Method and apparatus for selectively sharing and passively tracking communication device experiences

Abstract

The present invention includes methods and devices for passively tracking and selectively sharing user experiences with communication devices, including computers, web-enabled telephones, and PDAs. User rating or comments on their experiences can be captured. Particular aspects of the present invention are described in the claims, specification and drawings.

We claim: 
     
       1. A method of sharing computer user experiences, including:
 communicating with a registration server to register a user, for automatic client-side collection of computer usage experiences for future sharing, wherein the computer usage experiences include one or more of browsing URLs or visiting a location with a location-aware device that records the visited location;   accessing one or more of the user's messaging buddy lists and selecting one or more buddies with whom to share the automatically collected computer usage experiences;   defining categories of computer usage experiences to be shared with particular selected buddies;   tracking automatically on the client-side at least a portion of the user's computer usage experiences and reporting the user's computer usage experiences to a tracking server to be published to the particular buddies in accordance with their defined categories of sharing.   
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the registration server and the tracking server are a single server. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the registration server and the tracking server are distinct servers. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein registering the user excludes collection of the user's e-mail address. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein registering the user excludes collection of the user's actual name. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein registering the user excludes collection of the user's physical address. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein registering the user excludes collection of any information that identities a user in a manner adapted to direct marketing. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , wherein registering the user further includes establishing an anonymous unique identifier for the user. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 8 , wherein reporting the tracking data includes reporting the anonymous unique identifier. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the messaging buddy list is maintained by AOL's Instant Messenger software. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the messaging buddy list is maintained by MSN Messenger software. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the messaging buddy list is maintained by Yahoo! Messenger software. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the messaging buddy list is maintained by America Online's ICQ software. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the messaging buddy list is maintained by Odigo's instant messenger software. 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the messaging buddy list is maintained by Jabber's instant messenger software. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the rights of the buddies are defined by content category of the user's computer usage. 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the rights of the buddies are defined by appearance of one or more keywords on pages corresponding to URLs viewed. 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the rights of the buddies are defined by activity type of the user's computer usage. 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user utilizes a computer and tracking is carried out by a module resident on the computer. 
     
     
       20. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the tracking is carried out by a device placed between a computer utilized by the user and an access point to the Internet. 
     
     
       21. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the computer usage experience tracked is filtered before it is reported to the tracking server. 
     
     
       22. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the computer usage reported is filtered after it is reported to the tracking server and before it is posted for the buddies to access. 
     
     
       23. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the messaging buddy list is maintained by an instant messenger software. 
     
     
       24. The method of  claim 1 , further including sending tracking data regarding one of a user's computer usage experiences to one or more buddies. 
     
     
       25. The method of  claim 1 , further including categorizing at least a portion of the tracking data by content and sorting the tracking data by content category. 
     
     
       26. The method of  claim 1 , further including categorizing at least a portion of the tracking data by content and making the tracking data searchable by content category and date range. 
     
     
       27. The method of  claim 1 , wherein posting further includes providing annotation tools for associating notes with individual tracking data entries. 
     
     
       28. The method of  claim 1 , wherein posting further includes providing annotation tools for associating ratings with individual tracking data entries. 
     
     
       29. The method of  claim 1 , wherein posting further includes indexing text portions of at least a portion of pages reported from tracking the user's Internet usage. 
     
     
       30. The method of  claim 29 , wherein text indexing is limited to pages reported from tracking as having been annotated or forwarded by the user. 
     
     
       31. A method of sharing Internet browsing experiences, including:
 tracking automatically with a client-side application at least a portion of a user's Internet usage and reporting the tracking data to a server;   categorizing at least a portion of the reported tracking data by content category;   presenting to the user a history of the reported tracking data with tools for searching and forwarding the tracking data;   receiving from the user data identifying of one or more persons on the user's buddy lists and authorizing the persons to receive tracking data;   responsive to a user request, sending one or more entries from the history of the reported tracking data to the authorized persons.   
     
     
       32. A computer-implemented method of sharing computer user  usage experiences, including:
 registeringsending registration information of a user withto a registration server to collect and share visited geographic location data using a client-side application collected while visiting a location geographic locations with a location-aware device that records the visited location geographic locations using a satellite-based location fixing protocol; 
 accessingenabling access to one or more of the user's messaging buddy lists of the user to identify one or more buddies with whom the tracking data visited geographic location data may be shared; 
 definingenabling definition of rights of the one or more buddies to access the visited geographic location data; and 
 postingsending information indicating at least a portion of the user's visited geographic location data for the buddies to access according to their defined rights to a tracking server to enable sharing of the information with the one or more buddies in accordance with the defined rights. 
 
     
     
       33. The method of claim 32 wherein the visited geographic location data comprises the visited geographic locations and a rating assigned to the visited geographic locations. 
     
