ELECTRONICALLY CAPTURING CONSUMER LOCATION DATA FOR ANALYZING CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

• US 20110099047A1
• Filed: 10/22/2010
• Published: 04/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Service Management Group Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Cadio, Inc.
• Inventors: Fulford-Jones, Thaddeus R.F., Volpe, Andrew, Weiss, Eric H.
• Granted Patent: US 9,589,270 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.34
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0202 Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

In embodiments, methods and systems for electronically capturing consumer location data for consumer behavior analysis may be provided. The location data may be gathered for one or more consumers from any suitable source. In some cases, the location data may be gathered using electronic devices associated with consumers, such as mobile phones. The gathered data may be analyzed to determine behavior patterns or other characteristics of the one or more consumers. Further, inferences or predictions about consumers may be derived based on the characteristics. The inferences and predictions may be the basis of consumer analytics supplied to a business or other entity.

Claims

1. A method for obtaining data regarding locations of a plurality of consumers, the method comprising, for each of the plurality of consumers, the act:

operating at least one programmed processor to perform a set of acts, the at least one programmed processor being programmed with executable instructions identifying the set of acts, the set of acts comprising;

(A) assigning, for the consumer, a time interval between attempts to obtain location data for the consumer;

(B) upon expiration of the time interval;

(i) obtaining location data for a current location of the consumer;

(ii) comparing the location data to at least one location for at least one known setting; and

(iii) adjusting the time interval based at least in part on a proximity of the consumer to a known setting; and

(C) assigning the adjusted time interval for the consumer and repeating the act (B)(i) of obtaining and the act (B)(ii) of comparing.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining location data comprises communicating with a wireless device associated with the consumer.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein obtaining location data comprises obtaining a latitude, longitude, and error margin for the latitude and longitude.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

retrieving the at least one location for the at least one known setting from a data set of information regarding points of interest, wherein each setting of the at least one known setting is a point of interest.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the location data for the consumer to the at least one location comprises determining whether the location data indicates that the current location is within a threshold distance of the at least one known setting.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein adjusting the time interval comprises, when the location data indicates that the current location of the consumer is within a threshold distance of the at least one known setting, decreasing the time interval so as to obtain location data more quickly.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein comparing the location data for the consumer to the at least one location comprise determining, based at least in part on the location data and second location data for the consumer, whether the consumer is moving toward or moving away from the at least one known setting.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the comparing comprises:

when the location data indicates that the current location of the consumer is within a threshold distance of the at least one known setting, obtaining the second location data prior to the adjusting; and

determining a direction of movement of the consumer from the location data and the second location data.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein adjusting the time interval comprises, when the consumer is moving toward the at least one known setting, decreasing the time interval and, when the consumer is moving away from the at least one known setting, increasing the time interval.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein assigning the time interval and adjusting the time interval is based at least in part on a current time and past behaviors in which the consumer engaged at that time,

wherein adjusting the time interval comprises, when the consumer does not regularly relocate at that time, increasing the time interval and, when the consumer regularly relocates at that time, decreasing the time interval.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

upon expiration of the adjusted time interval, obtaining new location data for the consumer;

comparing the new location data to the at least one location for the at least one setting; and

adjusting the adjusted time interval based at least in part on proximity of the consumer to the at least one setting.

12. A method for obtaining location data regarding current locations of at least one consumer, the method comprising:

operating at least one programmed processor to perform a set of acts, the at least one programmed processor being programmed with executable instructions identifying the set of acts, the set of acts comprising;

transmitting requests to obtain location data for each of a plurality of consumers, the request being transmitted to an operator of a wireless wide area network providing telecommunications services to the at least one consumer, the wireless wide area network comprising at least one base station and at least one telecommunications device, each of the at least one telecommunications device being associated with a consumer of the at least one consumer;

producing, based at least in part on received location data for the plurality of consumers, inferences and/or predictions relating to the consumers.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting the request to a cellular communications network in communication with at least one cellular telephone that is the at least one telecommunications device.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting the request to an interface of the wireless wide area network by which the wireless wide area network receives requests for location data from particular telecommunications devices, and

wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting the requests each including an identifier related to the particular telecommunications device.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the set of acts further comprises:

analyzing the received location data to determine profile data for each consumer of the plurality of consumers, the profile data comprising at least one characteristic of the consumer, and

wherein producing the inferences and/or predictions comprises producing the inferences and/or predictions based at least in part on profile data for the at least one consumer.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the set of acts further comprises:

producing results of a study relating to an organization, wherein producing the results comprises producing the inferences and/or predictions, and

wherein producing the inferences and/or predictions comprises identifying behaviors of the plurality of consumers with respect to the organization.

17. At least one storage medium encoded with computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform a method for performing consumer analytics, the method comprising:

for each consumer of a plurality of consumers, obtaining location data for a current location of the consumer and comparing the location data to at least one location for at least one known setting to determine a setting corresponding to the location data; and

producing, based at least in part on location data for the plurality of consumers, inferences and/or predictions relating to the plurality of consumers.

18. The at least one storage medium of claim 17, wherein producing the inferences and/or predictions comprises producing the inferences and/or predictions based at least in part on profile data for the at least one consumer.

19. The at least one storage medium of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises, for each consumer of the plurality of consumers, generating the profile data for the consumer by analyzing settings visited by the consumer.

20. The at least one storage medium of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises generating results of a study relating to an organization, wherein the results comprise the inferences and/or predictions, and

wherein producing the inferences and/or predictions comprises identifying behaviors of the plurality of consumers with respect to the organization.