| Method and apparatus for acquiring, processing, using and brokering location information associated with mobile communications devices -> Monitor Keywords |
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  Method and apparatus for acquiring, processing, using and brokering location information associated with mobile communications devicesRelated Patent Categories: Telecommunications, Radiotelephone System, Usage Measurement, BillingThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060009194. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
[0001] This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/176,152, filed on Jun. 19, 2002, which is incorporated herein by reference. FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] At least one embodiment of the present invention pertains to location related services associated with mobile communications devices and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for acquiring, processing, using and brokering location related information associated with mobile communication devices operating on a wireless telecommunications network. BACKGROUND [0003] It is becoming increasingly popular to use wireless telecommunications devices such as cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and two-way pagers to access the Internet. Numerous Internet-based services and applications are already available for such mobile devices, among which are a class of services and applications referred to generally as location-based services. Location-based services allow people to use their mobile devices to search for places or things remotely over the Internet, find the fastest route from one place to another, or obtain other useful location-based information. Some mobile devices include their own internal positioning systems to determine their locations, which can be provided to a remote service over the air for use in providing location-based services. [0004] For location-based services, the data used to perform a geographic search or the data released from the mobile device usually includes a point or a geometric area based on the current location of the mobile device. Such data may be relevant when one wants to find a place near one's current location, but often a user may need location-based services relative to some location other than his current location. For example, a person may wish to obtain location information (e.g., an address or directions) for a restaurant at which he had lunch the day before. The place may be located outside the person's current vicinity, or he may not have location-based services accessible from his current location, or there may be no telecommunications coverage at his current location. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0005] The present invention includes a computer-implemented method, and a corresponding apparatus, wherein the method is characterized as follows: A processing system is used to acquire location related information associated with a plurality of mobile devices that provide two-way voice communication and two-way data communication over a wireless telecommunications network. The location related information associated with the plurality of mobile devices is then processed in the processing system and transmitted to a recipient as part of a business transaction. [0006] Other features of the present invention will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and from the detailed description which follows. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0007] The present invention is illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which like references indicate similar elements and in which: [0008] FIG. 1 is a high-level representation of a system in which location-based services are provided to a mobile device over a wireless network; [0009] FIG. 2 illustrates the location server of FIG. 1 in greater detail; [0010] FIG. 3 shows a network configuration in which location-based services and other Internet-based applications are provided to mobile devices over a wireless network; [0011] FIG. 4 is a high-level block diagram of a processing system; [0012] FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for acquiring and reducing location-based data; [0013] FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating a process for defining geographic regions from location-based data; [0014] FIGS. 7 through 10 are examples of graphs of location-based data at different stages in the process of FIG. 6; [0015] FIG. 11 illustrates a distribution of location data for a particular region; [0016] FIG. 12 shows an example of a format for storing location-based data; [0017] FIG. 13 shows an example of a format for defining and storing regions based on location-based data; and [0018] FIG. 14 is a block diagram of a system for servicing requests and billing for providing location-based data. DETAILED DESCRIPTION [0019] A method and apparatus for acquiring, processing, using and brokering location related information associated with mobile devices on a wireless network are described. Note that in this description, references to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" mean that the feature being referred to is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Further, separate references to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" in this description do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment; however, such embodiments are also not mutually exclusive unless so stated, and except as will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the description. For example, a feature, structure, act, etc. described in one embodiment may also be included in other embodiments. Thus, the present invention can include a variety of combinations and/or integrations of the embodiments described herein. Continue reading... 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