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`Exhibit 7
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`

`

`US007450003B2
`
`(12) United States Patent
`Weber et al.
`
`(10) Patent No.:
`(45) Date of Patent:
`
`US 7.450,003 B2
`Nov. 11, 2008
`
`(54) USER-DEFINED PRIVATE MAPS
`(75) Inventors: Karon A. Weber, San Francisco, CA
`(US); Jonathan Trevor, Santa Clara, CA
`(US); Edward Ho, San Jose, CA (US);
`Samantha Tripodi, San Francisco, CA
`(US)
`(73) Assignee: Yahoo! Inc., Sunnyvale, CA (US)
`(*) Notice:
`Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this
`patent is extended or adjusted under 35
`U.S.C. 154(b) by 271 days.
`(21) Appl. No.: 11/361,236
`(22) Filed:
`Feb. 24, 2006
`(65)
`Prior Publication Data
`US 2007/0204218-A1
`Aug. 30, 2007
`
`(51) Int. Cl.
`(2006.01)
`G08B I/00
`(2006.01)
`H04M 3/42
`(52) U.S. Cl. ................................. 340/539.2:455/414.1
`(58) Field of Classification Search .............. 340/539.2,
`340/539.23,539.13,995.1,539.21,539.15;
`715/733: 701/208, 207; 455/404.2, 41.4.1,
`455/4.56.4, 435.1: 709/205
`See application file for complete search history.
`References Cited
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`(56)
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`FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS
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`OTHER PUBLICATIONS
`International Search Report and Written Opinion mailed Aug. 24.
`2007, for PCT Application No. PCT/US2007/004860 filed Feb. 22,
`2007, 13 pages.
`International Search Report and Written Opinion mailed Aug. 24.
`2007, for PCT Application No. PCT/US2007/004670 filed Feb. 22,
`2007, 11 pages.
`
`(Continued)
`Primary Examiner Sigmund Tang
`(74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm Morrison & Foerster LLP
`(57)
`ABSTRACT
`A method, device, and system for presenting one or more
`user-defined private maps with a public map for sharing
`among a group of users are disclosed. The device includes a
`processor for executing computer programs, a memory for
`storing data, an input module for entering user commands, a
`communication module for transmitting and receiving data,
`and a display for showing information on a screen. The device
`further includes logic for importing a public map representing
`a publicly available mapping of an area or a location, logic for
`creating one or more user-defined private maps, logic for
`linking the one or more user-defined private maps to the
`public map through a set of corresponding map icons, and
`logic for displaying the public map and the one or more
`user-defined private maps.
`
`30 Claims, 11 Drawing Sheets
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`rty friends
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`it add friends
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`US 7.450,003 B2
`Page 2
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`OTHER PUBLICATIONS
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`Paffendorf, J. (Jun.9, 2005). “Google’s 3D San Francisco (WalkYour
`Google Avatar Past Linden Lab?: gmaptrack's Early GeoBlogging
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`second life future salon/2005/06/index.html> visited on Sep. 19,
`2007, pp. 17-18.
`Cederoth, R.A. etal. (Aug. 19, 2004). “Expedia, Inc's Third Supple
`mental Objections and Responses to Civix's First Set of Interroga
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`Expedia, Inc., Travelscape, Inc. and Verizon Information Services,
`Inc., United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois,
`Eastern Division, Case No. 03-C-3972, 12 pages.
`Cederoth, R.A. et al (Feb. 28, 2005) “Travelscape, Inc's Sixth
`Supplemental Objections and Responses to Civix's First Set of Inter
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`rogatories.” Civix-DDI, LLC v. Expedia, Inc., Travelscape, Inc. and
`Verizon Information Services, Inc., United States District Court for
`the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, Case No. 03-C-
`3972, 28 pages.
`Chefitz, J. et al. (May 4, 2005). "Verizon Information Services's
`Second Supplemental Objections and Response to Civix's Interroga
`tory No. 3.” Civix-DDI, LLC v. Expedia, Inc., Travelscape, Inc., and
`Verizon Information Services, Inc., United States District Court for
`the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, Case No. 03-C-
`3972, 7 pages.
