Method and arrangement relating to location based services for a communication device

A system and method may include receiving information about a movement of a device from a motion detector of the device, receiving information about ambient sound of the device from a sound receiving portion of the device, receiving information about position of the device, corresponding the movement to a particular type of movement that is distinguished from any and/or all other types of possible movements, corresponding the ambient sound to a specific sound, relating the specific movement and the specific sound to a particular event, and providing a location of the event to a user.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to communication devices in general and a mobile communication device and network in particular, being enabled to detect music and/or motion of the device and feed information to a service.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Mobility represents an intrinsic convenience of many types of wireless communication devices, such as cellular telephones and PDAs. Capitalizing on that mobility, it is known to provide certain types of location-based services, such as delivering “static” information to a given mobile device that is particularly relevant to the current location of that device. In this regard, “static” information denotes data that is generally relevant for the mobile device's given locale, such as information on local restaurants and other attractions.

Devices, such as mobile communication devices, e.g., mobile phones have become more and more an integrated part of the daily life.

Mobile communication devices may perform functions other than communication functions to make these devices more useful to consumers. For example, mobile communication devices may be configured to store and play music and/or video files and/or to record still images or video, identify music and detect motion, text messaging capability, Internet browsing functionality, electronic mail capability, video playback capability, audio playback capability, image display capability, position sensing capability and hands-free headset interfaces, etc.

Further, in a limited sense, it is known to deliver some types of dynamic information, such as near real-time traffic information. However, location-based information delivery has heretofore not been configured and employed to enhance the live viewing/listening experience of event attendees.

One application incorporated into many mobile communication devices is music recognition application called TRACKID™, which allows one to record a portion of a song and get track, artist, album information, and other information sent to the device phone in real time.

SUMMARY

The present invention provides a method and arrangement for compiling and providing information for enhancing, simplifying, and/or facilitating access to live events based on information received from one or several mobile communication devices present at the live events.

Thus, according to a first aspect of the invention a method of providing information about an event based on information obtained from a communication device, which at least comprises a motion detector and a sound receiving portion. The method comprises: compiling information about: a movement of the communication device, ambient sound received by the sound receiving portion, and position of the device; relating the movement and the ambient sound to an event, and providing position of the event. The method may further comprise receiving the position of the communication device from a positioning portion of the device. The method may further comprise identifying the ambient sound and relating the identified sound to a music type. The method may further comprise identifying the movement as a dancing movement. The method may further comprise identifying the ambient sound and relating the identified sound to a music type. The event may be related to enjoyment or sports. The method may further comprise providing the position of the event on a map. The position may be provided by a communication network.

According to a second aspect of the invention, a method of providing information about the number of communication devices having a certain motion pattern is provided. Each communication device comprises a motion detector and a transceiver portion. The method comprises: detecting motion of the communication device, identifying motion pattern based on the detected motion, comparing the identified motion pattern to motion patterns from other communication devices, and compiling number of devices having substantially same motion pattern.

According to a third aspect of the invention, a method of providing information about the number of communication devices receiving ambient sound of a certain type is provided. The communication device comprises a sound receiving portion and a transceiver portion. The method comprises: receiving ambient sound by the sound receiving portion, identifying the sound, comparing the identified sound to sound received from other devices, and compiling number of devices receiving same type of ambient sound.

According to a fourth aspect of the invention a method of providing information about a device is provided. The device comprises a motion detector, a sound receiving portion and/or a positioning portion. The method comprises: detecting movement of the device by the motion detector, detecting ambient sound by the sound receiving portion, and/or detecting position of the device.

According to a fifth aspect of the invention, a wireless communication device is provided comprising a communication portion, a processing unit, a memory unit, a motion detecting sensor and a microphone. The processing unit is configured to receive data from the motion detecting sensor and signal from the microphone, process the sound signal and data from the motion detecting sensor, and provide result of processing to an arrangement for compiling the information relatable to an event. The wireless communication device may further comprise a positioning portion, configured to provide position of the communication device to the arrangement. The wireless communication device may further comprise a GPS (Global Positioning System) positioning unit.

