EFFICIENT GEO-FENCE DATA TRANSFER AND NOTIFICATIONS USING A TIME TO REACH VALUE

• US 20160066141A1
• Filed: 08/29/2014
• Published: 03/03/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/29/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Original Assignee: eBay Inc.
• Inventors: Jain, Chintan, Kong, Rui
• Granted Patent: US 10,171,934 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 system and method for using time to reach determinations to improve the usability of geo-fences is disclosed. A computer system accesses a current location of a client system and identifies one or more nearby geo-fences. The computer system then calculates the time to reach each of these geo-fences. If the calculated time to reach value for a particular geo-fence is within the notification range associated with that geo-fence, then the computer system generates a notification to display to a user.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

accessing a current location of a client system;

identifying one or more target geo-fences;

calculating, for a user device, a time to reach value for the one or more target geo-fences;

for a respective target geo-fence in the one or more target geo-fences;

determining whether a time to reach value associated with the respective target geo-fence is less than or equal to a predetermined notification range; and

in accordance with a determination that the time to reach value associated with the respective target geo-fence is less than or equal to a predetermined notification range, generating a notification for the respective target geo-fence.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein calculating a time to reach value for a target geo-fence further includes:

calculating a predicted travel route from the current location of the client system to the target geo-fence;

determining an average travel speed for the client system;

based on the predicted travel route and the average travel speed, estimating a time to reach the target geo-fence.

3. The method of claim 1, further including prior to determining whether a time to reach value associated with the respective target geo-fence is less than or equal to a predetermined notification range:

determining a notification range for the respective geo-respective geo-fence.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining a notification range includes:

accessing notification range data associated with the respective geo-fence, wherein the notification range data was received when the geo-fence was created.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein determining a notification range includes:

accessing user geo-fence preferences; and

based on the accessed user geo-fence preferences, determining an appropriate notification range.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a notification range is an amount of time at which a notification should be given to a user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein a notification range is a time period within which a notification should be given to a user.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the time period includes an earliest notification value and a latest notification value, such that no notification should be generated before the earliest notification value and no notification should be generated after the latest notification value.

9. The method of claim 1, further including storing one or more geo-fences, wherein each respective geo-fence includes location information associated with the geo-fence including one or more boundaries.

10. A method comprising:

receiving a request for one or more geo-fences from a client device with an associated first location;

identifying, at a server system with one or more processors, one or more potential geo-fences, wherein each potential geo-fence has an associated location.

for at least one respective geo-fence in the one or more potential geo-fences, generating a time to reach value;

selecting one or more geo-fences from the one or more potential geo-fences based on the determined time to reach value; and

transmitting the one or more geo-fences to the requesting client device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein a time to reach value for a particular potential geo-fence is based on a distance needed to travel from the first location associated with the client device to the location associated with the respective geo-fence.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein generating a travel distance for a respective geo-fence in the one or more geo-fences includes:

determining a mode of travel for a user associated with the client device; and

determining a travel route from the first location to the location associated with the respective geo-fence based on the determined mode of travel for the user associated with the client device.

13. The method of claim 12, further including:

generating a total travel distance based on the determined travel route; and

estimating the travel time based on the total travel distance and the determined mode of travel.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the server system selects a predetermined number of geo-fences to transmit to the client device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the predetermined number of geo-fences is 10.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more selected geo-fences are combined into a single super geo-fence prior to transmitting.

17. The method of claim 10, further including:

storing a user profile for a plurality of users.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein determining a mode of travel for the user associated with the client device further includes:

analyzing information stored in the user profile of a respective user, and

in accordance with an analysis of the user profile of the respective user, determining a mode of travel currently used by the respective user.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein determining a mode of travel for the user associated with the client device further includes:

receiving movement information from the client device;

analyzing the received movement information to determine a speed of travel and a travel path; and

in accordance with the determined speed of travel and the travel path, determining a mode of travel currently used by the respective user.

20. A server system comprising:

one or more processors;

memory; and

one or more programs stored in the memory, the one or more programs comprising instructions for;

accessing a current location of a client system;

identifying one or more target geo-fences;

calculating, at a client system with one or more processors, a time to reach value for the one or more target geo-fences;

for a respective target geo-fence in the one or more geo-fences;

determining whether a time to reach value associated with the respective target geo-fence is less than or equal to a predetermined notification range; and

in accordance with a determination that the time to reach value associated with the respective target geo-fence is less than or equal to a predetermined notification range, generating a notification for the respective geo-fence.