     
       34. The method of claim 32 wherein the visited geographic location data comprises the visited geographic locations and a comment on the visited geographic locations. 
     
     
       35. The method of claim 32 wherein the visited geographic location data comprises the visited geographic locations and an emoticon assigned to the visited geographic locations. 
     
     
       36. The method of claim 32, further comprising:
 enabling receipt and display of advertising information.   
     
     
       37. The method of claim 32 wherein the visited geographic location data comprises the visited geographic locations and a thumbs up rating assigned to the visited geographic locations. 
     
     
       38. The computer-implemented method of claim 32 wherein the satellite-based location-fixing protocol is selected from a group consisting of: a GPS protocol and a DGPS protocol. 
     
     
       39. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software for instructing a controller of a computing device to:
 send registration information of a user to a registration server to collect and share visited geographic location data using a client-side application while visiting geographic locations with a location-aware device that records the visited geographic locations using a satellite-based location-fixing protocol;   enable access to one or more lists of other users to identify one or more other users with whom the visited geographic location data may be shared;   enable definition of rights of the one or more other users to access the visited geographic location data; and   send information indicating at least a portion of the visited geographic location data to a tracking server.   
     
     
       40. The computer-readable medium of claim 39 wherein the visited geographic location data comprises the geographic locations and a rating assigned to the geographic locations. 
     
     
       41. The computer-readable medium of claim 39 wherein the visited geographic location data comprises the geographic locations and a comment on the geographic locations. 
     
     
       42. The computer-readable medium of claim 39 wherein the visited geographic location data comprises the geographic locations and a rating assigned to the geographic locations. 
     
     
       43. The computer-readable medium of claim 39 wherein the software further instructs the controller of the computing device to display advertising. 
     
     
       44. The computer-readable medium of claim 43 wherein the advertising is capable of moving. 
     
     
       45. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software for instructing a controller of a location-aware device that is capable of being registered with a registration server to:
 enable access to one or more lists of other users to identify one or more other users with whom visited geographic location data is capable of being shared;   enable definition of access rights for the one or more other users to enable access to the visited geographic location data;   collect the visited geographic location data for geographic locations visited by the location-aware device using a client-side application; and   report information indicating at least a portion of the visited geographic location data to a tracking server;   wherein in order to enable the definition of the access rights for the one or more other users to access the visited geographic location data, the software further instructs the controller of the location-aware device to receive, via a user interface of the location-aware device, input that defines at least one user of the one or more other users from the one or more lists of other users that is to have access to the visited geographic location data.   
     
     
       46. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software for instructing a controller of a location-aware device that is capable of being registered with a registration server to:
 enable access to one or more lists of other users to identify one or more other users with whom visited geographic location data is capable of being shared;   enable definition of access rights for the one or more other users to enable access to the visited geographic location data;   collect the visited geographic location data for geographic locations visited by the location-aware device using a client-side application; and   report information indicating at least a portion of the visited geographic location data to a tracking server;   wherein in order to enable the definition of the access rights for the one or more other users to access the visited geographic location data, the software further instructs the controller of the location-aware device to, for each other user of at least a subset of the one or more other users, receive, via a user interface of the location-aware device, input that defines one or more categories of the visited geographic location data that can be shared with the other user.   
     
     
       47. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software for instructing a controller of a location-aware device that is capable of being registered with a registration server to:
 enable access to one or more lists of other users to identify one or more other users with whom visited geographic location data is capable of being shared;   enable definition of access rights for the one or more other users to enable access to the visited geographic location data;   collect the visited geographic location data for geographic locations visited by the location-aware device using a client-side application; and   report information indicating at least a portion of the visited geographic location data to a tracking server;   wherein the one or more lists of other users comprises an Instant Messaging buddy list of the user of the location-aware device.   
     
     
       48. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software for instructing a controller of a location-aware device that is capable of being registered with a registration server to:
 enable access to one or more lists of other users to identify one or more other users with whom visited geographic location data is capable of being shared;   enable definition of access rights for the one or more other users to enable access to the visited geographic location data;   collect the visited geographic location data for geographic locations visited by the location-aware device using a client-side application; and   report information indicating at least a portion of the visited geographic location data to a tracking server;   wherein the one or more lists of other users comprises a contact list maintained on the location-aware device.   
     
     
       49. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software for instructing a controller of a location-aware device that is capable of being registered with a registration server to:
 enable access to one or more lists of other users to identify one or more other users with whom visited geographic location data is capable of being shared;   enable definition of access rights for the one or more other users to enable access to the visited geographic location data;   collect the visited geographic location data for geographic locations visited by the location-aware device using a client-side application; and   report information indicating at least a portion of the visited geographic location data to a tracking server;   wherein the one or more lists of other users comprises an e-mail contact list of the user of the location-aware device.   
     
