Palm files patent for GPS-based location sharing service
By Jacob Schulman 
posted January 8th 2010 5:42PM
posted January 8th 2010 5:42PM
Palm users looking to be a little more social may not have to wait much longer, as a new patent filing reveals that the company may be working on a Google Latitude-esque location sharing service for their devices. According to the patent, a user would be notified if another user is in the proximity of another one, and it makes mention of sharing location information to social networking sites. Additionally, it alludes to location based reminders, such as reminding you to pick up milk if you're at or near a grocery store. If this sounds familiar, that's because Apple filed a patent for a similar sounding location sharing service very recently. Let's just hope this doesn't lead to another legal spat between the two companies, because it could get pretty ugly, pretty fast... again.
I could see why many people would want this but me personally, I don't want my friends and family knowing where I'm at 24/7 but the driving past a market/milk idea is a good one.
@ZeRoCo0L If you want that, it's been around for years. Just use the iPhone or Android "RememberTheMilk" app.
www.RememberTheMilk.com
This sounds familiar to the app I just released in the Palm app catalog called GeoStrings (http://developer.palm.com/webChannel/index.php?packageid=com.hedami.geostrings) that allows you to set location-based reminders.
I just read the patent and many of the features within my app are within this patent description. This is pretty cool!
@DanPLC
hope you mailed that app to yourself via registered mail after getting it notarized.
@credo
According to the patent linked in this article, it was filed in March '09. I didn't tell Palm about my app idea until October, and my app wasn't released until 12/31/09, so I'm pretty sure I can't wager a legal battle. :)
But still it's pretty cool that the folks at Palm and I both thought of many of the same ideas (multiple locations per task, saved location history, choosing locations from contacts, etc.)
spelling correction: "wage", not "wager"
@DanPLC
nice. Is it as easy to develop for the WebOS platform as Jon claims?
@ilove2smoke
If you're an experienced web developer, then yeah it would be pretty easy. I had to spend some time learning HTML and CSS since I haven't had much experience with web development, but it didn't take too long for me to get into the swing of things.
"Where were you last night honey?"
"I had to work late"
"That's not what my phone says."
@credo
lmao mint!
Actually this sounds a lot like the crappy app Cybiko had in the day for kids.
Not a novel idea at all IMHO. Should not be patentable due to alot of prior work here.
@daveman918: It depends on how the patent is actually worded. You'd be surprised at how many patents you can file on the same general concept. It could very well be for a custom method for triangulating a location based upon another device...patents have to be written very specifically. I've worked for companies that held 50 patents just for one very, very simple technology. Prior art isn't as easy to prove as one might indicate.
Once you've located another Pre, can you squirt files to them?
@UnixSystemsEngineer
Seriously, I don't think it's possible for Microsoft to have coined a more distasteful term for peer to peer sharing like that.
Ballmer: "No see it's great. You just jizz your music from one Zune to the other You just ejaculate it right over there. Give it the old pearl necklace. It's like what I do all over the stage every time I announce a new product. Except you do it to your friends."
Amateur Radio Operators have been doing this for years with APRS. So prior art here? A patent should not be granted for something already done, and pretty much a no brainer.
well...lawyers have to make a living too....
Prior art or not, none of these patents should exist. Patents should not be allowed for end functions, only for the means by which that function is implemented. When the patent office crossed that line, it was the beginning of the end. The idea of patenting, "When John is within 10 meters of Jane, the phone does X" is just silly. Same goes for almost every internet patent.
I like surprises, but Engadget always spoils it for me!
A lot of location-aware apps were discussed when the OpenMoko was being developed, so it's quite possible the openMoko mailing lists can count as prior art - I hope so!
Sorry. This was placed into the public domain many years ago.
See USPTO publication 20020198003:
http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=9JSDAAAAEBAJ&dq=20020198003A1
There are so many possibilities for a feature like this. I personally don't care for knowing where my friends are, though I'd be interested in knowing where nearby Palm devices are for the purpose of multiplayer gaming now that the Pre is getting 3D games.
I'm also very keen on location-based reminders as I often forget stuff when I'm in different places. So having this feature built-in to the webOS would be fab, even though there is an excellent app for it already.