Access to applications of an electronic processing device solely based on geographic location

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Referring to the Drawing, wherein like numbers denote like parts throughout the several views, FIG.
1 shows a high-level block diagram of an electronic processing device 100, consistent with the preferred embodiment.
Electronic processing device 100 may comprise a central processing unit (CPU) 105, memory 110, I/O controller and interface 115, network and/or Internet interface 120, and geographic processing electronics 125 connected to a receiving antenna 130.
Geographic processing electronics 125 and receiving antenna 130 may be integrated as in a GPS PCMCIA card such as that disclosed in U.
S.
Pat.
No.
5,861,841 entitled Compact GPS Receiver/Processor to Gildea et al.
The various devices communicate with each other via internal communications bus 135 which supports transfer of data, commands and other information between different devices; while shown in simplified form as a single bus, it is typically structured as multiple buses; and may be arranged in a hierarchical form.
CPU 105 may be a programmable processor, executing instructions stored in memory 110; while a single CPU 105 is shown in FIG.
1, it should be understood that electronic processing systems having multiple CPUs could be used.
Memory 110 is a random-access semiconductor memory for storing data and programs; memory is shown conceptually as a single monolithic entity, it being understood that memory may be arranged in a hierarchy of caches and other memory devices.
Operating system 140 and applications 145 reside in memory 110.
Operating system 140 provides, inter alia, functions, such as device interfaces, management of memory pages, management of multiple tasks, etc.
as is known in the art.
Applications 145 may include a browser which provides a user-interface to the world wide web through the network/Internet interface 120.
Some applications 145 including the browser may be integrated into operating system 140.
I/O controller 115 may support the attachment of a single or multiple terminals, and may be implemented as one or multiple electronic circuit cards, adapters, or other units, one of which may be a display adapter to support video display 150, which may be a cathode-ray tube display or a touch panel, although other display technologies may be used