Proximity-Based Location Sharing System with Dynamic Privacy Controls
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Solution Overview
Problem
Social media applications lack the ability to visually display users' locations on a map, limiting users' ability to connect with others nearby and manage their privacy effectively.
Innovation Solution
A system that uses GPS and proximity-based technology to display users' locations on a map, allowing users to view profiles, send messages, block others, and control their visibility, with customizable privacy settings and geotags for location-specific information sharing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If social media apps allow users to check-in at locations and connect with nearby users, then users can communicate with people who are near them, but users have no means to see where other users are relative to them on a map
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms location data from hidden metadata into a visual map dimension. By overlaying user locations on a geographic map interface, the system adds a spatial visualization layer that allows users to see relative positions of other users, thereby resolving the information visibility issue without significantly increasing system complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a map interface as an intermediary between the user's location data and the display. This map serves as a mediator that translates coordinate data into visual spatial relationships, allowing users to understand relative positions without the system becoming overly complex.
2Adaptability or versatility
If users want to selectively remove themselves from other users' views by blocking or becoming anonymous, then privacy control is improved, but the system requires more complex privacy management mechanisms
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments privacy control into distinct modes (anonymous, blocked, visible) that can be independently applied. Users can selectively apply different privacy states to different users or situations, providing flexible privacy management without requiring a completely complex system overhaul.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic privacy settings that can change based on user preferences and contexts. Users can switch between anonymous and visible modes, and dynamically block or unblock users, allowing privacy control to adapt to different situations without permanent system reconfiguration.
3Measurement precision
If social media apps connect users within a predetermined range, then users can communicate with nearby people, but users cannot visually confirm actual proximity or location context
Solution Approach 1:
The patent adds a visual map dimension that displays user locations with spatial context. By showing users on a map with their relative positions, the system allows users to visually confirm actual proximity and location context, making location verification intuitive and easy without requiring complex measurement mechanisms.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables users to connect with others in real-time within a venue, manage their privacy, and receive proximity-based recommendations, enhancing networking and communication in crowded environments while maintaining control over their visibility.
Implementation Method 1
A user attends a large conference that involves tens, if not hundreds, of companies and hundreds, if not thousands, of people. Using the embodiments here, a user can access a map of the venue that shows other users, their profiles, and their position in the venue.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of defining a set of parameters for a user computing device in a geographic location system includes receiving, through a user interface on the user device, a signal activating a share profile, wherein a share profile comprises a pre-defined set of parameters for operation of the system with regard to the user device, presenting, on the user interface, options to allow the user to define the share profile, wherein the options include location sharing, profile sharing, and activation, and receiving, from the user device, a set of parameters, wherein the set of parameters define how the geographic location system interacts with the user device while that share profile is active. A method of employing geotags in a geographic location system including monitoring positions of users in the geographic location system, determining when a user is near at least one geotag, determining if the at least one geotag can be sent to a device of the user, and sending a notification to the device of the user when the geotag can be sent to the user.