio. The number of devices, types, when,
where, and how can provide rich context and state information about
the user and/or device of interest. At 1010, the available data is
filtered as a function of relevancy in connection with aggregating
the data, and processing it to populate the knowledge base or data
model. At 1020, the filtered data is aggregated and populated into
a data store.
[0071] FIG. 11 illustrates a methodology for matching a user or
device with a set of services. At 1100, user activity is determined
or identified. As discussed above, intrinsic as well as extrinsic
information can be employed to make such determination. One goal is
to identify user state, preferences, desires, etc. so as to
optimize provisioning of services to the user in connection with
maximizing user satisfaction as well as optimizing return on
investment to service providers. At 1110, a set of available
services are identified that may be suitable for provisioning to a
particular user. Demographics, social networks, preferences, user
state, device state, device capabilities, historical information,
available resources, traffic, price, weather, urgency, priorities,
user goals, etc. are some factors that can be considered in
connection with identifying suitable services for provisioning. At
1120, a matching function is performed to match most suitable
services to provision given a set of evidence. Optionally, a
utility based analysis can be performed that effects a cost benefit
analysis in connection with services provisioning. At 1130, a set
of services deemed most appropriate are provisioned to the user or
target device.
[0072] FIGS. 12 and 13 illustrate various methodologies in
connection with employment of pointing based services where a user
can point a device in a particular direction or at an item of
interest. The act of pointing a device provides for focusing on a
particular category of interest, and allows for filtering out data
that is not relevant. FIG. 12 is a flow diagram of an exemplary
non-limiting process for using a device and services as described
herein. At 1200, a place where a portable device is located is
determined based on position information. At 1210, the device
interacts with an item of interest in the place via direction based
services. At 1220, a desired characteristic for the item of
interest is indicated. At 1230, results regarding the item of
interest are received later when the characteristic is satisfied.
At 1240, updated content about the item of interest can be
provided.
[0073] FIG. 13 is a flow diagram of a non-limiting scenario for the
process of FIG. 12. At 1300, a place where the portable device is
located is determined based on position information. At 1310, the
device interacts with an item of interest in the place via
direction based location services as described elsewhere herein. At
1320, the user identifies a target price for the item of interest.
At 1330, results respecting the item of interest are delivered
later when the price drops, e.g., 2 months later. At 1340, the
content about the item of interest can be updated on an ongoing
basis or at the time of delivery of the delayed content (e.g., new
or updated advertisement, recent user reviews, etc.).
[0074] It is to be appreciated that switching among channels can be
effected for any of missing infrastructure to engage in pointing
based services. users can engage pointing based services using a
first network, but then one or more aspects of connectivity are
lost, connectivity can be regained from a second network, e.g.,
local Bluetooth network, other user pointing devices, etc. Users
who have opted in for mesh device cooperation can share processing
resources, information missing from other devices within the
cooperative network, for instance, if one device has the missing
information in its local cache, etc.
[0075] The possibilities for mesh networking based on movable
endpoints in a pointing based device system are limitless. For
instance, one mesh network scenario would be to determine actual
traffic patterns by uploading user path data from millions of users
over the country for one year. What would emerge from such a large
mesh network of cooperating users is data about roads that
statistically represents traffic for various conditions on those
roads, e.g., at night, when raining, time of day, etc. Thus, a
driving or direction service predicated on such information and the
actual paths that drivers take down the roads including all of
their turns can be more effective than the mathematical assumptions
made by navigation systems today.
[0076] User data, user paths, user transactions, and interactions
can thus be uploaded to a network service that tracks business
intelligence about people or groups of people. Business
intelligence can be created from these types of social scenarios
and user interactions. Users can opt into one or more cooperative
mesh network scenarios, e.g., "use my car data to build road data."
Data from each user can collected and aggregated over time and, the
aggregate data examined for macro trends and patterns. As a result
of the key trends and patterns discovered, services can be built on
key trends and patterns, such as the improved directions based on
actual user path data. The trends and patterns can be organized
into additional reports and subscription data in which various
marketing or other organizations may be interested.
[0077] In addition, customized scenarios can be designed for
different types of devices, or for different types of placement of
those devices. For instance, a set of services for a biker is
different than the set of services that a car driver wants. Thus,
that different kinds of moving objects inherently have different
requirements, e.g., a biker does not need gas.
[0078] In this regard, leveraging digital compasses and location
services to provide direction and location information enables a
next-generation of direction or pointer based location search
services, scan services, discoverability services, etc., where the
digital compass and GPS can be used to point at objects of
interest, thus defining the entry point for one or more data
transactions between the device and one or more third party devices
providing service(s) for the objects of interest at which the
device is pointed.
[0079] As reflected in various embodiments, a device is provided
that can hone in on, interact with, or otherwise transact with, a
specific object or specific objects of interest by way of location
and direction of the device, creating a new advertising model not
previously known. As an example, when a user interacts with a
particular product on a shelf at a retail store in connection with
a direction based service, this creates an opportunity for anyone
having an interest in the particular product to engage the user,
e.g., communicate some information to that user. Any context that
can be discerned from the user's actions and interactions can also
be taken into account when acting on the opportunity. In this
regard, users can interact with the endpoints in a host of context
sensitive ways to provide or update information associated with
endpoints of interest, or to receive beneficial information or
instruments (e.g., coupons, offers, etc.) from entities associated
with the endpoints of interest, and any of such actions can be
joined to form a mesh network. With location services, it can be
determined that a user's device is physically inside an actual
store, or near a window display of a store. Coupling that to the
user's interacting with an object of interest with direction
information to enable direction-based services results in a new
opportunity to take action based on the interaction with specific
items.
[0080] In one embodiment, a portable electronic device is provided
having a positional component for receiving position information as
a function of a location of the portable electronic device; and at
least one processor configured to process the position information
to determine identifier(s) of points of interest associated with
the location of the portable electronic device and based on intent
information determined for the portable electronic device and the
identifier(s), a set of delay criterion are set for later
interaction with the given points of interest represented by the
identifier(s).
[0081] As mentioned, a device can include a directional component
that outputs direction information as a function of an orientation
of the portable electronic device and that facilitates determining
an intent of the device. The directional component can optionally
be a digital compass that outputs the direction information. The
device can determine a subset of items of interest relative to
candidate items of interest within a 3-D space as a function of the
positional information or the direction information.
[0082] The device can request delayed content based on a selection
of an item of interest and the identifier(s). The request for the
delayed content can be based on a scan of an encoding associated
with an item of interest and the identifier(s). The request for
delayed content can be based on a keyword received as input by the
device and the identifier(s). The request for delayed content can
be based on the intent information and the identifier(s) from at
least one network service. The request for delayed content can also
be automatic, or made by other explicit or implicit request by the
user.
[0083] At a later time, and potentially from a different device, a
content package can be received based on the request for the
delayed content from the network service. The device can optionally
include a display or sound devices, such as speakers, to display or
render some or all of the graphical (e.g., text, icon, image data,
video data, etc.) and/or audio content of the content package.
[0084] An initial interacting can include orientating the device
toward some item(s) of interest and determining direction
information associated with the orientation of the device from
which a subset of the item(s) of interest are identified. For
instance, interacting can include pointing the device in a
direction defining a pointing line generally towards items of
interest in the place(s) and determining a set of candidate items
of interest as a subset of items of interest that substantially
intersect with the pointing line, and enabling the selection of one
or more items from the set of candidate items.
[0085] In one embodiment, a method for a device provisioned for
direction based services comprises determining direction
information associated with a pointed to direction relative to a
pre-defined orientation of the device and identifying POIs within
an area defined as a function of the pointed to direction including
determining which of a set of POIs intersect with the area. Next,
information corresponding to the POIs identified within the area is
displayed, e.g., on a map or list, and POIs identified within the
area can be designated for a delayed interaction at a later time.
In one embodiment, IDs associated with the designated POIs are
transmitted to a network service enabling information about the
designated POIs to be exposed at the later time, e.g., from a
different form factor device.
