BATTERY EFFICIENT HYBRID MOBILE DEVICE LOCATION MONITORING

• US 20170034660A1
• Filed: 09/02/2016
• Published: 02/02/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/06/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NRBY Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Ping4, Inc.
• Inventors: ROY, Sean Nathan, DOBBINS, Kurt Alfred, SEXTON, Mark Thomas, MACDONALD, Rindress Andrew, POST, Daniel Willis, FADLALLA, Mohamed Jamal, PAING OO, Sett, NAKANO, Tatsuki
• Granted Patent: US 10,009,726 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• 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 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0251 using monitoring of local events, e.g. events related to user activity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and computer program product for performing hybrid location monitoring of a mobile device. While performing region monitoring for a set of regions, a mobile device enters a first region. Upon entering a region, the mobile device requests region information for the region from a web server. Using the region information, the mobile device determines whether to enable location updates while within the region. Upon exiting the region, the mobile device determines whether to disable location updates. While performing location updates, the location of the mobile device can be tracked and be determined to be within other contained or partially contained irregularly shaped geofences.

Claims

1. A method of performing hybrid mobile device location monitoring at a mobile device, comprising:

receiving notification of entering a first region from a mobile Operating System (OS);

requesting region information for the first region from a web server;

determining whether to enable location updates based on the region information for the first region; and

enabling location updates from the mobile OS when it is determined to enable location updates.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a location update from the mobile OS; and

transmitting the location update to the web server.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising

receiving an entrance notification for a second region from the web server;

and

requesting region information for the second region from the web server.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising processing region messages based on the region information received from the web server.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing region monitoring for the first region prior to requesting the region information for the first region, and

wherein the region information is requested when it is determined at the mobile device that the mobile device has entered the region.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

continuing to perform region monitoring when it is determined not to enable location updates based on the region information for the first region.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein performing region monitoring includes periodically requesting an update from the web server regarding the regions for the mobile device should perform region monitoring.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving notification of exiting the first region from the mobile OS;

determining whether to location updates were enabled based on entrance into the first region; and

disabling location updates from the mobile OS when it is determined that location updates were enabled based on entrance into the first region.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the location update is transmitted from the mobile device to the web server using an anonymous token to identify the mobile device.

10. A mobile device apparatus for performing hybrid mobile device location monitoring at a mobile device, comprising:

means for receiving notification of entering a first region from a mobile Operating System (OS);

means for requesting region information for the first region from a web server;

means for determining whether to enable location updates based on the region information for the first region; and

means for enabling location updates from the mobile OS when it is determined to enable location updates.

11. A mobile device, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to;

receive notification of entering a first region from a mobile Operating System (OS);

request region information for the first region from a web server; and

determine whether to enable location updates based on the region information for the first region; and

enable location updates from the mobile OS when it is determined to enable location updates.

12. A computer program product for performing region monitoring at a mobile device, comprising:

a computer-readable medium comprising code for;

receiving notification of entering a first region from a mobile Operating System (OS);

requesting region information for the first region from a web server; and

determining whether to enable location updates based on the region information for the first region; and

enabling location updates from the mobile OS when it is determined to enable location updates.

13. A method of enabling hybrid location monitoring at a web server, comprising:

receiving entry of a plurality of regions along with region information for each of the regions, wherein region information includes an indication of whether location tracking should be enabled within that region;

receiving an indication from a mobile device that the mobile device has entered a first region; and

transmitting region information for the first region to the mobile device, including the indication of whether location tracking should be enabled within that region.

14. A web service apparatus for enabling hybrid location monitoring at a web server, comprising:

means for receiving entry of a plurality of regions along with region information for each of the regions, wherein region information includes an indication of whether location tracking should be enabled within that region;

means for receiving an indication from a mobile device that the mobile device has entered a first region; and

means for transmitting region information for the first region to the mobile device, including the indication of whether location tracking should be enabled within that region.

15. A web service apparatus, comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to;

receive entry of a plurality of regions along with region information for each of the regions, wherein region information includes an indication of whether location tracking should be enabled within that region;

receive an indication from a mobile device that the mobile device has entered a first region; and

transmit region information for the first region to the mobile device, including the indication of whether location tracking should be enabled within that region.

16. A computer program product for enabling hybrid location monitoring via a web server, comprising:

a computer-readable medium comprising code for;

receiving entry of a plurality of regions along with region information for each of the regions, wherein region information includes an indication of whether location tracking should be enabled within that region; and

receiving an indication from a mobile device that the mobile device has entered a first region; and

transmitting region information for the first region to the mobile device, including the indication of whether location tracking should be enabled within that region.