ADJUSTING A PROCESS FOR VISIT DETECTION BASED ON LOCATION DATA

• US 20120330722A1
• Filed: 06/27/2012
• Published: 12/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Service Management Group Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Cadio, Inc.
• Inventors: Volpe, Andrew, Weiss, Eric H., Fulford-Jones, Thaddeus R.F.
• Granted Patent: US 9,576,295 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/7.32
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0202 Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates

Abstract

A method and system for adjusting a process for identifying settings visited by a consumer based at least in part on electronically-derived consumer location data. A method and system are provided for gathering location data for consumers and identifying points of interest (POIs) visited by the consumers based on the location data. Based on a comparison of settings identified by a process to settings that are identified in data collected from external data sources, the system may determine whether to adjust the visit detection process. The system may adjust the visit detection process by adjusting a way in which settings are defined in a data set, by adding or removing settings from a data set, and/or by changing a manner in which the visit detection process determines whether a location corresponds to a setting in the data set.

Claims

1. A method of operating a consumer analytics system in which information about consumers is generated at least in part based on applying a visit detection process to location data relating to one or more consumers, to identified settings visited by the one or more consumers, the method comprising:

receiving input provided by a consumer identifying a setting visited by the consumer at a time;

obtaining information identifying a physical location of the consumer at the time; and

adjusting, using at least one processor and based at least in part on the input provided by the consumer and the physical location of the consumer, the visit detection process for identifying settings visited by the plurality of consumers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the process for identifying settings comprises adjusting, using the at least one processor, at least one variable used to determine, based on physical location, whether a consumer has visited a setting.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein adjusting the at least one variable comprises calculating a new value for a variable based at least in part on the input provided by the consumer and the physical location of the consumer.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein:

the process for identifying settings corresponding to physical locations comprises;

determining, based on the physical location, a likelihood that the consumer visited the setting, and

when the likelihood is above a threshold, storing information indicating that the consumer visited the setting; and

calculating the new value for the variable comprises calculating a new value for the threshold.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the process for identifying settings corresponding to physical locations comprises determining whether a physical location of a consumer corresponds to one of a plurality of settings; and

adjusting the process comprises adding, using the at least one processor, a new setting to the plurality of settings based at least in part on the input provided by the consumer.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the process for identifying settings corresponding to physical locations comprises determining whether a physical location of a consumer corresponds to one of a plurality of settings; and

adjusting the process comprises removing, using the at least one processor, one of the plurality of settings based at least in part on the input provided by the consumer.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the process for identifying settings corresponding to physical locations comprises determining whether a physical location of a consumer corresponds to a location of one of a plurality of settings;

each setting of the plurality of settings is associated with information defining the setting; and

adjusting the process comprises changing information identifying the setting visited by the consumer.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein:

the process for identifying settings corresponding to physical locations comprises;

comparing a physical location of a consumer to location boundaries defining an area of a setting, and

identifying that the physical location corresponds to the setting based at least in part on whether a result of the comparing indicates that the physical location of the consumer falls within the location boundaries for the setting; and

adjusting the process comprises revising the location boundaries defining the area of the setting based at least in part on the physical location

9. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the input provided by the consumer comprises receiving, from a data source of a social networking service, information provided by the consumer to the social networking service identifying the setting visited by the consumer.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

issuing a prompt to the consumer to provide the input,

wherein receiving the input comprises receiving the input in response to the prompt.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, via at least one processor carrying out the process and based on the physical location of the consumer, a probable setting visited by the consumer; and

comparing the probable setting visited by the consumer to the setting visited by the consumer identified in the input,

wherein the adjusting is performed based at least in part on a result of the comparing.

20. The at least one storage medium of claim 1, wherein receiving the input provided by the consumer comprises receiving, from a data source of a social networking service, information provided by the consumer to the social networking service identifying the setting visited by the consumer.

12. At least one storage medium having encoded thereon executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out a method of operating a consumer analytics system in which information about consumers is generated at least in part based on applying a visit detection process to location data relating to one or more consumers, to identified settings visited by the one or more consumers, the method comprising:

receiving input provided by a consumer identifying a setting visited by the consumer at a time;

obtaining information identifying a physical location of the consumer at the time; and

adjusting, using at least one processor and based at least in part on the input provided by the consumer and the physical location of the consumer, the visit detection process for identifying settings visited by the plurality of consumers.

13. The at least one storage medium of claim 12, wherein adjusting the process for identifying settings comprises adjusting, using the at least one processor, at least one variable used to determine, based on physical location, whether a consumer has visited a setting.

14. The at least one storage medium of claim 13, wherein adjusting the at least one variable comprises calculating a new value for a variable based at least in part on the input provided by the consumer and the physical location of the consumer.

