Now that location awareness is popular in a mainstream sort of way, some of the world’s biggest companies are pumping out location-oriented patents like wildfire. Many of them seem to describe functionality, usually related to mobile phones, similar to other patents by other companies. Most of the time I wonder how some of this stuff can even be patented. But that’s a topic for another day. Google and more often than not Apple are the companies we highlight here when it comes to location-based patents. Today it’s Palm and Research In Motion.
Palm has filed a patent for what GigaOm’s Liz Gannes eloquently refers to as location-based serendipity. The patent, filed in March 2009 but only recently appearing in the United States Patent Office’s online database, refers to a process by which one mobile phone could be notified when another is in the proximity. Basically an alert could be sent to a person’s mobile phone when the mobile phone of a friend is nearby–but neither would otherwise know without the alert. Kind of like Google Latitude or innumerable other location-based social networking alert systems on the market.
Research In Motion at least was a little bit creative with its patent. The patent covers a process by which a Blackberry’s security settings would automatically adjust based on GPS-decided proximity to places such as home or work. If the device is in a location deemed secure, a user could use a short password with a longer timer. In less secure areas, a longer password with a shorter timer would be required. Creating geofences or areas within given geographic areas could be used to control a variety of mobile functions. An example: turning off the ringer on your mobile automatically when you enter the workplace.
