EVENT NOTIFICATION SYSTEMS AND METHODS

• US 20160150370A1
• Filed: 05/01/2014
• Published: 05/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: 3 Electric Sheep Pty Ltd.
• Original Assignee: 3 Electric Sheep Pty Ltd.
• Inventors: Gillespie, David Andrew, Frantz, Phillip Joseph, Stranges, Frank
• Granted Patent: US 10,375,513 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/222 using geographical location information, e.g. messages transmitted or received in proximity of a certain spot or area
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• 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 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/30 Services specially adapted for particular environments, situations or purposes

Abstract

Disclosed herein is an event notification system (10). The system (10) comprises a receiver (14) arranged to receive event information comprising geographical region information indicative of a geographical region for each of a plurality of events and time interval information indicative of a time interval for each of the plurality of events, the receiver (14) also being arranged to receive location information indicative of a location of a wireless communication device (12) at a time. The system comprises a notifier (16) arranged to use the event information and the location information when so received to determine a set comprising each of the plurality of events for which the geographical region encompasses the location of the mobile wireless communication device (12) and the time interval encompasses the time, and arranged to send event notification information indicative of at least one event in the set to the mobile communications device (12) for the mobile communications device (12) to notify a user of the at least one event in the set.

Claims

1. An event notification system comprising:

a receiver arranged to receive event information comprising geographical region information indicative of a geographical region for each of a plurality of events and time interval information indicative of a time interval for each of the plurality of events, the receiver also being arranged to receive location information indicative of a location of a wireless communication device at a time; and

a notifier arranged to use the event information and the location information when so received to determine a set comprising each of the plurality of events for which the geographical region encompasses the location of the mobile wireless communication device and the time interval encompasses the time, and arranged to send event notification information indicative of at least one event in the set to the mobile communications device for the mobile communications device to notify a user of the at least one event in the set.

2. An event notification system defined by claim 1 wherein the receiver is arranged to receive a plurality of items of event information each being indicative of a respective one of the plurality of events, each item of event information comprising geographical region information indicative of a geographical region and time interval information indicative of a time interval, and wherein the notifier is arranged to use the plurality of items of event information and the location information when so received to determine a set comprising each of the plurality of events for which the geographical region encompasses the location of the mobile wireless communication device and the time interval encompasses the time.

7. An event notification system defined by claim 2 wherein each of the plurality of items of event information comprise delimiting time period information indicative of a time period delimiting the respective one of the plurality of events, wherein at least one of the following apply:

the time interval for the at least one of the plurality of events is at least one of partially overlapping and encompassing the time period delimiting the respective one of the plurality of events;

the time interval for an event starts before the time period delimiting the respective one of the plurality of events;

the time interval starts and finishes during the time period delimiting the respective one of the plurality of events;

the time interval is the time period delimiting the respective one of the plurality of events; and

the time interval ends before the time period delimiting the respective one of the plurality of events starts.

8. An event notification system defined by claim 1 wherein the location information indicative of the location of the wireless communication device is generated using at least one of:

cell-tower triangulation;

satellite-based global positioning system (GPS) location tracking; and

wireless local area network (Wi-Fi) location tracking.

9. An event notification system defined by claim 1 wherein the notifier is arranged to select from the set the at least one event indicated by the event notification information according to user notification preferences.

12. An event notification system defined by claim 1 wherein the receiver has a network interface arranged to interface with a network for receiving the event information and for receiving the location information.

13. An event notification system defined by claim 1 comprising an Application Program Interface (API) server having the receiver, and a push server having the notifier.

16. An event notification system defined by claim 1 comprising a requester arranged to request the location information indicative of the location of the wireless communication device at the time.

17. An event notification system defined by claim 1, wherein, the receiver is arranged to receive location information indicative of allocation of each of a plurality of mobile wireless communication devices, and the notifier is arranged to determine for each of the plurality of mobile wireless communication devices a respective event set comprising those of the plurality of events comprising a geographical region that encompasses the respective location and comprising a time interval encompassing the respective time and subsequently send the respective event set to each of the plurality of mobile wireless communication devices for notifying a respective user of the respective event set.

18. An event notification system defined by claim 17 comprising a requester arranged to request the location information indicative of the location of each of the plurality of mobile wireless communication devices.

3-6. -6. (canceled)

10-11. -11. (canceled)

14-15. -15. (canceled)

19-36. -36. (canceled)

37. A system for communicating a plurality of items of event information indicative of a respective plurality of events to a mobile wireless communication device, each of the plurality of items of event information comprising geographical region information indicative of a geographical region, the system comprising:

a boundary generator arranged to use the geographical region information of each of the plurality of items of event information to generate boundary information indicative of a geographical boundary enclosing the geographical regions of selected ones of the plurality of events;

a receiver arranged to receive location information indicative of a location of the mobile wireless communication device; and

a notifier arranged to use the boundary information and location information to confirm that the location of the mobile wireless communication device is within the geographical boundary and subsequently send notification information indicative of at least one of the selected ones of the plurality of events to the mobile wireless communications device for the mobile wireless communications device to notify a user of the at least one of the selected ones of the plurality of events.

38. A system defined by claim 37 comprising a selector arranged to use information indicative of the relative disposition of the plurality events to select the selected ones of the plurality of events.

39. A system defined by claim 37 wherein the location information indicative of the location of the wireless communication device is generated using at least one of:

cell-tower triangulation;

satellite-based global positioning system (GPS) location tracking; and

wireless local area network (Wi-Fi) location tracking.

40. An system defined by claim 37 wherein the receiver has a network interface arranged to interface with a network for receiving the location information, and the notifier has the network interface or another network interface arranged to interface with the network or another network for sending the notification information.

44. A system defined by claim 37 comprising a requestor arranged to request location information indicative of the location of the mobile wireless communication device.

45. A system defined by claim 44 comprising a controller arranged to control the requestor, the controller being arranged to use the boundary information indicative of the geographical boundary to confirm that the mobile wireless communications device is located within the geographical boundary, and subsequently to cause the requestor to request further information indicative of the location of the mobile wireless communications device, the further information having greater accuracy than the location information, wherein the notifier is arranged to use the further information to confirm that the location of the mobile wireless communication device is within the geographical boundary.

41-43. -43. (canceled)

46-65. -65. (canceled)

66. An event notification system, the system comprising:

a receiver arranged to receive a plurality of items of event information indicative of a respective plurality of events, each of the plurality of items of event information comprising geographical region information indicative of a geographical region, time interval information indicative of a time interval, eligibility information indicative of at least one eligibility criterion, and location information indicative of a location of a mobile wireless communication device at a time; and

a notifier arranged to use the plurality of items of event information and the location information when so received to determine a set comprising each of the plurality of events for which the geographical region encompasses the location of the mobile wireless communication device, the time interval encompasses the time and the at least one eligibility criterion is satisfied, the notifier being further arranged to send information indicative of at least one event in the set to the mobile wireless communication device to notify a user of the at least one event in the set.

67. An event notification system defined by claim 66 wherein the eligibility criterion comprises at least one of a user holds a valid membership of a customer benefits program and the user holds a valid membership to a group.

68. A system defined by claim 66 wherein the location information is generated using at least one of cell tower triangulation, satellite-based global positioning system (GPS) location tracking and wireless local area network (Wi-Fi) location tracking.

69. A system defined by claim 66 wherein the receiver has a network interface arranged to interface with a network for receiving the event information and for receiving the location information.

70-84. -84. (canceled)