[0086] The designation of POIs for later interaction can include
explicit input with respect to the designated one or more POIs,
such as one or more of a gesture input, a keyword input, an audio
input, a video camera input or a touchscreen input with respect to
the one or more POIs. The designation of POIs for later interaction
can include implicit input with respect to the designated one or
more POIs including making inferences about the delayed interaction
at the later time based on a context of present interaction.
[0087] The displaying of POI information can be made on a
topographical map visually representing at least the area defined
as a function of a pointed to direction and graphical indications
of the POIs can be displayed within the area at corresponding
locations on the topographical map view. The POIs can also be
represented in a filtered list view, e.g., filtered by restaurants
in the area. The designating of POIs can include designating
pre-defined criteria explicitly or implicitly defining the delay of
the delayed interaction. The designating can include marking one or
more POIs with touchscreen input relating to the one or more
designated POIs, tagging the one or more POIs with tag information
defining the delayed interaction, or other ways to designate POIs
for later interaction.
[0088] In another embodiment, a portable electronic device includes
a positional component for receiving position information as a
function of a location of the portable electronic device and a
directional component that outputs direction information as a
function of an orientation of the portable electronic device. In
addition, the device includes a processor configured to process the
position information and the direction information to determine
identifiers or IDs of POIs within a pre-defined geographical area
of the device, interact with a selected ID, receive information
about the POI corresponding to the selected identifier, and receive
input regarding the selected ID defining a future interaction.
[0089] Information about the selected ID defining the future
interaction is transmitted along with the point of interest to a
network service. In one embodiment, a pointer structure is provided
on the device that visually indicates the orientation of the
portable electronic device based upon which the directional
component outputs the direction information. For example, this
could be a triangular structure that comes to a point to show a
primary orientation of the device. This could also be indicated on
the display of the device during provision of direction based
services.
[0090] In one embodiment, the position information and the
direction information determine a pointing line and a set of
candidate points of interest are determined as a subset of points
of interest that substantially intersect with a function based on
the pointing line. An intersection test for determining subsets of
points of interest can include defining an arc based on an angle
with respect to a pointing line, defining a cone based on an angle
with respect to the pointing line, or a line function defining a
rectangular space oriented along the pointing line (2-D or 3-D
depending on the application). A speaker can render audio content
if a condition upon which the future interaction is predicated
occurs. The directional component can be a digital compass that
outputs the direction information.
[0091] In another embodiment, a method comprises determining a
place in which a portable device is located based on location
information determined for the device and identifying a subset of
items of interest in the place including determining an orientation
of the device based on direction information of the device and
determining the subset of items of interest in the place as a
function of the orientation. Next, input with respect to an item of
the subset of items is received as well as input defining a delayed
interaction with the item or place.
[0092] The delayed interaction can include receiving a notification
when a characteristic of the item meets a pre-defined condition,
such as when a price of the item meets a target price condition,
thereby initiating the delayed interaction. One way of identifying
and designating an item for delayed interaction can be with a scan
input from scanning or imaging a bar code associated with the item
of interest.
[0093] FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating some concepts of one
or more embodiments for enabling delayed interaction with endpoints
in a direction based location system. In this regard, two main
things are specified by the device participating in direction based
services 1420. First, the device provides POI information 1400 from
pointing with the device, i.e., the device identifies nearby POIs
of particular interest to a user. This can be done explicitly 1402
or implicitly 1404. Also, the device associates criteria for delay
1410 with the POIs. This too can be done explicitly 1412 or
implicitly 1414. Together, the POI information 1400 and delay
information 1410 are transmitted to direction based services 1420,
which enables a whole host of scenarios 1430 for later interaction
with the POIs 1400 according to the criteria 1410 being
satisfied.
[0094] FIG. 15 is an exemplary non-limiting diagram of an
architecture for achieving one or more embodiments described
herein. At the device layer Layer1 for specifying delayed POI
information, location information 1500, direction information 1502
and user intent information 1504 can be input to a Layer2 with
various services 1510, including web services 1512, cloud services
1514, other data services 1516, etc. Any of services 1510 can have
input to a set of brick and mortar store databases in Layer3, such
as data store(s) 1520, 1522, 1524, etc. or set of online or
electronic retailer databases in Layer4, such as data store(s)
1530, 1532, 1534, etc. In this regard, user intent 1504 coupled
with a place of the device can be utilized by one or more services
1510 to retrieve and deliver custom content 1540 to the device
based on the intent and place of the device, but at a later time
according to a set of explicit or implicit criteria.
[0095] FIG. 16 is a flow diagram of a scenario where a user delays
interaction with a point of interest. At 1600, a user points a
pointer device in one or more directions to define scope of
endpoints. At 1610, the user receives an indication of one or more
endpoints within scope in response from a network service. At 1620,
the user marks endpoint(s) for later interaction or viewing. At
1630, when the user reconnects to the service, e.g., from a PC, the
user can receive reminders about marked endpoints. Other ways for
triggering the interaction can be employed at 1630 as described
elsewhere herein. The user can follow through with
interaction/viewing at 1640, as desired.
[0096] FIG. 17 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary process
for designating POIs for delayed interaction in connection with
direction based services. At 1700, direction information is
determined from a pointed to direction relative to a pre-defined
orientation. At 1710, POIs are identified within an area defined as
a function of the pointed to direction and it is determined which
POIs intersect the area and are within scope of a given user
experience. At 1720, information corresponding to the POIs
identified within the area is displayed, e.g., on a map or in a
list. At 1730, the POI(s) identified within the area are designated
for a delayed interaction at a later time. At 1740, the information
(e.g., ID information) associated with the POIs designated for
later interaction is transmitted to a network service enabling
later interactions.
[0097] FIG. 18 illustrates an exemplary non-limiting device 1800
including processor(s) 1810 having a position engine or subsystem
1820 for determining a location of the device 1800 and a direction
engine or subsystem 1830 for determining a direction or orientation
of the device 1800. Then, by interacting with local application(s)
1840 and/or service(s) 1870, content can be delivered to the
device, which is tailored to device intent and a place in which the
device is present. The tailored content can be rendered by graphic
subsystem or display/UI 1850 or audio subsystem 1860. In one
non-limiting embodiment, point structure 1890 is included, e.g., a
triangular piece that points along an orientation line 1895 upon
which directional calculations are based. Similarly, the
orientation line 1895 can be indicated by graphics subsystem
display/UI 1850 with or without point structure 1890. In this
regard, various embodiments herein enable delayed POI ID
information 1880 to and from services 1870 so that the delayed
interactions can occur in the future as assisted by services
1870.
[0098] FIG. 19 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for
delaying interaction with respect to a specific item within an
identified place. At 1900, a place at which a portable device is
located is determined based on location information of the device.
At 1910, an orientation of the device is determined based on
direction information of the device and a subset of items of
interest are identified in the place as a function of the
orientation. At 1920, an item of the subset of items can be
selected and a delayed interaction with the item (or place) is
thereby enabled by direction based services.
[0099] FIG. 20 illustrates a mobile computing device 100 according
to an embodiment. In this regard, a set of services 2060 that
support delayed interaction with points of interest can be built
based on location information 2022 and direction information 2032
collected by a mobile device, such as a phone. For instance,
location information 2022 can be recorded by a location subsystem
2020 such as a GPS subsystem communicating with GPS satellites
2040. Direction or pointing information 2032 can be collected by a
direction subsystem 2030, such as a compass, e.g., gyroscopic,
magnetic, digital compass, etc. In addition, optionally, movement
information 2012 can be gathered by the device 2000, e.g., via
tower triangulation algorithms, and/or acceleration of the device
2000 can be measured as well, e.g., with an accelerometer. The
collective information 2050 can be used to gain a sense of not only
where the device 2000 is located in relation to other potential
points of interest tracked or known by the overall set of services
2060, but also what direction the user is pointing the device 2000,
so that the services 2060 can appreciate at whom or what the user
is pointing the device 2000.
[0100] In addition, a gesture subsystem 2070 can optionally be
included, which can be predicated on any one or more of the motion
information 2012, location information 2022 or direction
information 2032. In this regard, not only can direction
information 2032 and location information 2022 be used to define a
set of unique gestures, but also motion information 2012 (such as
speed and acceleration) can be used to define a more sophisticated
set of gestures.
