NIM Issued U.S. Patent for Social Networking Applications Using GPS-Enabled Wireless Device
Written by NIM
12 May 2008
ALISO VIEJO, Calif., May 12, 2008 – Networks In Motion (NIM), the award-winning wireless navigation, hyper local search, and location-based services (LBS) company with the largest mobile phone navigation subscriber base in North America, today announced that it was issued U.S. Patent No. 7,333,820, titled “Position Determination System,” which protects its intellectual property involving social networking applications such as requesting and/or pushing a user’s location via a GPS-enabled mobile device through a wireless network.
NIM’s patent features a method of providing real-time position information from one person to another by utilizing a traditional telephone, a mobile phone, a computer network, or the Internet. The invention allows a caller and a receiver of a telephone call to exchange position information related to the caller and/or receiver’s physical location, including address information, GPS coordinates or nearby fixed locations such as a restaurant or parking structure.
Additionally, NIM’s patent allows a caller and receiver to retrieve routing instructions or maps for traveling to or from each other’s location. With NIM’s patent, a person can locate the position of their friend on their phone or computer by entering their friend’s mobile phone number, or find them in their address book or instant message ‘buddy list.’
“Social networking is already hugely popular on the Internet and we had a vision years ago when filing for this patent that people would want a way to easily keep in touch and meet up with their friends using their mobile phone,” said Doug Antone, president and CEO of Networks In Motion. “With NIM’s expertise in navigation, we feel well-suited to provide consumers an easy-to-use solution for finding one another.”
Some of the patented features have already been brought to market in NIM’s mobile phone navigation and local search applications on major wireless carriers. A social networking aspect of NIM’s software platform AtlasBook Navigator™, called ‘place messaging,’ allows a user to send a greeting along with their GPS location to a friend so they can easily meet up with each other. For example, a subscriber can search for a restaurant and send the destination to their friend along with a message about a time to meet. If the friend is a subscriber they will get audible turn-by-turn directions to the destination; if they’re not a navigation subscriber, they’ll receive static directions as a text message.
NIM Labs, the company’s research and development arm, is developing other social networking applications that it expects to market with its wireless carrier partners. For more information about Networks In Motion, visit http://www.networksinmotion.com.
About Networks In Motion Networks In Motion is an award-winning wireless navigation and local search company, with products on most major wireless carriers. Networks In Motion powers: AAA Mobile® on Verizon Wireless, Alltel, and Sprint; Verizon Wireless’ VZ Navigator; YellowPages.com Mobile, which is currently deployed on AT&T; Alltel’s Axcess Mobile Guide navigator; U.S. Cellular’s Your Navigator; TELUS Navigator and TELUS Kid Find, making NIM’s NAVBuilder platform the most widely used mobile phone navigation service in North America. In February 2008, NIM was awarded the Mobile & Communications Company of the Year Award by the Technology Council of Southern California. Founded in 2000, the company is privately held and headquartered in Aliso Viejo, Calif., with international offices in Sweden and Spain. More information is available at http://www.networksinmotion.com.
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