     
       50. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software for instructing a controller of a location-aware device that is capable of being registered with a registration server to:
 enable access to one or more lists of other users to identify one or more other users with whom visited geographic location data is capable of being shared;   enable definition of access rights for the one or more other users to enable access to the visited geographic location data;   collect the visited geographic location data for geographic locations visited by the location-aware device using a client-side application; and   report information indicating at least a portion of the visited geographic location data to a tracking server;   wherein the visited geographic location data further defines ratings assigned to one or more of the geographic locations visited by the location-aware device.   
     
     
       51. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software for instructing a controller of a location-aware device that is capable of being registered with a registration server to:
 enable access to one or more lists of other users to identify one or more other users with whom visited geographic location data is capable of being shared;   enable definition of access rights for the one or more other users to enable access to the visited geographic location data;   collect the visited geographic location data for geographic locations visited by the location-aware device using a client-side application; and   report information indicating at least a portion of the visited geographic location data to a tracking server;   wherein the visited geographic location data further defines comments on one or more of the geographic locations visited by the location-aware device.   
     
     
       52. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software for instructing a controller of a location-aware device that is capable of being registered with a registration server to:
 enable access to one or more lists of other users to identify one or more other users with whom visited geographic location data is capable of being shared;   enable definition of access rights for the one or more other users to enable access to the visited geographic location data;   collect the visited geographic location data for geographic locations visited by the location-aware device using a client-side application; and   report information indicating at least a portion of the visited geographic location data to a tracking server;   wherein the visited geographic location data further defines emoticons assigned to one or more of the geographic locations visited by the location-aware device.   
     
     
       53. A method of operation of a server to share computer usage experiences, comprising the following computer-implemented steps:
 receiving, at the server, a registration for automatic client-side collection and sharing of visited geographic location data from a client-side application while visiting geographic locations with a location-aware device that records the visited geographic locations using a satellite-based location-fixing protocol;   enabling access to one or more messaging buddy lists and selection of one or more buddies with whom the visited geographic location data may be shared from the one or more messaging buddy lists;   obtaining defined rights of the one or more buddies to access the visited geographic location data; and   reporting information indicating at least a portion of the visited geographic location data for the one or more buddies to access according to the rights defined for the one or more buddies.   
     
     
       54. A method of operation of a client-side application including:
 sending registration information to a registration server to collect and share visited geographic location data using the client-side application while visiting geographic locations with a location-aware device that records the visited geographic locations using a satellite-based location-fixing protocol;   enabling identification of one or more buddies with whom the visited geographic location data may be shared from one or more messaging buddy lists;   enabling definition of rights of the one or more buddies to access the visited geographic location data; and   reporting information indicating at least a portion of the visited geographic location data to a tracking server.   
     
     
       55. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software for instructing a controller of a registration and tracking server to:
 receive, at the registration and tracking server, a registration to collect and share visited geographic location data from a client-side application while visiting geographic locations with a location-aware device that records the geographic locations using a satellite-based location-fixing protocol;   enable access to one or more lists of other users to identify one or more other users with whom the visited geographic location data may be shared;   obtain defined rights of the one or more other users to access the visited geographic location data; and   report information indicating at least a portion of the visited geographic location data for the one or more other users to access according to the rights defined for the one or more other users.   
     
     
       56. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software for instructing a controller of a device to:
 communicate with a registration server to register with the registration server to collect visited geographic location data from a client-side application while visiting geographic locations with a location-aware device that records the geographic locations using a satellite-based location-fixing protocol;   enable a user to select one or more other users with whom the visited geographic location data may be shared from one or more lists of other users;   enable the user to define rights of the one or more other users to access the visited geographic location data; and   report information indicating at least a portion of the visited geographic location data for the one or more other users to a tracking server.   
     
     
       57. A method of operation of a server computer comprising:
 receiving registration information from a location-aware device;   receiving information indicating visited geographic location data from the location-aware device, the visited geographic location data being data defining geographic locations collected at the location-aware device from a client-side application, wherein the location-aware device records the geographic locations using a satellite-based location-fixing protocol;   obtaining access rights for one or more other users to allow for access to the visited geographic location data, the one or more other users being one or more other users from one or more lists of other users with whom the visited geographic location data is to be shared; and   sharing at least a portion of the visited geographic location data with the one or more other users according to the access rights defined for the one or more other users.   
     
     
       58. The method of claim 57 wherein the access rights for the one or more other users to access the visited geographic location data comprises, for each other user of at least a subset of the one or more other users, information that defines one or more categories of the visited geographic location data to be shared with the other user. 
     
     
       59. The method of claim 57 wherein the access rights for the one or more other users to access the visited geographic location data comprises, for each category of at least a subset of a plurality of categories of the visited geographic location data, information that defines at least one other user of the one or more other users to have access to the category of the visited geographic location data. 
     