[0101] FIG. 20 thus illustrates a gesture subsystem 2070 can
optionally be included in a device 2000. In this regard, one can
appreciate that a variety of algorithms could be adopted for a
gesture subsystem 2070. For instance, a simple click-event when in
the "pointing mode" for the device 2000 can result in determining a
set of points of interest for the user. Another gesture on top of
that pointing gesture with respect to a POI can result in delaying
interaction with that POI.
[0102] In this regard, a device can include a variety of spatial
and map components and intelligence engines to determine
intersections for directional arcs (or cones in 3-D). For instance,
objects of interest could be represented with exact boundaries,
approximated with spheres, subshells (stores in a mall) of a
greater shell (mall), hierarchically arranged, etc. Dynamically
generated bounding boxes can also be implemented work, i.e., any
technique can be used to obtain boundary information for use in an
intersection algorithm. Thus, such boundaries can be implicitly or
explicitly defined for the POIs.
[0103] Thus, a device can include an intersection component that
interprets pointing information relative to a set of potential
points of interest. The engine can perform such intersections
knowing what the resolution of the measuring instruments are on the
device, such as a given resolution of a GPS system. Such techniques
can include taking into account how far a user is from a plane of
objects of interest, such as items on a shelf or wall, the size of
the item of interest and how that is defined, as well as the
resolution of location instrumentation, such as the GPS system. The
device can also optionally include an altimeter, or any other
device that gives altitude information, such as measuring radar or
sonar bounce from the floor. The altitude information can
supplement existing location information for certain specialized
services where points of interest vary significantly at different
altitudes. It is noted that GPS itself has some information about
altitude in its encoding.
[0104] FIG. 21 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary
non-limiting exchange between a device 2100 and service 2110. After
start 2102, an example request for illustrative purpose is made by
a device 2100 to a service 2110, which includes data related to the
location of the device, a given POI, and information about delaying
the interaction. For instance, then, at 2115, the service 2110 gets
all offers for the POI 2115 and/or at 2120, gets the offers for the
given location. At 2125, or earlier, it is determined if the delay
criteria have been met for the given POI, if so, the service 2110
may get updated content associated with the location 2130 along
with an optional branded user interface at 2135. At 2140, assuming
the delay criteria have been met, an updated content package is
created and delivered to the device 2100 at 2145. The device can
undergo a check for the device at 2150. The delayed or future
interaction can take place at 2155. Optionally, based on an
advertising model, the content providers or owners can be billed at
2160.
[0105] FIG. 22 illustrates a general block diagram for an optional
encoding technique for POI information. In this regard, various
pieces of static and dynamic information 2202, 2204, 2206, 2208,
2210, etc. for a POI, which are normally represented in UI 2200 of
the device, can also be encoded as an image or a bar code 2220, or
some other device readable compact encoding. Then, a user can scan
an item of interest, and coupled with presence in a physical store,
a request 2215 can be made to a service 2240 with a key
representing the scanned item and information representing the
place, whereby the service 2240 determines content 2225 to return
to the device 2200 based on the scanned item and the place. In
addition, delay criterion 2225 specify how to delay the interaction
with the scanned item.
[0106] For instance, in an optional Quick Response (QR) support
embodiment, decompression allows users to take pictures of a QR
code and process its contents where information has been encoded
into a sticker/printout for display outside of a business (e.g., in
the form of a copyrighted URL). The code need not be a QR code, but
could be any code that can be read or scanned or processed to
determine its underlying content. For instance, with a visual
representation, a picture can be taken and processed, or with the
bar code, the device can scan it. RF identification technology
could also be used. For the avoidance of doubt, any encoded image
format can be used, like a bar code, only one example of which is a
QR code.
[0107] In effect, this enables a query for POI information via a QR
code or other encoding. The user scans or images the code with a
device 2230, and then transmits the code to the service, which
translates the code into static and dynamically updated user
information for display as a UI 2200 (or other user interface
representation) so that the user can query about a POI merely by
pointing at it. A URL for the POI can also be encoded in a format
such as a QR code. In one non-limiting embodiment, the user can
point the device at a QR code, and decode a given image with the QR
code.
[0108] FIG. 23 illustrates at a high level, via a block diagram, a
beneficial advertising model enabled by a direction/location based
services with delayed interaction with endpoints as described in
one or more embodiments herein. For instance, scanned items 2300
for delay, or pointed to items 2300 for delay, or any other action
taken with respect to items 2300 for delay can be sent as
information 2305 to a service 2310 that brokers interested third
parties 2320 or 2330 who wish to advertise given the place and
particular items 2300. Accordingly, such third parties 2320 or 2330
(third parties may be misleading because third parties can include
parties related to a retail establishment where the device is
currently located) can provide content as part of interactions 2325
or 2335 as part of a push or pull experience from the user
perspective. This opportunity to provide content in a delayed
manner enables services 2310 to notify 2315 parties 2320 interested
in the delayed interaction. This beneficial information provided to
third parties 2320 or 2330 about potential delayed interactions
with particular POIs and places is therefore an opportunity to
monetize the transaction back to those who benefit from a resulting
transaction or advertising opportunity.
[0109] FIG. 24 is a block diagram illustrating a vast wealth of
actions and interactions that can help define intent/context 2420
to delay for a given POI and location at which the device is
present. For instance, text 2400 may be received by the device, a
product search query 2402 local to the store, bar code scan 2404,
image scan 2406, explicit designation of a product (e.g., by
pointing at a product, or taking an image of the product and
performing image recognition) 2408, price compare request 2410,
gesture input 2412, other interaction 2414, etc. can all be taken
into account in discerning intent of the device at a given place,
along with direction information 2450. This combined with location
information 2440 for discerning the place in which the device is in
results in advertising opportunities 2430 for a whole host of third
party advertising transactions for delayed delivery to the
device.
Supplemental Context Regarding Pointing Devices, Architectures and
Services
[0110] The following description contains supplemental context
regarding potential non-limiting pointing devices, architectures
and associated services to further aid in understanding one or more
of the above embodiments. Any one or more of any additional
features described in this section can be accommodated in any one
or more of the embodiments described above with respect to delayed
direction based services at a particular location for given POI(s).
While such combinations of embodiments or features are possible,
for the avoidance of doubt, no embodiments set forth in the subject
disclosure should be considered limiting on any other embodiments
described herein.
[0111] As mentioned, a broad range of scenarios can be enabled by a
device that can take location and direction information about the
device and build a service on top of that information. For example,
by using an accelerometer in coordination with an on board digital
compass, an application running on a mobile device updates what
each endpoint is "looking at" or pointed towards, attempting hit
detection on potential points of interest to either produce
real-time information for the device or to allow the user to select
a range, or using the GPS, a location on a map, and set information
such as "Starbucks--10% off cappuccinos today" or "The Alamo--site
of . . . " for others to discover. One or more accelerometers can
also be used to perform the function of determining direction
information for each endpoint as well. As described herein, these
techniques can become more granular to particular items within a
Starbucks, such as "blueberry cheesecake" on display in the
counter, enabling a new type of sale opportunity.
[0112] Accordingly, a general device for accomplishing this
includes a processing engine to resolve a line of sight vector sent
from a mobile endpoint and a system to aggregate that data as a
platform, enabling a host of new scenarios predicated on the
pointing information known for the device. The act of pointing with
a device, such as the user's mobile phone, thus becomes a powerful
vehicle for users to discover and interact with points of interest
around the individual in a way that is tailored for the individual.
Synchronization of data can also be performed to facilitate roaming
and sharing of POV data and contacts among different users of the
same service.
[0113] In a variety of embodiments described herein, 2-dimensional
(2D), 3-dimensional (3D) or N-dimensional directional-based search,
discovery, and interactivity services are enabled for endpoints in
the system of potential interest to the user.
[0114] The pointing information and corresponding algorithms depend
upon the assets available in a device for producing the pointing or
directional information. The pointing information, however produced
according to an underlying set of measurement components, and
interpreted by a processing engine, can be one or more vectors. A
vector or set of vectors can have a "width" or "arc" associated
with the vector for any margin of error associated with the
pointing of the device. A panning angle can be defined by a user
with at least two pointing actions to encompass a set of points of
interest, e.g., those that span a certain angle defined by a
panning gesture by the user.
