Methods, Devices and Systems for Targeting Content to the Users of Digital Devices

Abstract

A system for exchanging GPS or other position data between wireless 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 and a TalkControl application. The Buddy Watch application communicates with the GPS receiver and other wireless devices operated by buddies registered in the users phone as part of buddy groups or individually. GPS position data and historical GPS position data can be exchanged between cell phones of buddies and instant buddies such as tow truck drivers via a buddy watch server. Emergency monitoring services can be set up with notifications to programmable individuals in case an individual does not respond. Positions and tracks can be displayed. TalkControl simplifies and automates the process of joining talk groups for walkie talkie services such as that provided by Nextel.

I claim: 
     
         1 . An apparatus to target content to a user of a digital device, comprising:
 server-accessible storage to store information associated with respective geolocations, the information representing content associated with an enterprise at each respective geolocation; and   instructions stored on non-transitory machine-readable media, the instructions operable to cause at least one server to
 receive a geographic indication from the digital device, 
 automatically filter the information from the server-accessible storage based on the geographic indication, to generate filtered information representing at least one of the respective geolocations, and 
 automatically transmit the filtered information to the digital device for display thereon. 
   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the digital device includes a sensor adapted to determine at least one of a position and direction, wherein the instructions are operable to cause the at least one server to receive the at least one from the digital device, and are operable to cause the at least one server to automatically filter the information based on the at least one. 
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the at least one includes position of the digital device, and wherein the instructions are further operable to cause the at least one server to transmit information identifying a route connecting the position of the digital device to a geolocation of the at least one geolocation represented by the filtered information. 
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further operable to cause the at least one server to transmit a map to the digital device for display thereon, the map representing a spatial geography dependent on at least one of the geographic indication and at least one geolocation of the respective geolocations which is represented by the filtered information. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 4 , wherein the filtered information includes an icon associated with a specific geolocation, and wherein the instructions operable to automatically transmit the filtered information are further operable to transmit the icon for display on coordinates of the map corresponding to the specific geolocation. 
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 4 , wherein:
 the instructions are further operable to cause a first sever to retrieve the map from a map server; and   the instructions are further operable to cause the at least one server to render at least some of the filtered information onto the map in a manner corresponding to each of the at least one of the respective geolocations prior to transmission of the map to the digital device.   
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the instructions are further operable to permit the user to specify a desired maplet size, and wherein instructions are further operable to cause the at least one server to transmit the map to the digital device in a manner corresponding to the desired maplet size. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further operable to cause the at least one server to also transmit the at least one geolocation to the digital device. 
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the information stored in association with respective geolocations includes advertisements, and wherein the instructions are further operable to transmit at least one advertisement to the digital device as a location-based advertisement. 
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the information stored in association with respective geolocations includes commercial content, and wherein the instructions are further operable to cause the at least one server to transmit to the digital device commercial content filtered according to a location corresponding to the geographic indication. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further operable to cause the at least one server to filter the information by identifying a geography associated with the geographic indication and by selecting ones of the respective geolocations satisfying a predetermined proximity requirement relative to the geography, and wherein the filtered information transmitted to the digital device corresponds to the ones. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the geography includes a point and wherein the predetermined proximity requirement is presence within a radius about the point. 
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the instructions are further operable to cause the at least one server to transmit to the digital device a distance between a point representing the geographic indication and each respective geolocation represented by the filtered information. 
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein the instructions are further operable to cause the at least one server to transmit to the digital device information identifying a route between a point representing the geographic indication and each respective geolocation represented by the filtered information. 
     
     
         15 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the digital device is a first digital device;   the instructions are further operable to cause the at least one server to store data identifying a target group, represented by digital devices of respective users, including the first digital device; and   the instructions are further operable to cause the at least one server to transmit the filtered information to digital devices associated with plural users in the target group in dependence on the stored data.   
     
     
         16 . The apparatus of  claim 15 , wherein selection of the plural users within the group to which the filtered information is transmitted is dependent on at least one of position associated with the respective user of the plural users and a user preference associated with the respective user of the plural users. 
     
     
         17 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the apparatus further comprises instructions stored on non-transitory machine-readable media that are adapted to download software to the digital device, the software operable to implement functionality in the digital device to display the filtered information. 
     
     
         18 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein the software is operable to cause the display the filtered information on a map on the digital device in a manner where the at least one of the respective geolocations is plotted on the map together with a respective visual annotation corresponding to the respective content. 
     
     
         19 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein the software is operable to invoke an interface screen on the digital device in a manner operable to permit the user to set preferences associated with display of the filtered information on the digital device. 
     
     
         20 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein the digital device is a web-enabled cell phone, and wherein the software is operable to cause the web-enabled cell phone to exchange information with the at least one server in extensible markup language (XML) format. 
     
