Location and activity aware content delivery system

Abstract

A location and activity aware content delivery system stores a plurality of instances of media content relating to known locations, and each of the instances of media content that are not generated by a mobile device user at the time the user is engaged in an activity proximate to the known locations. The system detects a current mobile device user location and activity, selects an appropriate stored instance of media content and delivers the selected media content to a friendly user.

I claim: 
     
         1 . A method of delivering media content, comprising:
 maintaining by a content delivery process, running on a computational device connected to a network, a plurality of media content instances each instance of which is associated with an object at a particular location and with a particular mobile communication device user activity;   detecting, by a mobile communication device associated with a first mobile communication device user, information that is indicative of a current location and activity a first user is currently engaged in, and sending this information to the content delivery process running on the computational device;   receiving, by the content delivery process, the information that is indicative of the current location and current activity of the first user and determining that the first user is proximate to an object that corresponds to a known location and identifying at least one instance of media content among the plurality of instances of media content that is associated with the object and that relates to the current activity information; and   delivering, by the content delivery process, the identified at least one instance of media content to a second mobile communication device user.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising identifying the at least one instance of media content based upon one or more preferences selected by the second mobile communication device user. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the one or more preferences selected by the second mobile device user comprise any one or more of a listing of friendly users from which a user will accept content, a listing of the content types the second user will accept, a listing of the times that the second user will accept content, and an listing of the locations at which the second user will accept content. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information indicative of a location is received from an outdoor positioning system, an indoor positioning system or is environmental image information captured by the mobile communication device. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the environmental image information is comprised of one or a sequence of still images or video image information. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the still image information can be three dimensional still image information. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the three dimensional still image information is used to calculate a distance to an identified object of interest comprising the image. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the activity information is comprised of a rate of movement of the first mobile device user, the first mobile device user observing, viewing, reading or studying objects comprising an interior or exterior space proximate to them, attending a sporting event, standing, sitting or walking around in an outdoor environment, and any interaction the first mobile device user has with the mobile communication device. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the media content delivered by the content delivery process to the second mobile communication device user is any one or a combination of textual information, still image information, audio information, and video information relating to the object the second mobile communication device user is proximate to. 
     
     
         10 . A media content delivery system, comprising:
 a media content delivery process running on a computational device that is connected to a network, the content delivery process maintaining a plurality of media content instances each instance of which is associated with an object at a known location and associated with a mobile communication device user activity; and   a plurality of mobile communication devices all of which are connected to the network, and a first one of the plurality of the mobile communication devices operating to receive information that is indicative of a current location and activity associated with a first mobile communication device user, and sending this information over the network to the content delivery process running on the computational device;   wherein the content delivery process operates on the current location information and the current first mobile device user activity information received from the first mobile communication device to determine that the first mobile communication device user is proximate to an object that corresponds to a known location and that the first mobile communication device user is engaged in a particular activity, and identifying at least one instance of media content among the plurality of the instances of media content that is associated with the object at the current location and that relates to the activity the first mobile communication device user is currently engaged in, and delivering the identified at least one instance of media content to a second one of the plurality of the mobile communication devices.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , further comprising the media content delivery process identifying the at least one instance of media content based upon one or more preferences selected by a user of the second one of the plurality of the mobile communication devices. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the one or more preferences selected by a user of the mobile communication device comprises any one or more of a listing of friendly users from which a user will accept content, a listing of the content types the user will accept, a listing of the times that the user will accept content, and an listing of the locations at which the user will accept content. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the information indicative of a current location is received from an outdoor positioning system, an indoor positioning system or is environmental image information captured by the mobile communication device. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the environmental image information is comprised of one or a sequence of still images or video image information. 
     
     
         15 . A media content delivery process running on a computational device connected to a network, comprising:
 a plurality of stored media content instances each instance being associated with a particular object at a known location and associated with a mobile communication device user activity; and   logical instructions that operate on information received from a first mobile communication device over the network that is indicative of a current location and current activity of a first mobile communication device user to determine that the first mobile communication device user is proximate to an object that corresponds to a known location, and to identify at least one instance of media content among the plurality of instances of media content that is associated with the object and that relates to the current activity information, and delivering the identified at least one instance of media content to a second one of the plurality of the mobile communication devices.   
     
     
         16 . The media content delivery process of  claim 15 , further comprising identifying the at least one instance of media content among the plurality of instances of media content based upon one or more preferences selected by a user of the second one of the plurality of the mobile communication devices. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the information indicative of a current location is received from an outdoor positioning system, an indoor positioning system or is environmental image information captured by the mobile communication device. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the mobile communication device user activity information is comprised of a rate of movement of the first mobile communication device, the first mobile communication device user observing, viewing, reading or studying objects comprising an interior or exterior space proximate to them, attending a sporting event, standing, sitting or walking around in an outdoor environment, and any interaction the first mobile device user has with the mobile communication device. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the at least one instance of media content delivered to the second mobile communication device is any one or a combination of textual information, still image information, audio information, and video information relating to the object the second mobile communication device user is proximate to.