`Hrut, C.B. (Sep. 1993). “Navigation Technologies: Executive Sum
`mary.” Mobile World Conference Proceedings, 22 pages.
`Out-Law News. (Feb. 2, 2006). “Mobile Phone Tracking, Girlfriend
`Stalking and the Law,” located at <http://www.out-law.com/page
`6601>, last visited on Feb. 24, 2006, four pages.
`* cited by examiner
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`U.S. Patent
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`US 7,450,003 B2
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`2
`SUMMARY
`
`1.
`USER-DEFINED PRIVATE MAPS
`
`CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED
`APPLICATIONS
`
`This application is related to U.S. application Ser. No.
`1 1/361.268, entitled “Method and System for Communicat
`ing with Multiple Users via a Map over the Internet” to Weber
`et al., which is filed concurrently herewith the current appli
`cation, and is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
`
`10
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`FIELD OF THE INVENTION
`
`The present invention relates to the field of Internet Appli
`cations. In particular, the present invention relates to applica
`tions of user-defined private maps over the Internet.
`
`15
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`BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
`
`In one embodiment, a method for presenting one or more
`user-defined private maps with a public map for sharing
`among a group of users includes importing a public map
`representing a publicly available mapping of an area or a
`location, creating one or more user-defined private maps,
`linking the one or more user-defined private maps to the
`public map through a set of corresponding map icons, and
`displaying the public map and the one or more user-defined
`private maps.
`In another embodiment, a device for presenting one or
`more user-defined private maps with a public map for sharing
`among a group of users includes a processor for executing
`computer programs, a memory for storing data, an input
`module for entering user commands, a communication mod
`ule for transmitting and receiving data, and a display for
`showing information on a screen. The device further includes
`logic for importing a public map representing a publicly
`available mapping of an area or a location, logic for creating
`one or more user-defined private maps, logic for linking the
`one or more user-defined private maps to the public map
`through a set of corresponding map icons, and logic for dis
`playing the public map and the one or more user-defined
`private maps.
`In yet another embodiment, a system for presenting one or
`more user-defined private maps with a public map for sharing
`among a group of users includes a back-end location storage
`server for storing user location information, a back-end map
`server for processing maps, a front-end map server for inter
`facing between client devices, the back-end location storage
`system, and the back-end map server through a communica
`tion network. The front-end map server further includes
`means for importing a public map representing a publicly
`available mapping of an area or a location, means for creating
`one or more user-defined private maps, means for linking the
`one or more user-defined private maps to the public map
`through a set of corresponding map icons, and means for
`presenting the public map and the one or more user-defined
`private maps to the group of users.
`
`BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
`
`The aforementioned features and advantages of the inven
`tion as well as additional features and advantages thereof will
`be more clearly understandable after reading detailed
`descriptions of embodiments of the invention in conjunction
`with the following drawings.
`FIG. 1 illustrates a device and method for communicating
`with friends on a map according to an embodiment of the
`present invention.
`FIG. 2 illustrates a method for placing a user onto a map
`according to an embodiment of the present invention.
`FIG.3 illustrates graphical representations showing where
`the users friends are according to an embodiment of the
`present invention.
`FIG. 4 illustrates a graphical representation for communi
`cating with friends on a map according to an embodiment of
`the present invention.
`FIG. 5 illustrates graphical representations of public and
`private maps according to an embodiment of the present
`invention.
`FIG. 6 illustrates a graphical representation of another
`private map shared among the friends according to an
`embodiment of the present invention.
`
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`In recent years, the global position system (GPS) has been
`widely adopted to assist motorists to navigate the road when
`driving to a destination. Many automobile manufacturers
`offer GPS navigation devices built in to the dash-board of the
`automobiles. In addition, there are portable GPS navigation
`devices that perform functions to those of the built-in GPS
`devices in the automobiles, and the users can transfer them to
`be used in different cars. This type of GPS navigation device
`identifies the locations of the motorists on a highway via
`satellites and provides navigational instructions to the motor
`ists while they are driving. There is another type of portable
`GPS navigation device that is used by hikers to identify their
`locations in the mountains. However, these types of GPS
`devices do not work when the users are inside buildings. Such
`as a shopping mall, or in large open spaces such as an amuse
`ment park where geographic information may not exist.
