Provided herein are methods and systems relating to location-based services such as social networking, providing demographic information, tracking mobile devices, providing business information, providing an adaptable user interface, remotely effecting a change on a portable electronic device, providing a geofence, outputting location-based information on a mobile device, varying transmissions to and from a mobile device, providing location-based alerts, verifying transactions and tailoring information to the behavior of a user.

Location-based services

Disclosed is a method, system, and program for providing access to spatial data. A request for data is received. Enterprise and third party data are integrated. The integrated data is processed. Spatially referenced results are generated using the processed data. The spatially referenced results are returned in response to the request.

Method, system, and program for an improved enterprise spatial system

Techniques are disclosed for using a combination of explicit and implicit user context modeling techniques to identify and provide appropriate computer actions based on a current context, and to continuously improve the providing of such computer actions. The appropriate computer actions include presentation of appropriate content and functionality. Feedback paths can be used to assist automated machine learning in detecting patterns and generating inferred rules, and improvements from the generated rules can be implemented with or without direct user control. The techniques can be used to enhance software and device functionality, including self-customizing of a model of the user's current context or situation, customizing received themes, predicting appropriate content for presentation or retrieval, self-customizing of software user interfaces, simplifying repetitive tasks or situations, and mentoring of the user to promote desired change.

Contextual responses based on automated learning techniques

A system filters received messages (e.g., unsolicited advertisements) to determine if they are appropriate for a user based on the non-static, constantly evolving, context of the user. The system can track the user's context by monitoring various environmental parameters, such as related to the user's physical, mental, computing and data environments, and can model the current context of the user based at least in part on the monitoring. The system selects a set of one or more filters to apply to incoming messages based on the user's context, and the selected filters can be updated as the user's context changes. Messages that survive the filters are then evaluated against the user's context to determine whether they should be presented immediately or stored for delayed presentation.

Automated selection of appropriate information based on a computer user's context

When selecting a television program for recording, a user may configure the delivery of the selected television program and associated data and interactive applications to different user equipment devices in a home network, which may have different capabilities. Because the user equipment devices in the home network may have different capabilities, the user may wish to deliver different types and amount of content, different amounts of data, and different versions of interactive applications to the user equipment devices in the home network.

Interactive media guidance system having multiple devices

Context-aware and location-aware cellular phones and methods are described. In one embodiment, cellular phones are configured to wirelessly receive information that pertains to their current context or location. The phones then automatically use the information to modify one or more cellular phone behaviors, e.g. by turning the phone off, changing the ringer's pitch, or placing the phone in a vibrate mode. In one particular embodiment, various location types are defined and have associated attributes that define a desired cellular phone behavior. One or more transmitters at a location for which a behavior is desired transmit information that pertains to the location's class type. The cell phones can carry an association of class types and their behaviors so that when the phones receive the class type information, they can automatically adjust their behavior.

Context-aware and location-aware cellular phones and methods

Context-aware systems and methods, location-aware systems and methods, context-aware vehicles and methods of operating the same, and location-aware vehicles and methods of operating the same are described. In various embodiments, a context or location service module, implemented in software, determines a vehicle context or a vehicle location based upon information that it receives from various context providers or location providers respectively. Software executing on a vehicle's computer can then cause one or more applications that are associated with a vehicle computer to be modified in a manner that changes their behavior. The behavior modification is based on the current context or location of the vehicle and thus provides a context-specific or location-specific user experience. The context or location can be ascertained through the use of one or more hierarchical tree structures that comprises individual nodes. Each node is associated with a context or location. The nodes are traversable by the vehicle's software to ascertain a more complete context or location.

Context-aware systems and methods, location-aware systems and methods, context-aware vehicles and methods of operating the same, and location-aware vehicles and methods of operating the same

Context-aware computing systems and methods are described. In particular embodiments, location aware systems and methods are described. In the described embodiments, hierarchical tree structures are utilized to ascertain a device context or location. The tree structures can be stored on or accessible to mobile computing devices so that the devices can determine their own particular context or location. In one embodiment, one of the tree structures comprises a Master World tree structure that contains nodes that represent geographical divisions of the Earth. Another of the tree structures can comprise a so-called Secondary World that contains nodes that represent physical or logical entities that are organization or company specific views of the world. A computing device can automatically determine its context or location by ascertaining a node on one or more of the tree structures and then traversing the tree structure to ascertain the complete context. A unique device architecture is described that permits context aware computing. The device architecture comprises a context service module, a common interface, and one or more context providers. The context providers provide information, through the common interface, that pertains to the context of a device, and the context service module processes the information to device the device's context. An application program interface (API)/events layer is provided through which various applications can call the device to ascertain the device's location so that location dependent goods or services can be rendered. A privacy manager is also provided in some embodiments to enforce privacy thereby protecting the granularity of the location information that is provided to the applications. In addition, unique location beacons are described that transmit information that can be used by the computing device to ascertain its location.

Location beaconing methods and systems

Context aware computing systems and methods are described. In one described embodiment, devices and methods are provided that are context-aware (in one example—location-aware) in that they provide for the application and enforcement of various policies as a function of context. Specifically, various computing devices, through the described methodologies and structures, are able to automatically determine their context. Once context is determined, a collection of policies can be evaluated to provide a resultant set of policies that apply to the given context. The resultant set of policies are then enforced, typically via the device's operating system. Policy enforcement can involve promulgating new settings or state to applications that are executing on or off the device. Advantageously, the devices and methodologies can adapt the resultant set of policies as the device's context changes so that the policies can be dynamically determined and enforced automatically as the device's context changes.

Methods and systems for context-aware policy determination and enforcement

Location-aware methods and systems are described. In one embodiment, a portable computing device determines its location by accessing one or more hierarchical tree structures each of which comprising multiple nodes that represent physical or logical locations, and traversing at least one node on the one or more hierarchical tree structures to ascertain the location. The device then acquires digital data associated with the determined location and that can permit the device to interact with a location environment. The device then enables interaction with the location environment based, at least in part, on the acquired digital data.

Stephen S. Evans

Papers

Context-aware and location-aware cellular phones and methods

Context-aware systems and methods, location-aware systems and methods, context-aware vehicles and methods of operating the same, and location-aware vehicles and methods of operating the same

Location beaconing methods and systems

Methods and systems for context-aware policy determination and enforcement

Environment-interactive context-aware devices and methods