METHOD AND SERVER FOR DELIVERING INFORMATION TO USER TERMINAL

• US 20160076908A1
• Filed: 09/17/2015
• Published: 03/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Advanced New Technologies Company Limited (Ant Group Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
• Inventors: Pang, Lei, ZHANG, Depin
• Granted Patent: US 9,952,059 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3484 Personalized, e.g. from learned user behaviour or user-defined profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3697 Output of additional, non-guidance related information, e.g. low fuel level G01C21/3679 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0251 Targeted advertisements
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0282 Rating or review of business operators or products
• 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 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• 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

A method for delivering information to a user terminal is provided. The method includes obtaining user data. The user data may include a plurality of user activity locations and corresponding user activity time. The method may further include identifying a first position and a second position based on the user activity locations and the user activity time, selecting a travel path based on the first position and the second position, determining a user activity area based on the selected travel path, and sending content to the user terminal based on the user activity area.

Claims

1. A method for delivering information to a user terminal, comprising:

obtaining user data, the user data including a plurality of user activity locations and corresponding user activity time;

identifying a first position and a second position based on the user activity locations and the user activity time;

selecting a travel path based on the first position and the second position;

determining a user activity area based on the selected travel path; and

sending content to the user terminal based on the user activity area.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein identifying a first position and a second position comprises:

for each of the user activity locations, determining an activity time period based on the user activity time corresponding to each of the user activity locations, wherein the activity time period is one of a plurality of pre-defined time periods; and

identifying the first position and the second position based on the activity time period corresponding to each of the user activity locations.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein identifying a first position and a second position comprises:

using a clustering algorithm to obtain a first clustering location and a second clustering location in the user activity locations; and

obtaining an aggregation point corresponding to each clustering location based on locations included in each clustering location.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the clustering algorithm includes a K-MEANS algorithm, an agglomerative hierarchical clustering algorithm, or a Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBSCAN) algorithm.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein obtaining an aggregation point corresponding to each clustering location comprises:

calculating a variance, an arithmetic mean, or a geometric mean of the locations included in each clustering location.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein a navigation software application or a map software application is used in selecting the travel path between the first position and the second position.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the travel path between the first position and the second position is selected based on a user'"'"'s preference settings in a navigation software application or a map software application.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining a user activity area comprises:

selecting a plurality of points on the travel path at a preset interval;

generating a plurality of circles by taking each of the plurality of points as a center and using a preset radius value; and

determining an area enclosed by the plurality of circles to be the user activity area.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining a user activity area comprises:

selecting a plurality of points on the travel path at a preset interval;

generating a plurality of lines by originating a line perpendicular to the travel path at each of the plurality of points, the line extending away from the travel path at a preset distance on both sides of the travel path;

connecting end points of the plurality of lines on each side of the travel path to obtain a polygon; and

determining an area enclosed by the polygon to be the user activity area.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the content sent to the user terminal includes merchant information provided by a merchant in the user activity area or information about an ongoing activity or an upcoming activity in the user activity area.

11. A server, comprising:

an obtaining unit configured to obtain user data, the user data including a plurality of user activity locations and corresponding user activity time;

an identifying unit configured to identify a first position and a second position based on the user activity locations and the user activity time;

a selecting unit configured to select a travel path based on the first position and the second position;

a determining unit configured to determine a user activity area based on the selected travel path;

a sending unit configured to send content to a user terminal based on the user activity area.

12. The server according to claim 11, wherein the identifying unit comprises:

a time period determining subunit configured to, for each of the user activity locations, determine an activity time period based on the user activity time corresponding to each of the user activity locations, wherein the activity time period is one of a plurality of pre-defined time periods; and

a position determining subunit configured to identify the first position and the second position based on the activity time period corresponding to each of the user activity location.

13. The server according to claim 11, wherein the identifying unit comprises:

a clustering subunit configured to use a clustering algorithm to obtain a first clustering location and a second clustering location in the user activity locations; and

an aggregation subunit configured to obtain an aggregation point corresponding to each clustering location based on locations included in each clustering location.

14. The server according to claim 13, wherein the clustering algorithm includes a K-MEANS algorithm, an agglomerative hierarchical clustering algorithm, or a Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBSCAN) algorithm.

15. The server according to claim 13, wherein the aggregation subunit is configured to calculate a variance, an arithmetic mean, or a geometric mean of the locations included in each clustering location to obtain the aggregation point.

16. The server according to claim 11, wherein the selecting unit is configured to select the travel path between the first position and the second position using a navigation software application or a map software application.

17. The server according to claim 11, wherein the selecting unit is configured to select the travel path between the first position and the second position based on a user'"'"'s preference settings in a navigation software application or a map software application.

18. The server according to claim 11, wherein the determining unit comprises a first determining subunit configured to:

select a plurality of points on the travel path at a preset interval;

generate a plurality of circles by taking each of the plurality of points as a center and using a preset radius value; and

determine an area enclosed by the plurality of circles to be the user activity area.

19. The server according to claim 11, wherein the determining unit comprises a second determining subunit configured to:

select a plurality of points on the travel path at a preset interval;

generate a plurality of lines by originating a line perpendicular to the travel path at each of the plurality of points, the line extending away from the travel path at a preset distance on both sides of the travel path;

connect end points of the plurality of lines on each side of the travel path to obtain a polygon; and

determine an area enclosed by the polygon to be the user activity area.

20. The server according to claim 11, wherein the content sent to the user terminal includes merchant information provided by a merchant in the user activity area or information about an ongoing activity or an upcoming activity in the user activity area.