15. The at least one storage medium of claim 14, wherein:

the process for identifying settings corresponding to physical locations comprises;

determining, based on the physical location, a likelihood that the consumer visited the setting, and

when the likelihood is above a threshold, storing information indicating that the consumer visited the setting; and

calculating the new value for the variable comprises calculating a new value for the threshold.

16. The at least one storage medium of claim 12, wherein:

the process for identifying settings corresponding to physical locations comprises determining whether a physical location of a consumer corresponds to one of a plurality of settings; and

adjusting the process comprises adding, using the at least one processor, a new setting to the plurality of settings based at least in part on the input provided by the consumer.

17. The at least one storage medium of claim 12, wherein:

the process for identifying settings corresponding to physical locations comprises determining whether a physical location of a consumer corresponds to one of a plurality of settings; and

adjusting the process comprises removing, using the at least one processor, one of the plurality of settings based at least in part on the input provided by the consumer.

18. The at least one storage medium of claim 12, wherein:

the process for identifying settings corresponding to physical locations comprises determining whether a physical location of a consumer corresponds to a location of one of a plurality of settings;

each setting of the plurality of settings is associated with information defining the setting; and

adjusting the process comprises changing information identifying the setting visited by the consumer.

19. The at least one storage medium of claim 18, wherein:

the process for identifying settings corresponding to physical locations comprises;

comparing a physical location of a consumer to location boundaries defining an area of a setting, and

identifying that the physical location corresponds to the setting based at least in part on whether a result of the comparing indicates that the physical location of the consumer falls within the location boundaries for the setting; and

adjusting the process comprises revising the location boundaries defining the area of the setting based at least in part on the physical location

21. The at least one storage medium of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises:

issuing a prompt to the consumer to provide the input,

wherein receiving the input comprises receiving the input in response to the prompt.

22. The at least one storage medium of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises:

identifying, via at least one processor carrying out the process and based on the physical location of the consumer, a probable setting visited by the consumer; and

comparing the probable setting visited by the consumer to the setting visited by the consumer identified in the input,

wherein the adjusting is performed based at least in part on a result of the comparing.

23. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one storage medium having encoded thereon executable instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out a method of operating a consumer analytics system in which information about consumers is generated at least in part based on applying a visit detection process to location data relating to one or more consumers, to identified settings visited by the one or more consumers, the method comprising;

receiving input provided by a consumer identifying a setting visited by the consumer at a time;

obtaining information identifying a physical location of the consumer at the time; and

adjusting, using at least one processor and based at least in part on the input provided by the consumer and the physical location of the consumer, the visit detection process for identifying settings visited by the plurality of consumers.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein adjusting the process for identifying settings comprises adjusting, using the at least one processor, at least one variable used to determine, based on physical location, whether a consumer has visited a setting.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein adjusting the at least one variable comprises calculating a new value for a variable based at least in part on the input provided by the consumer and the physical location of the consumer.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein:

the process for identifying settings corresponding to physical locations comprises;

determining, based on the physical location, a likelihood that the consumer visited the setting, and

when the likelihood is above a threshold, storing information indicating that the consumer visited the setting; and

calculating the new value for the variable comprises calculating a new value for the threshold.

27. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein:

the process for identifying settings corresponding to physical locations comprises determining whether a physical location of a consumer corresponds to one of a plurality of settings; and

adjusting the process comprises adding, using the at least one processor, a new setting to the plurality of settings based at least in part on the input provided by the consumer.

28. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein:

the process for identifying settings corresponding to physical locations comprises determining whether a physical location of a consumer corresponds to one of a plurality of settings; and

adjusting the process comprises removing, using the at least one processor, one of the plurality of settings based at least in part on the input provided by the consumer.

29. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein:

the process for identifying settings corresponding to physical locations comprises determining whether a physical location of a consumer corresponds to a location of one of a plurality of settings;

each setting of the plurality of settings is associated with information defining the setting; and

adjusting the process comprises changing information identifying the setting visited by the consumer.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein:

the process for identifying settings corresponding to physical locations comprises;

comparing a physical location of a consumer to location boundaries defining an area of a setting, and

identifying that the physical location corresponds to the setting based at least in part on whether a result of the comparing indicates that the physical location of the consumer falls within the location boundaries for the setting; and

adjusting the process comprises revising the location boundaries defining the area of the setting based at least in part on the physical location

31. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein receiving the input provided by the consumer comprises receiving, from a data source of a social networking service, information provided by the consumer to the social networking service identifying the setting visited by the consumer.

32. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the method further comprises:

issuing a prompt to the consumer to provide the input,

wherein receiving the input comprises receiving the input in response to the prompt.

33. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the method further comprises:

identifying, via at least one processor carrying out the process and based on the physical location of the consumer, a probable setting visited by the consumer; and

comparing the probable setting visited by the consumer to the setting visited by the consumer identified in the input,

wherein the adjusting is performed based at least in part on a result of the comparing.