System and method for providing advertisement based on mobile device travel patterns

• US 8,073,460 B1
• Filed: 03/29/2007
• Issued: 12/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Scofield, Christopher L., Pope, Elmore Eugene, Marshall, Brad E., Merritt, Eric B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Corsaro, Nick
• Assistant Examiner(s): PLATA, EDD RIANNE L
• Application Number:
  US11/693,363
• Time in Patent Office: 1,713 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414.1, 455/414.2, 455/456.1, 705/14
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0275 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/38 Displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42348 Location-based services which utilize the location information of a target
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4878 Advertisement messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

Mobile device users may be tracked either via mobile-signal triangulation or via Global Positioning Satellite information. A mobile device user'"'"'s recent movements may be analyzed to determine trails or traffic patterns for device user among various locations. Mobile device trail information, either for an individual user or aggregated for multiple users, may be analyzed to determine a next destination for the user. Electronic advertising content, such as advertisements, coupons and/or other communications, associated with the next destination may be sent to an electronic device likely to be viewed by the mobile device user. Additionally, the identity of the mobile device user may be known and the advertisements or coupons may be tailored according to demographic information regarding the mobile device user. In addition, destinations may be recommended to mobile device users based on the recent locations the users have visited.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory coupled to the processor, wherein the memory comprises program instructions executable by the processor to;

determine one or more locations a user of a mobile device has visited on a current path;

predict a next destination for the user of the mobile device based on the one or more locations the user of the mobile device has visited on the current path, wherein

to predict the next destination, the program instructions are further executable to;

predict a plurality of likely destinations, and

receive one or more bids for communicating advertising content regarding one or more of the likely destinations for the user of the mobile device, wherein the next destination corresponds to a likely destination for which a selected bid was received; and

communicate advertising content to a display device other than the mobile device located along the current path between a current location for the mobile device and the next destination.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the program instructions are further executable to communicate the advertising content to one or more additional display devices associated with the path.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the program instructions are further executable to communicate with the mobile device to alert the user to the display device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the program instructions are further executable to communicate with the display device to generate a printed version of the advertising content.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein a cost of the communicating the advertising content to the mobile device user varies depending upon a probability of the mobile device user visiting the next destination.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the cost of delivering the advertising content to the mobile device user varies depending upon how near the next destination is to the location of the mobile device user when the advertising content is displayed.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein to communicate the advertising content to the display device, the program instructions are further configured to send an audio message to the display device.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein to predict the next destination, the program instructions are further executable to analyze aggregated traffic pattern information for a plurality of other mobile device users that have visited at least one of the one or more locations visited by the user of the mobile device.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the advertising content is presented in response to a user request for advertising content for a location proximate to the user'"'"'s current location.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein to predict the next destination, the program instructions are further executable to determine a level of interest in one or more likely destinations for the user of the mobile device, wherein the next destination corresponds to a potential destination with a highest level of interest, and wherein the level of interest is based on at least a time rate of change of traffic at the potential destination.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein to predict the next destination, the program instructions are further executable to rank one or more likely destinations according to a number of other mobile device users that have traveled from at least one of the one or more locations visited by the user of the mobile device to the one or more likely destinations.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the display device comprises one or more of:

a kiosk, a billboard, an electronic ticker, or a wall-mounted display.

13. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

determining, on one or more computer systems, one or more locations a user of a mobile device has visited on a current path;

predicting, on one or more computer systems, a next destination for the user of the mobile device based on the one or more locations the user of the mobile device has visited on the current path, wherein the predicting the next destination comprises

predicting a plurality of likely destinations, and

receiving one or more bids for communicating advertising content regarding one or more of the likely destinations for the user of the mobile device, wherein the next destination corresponds to a likely destination for which a selected bid was received; and

communicating advertising content to a display device other than the mobile device located along the current path between a current location for the mobile device and the next destination.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising communicating the advertising content to one or more additional display devices associated with the path.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising communicating with the mobile device to alert the user to the display device.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising communicating with the display device to generate a printed version of the advertising content.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein communicating the advertising content to the display device comprises sending a text message to the display device.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein communicating the advertising content to the display device comprises sending a graphic image to the display device.

19. The method of claim 13, wherein communicating the advertising content to the display device comprises sending an audio message to the display device.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein predicting the next destination comprises analyzing aggregated traffic pattern information for a plurality of other mobile device users that have visited at least one of the one or more locations visited by the user of the mobile device.

21. The method of claim 13, wherein predicting the next destination comprises receiving one or more bids for communicating advertising content regarding each of one or more likely destinations for the user of the mobile device, wherein the next destination corresponds to a potential destination for which a highest bid was received.

22. The method of claim 13, wherein predicting the next destination comprises determining a level of interest in one or more likely destinations for the user of the mobile device, wherein the next destination corresponds to a potential destination with a highest level of interest, and wherein the level of interest is based on at least a time rate of change of traffic at the potential destination.

23. The method of claim 13, further comprising receiving positional information corresponding to a current location for the user of the mobile device and wherein predicting the next destination is determined based in part on the current location.

24. The method of claim 13, wherein predicting the next destination comprises ranking one or more likely destinations according to a number of other mobile device users that have traveled from at least one of the one or more locations visited by the user of the mobile device to the one or more likely destinations.

25. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium, comprising program instruction executable to implement:

determining one or more locations a user of a mobile device has visited on a current path;

predicting a next destination for the user of the mobile device based on the one or more locations the user of the mobile device has visited on the current path, wherein the predicting the next destination comprises

predicting a plurality of likely destinations, and

receiving one or more bids for communicating advertising content regarding one or more of the likely destinations for the user of the mobile device, wherein the next destination corresponds to a likely destination for which a selected bid was received; and

communicating advertising content to a display device located along the current path between a current location for the mobile device and the next destination.

26. The medium of claim 25, wherein the program instructions are further executable to implement communicating the advertising content to one or more additional display devices associated with the path.

27. The medium of claim 25, wherein the program instructions are further executable to implement communicating with the mobile device to cause the mobile device to alert the user to the display device.

28. The medium of claim 25, wherein the program instructions are further executable to implement communicating with the display device to generate a printed version of the advertising content.

29. The medium of claim 25, wherein communicating the advertising content to the display device comprises sending a text message to the display device.

30. The medium of claim 25, wherein communicating the advertising content to the display device comprises sending a graphic image to the display device.

31. The medium of claim 25, wherein communicating the advertising content to the display device comprises sending an audio message to the display device.

32. The medium of claim 25, wherein predicting the next destination comprises analyzing aggregated traffic pattern information for a plurality of other mobile device users that have visited at least one of the one or more locations visited by the user of the mobile device.

33. The medium of claim 25, wherein predicting the next destination comprises receiving one or more bids for communicating advertising content regarding each of one or more likely destinations for the user of the mobile device, wherein the next destination corresponds to a potential destination for which a highest bid was received.

34. The medium of claim 25, wherein predicting the next destination comprises determining a level of interest in one or more likely destinations for the user of the mobile device, wherein the next destination corresponds to a potential destination with a highest level of interest, and wherein the level of interest is based on at least a time rate of change of traffic at the potential destination.

35. The medium of claim 25, wherein the program instructions are further executable to implement receiving positional information corresponding to a current location for the user of the mobile device and wherein predicting the next destination is determined based in part on the current location.

36. The medium of claim 25, wherein predicting the next destination comprises ranking one or more likely destinations according to a number of other mobile device users that have traveled from at least one of the one or more locations visited by the user of the mobile device to the one or more likely destinations.