Source switching for devices supporting dynamic direction information

Abstract

With the addition of directional information in the environment, a variety of service(s) can be provided on top of user identification or interaction with specific object(s) of interest by pointing at the objects. Sometimes either the device user and/or the publishers of content cannot complete a content exchange due to connectivity to data or services becoming lost. A device provisioned for pointing or direction based services losing connectivity to a first network while engaging pointing based services. In response, one or more other sources for the pointing based services are identified on a second network or device to which the device can connect and the device automatically connects to the second network or device to receive the pointing based services, or data for use with the pointing based services (e.g., GPS information, point of interest data, direction data, etc.), from the one or more other sources.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computing system comprising:
 at least one processor; and   one or more storage device having stored computer executable instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, implement a method for obtaining point of interest information for a device, the method comprising:
 receiving point of interest data from a first source that is presented to the device, based on pointing information associated with at least one direction of the device, the point of interest data being received from the first source through a first network connection; 
 detecting that the device has lost connectivity to the first source through the first network connection; 
 identifying a second source of the point of interest data, to which the device can connect via a second network connection that is different than the first network connection; and 
 using a network switching controller and interface to automatically connect the device to the second source through the second network connection to enable receipt of the point of interest data from the second source in direct response to losing connectivity to the first source through the first network connection. 
   
     
     
         2 . The computing system of  claim 1 , wherein the identifying includes automatically searching for an on-site data store of point of interest information pertaining locally to the device. 
     
     
         3 . The computing system of  claim 1 , wherein the identifying includes automatically searching for a data store of point of interest information pertaining to points of interest of a physical structure where the device is located. 
     
     
         4 . The computing system of  claim 1 , wherein the identifying includes automatically identifying at least one other computing device having stored thereon point of interest data. 
     
     
         5 . The computing system of  claim 4 , further comprising requesting permission to receive the point of interest data from the at least one other computing device. 
     
     
         6 . The computing system of  claim 1 , wherein the identifying includes automatically identifying at least one other computing device having access to point of interest data to which the at least one other computing device can connect via a third network connection. 
     
     
         7 . The computing system of  claim 1 , wherein the point of interest data provided by the second source is specifically related to the second source the same point of interest data. 
     
     
         8 . The computing system of  claim 1 , wherein the losing connectivity includes losing connectivity to a long range wireless communications network and the identifying includes identifying a short range wireless communications network, the long range wireless communications network overlapping a geographic area surrounding an area defined by the short range wireless communications network. 
     
     
         9 . The computing system of  claim 8 , wherein the losing connectivity includes losing connectivity to a mobile device communications network and the identifying includes identifying at least one other source of point of interest data to which the device can connect via Bluetooth. 
     
     
         10 . A portable electronic device, comprising:
 a memory that stores at least information related to at least direction information representing information pertaining to orientation of the device, position information representing information pertaining to location of the device and point of interest information representing information pertaining to points of interest substantially within interactive range of the device;   a positional component for receiving the position information as a function of a location of the portable electronic device;   a directional component that measures the direction information as a function of an orientation of the portable electronic device; and   a switching component that automatically switches among at least two sources that are remotely located from the portable electronic device for the position information in response to determining that a first source that is providing position information to the portable electronic device has stopped delivering the position information to the device and wherein the switching component is configured to select a new source from the at least two sources based at least in part on a power setting of the device.   
     
     
         11 . The device of  claim 10 , wherein the switching component is further configured to switch among the at least two sources for the direction information when the first source of is detected to not be operating. 
     
     
         12 . The device of  claim 10 , wherein the switching component is further configured to switch among the at least two sources for the point of interest information when the first source indicates point of interest information is unavailable. 
     
     
         13 . The device of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 at least one processor configured to process the position information and the direction information to determine at least one identifier of at least one point of interest within scope of the device, to receive information corresponding to the at least one identifier of the at least one point of interest, and to display information when the device interacts with the at least one point of interest with the device.   
     
     
         14 . The device of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 at least one processor configured to process the position information and the direction information to determine at least one identifier of at least one point of interest within scope of the device, to receive advertisement content corresponding to the at least one identifier of the at least one point of interest, and to render the advertisement content when the device interacts with the at least one point of interest with the device.   
     
     
         15 . The device of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 a pointer that visually indicates the orientation of the portable electronic device based upon which the directional component outputs the direction information.   
     
     
         16 . The device of  claim 10 , wherein the directional component is a digital compass that outputs the direction information. 
     
     
         17 . A computing system comprising:
 at least one processor; and   one or more storage device having stored computer executable instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, implement a method comprising:
 determining, by the device, direction information as a function of a direction for the device; 
 determining position information as a function of a position for the device; 
 the device detecting a failure of an internal component of the device; 
 the device, in response to detecting the failure of the internal component of the device, automatically identifying at least one source remote from the device that is capable of providing one or more services that were previously provided by the internal component that has the detected failure; and 
 the device, automatically in response to detecting the failure, connecting to the at least one source remote from the device to obtain the one or more services. 
   
     
     
         18 . The computing system of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 determining motion information as a function of movement of the device, wherein the one or more services includes pointing based services that are based on the direction information, position information and the motion information.   
     
     
         19 . The computing system of  claim 17 , wherein the connecting includes automatically connecting to a nearby device that hosts pointing based services. 
     
     
         20 . The computing system of  claim 17 , wherein the internal component is an internal compass.