     
       60. The method of claim 57 wherein the one or more lists of other users comprises an Instant Messaging buddy list of the user of the location-aware device. 
     
     
       61. The method of claim 57 wherein the one or more lists of other users comprises a contact list maintained on the location-aware device. 
     
     
       62. The method of claim 57 wherein the one or more lists of other users comprises an e-mail contact list of the user of the location-aware device. 
     
     
       63. The method of claim 57 further comprising:
 quantifying relative influence of at least one user on other users.   
     
     
       64. The method of claim 57, further comprising:
 offering up to the client-side application context sensitive information associated with the geographic locations visited by the location-aware device.   
     
     
       65. The method of claim 64, wherein the context sensitive information may include ratings of the geographic locations visited by the location-aware device. 
     
     
       66. The method of claim 57, further comprising:
 presenting information to the client-side application based on information received regarding the geographic locations visited by the location-aware device.   
     
     
       67. The method of claim 57, further comprising:
 downloading client software to the location-aware device.   
     
     
       68. The method of claim 57, further comprising:
 aggregating information received from the location-aware device with information from the one or more other users.   
     
     
       69. The method of claim 57, further comprising:
 sending the registration information to the location-aware device which includes contractual terms which limit the use of information collected from the user of the location-aware device.   
     
     
       70. A method of operation of a server computer comprising:
 receiving registration information from a location-aware device;   receiving information indicating visited geographic location data from the location-aware device, the visited geographic location data being data defining geographic locations collected at the location-aware device from a client-side application;   obtaining access rights for one or more other users to allow for access to the visited geographic location data, the one or more other users being one or more other users from one or more lists of other users with whom the visited geographic location data is to be shared;   sharing at least a portion of the visited geographic location data with the one or more other users according to the access rights defined for the one or more other users; and   quantifying relative influence of at least one user on other users;   wherein quantifying the relative influence of the at least one user includes a frequency metric.   
     
     
       71. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing software for instructing a controller of a server to:
 receive a registration to collect and share visited geographic location data from a client-side application while visiting geographic locations with a location-aware device that records the geographic locations using a satellite-based location-fixing protocol;   enable access to one or more lists of other users to identify one or more other users with whom the visited geographic location data may be shared;   obtain defined rights of the one or more other users to access the visited geographic location data; and   report information indicating at least a portion of the visited geographic location data for the one or more other users to access according to the rights defined for the one or more other users.   
     
     
       72. A location-aware mobile device having a controller and memory, wherein the controller is configured to:
 send location information to a server while visiting geographic locations, the location information comprising geographic data recorded by the location-aware mobile device using a satellite-based location-fixing protocol;   enable access to one or more lists of other users to identify one or more other users with whom the visited geographic location data may be shared;   enable definition of rights of the one or more other users to access the visited geographic location data; and   send information indicating at least a portion of the visited geographic location data to a server.   
     
     
       73. A computer-implemented method of sharing computer usage experiences, including:
 sending registration information of a user to a registration server to collect and share visited geographic location data using a client-side application while visiting geographic locations with a location-aware device that records the visited geographic locations using a terrestrial-radio-based location fixing protocol;   enabling access to one or more messaging buddy lists of the user to identify one or more buddies with whom the visited geographic location data may be shared;   enabling definition of rights of the one or more buddies to access the visited geographic location data; and   sending information indicating at least a portion of the visited geographic location data to a tracking server to enable sharing of the information with the one or more buddies in accordance with the defined rights.   
     
     
       74. The computer-implemented method of claim 73 wherein the terrestrial-radio-based location-fixing protocol is a LORAN protocol. 
     
     
       75. A computer-implemented method of sharing computer usage experiences, including:
 sending registration information of a user to a registration server to collect and share visited geographic location data using a client-side application while visiting geographic locations with a location-aware device that records the visited geographic locations using a triangulation-based location fixing protocol;   enabling access to one or more messaging buddy lists of the user to identify one or more buddies with whom the visited geographic location data may be shared;   enabling definition of rights of the one or more buddies to access the visited geographic location data; and   sending information indicating at least a portion of the visited geographic location data to a tracking server to enable sharing of the information with the one or more buddies in accordance with the defined rights.   
     
     
       76. A system for collecting and sharing visited geographic location data, comprising:
 a location-aware device adapted to:
 record geographic location data while visiting geographic locations using a satellite-based location-fixing protocol; 
 enable access to one or more lists of other users to identify one or more other users with whom the geographic location data may be shared; 
 enable definition of rights of the one or more other users to access the geographic location data; and 
 send at least a portion of the geographic location data to a tracking server; and 
   the tracking server adapted to:
 receive the at least a portion of the geographic location data from the location-aware device; and 
 share the at least a portion of the geographic location data with the one or more other users in accordance with the rights of the one or more other users.