Category-based fence

• US 10,462,284 B2
• Filed: 02/22/2019
• Issued: 10/29/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Marti, Lukas M., Ma, Shannon M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Khai M
• Application Number:
  US16/282,662
• Publication Number:
  US 20190191025A1
• Time in Patent Office: 249 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/00 Arrangements for software engineering testing or debugging G06F11/36; administrative, planning or organisation aspects of software project management G06Q10/06
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/445 Program loading or initiating bootstrapping G06F9/4401; security arrangements for program loading or initiating G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4843 by program, e.g. task dispatcher, supervisor, operating system
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management

Abstract

Techniques of category-based fence are described. A category-based fence can correspond to a group of signal sources instead of a point location fixed to latitude and longitude coordinates. The group of signal sources can represent a category of entities, e.g., a particular business chain. The signal sources can be distributed to multiple discrete locations. A category-based fence associated with the group, accordingly, can correspond to multiple locations instead of a single point location and a radius. Each signal source in the group can be associated with a category identifier unique to the group and uniform among signal sources in the group. The category identifier can be programmed into each signal source. A mobile device can enter the category-based fence by entering any of the discrete locations when the mobile device detects the signal identifier. The mobile device can then execute an application program associated with the category-based fence.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting, by a mobile device, a signal from a signal source at a particular location;

determining that a signal source identifier included in the signal matches a category identifier corresponding to a category-based fence, the category-based fence being a location-agnostic virtual fence corresponding to a group of signal sources, the category identifier being common to the group of signal sources;

determining a number of times the signal is detected at the particular location;

upon determining that the signal source identifier matches the category identifier corresponding to the category-based fence and the number of times the signal is detected is at least equal to a threshold number, notifying an application subsystem of the mobile device that the mobile device has entered the category-based fence; and

in response to the notification, activating, on the mobile device, an application program corresponding to the category-based fence.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the mobile device, the application program, including receiving the category identifier in association with the application program; and

upon receiving the category identifier in association with the application program, registering the category identifier for monitoring by the mobile device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the category-based fence is distributed in a plurality of discrete geographic locations, each discrete geographic location including one or more signal sources of the group of signal sources, each of the one or more signal sources being configured to broadcast the signal source identifier, and

wherein notifying the application subsystem that the mobile device has entered the category-based fence further comprises determining that the mobile device has entered one of the discrete geographic locations of the category-based fence.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining that the mobile device has entered one of the discrete geographic locations is based on determining that the mobile device has transitioned from an outdoor state to an indoor state.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

after entering the category-based fence, scanning a plurality of communication channels for signal source broadcasts, including determining one or more signal source identifiers received in each scan;

determining that, for at least a second threshold number of scans, none of the one or more signal source identifiers received in each scan matches the category identifier corresponding to the category-based fence;

in response to determining that none of the one or more signal source identifiers received in each scan matches the category identifier, determining that the mobile device has exited the category-based fence; and

upon determining that the mobile device has exited the category-based fence, exiting the application program.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the category identifier corresponds to a universally unique identifier (UUID) that is unique for the group of signal sources and uniform for each individual signal source in the group of signal sources.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing a representation of the category identifier to be stored on each signal source of the group of signal sources; and

specifying the category-based fence using a plurality of discrete locations, including causing the signal sources of the group of signal sources to be distributed to the discrete locations, wherein a designated communication range of a first signal source located at a first location does not reach a second location where a second signal source is located.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

expanding the category-based fence by adding a new discrete location, wherein adding the new discrete location comprises causing an additional signal source to the group of signal sources, the additional signal source placed at the new discrete location and storing the representation of the category identifier.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the group of signal sources includes at least one of a low energy signal transmitter having a transmission power that is below a transmission power threshold, an IEEE 802.11u wireless beacon, a Bluetooth™

low energy (BLE) device, or a near field communication (NFC) device.

10. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

storage media storing instructions that are operable to cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising;

detecting, by a mobile device, a signal from a signal source at a particular location;

determining that a signal source identifier included in the signal matches a category identifier corresponding to a category-based fence, the category-based fence being a location-agnostic virtual fence corresponding to a group of signal sources, the category identifier being common to the group of signal sources;

determining a number of times the signal is detected at the particular location;

upon determining that the signal source identifier matches the category identifier corresponding to the category-based fence and the number of times the signal is detected is at least equal to a threshold number, notifying an application subsystem of the mobile device that the mobile device has entered the category-based fence; and

in response to the notification, activating, on the mobile device, an application program corresponding to the category-based fence.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, by the mobile device, the application program, including receiving the category identifier in association with the application program; and

upon receiving the category identifier in association with the application program, registering the category identifier for monitoring by the mobile device.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the category-based fence is distributed in a plurality of discrete geographic locations, each discrete geographic location including one or more signal sources of the group of signal sources, each of the one or more signal sources being configured to broadcast the category identifier, and

wherein notifying the application subsystem that the mobile device has entered the category-based fence further comprises determining that the mobile device has entered one of the discrete geographic locations of the category-based fence.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein determining that the mobile device has entered one of the discrete geographic locations is based on determining that the mobile device has transitioned from an outdoor state to an indoor state.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:

after entering the category-based fence, scanning a plurality of communication channels for signal source broadcasts, including determining one or more signal source identifiers received in each scan;

determining that, for at least a second threshold number of scans, none of the one or more signal source identifiers received in each scan matches the category identifier corresponding to the category-based fence;

in response to determining that none of the one or more signal source identifiers received in each scan matches the category identifier, determining that the mobile device has exited the category-based fence; and

upon determining that the mobile device has exited the category-based fence, exiting the application program.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the category identifier corresponds to a universally unique identifier (UUID) that is unique for the group of signal sources and uniform for each individual signal source in the group of signal sources.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:

causing a representation of the category identifier to be stored on each signal source of the group of signal sources; and

specifying the category-based fence using a plurality of discrete locations, including causing the signal sources of the group of signal sources to be distributed to the discrete locations, wherein a designated communication range of a first signal source located at a first location does not reach a second location where a second signal source is located.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the operations comprise:

expanding the category-based fence by adding a new discrete location, wherein adding the new discrete location comprises causing an additional signal source to the group of signal sources, the additional signal source placed at the new discrete location and storing the representation of the category identifier.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the category-based fence is defined independent of a latitude or longitude coordinate.

19. The system of claim 10, wherein the group of signal sources includes at least one of a low energy signal transmitter having a transmission power that is below a transmission power threshold, an IEEE 802.11u wireless beacon, a Bluetooth™

low energy (BLE) device, or a near field communication (NFC) device.

20. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions that are operable to cause one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

detecting, by a mobile device, a signal from a signal source at a particular location;

determining that a signal source identifier included in the signal matches a category identifier corresponding to a category-based fence, the category-based fence being a location-agnostic virtual fence corresponding to a group of signal sources, the category identifier being common to the group of signal sources;

determining a number of times the signal is detected at the particular location;

upon determining that the signal source identifier matches the category identifier corresponding to the category-based fence and the number of times the signal is detected is at least equal to a threshold number, notifying an application subsystem of the mobile device that the mobile device has entered the category-based fence; and

in response to the notification, activating, on the mobile device, an application program corresponding to the category-based fence.

21. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, by the mobile device, the application program, including receiving the category identifier in association with the application program; and

upon receiving the category identifier in association with the application program, registering the category identifier for monitoring by the mobile device.

22. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 20 , wherein the category-based fence is distributed in a plurality of discrete geographic locations, each discrete geographic location including one or more signal sources of the group of signal sources, each of the one or more signal sources being configured to broadcast the category identifier, and

wherein notifying the application subsystem that the mobile device has entered the category-based fence further comprises determining that the mobile device has entered one of the discrete geographic locations of the category-based fence.

23. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 22, wherein determining that the mobile device has entered one of the discrete geographic locations is based on determining that the mobile device has transitioned from an outdoor state to an indoor state.

24. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 20, wherein the operations further comprise:

after entering the category-based fence, scanning a plurality of communication channels for signal source broadcasts, including determining one or more signal source identifiers received in each scan;

determining that, for at least a second threshold number of scans, none of the one or more signal source identifiers received in each scan matches the category identifier corresponding to the category-based fence;

in response to determining that none of the one or more signal source identifiers received in each scan matches the category identifier, determining that the mobile device has exited the category-based fence; and

upon determining that the mobile device has exited the category-based fence, exiting the application program.