`Moreover, the current GPS navigation devices do not support
`communications among multiple users regarding their
`respective locations.
`In circumstances when a group of users need to find each
`other in a large building or in an amusement park, they use
`their cellular phones to call each other back and forth, com
`municating information Such as where their locations are,
`45
`what their surroundings look like, and how to find each other.
`Such phone calls back and forth are inefficient and time
`consuming.
`Another conventional solution to this problem is to use the
`short message service (SMS) technology whereby each user
`can send a short text message to the group informing them of
`her location. This is an improvement over the cellular phone
`method as the text message is broadcasted to all members of
`the group (one-to-many communication) as opposed to two
`people talking on their respective cellular phones (point-to
`55
`point communication). However, this group of users commu
`nicates with each other without a clear idea of the location of
`the other members. They rely on each other's text description
`of their respective locations, which may be hard to describe or
`may take a long time to type into a mobile device. In some
`cases, some people are not comfortable in describing naviga
`tional or directional (north, east, South, west) instructions,
`which typically lead to wrong directions and a waste of time.
`Therefore, there is a need for a method and system to keep
`track of the locations of members in a user-defined group.
`There is a need for a method and system for communicating
`with multiple users via a map over the Internet.
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`US 7,450,003 B2
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`3
`FIG. 7A illustrates a graphical representation of using
`emotional icons on a public map according to an embodiment
`of the present invention.
`FIG. 7B illustrates a graphical representation ofusing emo
`tional icons on a private map according to an embodiment of
`the present invention.
`FIG. 8 illustrates a method for tagging contextual media to
`personal locations on a map according to an embodiment of
`the present invention.
`FIG. 9 illustrates a method for multilevel viewing of mul
`tiple communities according to an embodiment of the present
`invention.
`FIG. 10 illustrates a system for running map applications
`on a website according to an embodiment of the present
`invention.
`FIG.11 illustrates an implementation of the map domain of
`FIG.10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
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`nity can be assembled from an address book, invitation Ser
`vice, group membership. In another approach, the user may
`manually add friends to the community by using the add
`friends button 116, or the user may also delete a friend from
`the community. Next to each friend's icon in the right-hand
`column, there is an email icon 118 that allows the user to send
`an email to that friend, and there is a phone icon 120 that
`allows the user to make a phone call to that friend. Once the
`email orphone icon is selected and pressed, the mobile device
`automatically retrieves the email address or phone number
`respectively from the user's address book to initial the email
`or phone call.
`FIG. 2 illustrates a method for placing a user onto a map
`according to an embodiment of the present invention. As
`shown in FIG. 2, a series of screen shots are shown to illus
`trate the steps in placing the user onto a map. In the first Screen
`202, the user icon 204 is selected to be placed onto the map.
`The user icon 204 is highlighted after it has been selected. In
`the second screen 206, the user icon 208 is being dragged to
`a location on the map. In one approach, portions of the map
`may be highlighted to indicate they are valid drop targets
`when the dragged user icon crosses over map boundaries. On
`the third screen 210, the user icon 212 is on top of a valid drop
`target representing the user's current location in the map.
`Finally, on the fourth screen 214, the user icon 216 is released
`and overlaid on the map. If the user icon being dragged is on
`top of an invalid drop target, the user icon would not be
`overlaid on the map. The user icon 218 in the right-hand
`column remains to be highlighted, indicating the user has
`placed herself on the map. In this approach, the location of the
`user on the map is determined by a self-placement location
`directed by the user. In another approach, the location of the
`user on the map may be determined by using textual data,
`Such as an address or a business name, Supplied by the user. In
`yet another approach, the location of the user on the may be
`determined by using a picture of the area such as an airplane
`view of an area or a picture of the location Such as a picture of
`the front entrance of a business. After the user icon 218 has
`been placed on the map, an alert message may be forwarded
`to the user's friends to inform them the user is on the map.