[0115] In one non-limiting embodiment, a portable electronic device
includes a positional component for receiving positional
information as a function of a location of the portable electronic
device, a directional component that outputs direction information
as a function of an orientation of the portable electronic device
and a location based engine that processes the positional
information and the direction information to determine a subset of
points of interest relative to the portable electronic device as a
function of at least the positional information and the direction
information.
[0116] The positional component can be a positional GPS component
for receiving GPS data as the positional information. The
directional component can be a magnetic compass and/or a gyroscopic
compass that outputs the direction information. The device can
include acceleration component(s), such as accelerometer(s), that
outputs acceleration information associated with movement of the
portable electronic device. The use of a separate sensor can also
be used to further compensate for tilt and altitude adjustment
calculations.
[0117] In one embodiment, the device includes a cache memory for
dynamically storing a subset of endpoints of interest that are
relevant to the portable electronic device and at least one
interface to a network service for transmitting the positional
information and the direction information to the network service.
In return, based on real-time changes to the positional information
and direction/pointing information, the device dynamically receives
in the cache memory an updated subset of endpoints that are
potentially relevant to the portable electronic device.
[0118] For instance, the subset of endpoints can be updated as a
function of endpoints of interest within a pre-defined distance
substantially along a vector defined by the orientation of the
portable electronic device. Alternatively or in addition, the
subset of endpoints can be updated as a function of endpoints of
interest relevant to a current context of the portable electronic
device. In this regard, the device can include a set of
Representational State Transfer (REST)-based application
programming interfaces (APIs), or other stateless set of APIs, so
that the device can communicate with the service over different
networks, e.g., Wi-Fi, a GPRS network, etc. or communicate with
other users of the service, e.g., Bluetooth. For the avoidance of
doubt, the embodiments are in no way limited to a REST based
implementation, but rather any other state or stateful protocol
could be used to obtain information from the service to the
devices.
[0119] The directional component outputs direction information
including compass information based on calibrated and compensated
heading/directionality information. The directional component can
also include direction information indicating upward or downward
tilt information associated with a current upward or downward tilt
of the portable electronic device, so that the services can detect
when a user is pointing upwards or downwards with the device in
addition to a certain direction. The height of the vectors itself
can also be taken into account to distinguish between an event of
pointing with a device from the top of a building (likely pointing
to other buildings, bridges, landmarks, etc.) and the same event
from the bottom of the building (likely pointing to a shop at
ground level), or towards a ceiling or floor to differentiate among
shelves in a supermarket. A 3-axis magnetic field sensor can also
be used to implement a compass to obtain tilt readings.
[0120] Secondary sensors, such as altimeters or pressure readers,
can also be included in a mobile device and used to detect a height
of the device, e.g., what floor a device is on in a parking lot or
floor of a department store (changing the associated map/floorplan
data). Where a device includes a compass with a planar view of the
world (e.g., 2-axis compass), the inclusion of one or more
accelerometers in the device can be used to supplement the motion
vector measured for a device as a virtual third component of the
motion vector, e.g., to provide measurements regarding a third
degree of freedom. This option may be deployed where the provision
of a 3-axis compass is too expensive, or otherwise unavailable.
[0121] In this respect, a gesturing component can also be included
in the device to determine a current gesture of a user of the
portable electronic device from a set of pre-defined gestures. For
example, gestures can include zoom in, zoom out, panning to define
an arc, all to help filter over potential subsets of points of
interest for the user.
[0122] For instance, web services can effectively resolve vector
coordinates sent from mobile endpoints into <x,y,z> or other
coordinates using location data, such as GPS data, as well as
configurable, synchronized POV information similar to that found in
a GPS system in an automobile. In this regard, any of the
embodiments can be applied similarly in any motor vehicle device.
One non-limiting use is also facilitation of endpoint discovery for
synchronization of data of interest to or from the user from or to
the endpoint.
[0123] Among other algorithms for interpreting
position/motion/direction information, as shown in FIG. 25, a
device 2500 employing the direction based location based services
2502 as described herein in a variety of embodiments herein include
a way to discern between near objects, such as POI 2514 and far
objects, such as POI 2516. Depending on the context of usage, the
time, the user's past, the device state, the speed of the device,
the nature of the POIs, etc., the service can determine a general
distance associated with a motion vector. Thus, a motion vector
2506 will implicate POI 2514, but not POI 2516, and the opposite
would be true for motion vector 2508.
[0124] In addition, a device 2500 includes an algorithm for
discerning items substantially along a direction at which the
device is pointing, and those not substantially along a direction
at which the device is pointing. In this respect, while motion
vector 2504 might implicate POI 2512, without a specific panning
gesture that encompassed more directions/vectors, POIs 2514 and
2516 would likely not be within the scope of points of interest
defined by motion vector 2504. The distance or reach of a vector
can also be tuned by a user, e.g., via a slider control or other
control, to quickly expand or contract the scope of endpoints
encompassed by a given "pointing" interaction with the device.
[0125] In one non-limiting embodiment, the determination of at what
or whom the user is pointing is performed by calculating an
absolute "Look" vector, within a suitable margin of error, by a
reading from an accelerometer's tilt and a reading from the
magnetic compass. Then, an intersection of endpoints determines an
initial scope, which can be further refined depending on the
particular service employed, i.e., any additional filter. For
instance, for an apartment search service, endpoints falling within
the look vector that are not apartments ready for lease, can be
pre-filtered.
[0126] In addition to the look vector determination, the engine can
also compensate for, or begin the look vector, where the user is by
establish positioning (.about.15 feet) through an A-GPS stack (or
other location based or GPS subsystem including those with
assistance strategies) and also compensate for any significant
movement/acceleration of the device, where such information is
available.
[0127] As mentioned, in another aspect, a device can include a
client side cache of potentially relevant points of interest,
which, based on the user's movement history can be dynamically
updated. The context, such as geography, speed, etc. of the user
can be factored in when updating. For instance, if a user's
velocity is 2 miles an hour, the user may be walking and interested
in updates at a city block by city block level, or at a lower level
granularity if they are walking in the countryside. Similarly, if a
user is moving on a highway at 60 miles per hour, the
block-by-block updates of information are no longer desirable, but
rather a granularity can be provided and predictively cached on the
device that makes sense for the speed of the vehicle.
[0128] In an automobile context, the location becomes the road on
which the automobile is travelling, and the particular items are
the places and things that are passed on the roadside much like
products in a particular retail store on a shelf or in a display.
The pointing based services thus creates a virtual "billboard"
opportunity for items of interest generally along a user's
automobile path. Proximity to location can lead to an impulse buy,
e.g., a user might stop by a museum they are passing and pointing
at with their device, if offered a discount on admission.
[0129] In various alternative embodiments, gyroscopic or magnetic
compasses can provide directional information. A REST based
architecture enables data communications to occur over different
networks, such as Wi-Fi and GPRS architectures. REST based APIs can
be used, though any stateless messaging can be used that does not
require a long keep alive for communicated data/messages. This way,
since networks can go down with GPRS antennae, seamless switching
can occur to Wi-Fi or Bluetooth networks to continue according to
the pointing based services enabled by the embodiments described
herein.
[0130] A device as provided herein according to one or more
embodiments can include a file system to interact with a local
cache, store updates for synchronization to the service, exchange
information by Bluetooth with other users of the service, etc.
Accordingly, operating from a local cache, at least the data in the
local cache is still relevant at a time of disconnection, and thus,
the user can still interact with the data. Finally, the device can
synchronize according to any updates made at a time of
re-connection to a network, or to another device that has more up
to date GPS data, POI data, etc. In this regard, a switching
architecture can be adopted for the device to perform a quick
transition from connectivity from one networked system (e.g., cell
phone towers) to another computer network (e.g., Wi-Fi) to a local
network (e.g., mesh network of Bluetooth connected devices).
[0131] With respect to user input, a set of soft keys, touch keys,
etc. can be provided to facilitate in the directional-based
pointing services provided herein. A device can include a windowing
stack in order to overlay different windows, or provide different
windows of information regarding a point of interest (e.g., hours
and phone number window versus interactive customer feedback
window). Audio can be rendered or handled as input by the device.