     
         21 . The apparatus of  claim 17 , wherein the software is operable to cause the digital device to permit user selection of filtered information representing a specific geolocation, and to permit the user to append via the digital device a message to the selected, filtered information. 
     
     
         22 . The apparatus of  claim 21 , wherein:
 the digital device is a first digital device;   the instructions are further operable to cause the at least one server to store data identifying a group, represented by digital devices of respective users, including the first digital device; and   the instructions are further operable to cause the at least one server to transmit the message to plural users in the group in association with the selected, filtered information.   
     
     
         23 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further operable to cause the at least one server to store data associated with permissive time for transmission of the filtered information, and to withhold transmission of the filtered information at times outside of the permissive time. 
     
     
         24 . A method of targeting content to a user of a digital device, comprising:
 storing information associated with respective geolocations in computer-accessible storage, the information representing content associated with an enterprise at each respective geolocation;   receiving a geographic indication from the digital device;   automatically filtering the information based on the geographic indication, to generate filtered information representing at least one of the respective geolocations; and   automatically transmitting the filtered information to the digital device for display thereon.   
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the digital device includes a sensor adapted to determine at least one of a position and direction, wherein receiving the geographic indication includes receiving the at least one from the digital device, and wherein automatically filtering includes automatically filtering the information based on the at least one. 
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the method further comprises transmitting a map to the digital device for display thereon, the map representing a spatial geography dependent on at least one of the geographic indication and at least one geolocation of the respective geolocations which is represented by the filtered information. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein:
 the method further comprises retrieving the map from a map server; and   transmitting the map comprises rendering at least some of the filtered information onto the map in a manner corresponding to each of the at least one of the respective geolocations prior to transmitting the map to the digital device.   
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27 , wherein the method further comprises permitting the user to specify a desired maplet size, and wherein transmitting the map to the digital device includes transmitting the map to the digital device in a manner corresponding to the desired maplet size. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 26 , wherein storing the information includes receiving data corresponding to at least one of a speed and a direction for a specific geolocation, and wherein transmitting the filtered information includes transmitting to the digital device information associated with the specific geolocation in dependence upon the at least one of the speed and the direction. 
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 29 , wherein transmitting the information associated with the specific geolocation includes transmitting to the digital device at least one of a current location and a time associated with a last known location. 
     
     
         31 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein automatically transmitting the filtered information further comprises also transmitting the at least one geolocation to the digital device. 
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the information stored in association with respective geolocations includes advertisements, and wherein automatically transmitting includes transmitting at least one advertisement to the digital device as a location-based advertisement. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein the information stored in association with respective geolocations includes commercial content, and wherein automatically transmitting includes transmitting commercial content filtered according to a geography corresponding to the geographic indication. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein automatically filtering the information includes identifying a geography associated with the geographic indication, wherein automatically filtering includes selecting ones of the respective geolocations satisfying a predetermined proximity requirement relative to a geographic represented by the geographic indication, and wherein automatically transmitting includes automatically transmitting filtered information to the digital device which corresponds to the ones. 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein the geography includes a point and wherein the predetermined proximity requirement is presence within a radius about the point. 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 34 , wherein automatically transmitting comprises transmitting to the digital device a distance between a point representing the geographic indication and each of the at least one of the respective geolocations for display on the digital device. 
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 24 , wherein:
 the digital device is a first digital device;   the method further comprises storing data identifying digital devices corresponding to a target group of users, including the first digital device; and   automatically transmitting the filtered information comprises transmitting the filtered information to digital devices associated with plural users in the target group in dependence on the stored data.   
     
     
         38 . The method of  claim 37 , further comprising selecting identity of the plural users from the group in dependence on at least one of position associated with each respective user in the group and a user preference associated with each respective user in the group. 
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 24 , further comprising receiving and appending to the filtered information associated with a specific geolocation a user message. 
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 39 , wherein:
 the digital device is a first digital device;   the method further comprises storing data identifying digital devices corresponding to a group of users, including the first digital device; and   automatically transmitting the user message to plural users in the group in association with the specific geolocation.   
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 24 , further comprising storing data associated with permissive time for transmission of the filtered information, and withholding transmission of the filtered information at times outside of the permissive time. 
     
     
         42 . An apparatus to target content to a user of a digital device, comprising:
 means for storing information associated with respective geolocations in computer-accessible storage, the information representing content associated with an enterprise at each respective geolocation;   means for receiving a geographic indication from the digital device;   means for automatically filtering the information based on the geographic indication, to generate filtered information representing at least one of the respective geolocations; and   means for automatically transmitting the filtered information to the digital device for display thereon.