SYSTEM AND METHOD TO UTILIZE GEO-FENCES TO LIMIT CALLS TO A SERVER SYSTEM FROM A USER'S MOBILE DEVICE

• US 20150181016A1
• Filed: 12/20/2013
• Published: 06/25/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Jain, Chintan, Kong, Rui
• Application Number:
  US14/137,372
• Publication Number:
  US 20150181016A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• 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 52/0254 detecting a user operation or a tactile contact or a motion of the device
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A system to utilize geo-fences to limit calls to a server system from a user'"'"'s mobile device may be provided in the form of a geo-fencing application executing on a mobile device. A geo-fencing application may be configured to detect, based on the monitored location information, that the associated mobile device has entered an area represented by a passive geo-fence and stop reporting location information to the server until the mobile device is outside the area represented by the passive geo-fence. A passive geo-fence represents a low or non-engagement geographical area, where a service provider is not as interested in engaging with potential or existing customers with respect to their services.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining a current geographical location of a mobile device;

based on the current geographical location, determining that the mobile device is within an area represented by a geo-fence that is a passive geo-fence; and

in response to the determining that the mobile device is within the area represented by the geo-fence that is a passive geo-fence, suppressing, using at least one processor, reporting of geographical location of the mobile device to a server system.

2. The method of claim 1 comprising:

determining a further geographic location of the mobile device;

based on the further geographical location, determining that the mobile device is outside of the area represented by the geo-fence; and

resuming reporting of geographical location of the mobile device to the server system.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising determining that the geo-fence is a passive geo-fence.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the determining that the geo-fence is a passive geo-fence comprises identifying a passive flag associated with the geo-fence.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the determining that the geo-fence is a passive geo-fence comprises accessing mapping information, the mapping information providing identification of the geo-fence as a passive geo-fence.

6. The method of claim 5, comprising storing the mapping information on the mobile device.

7. The method of claim 5, comprising accessing the mapping information at the server system.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising:

in response to determining that the mobile device is within the area represented by the geo-fence that is a passive geo-fence, reducing frequency of collecting geographical location of the mobile device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the server system is associated with a service provider, the area represented by the geo-fence that is a passive geo-fence is a low-engagement area with respect to a service provided by the service provider.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the area represented by the geo-fence that is a passive geo-fence is within a further area represented by an active geo-fence, the active geo-fence representing a high-engagement area with respect to the service provided by the service provider.

11. A computer-implemented system comprising:

at least one processor coupled to a memory;

a geo-location module to determine a current geographical location of a mobile device;

a crossing event detector to determine that the mobile device is within an area represented by a geo-fence that is a passive geo-fence, based on the current geographical location; and

a mode selector to suppress, using at least one processor, reporting of geographical location of the mobile device to a server system, in response to the determining that the mobile device is within the area represented by the geo-fence that is a passive geo-fence.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein:

the geo-location module is to determine a further geographic location of the mobile device;

the crossing event detector is to determine that the mobile device is outside of the area represented by the geo-fence, based on the further geographical location; and

the mode selector is to permit resuming of reporting of geographical location of the mobile device to the server system.

13. The system of claim 11 comprising a passive geo-fence detector to determine that the geo-fence is a passive geo-fence.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the passive geo-fence detector is to identify a passive flag associated with the geo-fence.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the passive geo-fence detector is to access mapping information, the mapping information providing identification of the geo-fence as a passive geo-fence.

16. The system of claim 15, comprising a mapping access module to store the mapping information on the mobile device.

17. The system of claim 15, comprising a mapping access module to access the mapping information at the server system

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the mode selector is to reduce frequency of collecting geographical location of the mobile device, in response to determining that the mobile device is within the area represented by the geo-fence that is a passive geo-fence.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the server system is associated with a service provider, the area represented by the geo-fence that is a passive geo-fence is a low-engagement area with respect to a service provided by the service provider.

20. A machine-readable non-transitory storage medium having instruction data to cause a machine to:

determine a current geographical location of a mobile device;

determine that the mobile device is within an area represented by a geo-fence that is a passive geo-fence, based on the current geographical location; and

suppress reporting of geographical location attic mobile device to a server system, in response to the determining that the mobile device is within the area represented by the geo-fence that is a passive geo-fence.