SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING AND ACTING UPON A USER'S ASSOCIATION TO A ZONE OF RELEVANCE

• US 20130151506A1
• Filed: 12/08/2011
• Published: 06/13/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Workday Incorporated
• Original Assignee: TechnoCom Corporation
• Inventors: Dessouky, Khaled I., Proietti, Mario, Schafer, Brenda C.
• Granted Patent: US 9,313,326 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/719
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0281 Customer communication at a business location, e.g. providing product or service information, consulting
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42348 Location-based services which utilize the location information of a target
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• 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 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for determining a zone of relevance for locating a wireless end-user and making a user notification decision including: storing information related to the enterprise in an enterprise database; storing information related to the end-user in an end-user database; accessing said enterprise and user end databases to extract enterprise and end-user related information; accessing a geographical database to extract geographic information, based on information obtained from the enterprise database; extracting relevant dynamic inputs from external sources via a predefined application programming interface; determining a value for the user notification based on weighting of said extracted information and historical use information; determining a zone of relevance for the wireless end-user; and notifying a user, wherein notifying the user meets predetermined criteria for the determined value of notification.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for determining a zone of relevance for locating a wireless end-user and making a user notification decision, the method comprising:

storing information related to the enterprise in an enterprise database;

storing information related to the end-user in an end-user database;

accessing said enterprise and user end databases to extract enterprise and end-user related information;

accessing a geographical database to extract geographic information, based on information obtained from the enterprise database;

extracting relevant dynamic inputs from external sources via a predefined application programming interface;

determining a value for the user notification based on weighting of said extracted information and historical use information;

determining a zone of relevance for the wireless end-user based on comparing a notification value-cost ratio to a threshold; and

notifying a user, wherein notifying the user meets predetermined criteria for the determined value of notification.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the user to be notified is one or more of a mobile end-user, an enterprise, an enterprise affiliate, and an interested third party.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the enterprise is a provider or user of one or more of mobile marketing, workforce management, asset tracking, transportation, emergency alerting, call centers, banking, and fraud detection.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the enterprise database includes identification information of the enterprise, enterprise type, service objectives, and service rules.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the enterprise service rules includes cost constraints, information latency requirements, privacy rules and user consent rules.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the end-user database includes an enterprise affiliation, key addresses, interests, habits, income category, and preferences.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the end-user preferences includes a chosen method to consent to being located, constraints on the location, and preferred notification methods.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the geographic database includes information on area morphology and density, demographics, point of interest to the enterprise, traffic patterns, and climate.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the dynamic inputs extracted from external sources comprise relevant information from one or more of a designated affiliate of the enterprise, a wireless carrier, a weather service, a traffic service, a third party with relevant information to the user to be notified.

10. A computer-implemented method for deciding whether and how to notify a user, the method comprising:

determining applicable location determination methods within a zone of relevance of a mobile user, based on information in an enterprise database, an end-user database, a geographical database, and dynamic inputs from a wireless network;

determining applicable notification methods within the zone of relevance, based on information in said enterprise database, end-user database, and geographic database;

determining costs associated with the applicable location determination methods and the applicable notification methods;

performing a notification value-cost comparison by comparing a notification value-cost ratio to a threshold;

making a decision to notify a user, based on the value-cost comparison;

selecting a notification method with highest value to cost ratio; and

using the selected notification method to notify the user.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the user to be notified is one or more of said mobile user, an enterprise, an enterprise affiliate, and an interested third party.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the dynamic inputs from a wireless carrier includes information pertaining to the presence of the mobile user on said wireless network and on available wireless location methods to locate said mobile user.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the wireless network is one or more of CDMA, GSM, UMTS, LTE networks, and available wireless location methods are one or more of cell ID, enhanced cell ID, signal strength, WiFi proximity, network based triangulation, standalone GPS, and assisted GPS.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein multiple thresholds are used simultaneously to decide on delivery of differentiated types of notifications to mobile users affiliated with a same enterprise and for a same triggering event.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the conveying notification is to multiple users affiliated with the same enterprise via multiple notification methods depending on determined costs and applicability to said users to be notified.

16. A computer-implemented method for deciding whether and how to locate a mobile user, the method comprising:

determining applicable location determination methods within a zone of relevance, based on information in an enterprise database, an end-user database, a geographical database, and dynamic inputs from a wireless network;

determining applicable notification methods within the zone of relevance, based on information in said enterprise database, said end-user database, and said geographical database;

determining costs associated with the applicable location determination and the applicable notification methods;

performing a notification value-cost comparison by comparing a notification value-cost ratio to a threshold;

making a user notification decision; and

determining a location determination quality and update requirement for the mobile user commensurate with a decision to notify or not to notify a user.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the mobile user to be located is different from the user to which a notification is conveyed.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the determined mobile user location update requirement results in corresponding querying of a serving wireless network and logging of returned location result for subsequent use.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the logged location result for the mobile user is fed back to update the determined value of notifying the user.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the updated value of notifying the user is used to update the zone of relevance.