According to a sixth aspect of the invention, a wireless communication device is provided comprising a communication portion, a processing unit, a memory unit, a motion detecting sensor, a positioning portion and a microphone, wherein the processing unit is configured to: receive data from the motion detecting sensor, receive a signal corresponding to ambient sound received by the microphone, detect a position of the device, and provide the motion type, the sound type and the position to an arrangement for generating information about an event.

According to a seventh aspect of the invention, a computer in a communication network server for compiling and providing information relating to an event is provided. The computer comprises a processor being configured to: receive motion data from a communication device, receive information relating to an ambient sound of the device, receive information about a position of the device, and compile the motion data, the ambient sound and the position to detect an event in vicinity of the communication device. The computer may further be configured to relate the motion data to a particular motion, the particular motion comprising one or several of dancing, exercising or sporting. The computer may further be configured to identify the ambient sound. The computer may further be configured to receive position of the communication device from one or several of the communication device or a communication network. The computer may further be configured to output the detected event as graphical information on a map accessible through a communication network. The graphical information may further include a number of communication devices relatable to the event.

According to another aspect of the invention a computer program product for providing information about an event is provided. The computer program product comprising: an first instruction set for receiving information about a movement of a device from a motion detector of the device, a second instruction set for receiving information about ambient sound of the device from a sound receiving portion of the device, a third instruction set for receiving information about position of the device, a fourth instruction set for corresponding the movement to a specific movement, a fifth instruction set for corresponding the ambient sound to a specific sound, a sixth instruction set for relating the specific movement and the specific sound to an event, and a seventh instruction set for providing position of the event to a user.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A “device,” as the term is used herein, is to be broadly interpreted to include a radiotelephone having ability for Internet/intranet access, web browser, organizer, calendar, a camera (e.g., video and/or still image camera), a sound recorder (e.g., a microphone), and/or global positioning system (GPS) receiver; a personal communications system (PCS) terminal that may combine a cellular radiotelephone with data processing; a personal digital assistant (PDA) that can include a radiotelephone or wireless communication system; a laptop; a GPS device; a camera (e.g., video and/or still image camera) having communication ability; and any other computation or communication device capable of displaying media, such as a personal computer, a home entertainment system, a television, etc.

Shortly, the present invention relates to combining one or several types of information received from a number of mobile devices based on e.g. audio (music), movement (dance) and position, and providing a user with information corresponding to an event(s) based on the information.

One embodiment of the invention may be related to finding nightlife in a city.

FIG. 1illustrates one exemplary embodiment of a communication device according to the invention.

As shown inFIG. 1, an exemplary device100may include a housing110, a display111, control buttons112, a keypad113, communication portion114, a power source115, a micro processor116(or data processing unit), a memory unit117, a motion detecting sensor120, such as an accelerometer, and a microphone118. The housing110may protect the components of device100from outside elements. Display111may provide visual information to the user. For example, display111may provide information regarding incoming or outgoing calls, media, games, phone books, the current time, a web browser etc. Control buttons112may permit the user to interact with device to cause device to perform one or more operations. Keypad113may include a standard telephone keypad. The motion detecting sensor120detects the motion of the device and may also enable applications such as commands input through gestures, indoor GPS functionality, game controls. The communication device may also comprise a GPS positioning portion130, comprising additional antenna (or using the communication portion antenna) and GPS receiver. The microphone118is used to receive ambient sound, such as the voice of the user of the communication device or music.

The communication portion comprises parts (not shown) such as a receiver, a transmitter, (or a transceiver), an antenna119etc., for establishing and performing communication with one or several communication networks140.

According to one exemplary embodiment, the invention operates in the following way, as illustrated in the flow diagram ofFIG. 2:

The mobile communication device100uses one or several of: the motion detecting sensor120, the microphone118or the GPS positioning portion130to collect necessary data for the application of the invention.

When the application starts (1), the motion detecting sensor120may be used to detect (2) the acceleration (motion) of the communication device. The device may use an internal database or a network based database to determine (3) the type of the motion and it may be configured to detect an especial motion type and correspond it to a movement, e.g. a rhythmic movement having a specific oscillation. The detection procedure may be executed until a stored movement type is detected or changed.

The microphone may be used to record (5) ambient sound in form of music and use music tracking application, as described earlier, to identify (6) which music is played. The identification may be executed in the device or in an application executed on the server190of a service provider or network. The music (or sound type) may be categorized (7). In the case of detecting music, the music may be categorized to different types, such as dance music, rock, pop, house, etc.

