Geofence based on members of a population

• US 10,575,125 B2
• Filed: 08/07/2019
• Issued: 02/25/2020
• 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:
  US16/534,787
• Publication Number:
  US 20190364383A1
• Time in Patent Office: 202 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 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 boundary of the geofence.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving contextual information and geographic location data relating to a plurality of members of a population within a geographic region, the contextual information further relating to a mobile device associated with a first member of the plurality of members of the population;

identifying a common element in the received contextual information relating to the first member and a second member of the population as a basis for defining a boundary of a geofence;

determining, based on the common element, a specified population size of members to be included within the geofence;

defining the boundary of the geofence based on the specified population size and the geographic location data; and

causing a task to be performed on the mobile device based on detecting that the mobile device is within the geofence.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the contextual information comprises one or more environmental conditions relating to the plurality of members of the population.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the contextual information identifies one or more of a current activity pertaining to the first member and the second member, or a past activity pertaining to the first member and the second member.

4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the contextual information identifies an event that is attended by one or more of the members of the population, and wherein the common element indicates that the first member and the second member are attending the event.

5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the common element comprises a common user attribute included in the contextual information, the specified population size is based on a defined number of recipients having the common user attribute specified for an instance of content, and wherein said causing the task to be performed comprises causing the instance of content to be delivered to the mobile device.

6. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said identifying the common element comprises comparing the received contextual information from the first member and the second member to a defined range of contextual information, and determining that common element occurs within the defined range.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said defining further comprises defining the boundary of the geofence based on a specified density of members.

8. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said defining the boundary of the geofence comprises one or more of defining the boundary of the geofence as a set of geographical coordinates, or defining the boundary of the geofence as a bounding box of geographical coordinates.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said defining the boundary of the geofence comprises defining the boundary of the geofence as a geometric shape anchored by one or more geographic coordinates.

10. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said defining the boundary of the geofence further comprises defining the boundary to exclude at least one other member of the population.

11. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an indication of a change in the contextual information relating to the second member of the population; and

redefining the boundary of the geofence to exclude the second member.

12. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a machine readable memory device including instructions that are executable by the one or more processors to perform operations including;

identifying a common element in received contextual information relating to a first member and a second member of a population as a basis for defining a boundary of a geofence;

determining, based on the common element, a specified population size of members to be included within the geofence;

defining the boundary of the geofence based on the specified population size; and

causing a task to be performed on a mobile device based on detecting that the mobile device is within the geofence.

13. A system as recited in claim 12, wherein said defining the boundary of the geofence comprises one or more of:

defining the boundary of the geofence as a set of geographical coordinates;

or

defining the boundary of the geofence as a bounding box of geographical coordinates.

14. A system as recited in claim 12, wherein said defining the boundary of the geofence further comprises defining the boundary to exclude the first member of the population based on detecting a change in one or more of a geolocation of the first member or the contextual information relating to the first member.

15. A system as recited in claim 12, wherein the operations further include:

receiving further contextual information relating to a third member of the population;

identifying the common element in the further contextual information; and

redefining the boundary of the geofence to include the third member.

16. A system as recited in claim 12, wherein the task comprises authorizing one or more of the first member or the second member for access to a group account.

17. A system as recited in claim 12, wherein the operations further include receiving geographical location data pertaining to the first member and the second member, and wherein the task comprises delivering an instance of content targeted to a location identified by the geographical location data to the mobile device.

18. A method comprising:

identifying a common element in received contextual information relating to a first member and a second member of a population as a basis for defining a boundary of a geofence;

determining, based on the common element and a specified target population for an instance of content, a specified population size of members to be included within the geofence;

defining the boundary of the geofence based on the specified population size; and

causing the instance of content to be delivered to a mobile device based on detecting that the mobile device is within the geofence.

19. A method as recited in claim 18, further comprising:

receiving geographical location data pertaining the first member and second member; and

identifying a geographical location indicated by the geographical location data, wherein said causing the instance of content to be delivered to the mobile device is based on the instance of content being targeted to the geographical location.

20. A method as recited in claim 18, further comprising receiving geographical location data pertaining the first member and second member, wherein said defining the boundary is based on a set of geographic coordinates included in the geographical location data.