Three-dimensional taxonomy server for identifying a location based on a three-dimensional position of a client device

Abstract

A three-dimensional taxonomy server is operative to identify the location of a client device based on three-dimensional positional information received from the client device. The three-dimensional positional information may include global positioning system coordinates, an Internet Protocol address, cellular network information, or any other type of three-dimensional positional information. The three-dimensional taxonomy server may operate in conjunction with another server, such as an advertising server or business search server, to deliver contextual content based on the location of the client device. The contextual content may include a targeted advertisement, a targeted search result, or other type of contextual content.

1 . A method for selecting an advertisement based upon a three-dimension position of a client device, the method comprising:
 determining, by one or more processors, a location for the client device from three-dimensional position information of the client device;   determining, by the one or more processors, a vertical direction of movement of the client device;   identifying, by the one or more processors, based on the vertical direction of movement, a business having a three-dimensional geographic location proximate to the location of the client device; and   serving an advertisement for the identified business to the client device;   wherein determining the location for the client device comprises translating an elevation component of the three-dimensional position information to a relative elevation value indicative of an elevation of the client device relative to a ground floor of a building.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the location for the client device includes parsing a search query to identify three-dimensional positional information embedded within or transmitted with the search query. 
     
     
         3 . (canceled) 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the relative elevation value identifies a floor of the building. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein identifying the business having the three-dimensional geographic location proximate to the location of the client device includes identifying the business from among one or more businesses having elevations that are within a predetermined distance from an approximate elevation for the client device. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein identifying the business from among the one or more businesses includes ranking the one or more businesses based on a weighted distance between the location of each of the one or more businesses and the location of the client device, where the weighting distance is based on whether each business is located on a same or a different floor as the client device. 
     
     
         7 . A non-transitory computer-readable recording medium having instructions stored thereon, the instruction, when executed by a processor, perform a method for selecting an advertisement based upon a three-dimension position of a client device, the method comprising:
 determining a location for the client device from three-dimensional position information of the client device;   determining a vertical direction of movement of the client device;   identifying, based on the vertical direction of movement, a business having a three-dimensional geographic location proximate to the location of the client device; and   serving an advertisement for the identified business to the client device;   wherein determining the location for the client device comprises translating an elevation component of the three-dimensional position information to a relative elevation value indicative of an elevation of the client device relative to a ground floor of a building.   
     
     
         8 . The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium of  claim 7 , wherein determining the location for the client device includes parsing a search query to identify three-dimensional positional information embedded within or transmitted with the search query. 
     
     
         9 . (canceled) 
     
     
         10 . The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium of  claim 7 , wherein the relative elevation value identifies a floor of the building. 
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium of  claim 6 , wherein identifying the business having the three-dimensional geographic location proximate to the location of the client device includes identifying the business from among one or more businesses having elevations that are within a predetermined distance from an approximate elevation for the client device. 
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory computer-readable recording medium of  claim 11 , wherein identifying the business from among the one or more businesses includes ranking the one or more businesses based on a weighted distance between the location of each of the one or more businesses and the location of the client device, where the weighting distance is based on whether each business is located on a same or a different floor as the client device. 
     
     
         13 . A system for selecting an advertisement based upon a three-dimension position of a client device, the system comprising:
 a three-dimensional taxonomy server configured to:
 determine a location for the client device from three-dimensional position information of the client device; 
 determine a vertical direction of movement of the client device; and 
 identify, based on the vertical direction of movement, a business having a three-dimensional geographic location proximate to the location of the client device; and 
   an advertising server configured to serve an advertisement for the identified business to the client device;   wherein determining the location for the client device by the three-dimensional taxonomy server comprises translating an elevation component of the three-dimensional position information to a relative elevation value indicative of an elevation of the client device relative to a ground floor of a building.   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein determining the location for the client device by the three-dimensional taxonomy server includes parsing a search query to identify three-dimensional positional information embedded within or transmitted with the search query. 
     
     
         15 . (canceled) 
     
     
         16 . The system of claim  1513 , wherein the relative elevation value identifies a floor of the building. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein identifying the business having the three-dimensional geographic location proximate to the location of the client device includes identifying the business from among one or more businesses having elevations that are within a predetermined distance from an approximate elevation for the client device. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein identifying the business from among the one or more businesses includes ranking the one or more businesses based on a weighted distance between the location of each of the one or more businesses and the location of the client device, where the weighting distance is based on whether each business is located on a same or a different floor as the client device. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein translating the elevation component to a relative elevation value is performed based on a data fields of one or more three-dimensional taxonomy records of a three-dimensional taxonomy database. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein translating the elevation component comprises approximating distances between selected businesses located in a multi-story building. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein translating the elevation component comprises:
 determining whether the client device is located in a multi-story building;   determining whether the multi-story building uses a predetermined distance between floors; and   translating the elevation component to the relative elevation in accordance with the predetermined distance between floors so that the relative elevation value is indicative of the location of the client device within the multi-story building.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein translating the elevation component comprises translating elevation information received from the client device to an elevation value stored in a three-dimensional taxonomy record.