Methods and systems for detecting aggregation events

• US 10,687,167 B1
• Filed: 03/31/2017
• Issued: 06/16/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Groupon Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Groupon Incorporated
• Inventors: Joseph, Anthony
• Primary Examiner(s): Sams, Matthew C
• Application Number:
  US15/476,792
• Time in Patent Office: 1,173 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3423 Multimodal routing, i.e. combining two or more modes of transportation, where the modes can be any of, e.g. driving, walking, cycling, public transport
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3476 using point of interest [POI] information, e.g. a route passing visible POIs
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/362 received from an external device or application, e.g. PDA, mobile phone or calendar application
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3661 Guidance output on an external device, e.g. car radio
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3664 Details of the user input interface, e.g. buttons, knobs or sliders, including those provided on a touch screen; remote controllers; input using gestures
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3679 Retrieval, searching and output of POI information, e.g. hotels, restaurants, shops, filling stations, parking facilities G01C21/3611 takes precedence
• 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 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

In general, embodiments of the present invention provide systems, methods and computer readable media for detecting aggregation events.

Claims

1. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to;

detect first location data from a first mobile device, the first location data detected based on a first internal positioning mechanism of the first mobile device and comprising a first latitude/longitude pair associated with a first location of the first mobile device;

compare the first location data with a plurality of stored locations, each stored location of the plurality of stored locations comprising a latitude/longitude pair, wherein each stored location is associated with a location of a mobile device of a plurality of other mobile devices, and wherein each stored location is detected based on an internal positioning mechanism of the mobile device;

determine that the plurality of stored locations are within a predefined distance of an event location, wherein the event location is determined by identifying, based at least in part on point of interest data, event data, and secondary characteristics associated with the first location, the secondary characteristics comprising user profiles of users associated with mobile devices of the plurality of other mobile devices, the point of interest data comprising a venue associated with the point of interest, and the event data comprising an event schedule associated with the venue;

filter the plurality of stored locations based on velocity data associated with the mobile devices to generate a filtered plurality of stored locations;

generate an aggregation event in response to determining that a threshold number of the filtered plurality of stored locations are within the predefined distance, wherein the aggregation event comprises the event location and the event type; and

generate a virtual perimeter about the event location, the virtual perimeter comprising a plurality of latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

detect second location data from a second mobile device, the second location data detected based on a second internal positioning mechanism of the second mobile device and comprising a second latitude/longitude pair associated with a second location of the second mobile device;

determine that the second location is within the virtual perimeter; and

transmit a notification to the second mobile device.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the notification comprises a device rendered object.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the plurality of stored locations of the plurality of other mobile devices are received from a mobile device carrier in response to a request transmitted to the mobile device carrier.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise determining an event type occurring at the event location.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the operations further comprise taking action based on one or more of the virtual perimeter, the determined event type, and an association between the first mobile device and the event.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein determining the event type comprises parsing one or more of stored event data and stored point of interest data using the event location.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein an event identifier is retrieved from the stored event data.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the stored event data comprises one or more of the event identifier, the event type, an event date and time, and the event location.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

receive a third location and a fourth location from a third mobile device;

determine, based on a difference between the third location and the fourth location, that the third mobile device is moving toward the virtual perimeter; and

transmit a notification to the third mobile device.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the virtual perimeter comprises an array of a plurality of latitude/longitude pairs.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

compare the plurality of latitude/longitude pairs to the plurality of stored locations; and

determine that any one of the plurality of other mobile devices is moving toward the virtual perimeter.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

determine a mode of transportation utilized by any mobile device moving toward the virtual perimeter.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

transmit a notification to a mobile device identified as moving toward the virtual perimeter based at least on the determined mode of transportation and the stored event data.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein determining that at least a threshold number of the plurality of stored locations are within a predefined distance of an event location comprises:

for each stored location of the plurality of stored locations;

generating a distance measure, wherein the distance measure indicates a distance between the stored location and the event location;

comparing each distance measure to the predefined distance;

upon identifying that the distance measure is less than or equal to the predefined distance, incrementing a stored location count; and

comparing the stored location count to the threshold number.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the mode of transportation is one of bus, train, or personal automobile.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the stored event data further comprises weather information.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the weather information is received from the plurality of other mobile devices within the virtual perimeter.

19. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

filter the plurality of stored locations based on density data indicative of a density of the mobile devices at the event location to generate the filtered plurality of stored locations.

20. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

filter the plurality of stored locations based on time data indicative of an amount of time that the mobile devices are within the virtual parameter to generate the filtered plurality of stored locations.