For instance, voice input can be handled by the service to
explicitly point without the need for a physical movement of the
device. For instance, a user could say into a device "what is this
product right in front of me? No, not that one, the one above it"
and have the device transmit current direction/movement information
to a service, which in turn intelligently, or iteratively,
determines what particular item of interest the user is pointing
at, and returns a host of relevant information about the item.
[0132] One non-limiting way for determining a set of points of
interest is illustrated in FIG. 26. In FIG. 26, a device 2600 is
pointed (e.g., point and click) in a direction D1, which according
to the device or service parameters, implicitly defines an area
within arc 2610 and distance 2620 that encompasses POI 2630, but
does not encompass POI 2632. Such an algorithm will also need to
determine any edge case POIs, i.e., whether POIs such as POI 2634
are within the scope of pointing in direction D1, where the POI
only partially falls within the area defined by arc 2610 and
distance 2620.
[0133] Other gestures that can be of interest in for a gesturing
subsystem include recognizing a user's gesture for zoom in or zoom
out. Zoom in/zoom out can be done in terms of distance like FIG.
27. In FIG. 27, a device 2700 pointed in direction D1 may include
zoomed in view which includes points of interest within distance
2720 and arc 2710, or a medium zoomed view representing points of
interest between distance 2720 and 2722, or a zoomed out view
representing points of interest beyond distance 2722. These zoom
zones correspond to POIs 2730, 2732 and 2734, respectively. More or
less zones can be considered depending upon a variety of factors,
the service, user preference, etc.
[0134] For another non-limiting example, with location information
and direction information, a user can input a first direction via a
click, and then a second direction after moving the device via a
second click, which in effect defines an arc 2810 for objects of
interest in the system as illustrated in FIG. 28. For instance, via
first pointing act by the user at time t1 in direction D1 and a
second pointing act at time t2 by the user in direction D2, an arc
2810 is implicitly defined. The area of interest implicitly
includes a search of points of object within a distance 2820, which
can be zoomed in and out, or selected by the service based on a
known granularity of interest, selected by the user, etc. This can
be accomplished with a variety of forms of input to define the two
directions. For instance, the first direction can be defined upon a
click-and-hold button event, or other engage-and-hold user
interface element, and the second direction can be defined upon
release of the button. Similarly, two consecutive clicks
corresponding to the two different directions D1 and D2 can also be
implemented.
[0135] Also, instead of focusing on real distance, zooming in or
out could also represent a change in terms of granularity, or size,
or hierarchy of objects. For example, a first pointing gesture with
the device may result in a shopping mall appearing, but with
another gesture, a user could carry out a recognizable gesture to
gain or lose a level of hierarchical granularity with the points of
interest on display. For instance, after such gesture, the points
of interest could be zoomed in to the level of the stores at the
shopping mall and what they are currently offering.
[0136] In addition, a variety of even richer behaviors and gestures
can be recognized when acceleration of the device in various axes
can be discerned. Panning, arm extension/retraction, swirling of
the device, backhand tennis swings, breaststroke arm action, golf
swing motions could all signify something unique in terms of the
behavior of the pointing device, and this is to just name a few
motions that could be implemented in practice. Thus, any of the
embodiments herein can define a set of gestures that serve to help
the user interact with a set of services built on the pointing
platform, to help users easily gain information about points of
information in their environment.
[0137] Furthermore, with relatively accurate upward and downward
tilt of the device, in addition to directional information such as
calibrated and compensated heading/directional information, other
services can be enabled. Typically, if a device is ground level,
the user is outside, and the device is "pointed" up towards the top
of buildings, the granularity of information about points of
interest sought by the user (building level) is different than if
the user was pointing at the first floor shops of the building
(shops level), even where the same compass direction is implicated.
Similarly, where a user is at the top of a landmark such as the
Empire State building, a downward tilt at the street level (street
level granularity) would implicate information about different
points of interest that if the user of the device pointed with
relatively no tilt at the Statue of Liberty (landmark/building
level of granularity).
[0138] Also, when a device is moving in a car, it may appear that
direction is changing as the user maintains a pointing action on a
single location, but the user is still pointing at the same thing
due to displacement. Thus, thus time varying location can be
factored into the mathematics and engine of resolving at what the
user is pointing with the device to compensate for the user
experience based upon which all items are relative.
[0139] Accordingly, armed with the device's position, one or more
web or cloud services can analyze the vector information to
determine at what or whom the user is looking/pointing. The service
can then provide additional information such as ads, specials,
updates, menus, happy hour choices, etc., depending on the endpoint
selected, the context of the service, the location (urban or
rural), the time (night or day), etc. As a result, instead of a
blank contextless Internet search, a form of real-time visual
search for users in real 3-D environments is provided.
[0140] In one non-limiting embodiment, the direction based pointing
services are implemented in connection with a pair of glasses,
headband, etc. having a corresponding display means that acts in
concert with the user's looking to highlight or overlay features of
interest around the user.
[0141] As shown in FIG. 29, once a set of objects is determined
from the pointing information according to a variety of contexts of
a variety of services, a mobile device 2900 can display the objects
via representation 2902 according to a variety of user experiences
tailored to the service at issue. For instance, a virtual camera
experience can be provided, where POI graphics or information can
be positioned relative to one another to simulate an imaging
experience. A variety of other user interface experiences can be
provided based on the pointing direction as well.
[0142] For instance, a set of different choices are shown in FIG.
30. UI 3000 and 3002 illustrate navigation of hierarchical POI
information. For instance, level1 categories may include category1,
category2, category3, category4 and category5, but if a user
selects around the categories with a thumb-wheel, up-down control,
or the like, and chooses one such as category2. Then, subcategory1,
subcategory2, subcategory3 and subcategory4 are displayed as
subcategories of category2. Then, if the user selects, for
instance, subcategory4, perhaps few enough POIs, such as buildings
3000 and 3010 are found in the subcategory in order to display on a
2D map UI 3004 along the pointing direction, or alternatively as a
3D virtual map view 3006 along the pointing direction.
[0143] Once a single POI is implicated or selected, then a full
screen view for the single POI can be displayed, such as the
exemplary UI 3100. UI 3100 can have one or more of any of the
following representative areas. UI 3100 can include a static POI
image 3102 such as a trademark of a store, or a picture of a
person. UI 3100 can also include other media, and a static POI
information portion 3104 for information that tends not to change
such as restaurant hours, menu, contact information, etc. In
addition, UI 3100 can include an information section for dynamic
information to be pushed to the user for the POI, e.g., coupons,
advertisements, offers, sales, etc. In addition, a dynamic
interactive information are 3108 can be included where the user can
fill out a survey, provide feedback to the POI owner, request the
POI to contact the user, make a reservation, buy tickets, etc. UI
3100 also can include a representation of the direction information
output by the compass for reference purposes. Further, UI 3100 can
include other third party static or dynamic content in area
3112.
[0144] When things change from the perspective of either the
service or the client, a synchronization process can bring either
the client or service, respectively, up to date. In this way, an
ecosystem is enabled where a user can point at an object or point
of interest, gain information about it that is likely to be
relevant to the user, interact with the information concerning the
point of interest, and add value to services ecosystem where the
user interacts. The system thus advantageously supports both static
and dynamic content.
[0145] Other user interfaces can be considered such as left-right,
or up-down arrangements for navigating categories or a special set
of soft-keys can be adaptively provided.
[0146] Where a device includes a camera, in one embodiment shown in
FIG. 32, a representative non-limiting overlay UI 3200 is shown
having 3 POIs POI1, POI2 and POI3. The POIs are overlaid over
actual image data being real time viewed on the device via an LCD
screen or like display. The actual image data can be of products on
a shelf or other display or exhibit in a store. Thus, as the user
aims the camera around his or her environment, the lens becomes the
pointer, and the POI information can be overlaid intelligently for
discovery of endpoints of interest. Moreover, a similar embodiment
can be imagined even without a camera, such as a UI in which 3-D
objects are virtually represented based on real geometries known
for the objects relative to the user.
