System and method for determining and acting upon a user's association to a zone of relevance

• US 10,198,755 B2
• Filed: 03/07/2016
• Issued: 02/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Workday Incorporated
• Original Assignee: TechnoCom Corporation
• Inventors: Dessouky, Khaled I., Proietti, Mario, Schafer, Brenda C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Saeed, Usmaan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Zhao, Yu
• Application Number:
  US15/063,404
• Publication Number:
  US 20160189251A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,065 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0281 Customer communication at a business location, e.g. providing product or service information, consulting
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42348 Location-based services which utilize the location information of a target
• 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 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for determining a zone of relevance for locating a wireless end-user and making a user notification decision including: storing information related to the enterprise in an enterprise database; storing information related to the end-user in an end-user database; accessing said enterprise and user end databases to extract enterprise and end-user related information; accessing a geographical database to extract geographic information, based on information obtained from the enterprise database; extracting relevant dynamic inputs from external sources via a predefined application programming interface; determining a value for the user notification based on weighting of said extracted information and historical use information; determining a zone of relevance for the wireless end-user; and notifying a user, wherein notifying the user meets predetermined criteria for the determined value of notification.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for an enterprise to decide whether and how to transmit an electronic notification to a mobile end user device within an area of interest to the enterprise, the method comprising:

performing a coarse location estimate of the mobile end user device to determine an area where the mobile end user device is likely to be relative to said area of interest to the enterprise;

determining a value for said electronic notification by assigning individual values to information obtained from an enterprise database, a geographic information database, and historical information;

calculating a weighted average of values assigned to said obtained information;

determining whether an end user using the mobile end user device has consented to being located more precisely than the coarse location estimate;

assigning a lower value to said electronic notification when said user has not consented to being located more precisely and assigning a higher value to said electronic notification when said user has consented to being located more precisely;

determining the applicable location determination methods to more precisely locate said mobile end user device;

determining costs associated with each said determined applicable location determination methods;

determining available communication methods to transmit said electronic notification to said mobile end user device, wherein the available communication methods comprise of one or more of a voice call, a text message, a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message, an e-mail, and a wireless application protocol push;

determining cost associated with each of the determined available communication methods, based on information in the enterprise database, the end-user database, and the geographic information database;

locating said mobile end user device more precisely than the coarse location estimate using one or more applicable location determination methods for which the value of said electronic notification exceeds the cost of said one or more applicable location determination methods; and

transmitting said electronic notification to the mobile end user device using one or more available communication methods for which the value of said electronic notification exceeds the cost of said one or more available communication methods.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the enterprise is a provider or user of one or more of mobile marketing, workforce management, asset tracking, transportation, emergency alerting, call centers, banking, and fraud detection.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the enterprise database includes identification information of the enterprise, enterprise type, service objectives, and service rules.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the enterprise service rules includes cost constraints, information latency requirements, privacy rules and user consent rules.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the end-user database includes an enterprise affiliation, key addresses, interests, habits, income category, and preferences.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the end-user preferences includes a chosen method to consent to being located, constraints on the location, and preferred notification methods.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the geographic database includes information on area morphology and density, demographics, point of interest to the enterprise, traffic patterns, and climate.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the determined available wireless location methods are one or more of cell ID, enhanced cell ID, signal strength, WiFi proximity, network based triangulation, standalone GPS, and assisted GPS.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining a value for said electronic notification further comprises assigning individual values to external inputs from third parties comprising one or more of a wireless carrier, a weather service, a traffic service, and a pricing service.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether an end user using the mobile end user device has consented to being located more precisely is based on information in an end-user database or a received consent from the user.