Dynamic geofence based on members within

• US 10,405,136 B2
• Filed: 12/08/2017
• Issued: 09/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Zises, Matthew Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Hua, Quan M
• Application Number:
  US15/835,844
• Publication Number:
  US 20180109919A1
• Time in Patent Office: 634 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• 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 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method comprises receiving, via a mobile station, contextual information or geographic location data relating to a plurality of members of the population within the geographic region, identifying a common element in the received contextual information relating to at least two members of the population as a basis for defining a first boundary of the geofence to include the at least two members, wherein the common element is identified upon a comparison of the first and second contextual information, and defining the first boundary of the geofence.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

one or more computer processors communicably associated with a mobile station deployable into a geographic region of a network-based system, the mobile station being configured to facilitate definition of a boundary of a geofence surrounding a population of members connected to the network-based system located within the geographic region; and

at least one module, executable on the one or more computer processors, to perform operations comprising, at least;

receive contextual information and geographic location data relating to a plurality of members of the population within the geographic region;

identify a common element in the received contextual information relating to at least two members of the population as a basis for defining a first boundary of the geofence to include the at least two members, wherein the type of common element is dynamically determined after receiving the contextual information, and is identified upon a comparison of the contextual information of the at least two members;

define the first boundary of the geofence based on the common element; and

cause an application running on the mobile station to trigger a pre-defined task on the mobile station based on detecting a presence of the mobile station within the geofence.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise monitoring an aspect of the common element included in the received contextual information and adjusting the boundary of the geofence based on a change in the aspect.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise monitoring the geolocation of one or more of the members and adjusting the boundary of the geofence based on a change in the geolocation.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise identifying a population size of members connected to the network-based system to be included within the defined geofence, the population size based on an identification of the common element in received contextual information relating to at least one member of the population and the received contextual information relating to the plurality of members.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the plurality of members are included in the population.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the operations further comprise monitoring the contextual information relating to the plurality of members, and redefining the boundary of the geofence based on a change in the contextual information or a desired population size to be included with the geofence.

7. The system of claim 4, wherein the operations further comprise redefining the boundary of the geofence based on one or more of an identified change in a geolocation of one or more members or the contextual information relating to at least one member of the population, or a change to the plurality of members.

8. The system of claim 4, wherein the operations further comprise redefining the boundary of the geofence to include at least one new member in the population, the inclusion based on a geolocation of the at least one new member, or an identification of a common element in received contextual information relating to the at least one new member and the contextual information relating to at least one other member of the population.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise monitoring the contextual information or geolocation relating to the plurality of members, and dynamically redefining the boundaries of the geofence based on movement of one or more of the members within a geographic region of the networked-based system, or an identified change in the contextual information relating to the one or more of the members.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise defining a boundary for the geofence based on a predetermined distance between respective geolocations of a first member and a second member of the plurality of members.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein the pre-defined task comprises the application presenting an instance of content that is determined to be relevant to a geographic location within the geofence.

11. A method comprising, at least:

receiving contextual information and geographic location data relating to a plurality of members of a population within a geographic region and to a mobile station associated with at least one member of the plurality of members of the population;

identifying a common element in the received contextual information relating to at least two members of the population as a basis for defining a first boundary of the geofence to include the at least two members, wherein the type of common element is dynamically determined after receiving the contextual information, and is identified upon a comparison of the contextual information of the at least two members;

defining the first boundary of the geofence based on the common element; and

causing an instance of content to be provisioned to the mobile station in response to detecting the mobile station within the geofence.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising monitoring an aspect of the common element included in the contextual information and adjusting the boundary of the geofence based on a change in the aspect.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising identifying a population size of members of the population to be included within the defined geofence, the population size based on an identification of the common element in received contextual information relating to the at least one member of the population and the received contextual information relating to the plurality of members of the population.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the boundary of the geofence is defined based on a geolocation of the at least one member.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising monitoring the contextual information relating to the plurality of members or the at least one member, and redefining the boundary of the geofence based on a change in the contextual information or a desired population size to be included with the geofence.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising redefining the boundary of the geofence based on an identified change in the geolocation or the contextual information relating to the at least one member of the population, or to the plurality of members.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the geofence is defined relative to a specific geographic location within the geographic region, and wherein the instance of content is determined to be relevant to the specific geographic location.

17. A machine readable memory device, including instructions, which when performed by a machine, causes the machine to perform operations including, at least:

receiving contextual information and geographic location data relating to a plurality of members of a population within a geographic region and to a mobile station associated with at least one member of the plurality of members of the population;

identifying a common element in the received contextual information relating to at least two members of the population as a basis for defining a first boundary of a geofence to include the at least two members, wherein the type of common element is dynamically determined after receiving the contextual information, and is identified upon a comparison of the contextual information of the at least two members;

defining the first boundary of the geofence based on the common element;

determining that the mobile station is within the geofence defined at least in part by the first boundary, and that the geofence is associated with a group account; and

authorizing the mobile station to perform an action associated with the group account based on the mobile station being detected within the geofence.

20. The machine readable memory device of claim 17, wherein the group account comprises a group payment account, and wherein the action comprises processing a payment against the group payment account.