Location-based service zone management for a geographic region

• US 10,104,605 B1
• Filed: 05/22/2017
• Issued: 10/16/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Parshin, Sergey, Ducrou, Jon Robert, Hapgood, Ryan, Liu, Qiwei, Smith, Raymond, Sutula, James Michael, Winters, Benjamin
• Primary Examiner(s): Milord, Marceau
• Application Number:
  US15/601,508
• Time in Patent Office: 512 Days
• Field of Search: 455457, 4554563, 4554561, 4554042
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/28 with correlation of data from several navigational instruments
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/34 Route searching; Route guidance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0259 based on store location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0044 of quality context information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/13 Cell handover without a predetermined boundary, e.g. virtual cells
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/022 with dynamic range variability
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/04 based on user or terminal location or mobility data, e.g. moving direction, speed
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service

Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments for managing location-based service zones. Specifically, a dynamically sized geographic region surrounding a client device location can be created. Location-based service zones within the geographic region can be selected. If the amount of location-based service zones identified within the geographic region exceed a client-supported limit, a subset of location-based service zones are selected and sent to the client device for monitoring.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodying a program executable in at least one computing device, wherein when executed the program causes the at least one computing device to at least:

receive a location-based service zone request from a client device;

determine a geographic region relative to a client device location of the client device, the geographic region having a predefined radius and a center at the client device location;

identify a plurality of location-based service zones within the geographic region, individual location-based service zones of the plurality of location-based service zones comprising at least one of a geofence or a beacon;

determine that a quantity of the location-based service zones meets or exceeds a client-supported threshold;

select a subset of the plurality of location-based service zones within the geographic region based at least in part on at least one of the client-supported threshold, whether a respective service associated with individual location-based service zones is targeted to a single user or multiple users, an active status of the individual location-based service zones, or an opt-in status by the client device for the respective service; and

send data encoding an identification of the subset of the plurality of location-based service zones and geographic parameters of the geographic region to the client device.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein sending the data encoding the identification of the subset of the plurality of location-based service zones comprises:

sending one or more geofence coordinates for at least one of the subset of the plurality of location-based service zones;

or

sending a beacon identifier for at least one of the subset of location-based service zones.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein when executed the program further causes the at least one computing device to at least:

receive an update of a particular location-based service zone from a provider device;

modify the subset of the plurality of location-based service zones based at least in part on the update of the particular location-based service zone; and

send data encoding a modification of the subset of the plurality of location-based service zones to the client device.

4. A system, comprising:

at least one computing device; and

an active zone management system executable in the at least one computing device, wherein when executed the active zone management system causes the at least one computing device to at least;

identify a plurality of location-based service zones within a geographic region encompassing a client device location of a client device;

determine that a quantity of location-based service zones within the geographic region does not meet or exceed a maximum threshold, wherein determining that the quantity of location-based service zones within the geographic region does not meet or exceed the maximum threshold further comprises;

selecting a subset of the plurality of location-based service zones of a particular size to be sent to the client device based at least in part on at least one of;

whether a respective service associated with individual location-based service zones targets a specific user or multiple users, a respective active status of the individual location-based service zones, or an opt-in status by the client device for the respective service, the particular size being based at least in part on the maximum threshold; and

send data encoding an identification of the plurality of location-based service zones to the client device.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the maximum threshold is based at least in part on a number of location-based service zones supported by the client device.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein, when executed, the active zone management system further causes the at least one computing device to at least:

detect a change in a particular location-based service zone of the subset of the plurality of location-based service zones; and

send a push notification to the client device in response to detecting the change.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein, when executed, the active zone management system further causes the at least one computing device to at least detect that the client device has moved outside of the geographic region.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein, when executed, the active zone management system further causes the at least one computing device to at least:

determine another geographic region based at least in part on detecting that the client device is outside the geographic region; and

identify a new plurality of location-based service zones based at least in part on the other geographic region; and

send data encoding a new identification of the new plurality of location-based service zones to the client device.

9. The system of claim 4, wherein at least one of the location-based service zones comprises a geofence, and sending the data encoding the identification of the at least one of the location-based service zones comprises sending the identification of one or more geofence coordinates.

10. The system of claim 4, wherein at least one of the location-based service zones comprises a beacon, and sending the data encoding the identification of the at least one of the location-based service zones comprises sending the identification of a beacon identifier.

11. The system of claim 4, wherein the data is sent to the client device via a push notification.

12. The system of claim 4, wherein when executed, the active zone management system further causes the at least one computing device to at least receive information identifying the plurality of location-based service zones from a plurality of service providers.

13. The system of claim 4, wherein, when executed, the active zone management system further causes the at least one computing device to at least receive a request from the client device for an active zone of location-based service zones, the plurality of location-based service zones being identified in response to receiving the request.

14. A method, comprising:

determining, via the at least one computing device, a geographic region encompassing a client device location;

expanding, via the at least one computing device, the geographic region in response to failing to identify at least one location-based service zone;

identifying, via the at least one computing device, a plurality of location-based service zones within the expanded geographic region;

determining, via the at least one computing device, that a quantity of location-based service zones within the expanded geographic region fails to meet or exceed a maximum threshold, wherein determining that the quantity of location-based service zones fails to meet or exceed the maximum threshold further comprises;

selecting a subset of the plurality of location-based service zones of a particular size to be sent to a client device based at least in part on at least one of;

whether a respective service associated with individual location-based service zones targets a specific user or multiple users, a respective active status of the individual location-based service zones, or an opt-in status by the client device for the respective service, the particular size being based at least in part on the maximum threshold; and

sending, via the at least one computing device, data encoding an identification of the subset of the plurality of location-based service zones to the client device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein a first one of the at least one location-based service zones comprises at least one geofence and a second one of the at least one location-based service zones comprises at least one beacon.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising determining, via the at least one computing device, the quantity of location-based service zones within the geographic region.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the geographic region is determined based at least in part on a predefined range of region sizes having a minimum size and a maximum size, and wherein expanding the geographic region further comprises expanding the geographic region to not exceed the maximum size.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the geographic region comprises an active zone, and the active zone expires relative to a predetermined period of time.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising sending a push notification to the client device in response to the active zone expiring.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the maximum threshold is based at least in part on a client supported threshold.