Location Provider Mediator for Mobile Resource Conservation
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Solution Overview
Problem
The burden on users to grant or deny location data permissions to multiple services is substantial, and mobile devices face challenges in supporting power-intensive location-based services, especially with increasing proximity subscriptions.
Innovation Solution
A location provider manages user location data and shares it with third-party services upon authorized permission, allowing users to grant access once and controlling the circumstances of data sharing, thereby reducing user burden and optimizing mobile device resources.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If users grant permission to multiple services to access location data, then more services can utilize location information, but user burden increases substantially
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a location provider as an intermediary service that centralizes location data management. Instead of users directly managing permissions with multiple services, the location provider acts as a mediator that stores location data and controls access to authorized third-party services, thereby reducing user burden while maintaining service accessibility
Solution Approach 2:
The location provider serves multiple functions: it stores location data, manages authentication credentials, controls authorization for multiple third-party services, and reduces user interaction. This multi-functional approach consolidates what would otherwise require separate permission management with each service
2Adaptability or versatility
If mobile devices support more proximity subscriptions, then more location-based services become available, but battery life decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the computationally intensive location tracking and proximity monitoring functions from the mobile device and relocates them to the location provider server. This allows the mobile device to support more proximity subscriptions without the energy cost, as the heavy processing occurs remotely
Solution Approach 2:
The location provider automatically manages proximity subscriptions and location monitoring without requiring continuous user interaction or mobile device processing. The system self-manages the energy-intensive tasks of tracking location and notifying users of proximity events
Data Source
AI summary
A location provider manages dissemination of location data of a user to one or more third-party services, so that the user can take advantage of services offered by the third parties, without the associated burden of continuously granting or denying requests by the third party services to obtain location data of the user. A third-party service can obtain location information of a user from the location provider. Users may control circumstances in which the location provider is to share location data of the user with the one or more third-party services.