Methods and systems for sharing position data and tracing paths between mobile-device users

摘要

A system for exchanging GPS or other position data between devices for purposes of group activities, child location monitoring, work group coordination, dispatching of employees etc. Cell phones and other wireless devices with GPS receivers have loaded therein a Buddy Watch application that communicates with a remote Buddy Watch Server. The server gets or maintains position data for the wireless devices. When the server receives a request from a first device to set up a position-sharing relationship between it and a second device, the server calculates a path between the devices and transmits the path to each device. One or both users can then approach the other along the path. During this process, the server can receive updated position data from one or both devices, and if necessary recalculate the path based on the updated data.