System and method for tracking user location and associated activity and responsively providing mobile device updates

• US 8,321,527 B2
• Filed: 09/10/2009
• Issued: 11/27/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tribal Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Tribal Brands
• Inventors: Martin, John Jeffrey, Hales, Steve, Vierra, Joseph, Han, Eugene, Moriondo, Alberto
• Primary Examiner(s): Lazaro, David
• Assistant Examiner(s): KIM, EDWARD J
• Application Number:
  US12/557,243
• Publication Number:
  US 20110060807A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,174 Days
• Field of Search: 709/217, 709/245, 705 1449- 1467
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02525 Gathering the radio frequency fingerprints
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5681 Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A system and method are described for monitoring user location and activity over a period of time and intelligently scheduling content distributions to the user'"'"'s mobile device. For example, one embodiment of a system for intelligently scheduling a content distribution to a mobile device comprises: a location database to store a plurality of different locations including event facilities and points of interest, the location database associating each of the different locations with a Global Positioning System (GPS) location or range of GPS locations; a data collection module for collecting user location data over a period of time, user location data specifying a user'"'"'s mobile device'"'"'s location throughout the period of time, the data collection module to store the user location data within a database; a predictive scheduler module to analyze the user location data over the period of time and responsively schedule content distributions to the user'"'"'s mobile device based on the analysis of the user location data.

Claims

1. A system for intelligently scheduling a content distribution to a mobile device comprising a one or more computers for storing program code and having one or more processors for processing the program code to perform the operations of:

storing a plurality of different locations including event facilities and points of interest, the location database associating each of the different locations with a Global Positioning System (GPS) location or range of GPS locations;

collecting user location data over a period of time, user location data specifying a user'"'"'s mobile device'"'"'s location throughout the period of time, the data collection module to store the user location data within a database;

analyzing the user location data over the period of time and responsively schedule content distributions to the user'"'"'s mobile device based on the analysis of the user location data;

collecting wireless signal strength data at the various locations specified by the location data, wherein the wireless signal strength data indicates signal strength between the mobile device and a wireless network at the various locations, and

wherein analyzing comprises an analysis of both the signal strength data and the user location data to responsively schedule the content distributions to the user'"'"'s mobile device;

wherein if the wireless signal strength indicates a poor signal strength at a particular location at which the user is predicted to be, then responsively scheduling pre-caching of content to the user'"'"'s mobile device prior to arrival at the location.

2. The system as in claim 1 wherein operation of user location data collection additionally collects user activity data indicating user activity on the mobile device at the various locations specified by the location data, the method further comprising analyzing both the user activity and the user location data to responsively schedule the content distributions to the user'"'"'s mobile device.

3. The system as in claim 1 wherein the scheduling of content distributions comprises:

determining based on the user location data that the user will be at a particular location at a particular time during the day; and

pre-caching the user'"'"'s mobile device with content based on the determination.

4. The system as in claim 3 further comprising:

triggering logic to trigger the pre-cached content when the user is predicted to be at the particular location.

5. The system as in claim 1 wherein the predictive scheduler module further analyzes personal user data to determine whether the user will be at a particular location at a particular time and responsively schedules content distributions to the user'"'"'s mobile device based on the analysis of the user location data and the personal user data.

6. The system as in claim 5 wherein the personal user data comprises the user'"'"'s calendar data specifying the user'"'"'s schedule.

7. The system as in claim 5 wherein the personal user data comprises the user'"'"'s preferences, determined by monitoring user activity over a period of time.

8. The system as in claim 1 wherein the pre-caching schedule indicates that the content will be transmitted to the mobile device a specified amount of time prior to the predicted time that the user will be at the location.

9. The system as in claim 1 wherein the pre-caching schedule indicates that the content will be transmitted to the mobile device when the mobile device is within a specified range of the location.

10. A computer-implemented method comprising:

storing a plurality of different locations including event facilities and points of interest in a location database, the location database associating each of the different locations with a Global Positioning System (GPS) location or range of GPS locations;

collecting user location data over a period of time, user location data specifying a user'"'"'s mobile device'"'"'s location throughout the period of time;

storing the user location data within a database;

analyzing the user location data over the period of time; and

responsively scheduling content distributions to the user'"'"'s mobile device based on the analysis of the user location data;

collecting wireless signal strength data at the various locations specified by the location data, wherein the wireless signal strength data indicates signal strength between the mobile device and a wireless network at the various locations; and

analyzing both the signal strength data and the user location data; and

responsively scheduling the content distributions to the user'"'"'s mobile device based on the analysis of the signal strength data and the user location data;

wherein if the wireless signal strength indicates a poor signal strength at a particular location at which the user is predicted to be, then responsively scheduling pre-caching of content to the user'"'"'s mobile device prior to arrival at the location.

11. The method as in claim 10 further comprising:

collecting user activity data indicating user activity on the mobile device at the various locations specified by the location data; and

analyzing both the user activity and the user location data; and

responsively scheduling the content distributions to the user'"'"'s mobile device based on the analysis of the user activity data and the user location data.

12. The method as in claim 10 wherein the scheduling of content distributions comprises:

determining based on the user location data that the user will be at a particular location at a particular time during the day; and

pre-caching the user'"'"'s mobile device with content based on the determination.

13. The method as in claim 12 further comprising:

triggering the pre-cached content when the user is predicted to be at the particular location.

14. The method as in claim 10 further comprising:

further analyzing personal user data to determine whether the user will be at a particular location at a particular time; and

responsively scheduling content distributions to the user'"'"'s mobile device based on the analysis of the user location data and the personal user data.

15. The method as in claim 14 wherein the personal user data comprises the user'"'"'s calendar data specifying the user'"'"'s schedule.

16. The method as in claim 14 wherein the personal user data comprises the user'"'"'s preferences, determined by monitoring user activity over a period of time.

17. The method as in claim 10 wherein the pre-caching schedule indicates that the content will be transmitted to the mobile device a specified amount of the time prior to the predicted time that the user will be at the location.

18. The method as in claim 10 further comprising:

Scheduling content for delivery to the mobile device when the mobile device is within a specified range of the location.