`Other icons of the friends who have not yet placed themselves
`on the map, such as the icons for Jon 220, Ed 222, and Sam
`224, remain faded on the screen of the user's mobile device.
`FIG.3 illustrates graphical representations showing where
`the users friends are according to an embodiment of the
`present invention. The first screen 302 shows the user 304 has
`placed herself on the map in San Francisco as icon 306, while
`other users in the user-defined community have not yet placed
`themselves on the map. In the second screen 308, a second
`user Ed 310 has placed himself on the map near Foster City as
`icon 312. After a user has placed herself on the map, the user
`may post short instant messages (IM) from a set of previously
`prepared short message service (SMS) type of messages or by
`typing in her own message. The SMS technology is used to
`send queries as text messages over mobile devices. Examples
`of short instant messages are: “I’m here”, “On my way”.
`“Late”, “Made it”, “Where are you?”, “Call me”, “I’m lost.
`Help!'. In general, a message sent from a user may be in any
`format, such as voice, text, video, image, or graphics. In this
`case, once Ed has placed himself on the map, he posts the
`message “made it you?' as shown in the dialog box 314.
`Other friends in the group would receive this message from
`Ed.
`FIG. 4 illustrates a graphical representation for communi
`cating with friends on a map according to an embodiment of
`the present invention. As shown in FIG.4, the map shows the
`greater San Francisco Bay Area, where three of the four
`
`DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
`
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`Methods and systems are provided for applications of user
`defined private maps over the Internet. The following descrip
`tions are presented to enable any person skilled in the art to
`make and use the invention. Descriptions of specific embodi
`ments and applications are provided only as examples. Vari
`ous modifications and combinations of the examples
`described herein will be readily apparent to those skilled in
`the art, and the general principles defined herein may be
`applied to other examples and applications without departing
`from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, the present
`invention is not intended to be limited to the examples
`described and shown, but is to be accorded the widest scope
`consistent with the principles and features disclosed herein.
`Some portions of the detailed description which follows
`are presented in terms of flowcharts, logic blocks, and other
`symbolic representations of operations on information that
`can be performed on a computer system. A procedure, com
`puter-executed step, logic block, process, etc., is here con
`ceived to be a self-consistent sequence of one or more steps or
`instructions leading to a desired result. The steps are those
`utilizing physical manipulations of physical quantities. These
`quantities can take the form of electrical, magnetic, or radio
`signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, com
`pared, and otherwise manipulated in a computer system.
`These signals may be referred to at times as bits, values,
`elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like.
`Each step may be performed by hardware, software, firm
`ware, or combinations thereof.
`FIG. 1 illustrates a device and method for communicating
`with friends on a map according to an embodiment of the
`present invention. In general, any mobile device. Such as
`cellular phones or personal digital assistants (PDAs), may be
`used to implement the functions of the present invention. In
`this example, the device for communicating with friends is a
`palmOne mobile device made by Palm, Inc. at 950 W. Maude
`Ave., Sunnyvale, Calif. In this specification, the term
`“friend(s)' is used generally to refer to anyone the user con
`siders as a member in a user-defined community (also
`referred to as community, user-defined group, or group for
`short) that is interested in monitoring each other's location
`60
`and status. Examples of a member of the user-defined com
`munity may be a friend, a relative, a colleague, an acquain
`tance, or a person to be met for the first time. On the screen of
`the mobile device, a general vicinity of the map 104 of interest
`is displayed. In the right-hand column of the screen 106, icons
`representing the user (me) 108 and the user's friends Jon 110.
`Ed 112, and Sam 114 are shown. The user-defined commu
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`friends in the user-defined community have been displayed
`on the map, including the user (me) 402, Ed 404, and Sam
`406, and the respective icons on the map for the user (me) 408,
`Ed (410), and Sam (412). Upon putting themselves on the
`map, each friend can update his or her message and location
`as appropriate. For example, Ed 404 has arrived at the desti
`nation and updates his friends with the instant message 414
`"playing craps'. Each time a member of the community
`updates his or her status, an alert message is sent to the other
`members of the group. In this manner, the present invention
`provides a platform to allow the four friends to declare them
`selves as a community, and provides the ability to communi
`cate with each other through a shared map. Through this
`connected media space, the group of friends has a synchro
`nized awareness of the locations and statuses of the other
`members.
