Location Sharing Between Location-Aware and Unaware Devices
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Solution Overview
Problem
Users interacting with search engines through location-unaware computing devices often receive inconsistent search results due to the lack of accurate geographic location information, which reduces user interaction performance and the search engine's ability to provide relevant results.
Innovation Solution
Sharing geographic location information from a location-aware computing device with a location-unaware device through short-range connections or a centralized network, allowing the location to be used in conjunction with searches, even if the location-unaware device does not have the capability to determine its own location, and updating this information periodically to ensure accuracy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If location information is obtained and shared from a location-aware computing device to a location-unaware computing device, then search result relevance and user interaction performance are improved, but device complexity and communication requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a communication intermediary (wireless communication module, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi Direct) that mediates the transfer of location information from the location-aware device to the location-unaware device. This intermediary handles the complexity of communication protocols and data formatting, allowing the core search functionality to remain simple while still achieving accurate location-based search results.
Solution Approach 2:
The location information sharing mechanism is designed to be universally applicable across different device types and search scenarios. The same communication infrastructure can serve multiple purposes: transferring location data, establishing device pairing, and enabling various location-based services, thereby reducing the need for device-specific complex solutions.
2Measurement precision
If geographic location information is shared between devices through short-range connections, then location accuracy for search queries is improved, but energy consumption and communication overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of continuously transmitting location data, the system employs periodic action by establishing the location information transfer only when devices are in proximity and need to interact. The location data is shared on-demand during search operations rather than continuously, reducing energy consumption while maintaining accuracy when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The location information is obtained and prepared in advance by the location-aware device before the actual search query is executed. This preliminary action allows the location data to be ready for immediate transfer when needed, reducing the energy cost of real-time location determination during the search operation itself.
Data Source
AI summary
The geographic location obtained by a location-aware computing device can be shared with a location-unaware computing device such that user interaction with a search engine through the location-unaware computing device can still include, when appropriate, a geographic location associated with the user, thereby increasing the relevance and aptness of the search results presented to the user and, accordingly, increasing user interaction performance with the search engine. Short range communicational connections can be used to share location information prior to being utilized in conjunction with searches. Location information can be provided, from a location-aware computing device, to a centralized, networked computing device, and associated thereon with a user identifier, thereby enabling associated location information to be utilized in conjunction with that user's searches. Location information can also be associated with an entity to improve the identification of such an entity as being responsive to other users' search queries.