[0147] Thus, the device UI can be implemented consistent with a
camera, or a virtual camera, view for intuitive use of such
devices. The pointer mechanism of the device could also switch
based on whether the user was currently in live view mode for the
camera or not. Moreover, assuming sufficient processing power and
storage, real time image processing could discern an object of
interest and based on image signatures, overlay POI information
over such image in a similar manner to the above embodiments. In
this regard, with the device provided herein, a variety of gestures
can be employed to zoom in zoom out, perform tilt detection for
looking down or up, or panning across a field of view to obtain a
range of POIs associated with the panning scope.
[0148] With respect to a representative set of user settings, a
number or maximum number of desired endpoints delivered as results
can be configured. How to filter can also be configured, e.g., 5
most likely, 5 closest, 5 closest to 100 feet away, 5 within
category or sub-category, alphabetical order, etc. In each case,
based on a pointing direction, implicitly a cone or other cross
section across physical space is defined as a scope of possible
points of interest. In this regard, the width or deepness of this
cone or cross section can be configurable by the user to control
the accuracy of the pointing, e.g., narrow or wide radius of points
and how far out to search.
[0149] To support processing of vector information and aggregating
POI databases from third parties, a variety of storage techniques,
such as relational storage techniques can be used. For instance,
Virtual Earth data can be used for mapping and aggregation of POI
data can occur from third parties such as Tele Atlas, NavTeq, etc.
In this regard, businesses not in the POI database will want to be
discovered and thus, the service provides a similar, but far
superior from a spatial relevance standpoint, Yellow Pages
experiences where businesses will desire to have their additional
information, such as menus, price sheets, coupons, pictures,
virtual tours, etc. accessible via the system.
[0150] In addition, a synchronization platform or framework can
keep the roaming caches in sync, thereby capturing what users are
looking at and efficiently processing changes. Or, where a user
goes offline, local changes can be recorded, and when the user goes
back online, such local changes can be synchronized to the network
or service store. Also, since the users are in effect pulling
information they care about in the here and in the now through the
act of pointing with the device, the system generates high cost per
thousand impression (CPM) rates as compared to other forms of
demographic targeting. Moreover, the system drives impulse buys,
since the user may not be physically present in a store, but the
user may be near the object, and by being nearby and pointing at
the store, information about a sale concerning the object can be
sent to the user.
[0151] As mentioned, different location subsystems, such as tower
triangulation, GPS, A-GPS, E-GPS, etc. have different tolerances.
For instance, with GPS, tolerances can be achieved to about 10
meters. With A-GPS, tolerances can be tightened to about 12 feet.
In turn, with E-GPS, tolerance may be a different error margin
still. Compensating for the different tolerances is part of the
interpretation engine for determining intersection of a pointing
vector and a set of points of interest. In addition, as shown in
FIGS. 4-6, a distance to project out the pointing vector can be
explicit, configurable, contextual, etc.
[0152] In this regard, the various embodiments described herein can
employ any algorithm for distinguishing among boundaries of the
endpoints, such as boundary boxes, or rectangles, triangles,
circles, etc. As a default radius, e.g., 150 feet could be
selected, and such value can be configured or be context sensitive
to the service provided. On-line real estate sites can be leveraged
for existing POI information. Since different POI databases may
track different information at different granularities, a way of
normalizing the POI data according to one convention or standard
can also be implemented so that the residential real estate
location data of Zillow can be integrated with GPS information from
Starbucks of all the Starbucks by country.
[0153] In addition, similar techniques can be implemented in a
moving vehicle client that includes GPS, compass, accelerometer,
etc. By filtering based on scenarios (e.g., I need gas), different
subsets of points of interest (e.g., gas stations) can be
determined for the user based not only on distance, but actual time
it may take to get to the point of interest. In this regard, while
a gas station may be 100 yards to the right off the highway, the
car may have already passed the corresponding exit, and thus more
useful information to provide is what gas station will take the
least amount of time to drive from a current location based on
direction/location so as to provide predictive points of interest
that are up ahead on the road, and not already aged points of
interest that would require turning around from one's destination
in order to get to them.
[0154] For existing motor vehicle navigation devices, or other
conventional portable GPS navigation devices, where a device does
not natively include directional means such as a compass, the
device can have an extension slot that accommodates direction
information from an external directional device, such as a compass.
Similarly, for laptops or other portable electronic devices, such
devices can be outfitted with a card or board with a slot for a
compass. While any of the services described herein can make web
service calls as part of the pointing and retrieval of endpoint
process, as mentioned, one advantageous feature of a user's
locality in real space is that it is inherently more limited than a
general Internet search for information. As a result, a limited
amount of data can be predictively maintained on a user's device in
cache memory and properly aged out as data becomes stale.
[0155] While there are a variety of implementations, and ways to
sub-divide regions, whether overlapping or not, predictive caching
and aging 3300 is conceptually illustrated by FIG. 33 in which a
user's present location 3302 is discerned. At this point, the local
cache still includes age out candidate location 3310, but as the
velocity of the user indicates the user will be at predicted
locations 3304 and 3306 in the future, these regions of POIs are
downloaded to the mobile device. Accordingly, as the user travels
to predicted location 3306, it starts to be clear that the user no
longer needs the data from the age out candidate location 3310,
which can then be removed, or flagged for removal when storage is
challenged.
[0156] Accordingly, using the regional data cache, callbacks and an
update mechanism that is updated dynamically based on movement, new
point of interest can be added by a service or by a user. Update is
thus performed continuously or substantially continuously based on
updated travel, velocity, speed, etc. In this regard, a user can
add a new point of interest in the region, add info to a local
cache, and then upload to the zone. To appreciate the problem, the
number of worldwide POIs is practically limitless, however only a
small number of POIs will be relevant to a user at a given time.
Thus, predictively, a cube of data can be taken to the device, the
user can go offline such that when the user reconnects, the device
is intelligent to figure out what has changed, been weighted, etc.,
so that the device can synchronize with the network services and
expose the user's changes for other people.
[0157] The predictive algorithms again depend on what the user is
interested in finding, what service the user may be using, the
context of the user, etc. They can also be based on velocity,
direction, time, etc. For instance, if it is nighttime, assumptions
based on demographics or preferences may lead the device to return
information about nightclubs or all night diners. Or, instead of
giving directions as driving directions that calculate distances as
absolute distances, i.e., as the crow flies, a device can take road
curves into account since instantaneous pointing information on
roads can be collected and handled by a corresponding service when
giving driving directions. Or, as another alternative, the
direction one is heading on a road, such as a highway with a
concrete divider, is relevant to the directions that a navigation
system should give. Where a U-turn is unavailable and user passes
an exit with a point of interest, for instance, directions should
take this into account and consider the heading of the vehicle.
[0158] Any device can include the embodiments described herein,
including MP3 players, such as a Zune device, GPS navigation
devices, bike computers, sunglass/visor systems, motor vehicles,
mobile phones, laptops, PDA, etc.
[0159] One way to obtain the service applications, assuming the
underlying measuring instruments to participate in the real-time
gathering of directional information, is to message to a service to
obtain the application, e.g., by text messaging to service, or
getting a client download link. Another vehicle for enabling the
service is to provide it natively in the operating system or
applications of a mobile devices. Since a hardware abstraction
layer accommodates different methods for collecting position,
direction, acceleration information, the same platform can be used
on any device regardless of the precise underlying hardware.
[0160] In another aspect of any of the embodiments described
herein, because stateless messaging is employed, if communications
drop with one network, the device can begin further communicating
via another network. For instance, a device has two channels, and a
user gets on a bus, but no longer have GPRS or GPS activity.
Nonetheless the user is able to get the information the device
needs from some other channel. Just because a tower, or satellites
are down, does not mean that the device cannot connect through an
alternative channel, e.g., the bus's GPS location information via
Bluetooth.
[0161] With respect to exemplary mobile client architectures, a
representative device can include, as described variously herein,
client Side Storage for housing and providing fast access to cached
POI data in the current region including associated dynamically
updated or static information, such as annotations, coupons from
businesses, etc. This includes usage data tracking and storage. In
addition, regional data can be a cached subset of the larger
service data, always updated based on the region in which the
client is roaming. For instance, POI data could include as a
non-limiting example, the following information:
TABLE-US-00001 POI coordinates and data //{-70.26322, 43.65412,
"STARBUCK'S"} Localized annotations //Menu, prices, hours of
operation, etc Coupons and ads //Classes of coupons (new user,
returning, etc)
[0162] Support for different kinds of information (e.g., blob v
structured information (blob for storage and media; structured for
tags, annotations, etc.)
