LOCATION-BASED NOTIFICATION

• US 20110231493A1
• Filed: 03/16/2010
• Published: 09/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Dyor, Matthew Graham
• Application Number:
  US12/725,402
• Publication Number:
  US 20110231493A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/222 using geographical location information, e.g. messages transmitted or received in proximity of a certain spot or area
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal

Abstract

Location-based notification includes establishment of a rally point and subsequent notification of a user when another user enters the rally point. Senders may set up rally points at various physical locations and specify one or more target recipients that are to be notified when the sender enters the rally point. Target recipients may specify communication settings that dictate whether and/or how they wish to receive notifications under a variety of circumstances. When a sender having a computing device enters a rally point location, a notification is sent from the computing device to a location-based notification service, which notifies each of the target recipients in a manner that complies with the target recipient'"'"'s individual communication settings.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a computing device, configure the processor to perform acts comprising:

receiving, from a sender, a request to establish a rally point, the request including;

an identification of the sender;

a location for the rally point; and

identification of one or more target recipients to be notified when the sender is at the rally point;

establishing a rally point at least partly in response to receiving the request from the sender; and

storing the rally point in memory in association with the location and the identifications of the sender and the one or more target recipients.

2. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the location comprises a geographical coordinate location.

3. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the location comprises a point of interest or street address.

4. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, the acts further comprising:

sending a rally invitation to the one or more target recipients; and

receiving an acceptance of the rally invitation from at least one of the one or more target recipients.

5. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the request to establish the rally point further includes one or more of the following:

a duration that the sender expects to stay at the rally point;

one or more party members expected to be with the sender at the rally point;

a boundary of the rally point; and

a sensitivity of the rally point specifying an amount of time the sender is to be present at the rally point before a notification is sent.

6. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, the acts further comprising receiving a recipient profile from one of the target recipients specifying communication settings for the target recipient.

7. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 6, the recipient profile specifying available communication modes usable to send notifications to the target recipient, and times at which the recipient is available to receive notifications.

8. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 7, the recipient profile further specifying a particular communication mode to be used for a notification, based at least in part on a date and time of the notification and/or a location of the target recipient.

9. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 6, the acts further comprising sending a notification to the target recipient when the sender is at the rally point.

10. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 9, wherein the notification is sent to the target recipient according to the communication settings specified in the recipient profile for the target recipient.

11. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 9, wherein the notification includes a duration that the sender expects to stay at the rally point and/or a list of party members with the sender at the rally point.

12. One or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a computing device, configure the processor to perform acts comprising:

receiving, from a sender, location information identifying a location of the sender;

determining, based on the location information, that the sender is at or en route to a record of a rally point stored in memory; and

sending, based on the determination, a notification to a target recipient to notify the target recipient that the sender is at the rally point or en route to the rally point.

13. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 12, the notification including a duration that the sender expects to stay at the rally point and/or a list of party members with the sender.

14. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein the notification is sent to the target recipient according to communication settings specified in a recipient profile for the target recipient stored in memory.

15. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 12, the acts further comprising:

receiving an acceptance of the notification from the target recipient; and

initiating a communication session between the target recipient and the sender in response to receiving the acceptance of the notification from the target recipient.

16. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 12, the acts further comprising:

receiving location information from the target recipient indicating a location of the target recipient;

determining, based on the location information, that the target recipient is at the rally point or en route to the rally point; and

sending a notification to the sender to notify the sender that the target recipient is at the rally point or en route to the rally point.

17. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 12, the acts further comprising, in response to determining that the target recipient and the sender are both at or en route to the rally point:

prompting the sender to initiate a communication session with the target recipient;

prompting the target recipient to initiate a communication session with the sender;

or

automatically initiating a communication session between the target recipient and the sender.

18. One or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a computing device, configure the processor to perform acts comprising:

monitoring locations of multiple users over time;

determining locations at which the multiple users have met in the past;

generating a rally proposal to propose a rally between the multiple users at one of the determined locations at which the multiple users have met in the past; and

sending the rally proposal to the multiple users.

19. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 18, the rally proposal being based at least in part on:

a time since a last meeting between the multiple users;

schedules of the multiple users in one or more appointment calendars of the multiple users;

a weather forecast;

explicit preferences of the multiple users specified in user profiles of the multiple users; and

/or

implicit preferences based on rallies that the multiple users have attended or declined in the past.

20. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 18, the rally proposal comprising a proposed date, time, and location for the rally.