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US 10,931,769 B2Granted
Location-based method and system for requesting and obtaining images
AssigneeStringr Inc.
InventorsBrian Patrick McNeill, Elizabeth J. Stewart
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Technology is disclosed for using geographic information that reflects the current locations for a plurality of image providers to find image providers that are capable of fulfilling image requests from image requesters, where the image requests are associated with various geographic locations. In an example embodiment, the technology can be used to find video footage of news events in a timely and cost-efficient manner.
Claims47
A system for interconnecting a plurality of image providers with an image requester, the system comprising:
- a plurality of mobile computing devices associated with a plurality of image providers, each mobile computing device including a GPS receiver and a mobile application;
- a first computer system associated with an image requester;
- and
- a second computer system for communicating with the mobile computing devices and the first computer system;
- wherein the mobile application, upon execution by its mobile computing device, is configured to, on a repeating basis, (1) interact with its mobile computing device's GPS receiver to determine its current location and (2) wirelessly report its determined current location to the second computer system;
- wherein the second computer system is configured to (1) receive the current locations from the mobile computing devices and (2) maintain a database that tracks a current location for each of the mobile computing devices;
- wherein the first computer system is configured to communicate an image request to the second computer system, the image request including a location and a description of sought image data;
- wherein the second computer system is further configured to automatically (1) determine an image request type characteristic for the image request, (2) access historical data that tracks how image providers have accepted prior image requests as a function of a plurality of types for the accepted prior image requests, (3) filter the mobile computing devices based on filtration criteria, wherein the filtration criteria comprises an estimated propensity of the image providers to accept the image request, wherein the estimated propensity is based on the current locations in the database for the mobile computing devices associated with the image providers and the accessed historical data so that the second computer system uses the historical data that tracks how image providers have accepted prior image requests as a function of a plurality of types for the accepted prior image requests as compared to the determined image request type characteristic as an indicator for assessing the estimated propensity of a plurality of the image providers for accepting the image request, (4) identify a subset of the mobile computing devices in response to the filter, and (5) communicate the image request to the identified subset of mobile computing devices;
- and
- wherein each mobile computing device within the identified subset which received the communicated image request is configured to notify its associated image provider about the received image request.
7 more elements
A system for interconnecting a plurality of GPS-enabled mobile computing devices associated with a plurality of image providers with a plurality of computers associated with a plurality of image requesters, the system comprising:
- a plurality of mobile applications for execution by the GPS-enabled mobile computing devices;
- a plurality of software applications for execution by the image requester computers;
- and
- a server computer system for communication with the mobile applications and the software applications via a communications network;
- wherein the mobile applications are configured to cause the GPS-enabled mobile computing devices to output a plurality of wireless messages that update the server computer system about a current location for the GPS-enabled mobile computing devices on a repeating basis over time as the GPS-enabled mobile computing devices move over time;
- wherein the server computer system is configured to (1) receive the current location messages from the mobile applications and (2) maintain a database that tracks a current location for each of the GPS-enabled mobile computing devices;
- wherein the software applications are configured to cause the image requester computers to communicate a plurality of image requests to the server computer system, each image request including a location and a description of sought image data;
- and
- wherein the server computer system is further configured to, for each received image request, automatically (1) determine an image request type characteristic for the image request, (2) access historical data that tracks how image providers have accepted prior image requests as a function of a plurality of types for the accepted prior image requests, (3) filter the GPS-enabled mobile computing devices based on filtration criteria, wherein the filtration criteria comprises an estimated propensity of the image providers to accept the image request, wherein the estimated propensity is based on the current locations in the database for the mobile computing devices associated with the image providers and the accessed historical data so that the server computer system uses the historical data that tracks how image providers have accepted prior image requests as a function of a plurality of types for the accepted prior image requests as compared to the determined image request type characteristic as an indicator for assessing the estimated propensity of a plurality of the image providers for accepting the image request, (4) identify a subset of the GPS-enabled mobile computing devices in response to the filter, and (5) communicate that image request to the identified subset of GPS-enabled mobile computing devices.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.