[0163] A device can also include usage data and preferences to hold
settings as well as usage data such as coupons "activated,"
waypoints, businesses encountered per day, other users encountered,
etc. to be analyzed by the cloud services for business intelligence
analysis and reporting.
[0164] A device can also include a continuous update mechanism,
which is a service that maintains the client's cached copy of a
current region updated with the latest. Among other ways, this can
be achieved with a ping-to-pull model that pre-fetches and swaps
out the client's cached region using travel direction and speed to
facilitate roaming among different regions. This is effectively a
paging mechanism for upcoming POIs. This also includes sending a
new or modified POI for the region (with annotations+coupons),
sending a new or modified annotation for the POIs (with coupons),
or sending a new or modified coupon for the POI.
[0165] A device can also include a Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL)
having components responsible for abstracting the way the client
communicates with the measuring instruments, e.g., the GPS driver
for positioning and LOS accuracy (e.g., open eGPS), magnetic
compass for heading and rotational information (e.g., gyroscopic),
one or more accelerometers for gestured input and tilt (achieves 3D
positional algorithms, assuming gyroscopic compass).
[0166] As described earlier, a device can also include
methods/interfaces to make REST calls via GPRS/Wi-Fi and a file
system and storage for storing and retrieving the application data
and settings.
[0167] A device can also include user input and methods to map
input to the virtual keys. For instance, one non-limiting way to
accomplish user input is to have softkeys as follows, though it is
to be understood a great variety of user inputs can be used to
achieve interaction with the user interfaces of the pointing based
services.
TABLE-US-00002 SK up/down: //Up and down on choices SK right, SK
ok/confirm: //Choose an option or drill down/next page SK left, SK
cancel/back, //Go back to a previous window, cancel Exit / Incoming
Call events //Exit the app or minimize
[0168] In addition, a representative device can include a graphics
and windowing stack to render the client side UI, as well as an
audio stack to play sounds/alerts.
[0169] As mentioned, such a device may also include spatial and
math computational components including a set of APIs to perform 3D
collision testing between subdivided surfaces such as spherical
shells (e.g., a simple hit testing model to adopt and boundary
definitions for POs), rotate points, and cull as appropriate from
conic sections.
[0170] As described in various embodiments herein, FIGS. 34 and 35
illustrate two processes for a device when location (e.g., GPS) and
direction (e.g., compass) events occur. In FIG. 34, upon the
occurrence of a location or direction event, at 3400, it is
determined whether predictive caching should be initiated for a
next region to which a user is travelling. At 3410, if so, then the
next region of data can be pre-fetched. At 3420, old regional data
no longer of relevance can be aged out. At 3430, any usage data can
be uploaded to the service framework for business intelligence,
input to an advertisement engine, etc.
[0171] FIG. 35 represents another process for filtering potential
POIs after a pointing event. Upon the detection of a location and
direction event, at 3500, for POIs in the device's local cache, a
group of POIs are determined that pass an intersection algorithm
for the direction of pointing of the device. At 3510, POIs in the
group can be represented in some fashion on a UI, e.g., full view
if only 1 POI, categorized view, 2-D map view, 3-D perspective
view, or user images if other users, etc. The possibilities for
representation are limitless; the embodiments described herein are
intuitive based on the general notion of pointing based direction
services.
[0172] At 3520, upon selection of a POI, static content is
determined and any dynamic content is acquired via synchronization.
When new data becomes available, it is downloaded to stay up to
date. At 3530, POI information is filtered further by user specific
information (e.g., if it is the user's first time at the store,
returning customer, loyalty program member, live baseball game
offer for team clothing discounts, etc.). At 3540, static and
dynamic content that is up to date is rendered for the POI. In
addition, updates and/or interaction with POI information is
allowed which can be synced back to the service.
Exemplary Networked and Distributed Environments
[0173] One of ordinary skill in the art can appreciate that the
various embodiments of methods and devices for pointing based
services and related embodiments described herein can be
implemented in connection with any computer or other client or
server device, which can be deployed as part of a computer network
or in a distributed computing environment, and can be connected to
any kind of data store. In this regard, the various embodiments
described herein can be implemented in any computer system or
environment having any number of memory or storage units, and any
number of applications and processes occurring across any number of
storage units. This includes, but is not limited to, an environment
with server computers and client computers deployed in a network
environment or a distributed computing environment, having remote
or local storage.
[0174] FIG. 36 provides a non-limiting schematic diagram of an
exemplary networked or distributed computing environment. The
distributed computing environment comprises computing objects 3610,
3612, etc. and computing objects or devices 3620, 3622, 3624, 3626,
3628, etc., which may include programs, methods, data stores,
programmable logic, etc., as represented by applications 3630,
3632, 3634, 3636, 3638. It can be appreciated that objects 3610,
3612, etc. and computing objects or devices 3620, 3622, 3624, 3626,
3628, etc. may comprise different devices, such as PDAs,
audio/video devices, mobile phones, MP3 players, laptops, etc.
[0175] Each object 3610, 3612, etc. and computing objects or
devices 3620, 3622, 3624, 3626, 3628, etc. can communicate with one
or more other objects 3610, 3612, etc. and computing objects or
devices 3620, 3622, 3624, 3626, 3628, etc. by way of the
communications network 3640, either directly or indirectly. Even
though illustrated as a single element in FIG. 36, network 3640 may
comprise other computing objects and computing devices that provide
services to the system of FIG. 36, and/or may represent multiple
interconnected networks, which are not shown. Each object 3610,
3612, etc. or 3620, 3622, 3624, 3626, 3628, etc. can also contain
an application, such as applications 3630, 3632, 3634, 3636, 3638,
that might make use of an API, or other object, software, firmware
and/or hardware, suitable for communication with or implementation
of the delayed interaction model as provided in accordance with
various embodiments.
[0176] There are a variety of systems, components, and network
configurations that support distributed computing environments. For
example, computing systems can be connected together by wired or
wireless systems, by local networks or widely distributed networks.
Currently, many networks are coupled to the Internet, which
provides an infrastructure for widely distributed computing and
encompasses many different networks, though any network
infrastructure can be used for exemplary communications made
incident to the techniques as described in various embodiments.
[0177] Thus, a host of network topologies and network
infrastructures, such as client/server, peer-to-peer, or hybrid
architectures, can be utilized. In a client/server architecture,
particularly a networked system, a client is usually a computer
that accesses shared network resources provided by another
computer, e.g., a server. In the illustration of FIG. 36, as a
non-limiting example, computers 3620, 3622, 3624, 3626, 3628, etc.
can be thought of as clients and computers 3610, 3612, etc. can be
thought of as servers where servers 3610, 3612, etc. provide data
services, such as receiving data from client computers 3620, 3622,
3624, 3626, 3628, etc., storing of data, processing of data,
transmitting data to client computers 3620, 3622, 3624, 3626, 3628,
etc., although any computer can be considered a client, a server,
or both, depending on the circumstances. Any of these computing
devices may be processing data, or requesting services or tasks
that may implicate the delayed interaction model and related
techniques as described herein for one or more embodiments.
[0178] A server is typically a remote computer system accessible
over a remote or local network, such as the Internet or wireless
network infrastructures. The client process may be active in a
first computer system, and the server process may be active in a
second computer system, communicating with one another over a
communications medium, thus providing distributed functionality and
allowing multiple clients to take advantage of the
information-gathering capabilities of the server. Any software
objects utilized pursuant to the direction based services can be
provided standalone, or distributed across multiple computing
devices or objects.
[0179] In a network environment in which the communications
network/bus 3640 is the Internet, for example, the servers 3610,
3612, etc. can be Web servers with which the clients 3620, 3622,
3624, 3626, 3628, etc. communicate via any of a number of known
protocols, such as the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP). Servers
3610, 3612, etc. may also serve as clients 3620, 3622, 3624, 3626,
3628, etc., as may be characteristic of a distributed computing
environment.
