There are currently a number of services available to provide information specific to a given location. Such systems require knowledge of the location about which information is required, and a database having location-related information. The location-related information may be directory information such as a list of services, or mapping or directional information.
The definition of the required location is relatively straightforward if the user knows where it is, and various services are available which allow a user to enter a map reference, postcode or the like and retrieve location related information. Such information may be stored locally to the user, for example on a CD-ROM, or it may be accessible using a communications system, for example the online mapping systems such as “Streetmap” and “Multimap”. The latter are more readily updatable, but require a communications connection.
However, if the user is not aware of his location sufficiently accurately, or at all, it is first necessary to determine it. Several systems are available to provide such information by reference to beacons whose location is known. Modern cellular telephone base stations provide a convenient network of such beacons, but of more universal utility and greater accuracy are satellite-based navigation systems such as GPS (Global Positioning System) and the proposed Galileo system.
In-vehicle navigation systems are now available. These generally combine a GPS receiver with an on-board mapping database. Because the database is carried on board the vehicle, it is limited in capacity and has no dynamic characteristics, so that it cannot respond to changes in the infrastructure (either permanent, such as new roads, or temporary, such as traffic congestion), changes in availability of local services, or weather reports.
Systems also exist in which mobile devices determine their position using a satellite or beacon navigation system and report to a central database. The positions of the mobile devices can then be used to generate data, for example to track the movement of valuable cargoes and stolen vehicles, or to provide real time information on the whereabouts of public transport vehicles for the information of their operators and users. Such existing systems require the mobile device to report its location, in response to interrogation, at regular intervals, or some other prompt such as proximity to a beacon. The interface with the central database is a dedicated system, requiring the mobile device to be configured to generate data in a specific format to co-operate with the central database, and for the database to be able to identify the individual terminal making a request for data in order that it may return data to the correct terminal.
Mobile communications devices are becoming available having a number of additional features, for example position finding systems, “web”-browsers capable of accessing data networks such as the “Internet”, and other facilities. The present invention is a web-based system designed to interact with devices having, among other features, such a browser as well as an integral position finding system.
In prior art systems the handset has to be configured with means to convert the position data into a standard format recognisable by the mapping application. This requires conversion to the required co-ordinate system (e.g., from a post code, or from a Cartesian grid system, to spherical co-ordinates—longitude and latitude), and also giving the position data in the numerical form required by the online application (e.g. degrees, to three decimal places). This is inconvenient, as it requires a software download, and also requires that the data can in fact be accurately converted to the required precision. This is particularly problematical if the location is determined by the handset to a much lower degree of precision than that required by the application. For example, location data for a beacon may be accurate to the nearest ten meters, or even less, but in a sparsely populated area the handset itself may be 10 km or more away from the beacon. If the application 5 is not capable of identifying whether the precision with which it requires data to be provided is actually appropriate, the data it may provide may be relevant to the location of the beacon rather than that of the handset.
The present invention overcomes this problem, and allows the use of industry-standard terminals, by providing an apparatus for processing requests for location-dependant information, comprising means for receiving a request for location-related data, means for interrogating the device to identify its capability to report a location, means for generating a request for a location report from the device in a form appropriate to the identified capability, means for receiving a location report generated by the device, means for processing the location report such that data related to the reported location can be selected, means for retrieving the selected location-related data, and means for transmitting the retrieved data to the device.
The network-based application, in interacting with the mobile device, identifies the device type and its capabilities, and uses that information to generate a request, in a format that the user device can use, for the information it needs in order to meet the user's request, in particular the location for which information is requested. By incorporating the processing in the network-based apparatus, the present invention allows location-based information to be accessed by a standard mobile device, without prior registration or configuration for the service, and allows frequent updating of the data that is available, including the provision of real-time information such as availability of services, transport timetables and disruption, etc. In a preferred arrangement, the apparatus also includes means for selecting location related data according to the type of data requested. The apparatus may also monitor the location data provided by the device over a period of time, and provide updated or modified location-based data according to changes in the location reported by the device.
In another aspect, the invention provides a method of processing requests for location-dependant information, comprising the steps of receiving a request for such information, interrogating the device from which the request is received to identify its capability to generate location reports, in response to the reported capability, requesting a location report from the device in a form appropriate to the reported capability, processing the location report such that data related to the reported location can be selected, retrieving the selected location-related data, and transmitting the retrieved location-related data to the device.