`In one embodiment, the disclosed method may incorporate
`the global position system (GPS) capabilities of a mobile
`device, which is available in some of the cellular phones. In
`this example, when Sam 406 turns on her mobile device, her
`location may be determined by using the global position of
`her mobile device and she can be automatically placed on the
`map, showing she is on Highway 101 driving to the destina
`tion. Thus it makes sense to her friends when Sam sends a
`message 416 “late—on my way.
`FIG. 5 illustrates graphical representations of public and
`private maps according to an embodiment of the present
`invention. In this example, the screen 502 shows a public map
`of the greater San Francisco Bay Area where all four friends
`of the user-defined community have arrived at the destination.
`The location of the friends is shown as a cluster of icons 504,
`which is also referred to as a map icon. In one approach, a map
`icon may includes a thumbnail image of the user-defined
`private map, a name of the user-defined private map, a number
`ofusers in the user-defined private map, oralist of user names
`in the user-defined private map. In another approach, a map
`icon may also include an image of the user, a graphic image
`chosen by the user, a phrase chosen by the user, a label
`representing the emotional state of the user, a label represent
`ing the status of the user, or a label representing an action
`performed by the user. Upon arrival, each friend may sendan
`instant message regarding his or her status or whereabouts.
`As discussed in the background section, while conven
`tional GPS devices are useful in providing guidance to people
`on the road; they often do not provide adequate information
`for people to locate their friends upon their arrival at the
`destination. For example, GPS does not work indoors, within
`a large building Such as a convention center. The present
`invention bridges this gap by providing solutions to allow the
`friends to locate each other easily and efficiently where GPS
`is not available, either on the device itself or is not working
`Such as inside.
`In one approach, after the group of four friends has arrived
`at the destination, they may create a private map to share
`among themselves as there may not be a public map available
`to identify the locations of the friends. The disclosed method
`allows the friends to attach a private map to the public map at
`any location of interest, and be able to Zoom into the private
`map from the public map. In addition, the disclosed method
`allows the friends to annotate and share the private map in a
`wide variety of data formats, such as photo images, hand
`drawn images, and a scanned image from a local map. As
`shown on the screen of the mobile device 506, a photograph
`508 is used as a private map shared among the friends. The
`photograph. 508 may be taken by the camera built in to the
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`mobile device 506. On the photograph. 508, each friend may
`identify his or her location on this shared private map (pho
`tograph).
`In another approach, a hand-drawn map 518 is used to
`communicate their locations to each other on the mobile
`device 516. In this example, three of the four friends have put
`themselves on the map, as shown by the icons 520, 522, and
`524 respectively.
`FIG. 6 illustrates a graphical representation of another
`private map shared among the friends according to an
`embodiment of the present invention. The screen 602 is an
`enlarged picture shown by the mobile device 604; the screen
`shows a floor plan of a private location for a company party,
`for example. Note that the private map of this company party
`venue may be obtained in various ways. It may be down
`loaded to the mobile device from a website or from an email
`attachment. This private map may also be obtained by taking
`a picture of the venue map handed out at the entrance using
`the camera of the mobile device and converting the photo
`image into a shared map. The shared map may be created in
`any data format, such as JPEG, TIF, Word, Powerpoint, etc. In
`this example, the four friends me 606, Jon 608, Ed 610, and
`Sam 612 have put their respective locations 614, 616, 618,
`and 620 on this private map. In another example, if the friends
`are in an amusement park or a shopping mall, a photo image
`of the map or directory of the amusement park or shopping
`mall may be used as the shared private map for the group of
`friends.
`Each friend may send an instant message to communicate
`with other friends in the group. For example, upon arrival, the
`user (me) 606 may send the message “I’m here (afront door.
`By doing so, the message brings up the application in her
`friends’ mobile devices informing them of her arrival and
`waiting for their responses. In response, Jon 608 may send the
`message “Bar by games'. Ed 610 can send the message
`"playing poker w/ sam', and Sam 612 can send the message
`“with ed'. In this way, the friends keep each other informed of
`their whereabouts, and it would be easy to find each other in
`a large, crowded, and noisy place where cellular phones may
`not be an effective means for communicating with other
`members of the group.