Exemplary Computing Device
[0180] As mentioned, various embodiments described herein apply to
any device wherein it may be desirable to perform pointing based
services, and delay interactions with points of interest. It should
be understood, therefore, that handheld, portable and other
computing devices and computing objects of all kinds are
contemplated for use in connection with the various embodiments
described herein, i.e., anywhere that a device may request pointing
based services. Accordingly, the below general purpose remote
computer described below in FIG. 26 is but one example, and the
embodiments of the subject disclosure may be implemented with any
client having network/bus interoperability and interaction.
[0181] Although not required, any of the embodiments can partly be
implemented via an operating system, for use by a developer of
services for a device or object, and/or included within application
software that operates in connection with the operable
component(s). Software may be described in the general context of
computer-executable instructions, such as program modules, being
executed by one or more computers, such as client workstations,
servers or other devices. Those skilled in the art will appreciate
that network interactions may be practiced with a variety of
computer system configurations and protocols.
[0182] FIG. 37 thus illustrates an example of a suitable computing
system environment 3700 in which one or more of the embodiments may
be implemented, although as made clear above, the computing system
environment 3700 is only one example of a suitable computing
environment and is not intended to suggest any limitation as to the
scope of use or functionality of any of the embodiments. Neither
should the computing environment 3700 be interpreted as having any
dependency or requirement relating to any one or combination of
components illustrated in the exemplary operating environment
3700.
[0183] With reference to FIG. 37, an exemplary remote device for
implementing one or more embodiments herein can include a general
purpose computing device in the form of a handheld computer 3710.
Components of handheld computer 3710 may include, but are not
limited to, a processing unit 3720, a system memory 3730, and a
system bus 3721 that couples various system components including
the system memory to the processing unit 3720.
[0184] Computer 3710 typically includes a variety of computer
readable media and can be any available media that can be accessed
by computer 3710. The system memory 3730 may include computer
storage media in the form of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory
such as read only memory (ROM) and/or random access memory (RAM).
By way of example, and not limitation, memory 3730 may also include
an operating system, application programs, other program modules,
and program data.
[0185] A user may enter commands and information into the computer
3710 through input devices 3740 A monitor or other type of display
device is also connected to the system bus 3721 via an interface,
such as output interface 3750. In addition to a monitor, computers
may also include other peripheral output devices such as speakers
and a printer, which may be connected through output interface
3750.
[0186] The computer 3710 may operate in a networked or distributed
environment using logical connections to one or more other remote
computers, such as remote computer 3770. The remote computer 3770
may be a personal computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a
peer device or other common network node, or any other remote media
consumption or transmission device, and may include any or all of
the elements described above relative to the computer 3710. The
logical connections depicted in FIG. 37 include a network 3771,
such local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), but may
also include other networks/buses. Such networking environments are
commonplace in homes, offices, enterprise-wide computer networks,
intranets and the Internet.
[0187] As mentioned above, while exemplary embodiments have been
described in connection with various computing devices, networks
and advertising architectures, the underlying concepts may be
applied to any network system and any computing device or system in
which it is desirable to derive information about surrounding
points of interest.
[0188] There are multiple ways of implementing one or more of the
embodiments described herein, e.g., an appropriate API, tool kit,
driver code, operating system, control, standalone or downloadable
software object, etc. which enables applications and services to
use the pointing based services. Embodiments may be contemplated
from the standpoint of an API (or other software object), as well
as from a software or hardware object that provides pointing
platform services in accordance with one or more of the described
embodiments. Various implementations and embodiments described
herein may have aspects that are wholly in hardware, partly in
hardware and partly in software, as well as in software.
[0189] The word "exemplary" is used herein to mean serving as an
example, instance, or illustration. For the avoidance of doubt, the
subject matter disclosed herein is not limited by such examples. In
addition, any aspect or design described herein as "exemplary" is
not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over
other aspects or designs, nor is it meant to preclude equivalent
exemplary structures and techniques known to those of ordinary
skill in the art. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms
"includes," "has," "contains," and other similar words are used in
either the detailed description or the claims, for the avoidance of
doubt, such terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar
to the term "comprising" as an open transition word without
precluding any additional or other elements.
[0190] As mentioned, the various techniques described herein may be
implemented in connection with hardware or software or, where
appropriate, with a combination of both. As used herein, the terms
"component," "system" and the like are likewise intended to refer
to a computer-related entity, either hardware, a combination of
hardware and software, software, or software in execution. For
example, a component may be, but is not limited to being, a process
running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable, a
thread of execution, a program, and/or a computer. By way of
illustration, both an application running on computer and the
computer can be a component. One or more components may reside
within a process and/or thread of execution and a component may be
localized on one computer and/or distributed between two or more
computers.
[0191] The aforementioned systems have been described with respect
to interaction between several components. It can be appreciated
that such systems and components can include those components or
specified sub-components, some of the specified components or
sub-components, and/or additional components, and according to
various permutations and combinations of the foregoing.
Sub-components can also be implemented as components
communicatively coupled to other components rather than included
within parent components (hierarchical). Additionally, it should be
noted that one or more components may be combined into a single
component providing aggregate functionality or divided into several
separate sub-components, and any one or more middle layers, such as
a management layer, may be provided to communicatively couple to
such sub-components in order to provide integrated functionality.
Any components described herein may also interact with one or more
other components not specifically described herein but generally
known by those of skill in the art.
[0192] Furthermore, the claimed subject matter may be implemented
as a method, apparatus, or article of manufacture using standard
programming and/or engineering techniques to produce software,
firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof to control a
computer to implement the disclosed subject matter. The term
"article of manufacture" as used herein is intended to encompass a
computer program accessible from any computer-readable device,
carrier, or media. For example, computer readable media can include
but are not limited to magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disk,
floppy disk, magnetic strips . . . ), optical disks (e.g., compact
disk (CD), digital versatile disk (DVD) . . . ), smart cards, and
flash memory devices (e.g., card, stick, key drive . . . ).
Additionally it should be appreciated that a carrier wave can be
employed to carry computer-readable electronic data such as those
used in transmitting and receiving electronic mail or in accessing
a network such as the Internet or a local area network (LAN). Of
course, those skilled in the art will recognize many modifications
may be made to this configuration without departing from the scope
or spirit of the claimed subject matter.
[0193] As used herein, the terms "infer" or "inference" generally
refer to the process of reasoning about or inferring states of the
system, environment, and/or user from a set of observations as
captured via events and/or data. Inference can be employed to
identify a specific context or action, or can generate a
probability distribution over states, for example. The inference
can be probabilistic--that is, the computation of a probability
distribution over states of interest based on a consideration of
data and events. Inference can also refer to techniques employed
for composing higher-level events from a set of events and/or data.
Such inference results in the construction of new events or actions
from a set of observed events and/or stored event data, whether or
not the events are correlated in close temporal proximity, and
whether the events and data come from one or several event and data
sources.
[0194] In view of the exemplary systems described supra,
methodologies that may be implemented in accordance with the
disclosed subject matter will be better appreciated with reference
to the flowcharts of the various figures. While for purposes of
simplicity of explanation, the methodologies are shown and
described as a series of blocks, it is to be understood and
appreciated that the claimed subject matter is not limited by the
order of the blocks, as some blocks may occur in different orders
and/or concurrently with other blocks from what is depicted and
described herein. Where non-sequential, or branched, flow is
illustrated via flowchart, it can be appreciated that various other
branches, flow paths, and orders of the blocks, may be implemented
which achieve the same or a similar result. Moreover, not all
illustrated blocks may be required to implement the methodologies
described hereinafter.
[0195] While the various embodiments have been described in
connection with the preferred embodiments of the various figures,
it is to be understood that other similar embodiments may be used
or modifications and additions may be made to the described
embodiment for performing the same function without deviating
therefrom. Still further, one or more aspects of the above
described embodiments may be implemented in or across a plurality
of processing chips or devices, and storage may similarly be
effected across a plurality of devices. Therefore, the present
invention should not be limited to any single embodiment, but
rather should be construed in breadth and scope in accordance with
the appended claims.
* * * * *