Methods and systems for temporarily sharing position data between mobile-device users

摘要

A system for exchanging GPS or other position data between devices for purposes of group activities, child location monitoring, work group coordination, dispatching of employees etc. Cell phones and other wireless devices with GPS receivers have loaded therein a Buddy Watch application that communicates with a remote Buddy Watch Server. The server gets or maintains position data for the wireless devices. When the server receives a request from a first device to set up a temporary position-sharing relationship between it and a second device, the server facilitates symmetrical position sharing between the two devices. While the relationship is active, the server can receive updated position data from one or both devices, and if necessary calculate or recalculate a path based on the updated data. The server can also alert one of the devices should the other move too close to or too far from a specified location. The request message or messages used to establish the temporary position-sharing relationship may include a timeout specifying when the server is to sever the position-sharing relationship.

主权项

1. A method for sharing position data between location-sharing-enabled wireless devices using a location-sharing server, the method comprising:
maintaining a user database associating users with respective ones of the location-sharing-enabled wireless devices; organizing the users in lists responsive to input from the users; and establishing a position-sharing relationship between a first of the users, associated with a first of the wireless devices, and a second of the users, associated with a second of the wireless devices, by
receiving instructions from the first wireless device to request a location of the second wireless device,conveying the request to the second wireless device,receiving a response from the second wireless device agreeing to share the location of the second wireless device for a time period,receiving GPS position data from the second wireless device, andconveying the GPS position data to the first wireless device over the time period and automatically ceasing conveying the GPS position data when the time period has expired; wherein organizing the users in lists responsive to input from the users is performed responsive to instructions received from respective ones of the wireless devices which select specific ones of the other users, to thereby permit each of the users to define a buddy list, at least one of the buddy lists comprising the first wireless device and the second wireless device.