TARGETED INCENTIVE ACTIONS BASED ON LOCATION AND INTENT

• US 20150032531A1
• Filed: 10/10/2014
• Published: 01/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2011
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Yankovich, Steve, Melcher, Ryan, Veres, Robert Dean
• Application Number:
  US14/512,350
• Publication Number:
  US 20150032531A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.35
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0235 constrained by time limit or expiration date
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A method and a system offer an incentive to a user of a mobile device based on a geographic location of the mobile device and the intent of the user. For example, a machine determines a geographic location of a mobile device. The machine identifies an item specified at the geographic location of the mobile device via an optical input of the mobile device. The machine determines an offer from a merchant within a predefined geographic boundary. The determining of the offer may be based on the geographic location of the mobile device. The machine determines that the offer from the merchant does not correspond to the identified item, and redefines the predefined geographic boundary in response to the determining that the offer from the merchant does not correspond to the identified item. The redefining may result in a redefined geographic boundary.

Claims

1. (canceled)

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the offer comprises a promotion, a sale, a coupon, a discount, or a recommendation.

2. A system comprising one or more hardware processors configured to include:

a first module configured to determine a geographic location of a mobile device;

a second module configured to identify an item specified at the geographic location of the mobile device via an optical input of the mobile device; and

an incentive module configured to

determine an offer from a merchant within a predefined geographic boundary, the determining of the offer being based on the geographic location of the mobile device,

determine that the offer from the merchant does not correspond to the identified item, and

redefine the predefined geographic boundary in response to the determining that the offer from the merchant does not correspond to the identified item, the redefining resulting in a redefined geographic boundary.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the redefined geographic boundary is outside the predefined geographic boundary, and wherein the incentive module further comprises:

a local merchant module configured to identify a further merchant within the redefined geographic boundary having a further offer;

an incentive match module configured to determine that the item specified at the geographic location of the mobile device corresponds to an item identified in the further offer of a further merchant within the redefined geographic boundary; and

a communication module configured to communicate the further offer from the further merchant within the redefined geographic boundary to the mobile device.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the incentive module further comprises:

an item category module configured to determine a category of the item;

an incentive match module configured to determine that the category of the item corresponds to a category of items identified in at least one offer of at least one merchant within the predefined geographic boundary after determining that the item specified at the geographic location of the mobile device does not correspond to any item identified in the offer of the merchant within the predefined geographic boundary; and

a communication module configured to communicate the offer of the category of items from the at least one merchant within the predefined geographic boundary to the mobile device.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the incentive module further comprises:

a user preference module configured to request from a user of the mobile device whether to increase a search radius preference of the predefined geographic boundary after determining that the item specified at the geographic location of the mobile device does not correspond to any item identified in the offer of the merchant within the predefined geographic boundary; and

a local merchant module configured to identify at least one merchant with at least one offer based on the updated search radius preference.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the incentive module is further configured to identify a further merchant within the redefined geographic boundary based on determining that the further merchant provides a further offer that corresponds to the identified item, and

wherein the incentive module further comprises an incentive code module configured to communicate a code associated with the further offer to the mobile device, wherein the code is valid for a predetermined period of time at the further merchant within the redefined geographic boundary.

7. The system of claim 2, wherein the location identification module further comprises:

a triangulation service or a global positioning service (GPS) configured to determine the location of the mobile device based on a triangulation service or a GPS service;

a location input module configured to determine the location of the mobile device based on a user input at the mobile device;

a location-dependent search term input module configured to determine the location of the mobile device based on a location-dependent search term user input at the mobile device; and

a tag module configured to determine the location of the mobile device based on a tag from the mobile device, the tag associated with a unique geographic location.

8. The system of claim 2, wherein the item identification module further comprises:

a text identification module configured to identify the item based on a text input from a user at the geographic location of the mobile device;

an audio identification module configured to identify the item based on an audio input from the user at the geographic location of the mobile device;

a machine-readable symbol module configured to identify the item based on a machine-readable symbol scanned by the user at the geographic location of the mobile device;

an image identification module configured to identify the item based on an image taken by the user at the geographic location of the mobile device; and

a video identification module configured to identify the item based on a video taken by the user at the geographic location of the mobile device.

