User defined names for displaying monitored location

Abstract

A user's location may be tracked by tracking a device associated with the user. The user's location may be published (e.g. on a website) using a user defined name or some other name that is not related to the coordinates of the location based on the tracked location of the device. If published to a website, the name may be uploaded to the website in a user-editable area of the website, which area may or may not be directed to tracking the location of the user. The device may also be configured to trigger reminders based on whether the device is leaving an area and/or based on whether the device is approaching a location based on a location's membership in a class of locations (e.g. approaching a grocery store).

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A mobile computing device, comprising:
 a location determining circuit configured to receive data indicative of a current location of the mobile computing device;   a memory; and   a processing circuit configured to receive data indicative of user-defined names associated with locations, store the user-defined names associated with the locations in the memory; receive data indicative of a current location of the mobile computing device from the location determining circuit; determine whether the current location is associated with a single user-defined name or multiple user-defined names of the user defined names, wherein the multiple user-defined names comprise a plurality of generic names for the current location associated by a user; prompt for a selection from multiple user-defined names when the current location is associated with multiple user-defined names; and provide a user-defined name associated with the current location when the current location is associated with a single user-defined name or a selected user-defined name from among those associated with the current location when the current location is associated with multiple user-defined names.   
     
     
         2 . The mobile computing device of  claim 1 , wherein in providing the user-defined name and the selected user-defined name the processing circuit is configured to provide the user-defined name or the selected user-defined name to a server to be published on a web page. 
     
     
         3 . The mobile computing device of  claim 2 , wherein the processing circuit is further configured to receive data indicative of information that a user can use to access the web page, wherein in providing the user-defined name and the selected user-defined name to the server to be published on the web page the processing circuit is configured to publish the user-defined name or the selected user-defined name using the data indicative of information that the user can use to access the web page. 
     
     
         4 . The mobile computing device of  claim 1 , wherein in providing the user-defined name and the selected user-defined name the processing circuit is configured to enter text of the user-defined name or the selected user-defined name into a field provided by a web page for entering text. 
     
     
         5 . The mobile computing device of  claim 4 , wherein the field is not a field dedicated to entering location information. 
     
     
         6 . The mobile computing device of  claim 1 , wherein the processing circuit is further configured to receive user input representative of the user-defined names associated with the locations. 
     
     
         7 . The mobile computing device of  claim 6 , wherein in receiving the user input the processing circuit is configured to receive contact information in a contacts application on the mobile computing device. 
     
     
         8 . The mobile computing device of  claim 1 , wherein in storing the user-defined names the processing circuit is configured to store a plurality of user-defined names with a single location. 
     
     
         9 . The mobile computing device of  claim 1 , wherein the selected user-defined name is based on at least one criteria including: a user selected name, a publishing web page, a priority, a user preference, a time, or a date. 
     
     
         10 . The mobile computing device of  claim 1 , wherein the processing circuit is further configured to publish, to a web site, information indicative of the fact that the current location is not associated any of the user-defined names. 
     
     
         11 . The mobile computing device of  claim 1 , wherein the processing circuit is further configured to determine whether the current location is in proximity to a location associated with any of the user-defined names. 
     
     
         12 . The mobile computing device of  claim 11 , wherein being in proximity to the location associated with user-defined names requires that the current location be within a predetermined distance of the location. 
     
     
         13 . The mobile computing device of  claim 1 , wherein in storing the user-defined names the processing circuit stores the user-defined names as free-form user-defined names. 
     
     
         14 . A mobile computing device, comprising:
 a location determining circuit configured to receive data indicative of a current location of the mobile computing device;   memory configured to store access information usable to access a server that is configured to display information over a network; and   a processing circuit configured to receive the data indicative of a current location of the mobile computing device from the location determining circuit, to access the server, and to provide data indicative of the current location of the mobile device as the location of a user of the mobile computing device, a user-defined name being published in a manner such that the server will display the user's location in a display field that is not dedicated to displaying the location of the user.   
     
     
         15 . A mobile computing device, comprising:
 a location determining circuit configured to determine the current location of the mobile computing device; and   a processing circuit configured to implement an application having a task list function, the processing circuit being further configured to allow location to be associated with tasks of task list, to receive data indicative of a current location of the mobile computing device from the location determining circuit, and to provide reminders for a task based on the mobile computing device leaving a location associated with the task.   
     
     
         16 . The mobile computing device of  claim 15 , wherein the location associated with the task list comprises an area bounded by a boundary and leaving the location is determined based on crossing the boundary. 
     
     
         17 . A system, comprising a processing circuit configured to implement an application having a task list function, the processing circuit being further configured to receive data indicative of a task, to analyze the data indicative of the task, and to find locations associated with the task based on the analysis. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the processing circuit is further configured to receive data indicative of a current location of a mobile computing device from a location determining circuit and to provide reminders for a task based on the data indicative of the current location of the mobile computing device. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the processing circuit being configured to analyze the data indicative of the task and to find locations associated with the task based on the analysis comprises the processing circuit being configured to analyze data indicative of the task that does not comprise location information and to find locations associated with the task being based on the analysis of the data indicative of the task that does not comprise location information. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the processing circuit being configured to analyze the data indicative of the task and to find locations associated with the task based on the analysis comprises the processing circuit being configured to analyze data indicative of the task that includes location information and to find additional locations associated with the task based on an analysis of the location information. 
     
     
         21 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to find locations associated with the task based on the analysis and further based on user preferences input in the system. 
     
     
         22 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to find locations associated with the task based on the analysis and further based on monitored activities of a user. 
     
     
         23 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the processing circuit being configured to find locations associated with the task comprises receiving data from a database remote from the processing circuit. 
     
     
         24 . The system of  claim 23 , further comprising a network interface coupled to the processing circuit, the data from the database provided to the processing circuit using the network interface. 
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 17 , further comprising a mobile computing device, the mobile computing device comprising the processing circuit. 
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 25 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to pre-load location data related to tasks of the task application. 
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 26 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to pre-load location data based on route information. 
     
     
         28 . The system of  claim 17 , further comprising a mobile computing device and a server, the server comprising the processing circuit and configured to communicate data related to the task application to the mobile computing device. 
     
     
         29 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the processing circuit is configured to provide a route based on location information associated with tasks of a task application. 
     
     
         30 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the task application comprises a set of tasks and the processing circuit is configured to provide a user with an option to route to a subset of the set of tasks, the subset comprising a plurality of tasks.