The positioning portion is used to determine (8) the position of the communication device.

The positioning of the device may also be achieved using network positioning. The technology of locating may be based on measuring power levels and antenna patterns and uses the concept that a mobile phone always communicates wirelessly with one of the closest base stations, so if you know which base station the phone communicates with, you know that the phone is close to the respective base station.

Advanced systems determine the sector in which the mobile phone resides and roughly estimate also the distance to the base station. Further approximation can be done by interpolating signals between adjacent antenna towers. Qualified services may achieve a precision of down to 50 meters in urban areas where mobile traffic and density of antenna towers (base stations) is sufficiently high.

The information from the sensors, i.e. motion pattern, ambient sound and position of the device may be uploaded (9) (automatically using an executed application or manually) to a service provider server190. The server compiles the information to find out an especial event. Combining the information relating to the motion for detecting the dance, ambient sound for detecting music and the position, the application may find a nightclub or the like.

In an elementary variant, the invention may only use music identification to provide information about the number of users listening to a certain type of music, artist and/or song.

Thus, the present invention according to one embodiment may use a combination of people's movement (dancing), music surroundings and total number of people to find special places in cities nightlife. It could work as a separate application or be used as a service where a layer that shows the event in real-time is added to a map application, for example Google® maps.

The information may be (on demand) sent to the mobile device textually (SMS) or as a map (MMS) or be available through browsing. The information may also be available on a network such as Internet for users to find a special event.

FIG. 3illustrates a part of map of the city of Malmö in Sweden. The dark areas301show indication of events compiled according to the present invention and illustrated on the map according to the present invention. The size of the dark area may depend on the number of active devices providing information to the server. The indicators may have different sizes, colors, or other visual information such as textual information to provide information, such as event type (e.g. dance type), sound type (e.g. music), and number of people (popularity). Thus, the invention may only concern compiling information about the number of people dancing or listening to certain type of music.

FIG. 4illustrates a system according to one embodiment of the invention. In this case a number of mobile communication devices100a-100cand a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)100dprovide motion, sound and/or position information to the network400. The server190in the network complies the information received from the mobile units and transmits the information back to the mobile devices100b-100d, and/or a monitor402or a computer403accessing it, e.g. through Internet405. Also, some of mobile devices may access the information through Internet.

The PDA100dis assumed to have ability to record sound and detect motion and communicates with the server through Internet, e.g. using wireless communication such as WiFi.

The monitor402may be a part of a tourist guide system dedicated to display events.

The computer403may be used by users to browse the Internet.

In this case the communication device100amay be arranged only to supply the server with data and not to receive event information.

The application of the invention may be provided with filters to only show special events such as dancing, movement or total number of people (devices). The music could be analyzed using tracking application, as described above, in order to find out exactly what type of music is being played. In one embodiment a time parameter may be added in order to dynamically detect changes over time. The areas of interest may be related to places of interest, such as nightclubs, discotheques, etc., in order to quickly find out what place it is.

The invention is not limited to finding and pointing out nightclubs; it may also be used to provide information about other types of events, such as sporting events, (sport) exercise meetings, conferences, meetings etc.

FIG. 5illustrates a schematic computer device arranged as a server190according to the present invention. The server190comprises a processing unit191, one or several memory units192, input interface193and output interface194. One memory unit may comprise instructions executed by the processing unit191and another memory unit may comprise databases for events, motion types and/or music/sound types.

The input interface193is adapted to communicate with the communication devices either directly or through the base stations of the communication network. The output interface194is adapted to communicate with the other network units, e.g. gateways, DNSs, etc.

It should be noted that the word “comprising” does not exclude the presence of other elements or steps than those listed and the words “a” or “an” preceding an element do not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements. It should further be noted that any reference signs do not limit the scope of the claims, that the invention may be implemented at least in part by means of both hardware and software, and that several “means”, “units” or “devices” may be represented by the same item of hardware.

The above mentioned and described embodiments are only given as examples and should not be limiting to the present invention. Other solutions, uses, objectives, and functions within the scope of the invention as claimed in the below described patent claims should be apparent for the person skilled in the art.