9. The system of claim 2, wherein the incentive module further comprises:

a user preference module configured to generate a user preference setting, the user preference setting comprising a user-defined search radius preference.

10. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

an incentive receiver module configured to receive attributes of the offer from the merchant;

a storage device configured to store the attributes of the offer in a database,

wherein the attributes of the offer comprise at least one of a name attribute of the merchant, a name attribute of the item, a brand attribute of the item, a model attribute of the item, a category tag of the item, a sub-category tag of the item, a financial promotion attribute of the item, and a financial promotion term attribute of the item.

12. A computer-implemented method comprising:

determining a geographic location of a mobile device;

identifying an item specified at the geographic location of the mobile device via an optical input of the mobile device;

determining an offer from a merchant within a predefined geographic boundary, the determining of the offer being based on the geographic location of the mobile device;

determining that the offer from the merchant does not correspond to the identified item; and

redefining, using a hardware processor of a machine, the predefined geographic boundary in response to the determining that the offer from the merchant does not correspond to the identified item, the redefining resulting in a redefined geographic boundary.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the redefined geographic boundary is outside the predefined geographic boundary, and further comprising:

identifying a further merchant within the redefined geographic boundary having a further offer;

determining that the item specified at the geographic location of the mobile device corresponds to an item identified in the further offer of a further merchant within the redefined geographic boundary; and

communicating the further offer from the further merchant within the redefined geographic boundary to the mobile device.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining a category of the item;

determining that the category of the item corresponds to a category of items identified in at least one offer of at least one merchant within the predefined geographic boundary after determining that the item specified at the geographic location of the mobile device does not correspond to any item identified in the offer of the merchant within the predefined geographic boundary; and

communicating the offer of the category of items from the at least one merchant within the predefined geographic boundary to the mobile device.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising:

requesting from a user of the mobile device whether to increase a search radius preference of the predefined geographic boundary after determining that the item specified at the geographic location of the mobile device does not correspond to any item identified in the offer of the merchant within the predefined geographic boundary; and

identifying at least one merchant with at least one offer based on the updated search radius preference.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising:

identifying a further merchant within the redefined geographic boundary based on determining that the further merchant provides a further offer that corresponds to the identified item; and

communicating a code associated with the further offer to the mobile device, wherein the code is valid for a predetermined period of time at the further merchant within the redefined geographic boundary.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining the geographic location of the mobile device based on at least one of a triangulation service or a global positioning service (GPS) of the mobile device, a location input from a user of the mobile device, a location-dependent search term input from the user of the mobile device, and a tag associated with a unique geographic location.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising:

identifying the item based on at least one of a text input from a user of the mobile device, an audio input from the user of the mobile device, a machine-readable symbol input from the user of the mobile device, an image input from the user of the mobile device, and a video input from the user of the mobile device.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the offer is generated based on a preference setting of a user of the mobile device, the preference setting comprising a user-defined search radius preference.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising:

receiving attributes of the offer from the merchant;

storing the attributes of the offer in a database, wherein the attributes of the offer comprise at least one of a name attribute of the merchant, a name attribute of the item, a brand attribute of the item, a model attribute of the item, a category tag of the item, a sub-category tag of the item, a financial promotion attribute of the item, and a financial promotion term attribute of the item.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a set of instructions that, when executed by a hardware processor, causes the hardware processor to perform operations, comprising:

determining a geographic location of a mobile device;

identifying an item specified at the geographic location of the mobile device via an optical input of the mobile device;

determining an offer from a merchant within a predefined geographic boundary, the determining of the offer being based on the geographic location of the mobile device;

determining that the offer from the merchant does not correspond to the identified item; and

redefining the predefined geographic boundary in response to the determining that the offer from the merchant does not correspond to the identified item, the redefining resulting in a redefined geographic boundary.