초록 ▼

Spatially associated reminder systems and methods enable users to create reminders and associate those reminders with entering/exiting particular trigger areas. A user's portable computing device triggers an alert/displays a reminder based upon a user entering and/or exiting a trigger area. A user i

Spatially associated reminder systems and methods enable users to create reminders and associate those reminders with entering/exiting particular trigger areas. A user's portable computing device triggers an alert/displays a reminder based upon a user entering and/or exiting a trigger area. A user interface supported by the portable computing device allows a user to terminate the reminder so it will not trigger again, to defer the reminder so it triggers again after an elapsed time, to reset the reminder so that it triggers again only if a user leaves the area and then returns, to request a last chance, causing the portable computing device to remind the user again upon exiting the area to ensure the user did not forget to act upon the reminder, or to edit the reminder. The user interface also enables users to graphically define trigger areas within the physical world to be associated with personal digital reminders using geospatial imagery.

대표청구항 ▼

What is claimed is: 1. A spatially associated personal reminder method, comprising: receiving current locative sensor data, the locative sensor data identifying a physical location of a user's portable computing device; accessing a reminder database containing a personal reminder, wherein each pers

What is claimed is: 1. A spatially associated personal reminder method, comprising: receiving current locative sensor data, the locative sensor data identifying a physical location of a user's portable computing device; accessing a reminder database containing a personal reminder, wherein each personal reminder comprises reminder content and a trigger area relationally associated with the personal reminder, the reminder content identifying one or more tasks the user intends to complete in the future; determining a current entry state of the user with respect to a trigger area that is relationally associated with a personal reminder by comparing the physical location identified within the current locative sensor data with a boundary of the trigger area; accessing a piece of historical data from a memory of the portable computing device, the historical data being used to determine a previous entry state of the user with respect to the trigger area at a just recently past moment in time; assessing whether a trigger event associated with the personal reminder has occurred based at least in part upon the current entry state and the previous entry state; and alerting a user to reminder content relationally associated with the trigger area when a trigger event is determined to have occurred, the alerting being performed via a display of the portable computing device. 2. The spatially associated personal reminder method of claim 1, wherein the trigger event is determined to have occurred when the previous entry state indicates the user was just previously outside the trigger area and wherein the current entry state indicates that the user is currently inside the trigger area. 3. The spatially associated personal reminder method of claim 1, wherein the trigger event is determined to have occurred when the previous entry state indicates the user was just previously inside the trigger area and wherein the current entry state indicates that the user is currently outside the trigger area. 4. The spatially associated personal reminder method of claim 1, wherein a different boundary of the trigger area is used in determining the previous entry state than in determining the current entry state. 5. The spatially associated personal reminder method of claim 4, wherein a size of the boundary depends at least in part on whether the user is currently inside the trigger area. 6. The spatially associated personal reminder method of claim 1, further comprising: authoring the personal reminder based upon the user's engagement with a user interface of the user's portable computing device; and storing the personal reminder in the reminder database. 7. The spatially associated personal reminder method of claim 6, wherein authoring the personal reminder comprises defining the trigger area by: graphically presenting overhead geographic imagery to the user via the display of the portable computing device; graphically representing a boundary of the trigger area over the overhead imagery based upon the user's engagement with the user interface; and converting the graphically represented boundary into a set of coordinates. 8. The spatially associated personal reminder method of claim 1, further comprising updating the reminder content based upon the user's engagement with a user interface of the user's portable computing device. 9. The spatially associated personal reminder method of claim 1, further comprising clearing the displayed reminder content from the display based upon the user's engagement with a user interface of the user's portable computing device. 10. The spatially associated personal reminder method of claim 9, further comprising resetting the personal reminder after an alert has been displayed based upon the user's engagement with the user interface such that the user may be alerted again to the personal reminder only if the user exits the trigger area and then subsequently reenters it. 11. The spatially associated personal reminder method of claim 9, further comprising terminating the personal reminder based upon the user's engagement with the user interface. 12. The spatially associated personal reminder method of claim 9, further comprising, instructing the portable computing device to alert the user again to the reminder content after a defer delay time has elapsed based upon the user's engagement with the user interface. 13. The spatially associated personal reminder method of claim 9, further comprising, subsequent to clearing the reminder content from the display: altering the user again to the reminder content upon a determination that the user has just exited the trigger area associated with the personal reminder. 14. The spatially associated personal reminder method of claim 1, further comprising instructing the portable computing device to alert the user again to the reminder content after exiting the trigger area based upon the user's engagement with the user interface. 15. The spatially associated personal reminder method of claim 1, wherein the reminder database is local to the portable computing device. 16. The spatially associated personal reminder method of claim 1, wherein the reminder database is remote from the portable computing device. 17. The spatially associated personal reminder method of claim 1, wherein the reminder content comprises information represented as at least one of text, audio, one or more images, graphics, and video. 18. The spatially associated personal reminder method of claim 1, wherein the trigger area comprises at least one of a physical area, one or more particular establishments, and one or more particular types of establishments. 19. The spatially associated personal reminder method of claim 1, wherein determining whether a trigger event has occurred comprises determining whether the user's portable computing device is currently outside a boundary of the trigger area that the user's portable computing device was previously determined to be within. 20. The spatially associated personal reminder method of claim 19, wherein the boundary includes a nominal boundary of the trigger area. 21. The spatially associated personal reminder method of claim 19, wherein the boundary includes an exit boundary of the trigger area, the exit boundary extending beyond the nominal boundary by a trigger event adjustment distance. 22. The spatially associated personal reminder method of claim 1, wherein determining whether a trigger event has occurred comprises determining whether the user's portable computing device is currently inside a boundary of the trigger area that the user's portable computing device was previously not determined to be within. 23. The spatially associated personal reminder method of claim 22, wherein the boundary includes a nominal boundary of the trigger area. 24. The spatially associated personal reminder method of claim 22, wherein the boundary includes an entry boundary of the trigger area, the nominal boundary extending beyond the entry boundary by a trigger event adjustment distance. 25. The spatially associated personal reminder method of claim 1, wherein the alerting comprises outputting an audible alarm to attract the user's attention. 26. The spatially associated personal reminder method of claim 1, wherein the personal reminder in the reminder database is also relationally associated with data that indicates whether the reminder should trigger upon entry into a trigger area, exit out of a trigger area, or both entry into and exit out of a trigger area. 27. The spatially associated personal reminder method of claim 1, wherein the assessing step comprises the trigger event requiring that the user remains within the trigger area for more than a certain amount of time.