`Over time, each of the friends may have moved around, and
`their positions on the map may not be updated. The applica
`tion enables interactive update of a person's location by sim
`ply dragging her icon to a new location on the shared map.
`Each update from one of the friends may be broadcasted to the
`group, which provides incentive for other friends to update
`their respective locations. This method of communication is
`much more efficient than having the friends call each other
`back and forth to describe their new locations and to keep
`everyone in the group informed where their friends are.
`In yet another example, a shared map of a different venue
`can be employed to assist a group of friends in locating each
`other. For example, the seating charts of a stadium, Such as the
`Stanford Stadium, can be imported to be the shared map in the
`event the group of friends has different seats to the sports
`event. In addition, the seating charts of movie theaters or
`concert halls can be imported as the shared map. Moreover, an
`interior layout of a building can also be imported as the shared
`map. Such seating charts and interior layout of a building may
`be downloaded prior to attending the event, or the friends may
`be prompted to download the seating chart interactively when
`they arrive at the event.
`FIG. 7A illustrates a graphical representation of using
`emotional icons on a public map according to an embodiment
`of the present invention. The screen 702 shows a map of the
`Greater San Francisco Bay Area. The group of friends has
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`example, when a user clicks on the community in San Fran
`cisco 903, a regional map of the San Francisco Bay Area 908
`is shown in the lower left corner. If the user further clicks on
`the group of friends indicated by emoticons 910, a venue map
`912 of that location is displayed to show the whereabouts of
`the two friends 913 and 914 in the venue map 912. In this
`manner, a user may keep track of multiple communities in a
`multilevel viewing environment.
`FIG. 10 illustrates a system for running map applications
`on a website according to an embodiment of the present
`invention. The system includes one or more Internet content
`provider servers 1002, databases 1005, and one or more cli
`ents 1004. The servers 1002 interface with the clients 1004
`via a communication network 1003. The Internet content
`provider servers 1002 are host servers operable to provide
`content to clients 1004 via the network 1003. One or more of
`the servers host websites and include the map functions. The
`databases 1005 are operable to store data provided by the
`servers 1002 and/or clients 1004. The databases can commu
`nicate with the servers 1002 or clients 1004 via the network
`1003. The databases can store data items included in the web
`pages, such as maps and user information.
`Alternatively, the servers 1002 may include the databases,
`processors, Switches, routers, interfaces, and other compo
`nents and modules. Each of the servers 1002 may comprise
`one or more servers, or may be combined into a fewer number
`of servers than shown, depending on computational and/or
`distributed computing requirements. The servers 1002 may
`be located at different locations relative to each other. The
`databases may also be separately connected to the servers
`1002. There may be more or less than two databases, depend
`ing on computational and/or distributed computing require
`ments. The databases may be located at different locations
`relative to each other and the servers 1002.
`Each of the clients 1004 may be a general-purpose com
`puter, such as a personal computer, having a central process
`ing unit (CPU), a memory, an input device, an output device,
`and a display. Other computer system configurations, includ
`ing Internet appliances, hand-held devices, wireless devices,
`portable devices, wearable computers, cellular or mobile
`phones, portable digital assistants (PDAs), multi-processor
`systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer
`electronics, set-top boxes, network PCs, mini-computers, and
`the like may also be implemented as the clients 1004. Each of
`the clients 1004 may also implementanalog and digital base
`band circuitry, power management circuitry, radio frequency
`(RF) transceiver, and battery interface and charging circuitry.
`Clients 1004 may include one or more applications, program
`modules, and/or sub-routines. As an example, clients 1004
`may include a browser application (e.g., Internet Explorer,
`etc.) and a graphical user interface (GUI) to access websites
`and web pages provided by the servers 1002 and data stored
`at the databases 1005. Clients 1004 may be remote from each
`other, the servers 1002, and/or the databases 1005.
`The network 1003 is a communications network, such as a
`local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), or the
`I