US 2,003,220,835 · Filed 2002-05-23

The 2002 Blueprint for Location-Based Mobile Shopping

Imagine a phone that knows where you are and uses that information to show you nearby stores, help you pay for stuff wirelessly, and deliver ads tailored to your location. This patent describes the core system that makes location-aware mobile commerce possible — combining GPS-like location data with payment processing and personalized offers all in one device.

Curated and verified by the IsItPatented Editorial team

The plain-English version

What it protects

The patent covers a mobile device system that integrates location tracking, wireless payment capability, and targeted advertising delivery. What's protected here is the combination of hardware modules (a processor, storage, display, audio input/output, communications, and a location module) working together with software that detects where the user is, identifies nearby vendors meeting specific criteria, facilitates wireless transactions with those vendors, and delivers location-triggered ads and services. The claims extend to the method of restricting device usage based on authorized user parameters and maintaining simultaneous wireless voice and data connections while performing these location-based commerce functions.

Why it matters

This patent represents an early conceptual foundation for mobile location-based services and mobile commerce, filed in 2002 — before the iPhone existed and when mobile data was still emerging. The breadth of the system design (location detection, payment processing, vendor identification, wireless advertising, and user authentication all integrated) anticipates the mobile ecosystem that would dominate the next two decades. It captures the core idea of turning a mobile device into a location-aware shopping and information platform, which became central to how companies monetize mobile apps and consumer behavior online.

Real-world use

When your phone suggests a nearby coffee shop as you walk past it, or shows you a discount offer tailored to stores in your area, you're encountering the kind of location-commerce integration this patent laid out.

Original USPTO abstract

A system, method, apparatus and computer program product for providing location based functions and mobile e-commerce comprising a central processing unit including a processor, a storage device, and programming stored in the storage device, a display device, an audio input device, an audio output device, a communications module, a commerce module, an image module, and a location module. The programming controls the operation of the present invention to provide functions based on location data, to facilitate commercial exchanges by wirelessly exchanging payment and product information with venders, to identify services such as venders meeting selection criteria, to wirelessly exchange select information with other users and systems, to restrict and/or monitor the use of the device based on authorized user parameters, selecting one of a plurality networks through which to communicate, detecting a trigger for performing an action based on a change in location and sensed data, storing a voice annotation with a computer data file, determining service providers and associated communication parameters, contemporaneously maintaining a wireless voice and data link, providing a system for selecting and delivering mobile advertisements, and many other functions and services that are described herein.

Patent details

Publication number: US 2,003,220,835
Filing date: 2002-05-23
Grant date: Application — not yet granted
Assignee: Barnes Melvin L.
Inventor(s): BARNES MELVIN L.
CPC class: G06F3/167

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