DETERMINING POINTS OF INTEREST WITHIN A GEOFENCE

• US 20140089375A1
• Filed: 09/26/2012
• Published: 03/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Poornachandran, Rajesh, Andiappan, Rajasekaran, Sengupta, Uttam K., Krishnamurthy, Lakshman
• Granted Patent: US 9,736,781 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/202
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3293 by switching to a less power-consuming processor, e.g. sub-CPU
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• 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 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0254 detecting a user operation or a tactile contact or a motion of the device
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0274 by switching on or off the equipment or parts thereof
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 10/00 Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Embodiments of apparatus, packages, computer-implemented methods, systems, devices, and computer-readable media are described herein for a mobile computing device with a primary processing unit configured to operate in a normal mode and a reduced power mode. The mobile computing device may include a secondary processing unit, coupled with the primary processing unit, configured to provide, to a remote computing server, location data of the mobile computing device. The secondary processing unit may be configured to receive, from the remote computing server, one or more POIs contained within a geofence, identified based on the provided location data. The providing and receiving may be performed on behalf of the primary processing unit while the primary processing unit is in the reduced power mode. Operation of the secondary power processing unit may require less power than operation of the primary processing unit in the normal mode.

Claims

1. A mobile computing device, comprising:

a primary processing unit configured to operate in at least a selected one of a normal mode and a reduced power mode that consumes less power than the normal mode; and

a secondary processing unit, coupled with the primary processing unit, configured to provide, to a remote computing server, location data of the mobile computing device, and to receive, from the remote computing server, one or more points of interest contained within a geofence, identified based on the provided location data, wherein provide and receive are performed on behalf of the primary processing unit while the primary processing unit is in the reduced power mode, and wherein operation of the secondary power processing unit requires less power than operation of the primary processing unit in the normal mode.

2. The mobile computing device of claim 1, further comprising a location sensor, coupled with the secondary processing unit, configured to provide, to the secondary processing unit, the location data of the mobile computing device.

3. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the secondary processing unit is further configured to transition the primary processing unit from the reduced power mode to the normal mode responsive to a determination that the received one or more points of interest satisfies a criterion.

4. The mobile computing device of claim 1, further comprising another sensor coupled with the secondary processor, wherein the another sensor is a proximity sensor, an accelerometer, a barometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer or an ambient light sensor.

5. The mobile computing device of claim 4, wherein the secondary processing unit is further configured to provide, to the remote computing server, data sensed by the another sensor, wherein the one or more points of interest received from the remote computing server are based at least in part on the data sensed by the another sensor.

6. The mobile computing device of claim 5, wherein the one or more points of interest received from the remote computing server are further based at least in part on soft information about a user obtained from one or more network resources accessible to the remote computing server.

7. The mobile computing device of claim 6, wherein the soft information about the user includes information obtained from a social network account of the user or an online calendar of the user.

8. The mobile computing device of claim 1, further comprising an antenna.

9. At least one non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, in response to execution of the instructions by a computing server, enable the computing server to:

receive location data sensed by a mobile computing device;

retrieve soft information about a user of the mobile computing device from a network resource accessible to the computing server;

determine, based on the soft information, one or more points of interest within a geofence identified by the computing server based at least in part on the location data; and

provide, to the mobile computing device, the one or more points of interest.

10. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions, in response to execution of the instructions by the computing server, cause the computing server to receive data indicative of ambient light sensed by the mobile computing device, and to determine the one or more points of interest based at least in part on the received data indicative of ambient light.

11. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions, in response to execution of the instructions by the computing server, cause the computing server to receive barometric data sensed by the mobile computing device, and to determine the one or more points of interest based at least in part on the received barometric data.

12. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions, in response to execution of the instructions by the computing server, cause the computing server to receive data sensed by an accelerometer or gyroscope of the mobile computing device, and to determine the one or more points of interest based at least in part on the received data sensed by the accelerometer or gyroscope of the mobile computing device.

13. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the soft information comprises information about the user obtained from a social networking service.

14. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the soft information comprises information about a schedule of the user obtained from a calendar associated with the user.

15. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the instructions, in response to execution of the instructions by the computing server, cause the computing server to:

determine, based on the soft information, a contact of the user; and

provide, to the mobile computing device, a location of another mobile computing device associated with the contact as a point of interest, responsive to a determination that the another mobile computing device is within the geofence.

16. At least one non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, in response to execution of the instructions by a secondary processing unit of a mobile device having primary and secondary processing units, enable the secondary processing unit to provide, to a remote computing server, location data of the mobile computing device, and to receive, from the remote computing server, one or more points of interest contained within a geofence, identified based on the provided location data, wherein provide and receive are performed on behalf of the primary processing unit while the primary processing unit is in a reduced power mode in which the primary processor consumes less power than when in a normal mode, and wherein operation of the secondary power processing unit requires less power than operation of the primary processing unit in the normal mode.

17. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions, in response to execution of the instructions by the secondary processor, cause the secondary processor to receive, from a location sensor coupled with the secondary processing unit, the location data of the mobile computing device.

18. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions, in response to execution of the instructions by the secondary processor, cause the secondary processor to transition the primary processing unit from the reduced power mode to the normal mode responsive to a determination that the received one or more points of interest satisfies a criterion.

19. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the instructions, in response to execution of the instructions by the secondary processor, cause the secondary processor to receive data sensed by another sensor coupled with the secondary processor, wherein the another sensor is a proximity sensor, an accelerometer, a barometer, a gyroscope, a magnetometer or an ambient light sensor.

20. The at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the instructions, in response to execution of the instructions by the secondary processor, cause the secondary processor to provide, to the remote computing server, data sensed by the another sensor, wherein the one or more points of interest received from the remote computing server are based at least in part on the data sensed by the another sensor.

21. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, by a computing device, location data sensed by a mobile computing device;

receiving, by the computing device, other sensor data sensed by a mobile computing device;

retrieving, by the computing device, soft information about a user of the mobile computing device from a network resource accessible to the computing device;

determining, by the computing device, based on the soft information and other sensor data, one or more points of interest within a geofence identified by the computing device based at least in part on the location data; and

providing, to the mobile computing device, the one or more points of interest.

22. The computer-implemented of claim 21, wherein retrieving the soft information comprises retrieving the soft information about the user from a social networking service or an online calendar associated with the user.

23. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, further comprising:

determining, by the computing device, based on the soft information, a contact of the user; and

providing, by the computing device, to the mobile computing device, a location of another mobile computing device associated with the contact as a point of interest, responsive to a determination that the another mobile computing device is within the geofence.

24. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, further comprising:

identifying, by the computing device, another mobile computing device associated with the user; and

retrieving, by the computing device from the identified another mobile computing device, location or other sensor data sensed by the identified another computing device.

25. The computer-implemented method of claim 24, wherein the determining comprises determining, by the computing device, based on the soft information and other sensor data sensed by the mobile computing device, and based on the location or other sensor data sensed by the identified another computing device, the one or more points of interest within a geofence identified by the computing device.