Location based recommendation method for mobile station content

• US 8,428,622 B1
• Filed: 09/23/2011
• Issued: 04/23/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Zhang, Shilei
• Primary Examiner(s): RAMPURIA, SHARAD K
• Application Number:
  US13/243,597
• Time in Patent Office: 578 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561-457, 4554141-4143, 455/466, 455517-519
• US Class Current: 455/456.3
• 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 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/23 for mobile advertising
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

A location based method of offering a recommendation of content to a user of a mobile station includes receiving information identifying a current location of the mobile station. Then, in a content usage database, records of other mobile stations that have recently been near that location are identified. For each identified record of another mobile station, content resident on an used by the other mobile station in the content usage database is identified. Then, responsive to at least one inquiry received from the mobile station, a recommendation is transmitted through a wireless communications network to the mobile station of the user. The recommendation includes information about the identified content resident on and used by one or more of the other mobile stations.

Claims

1. A location based method of offering a recommendation of content to a user of a mobile station, comprising the steps of:

identifying a current location of the mobile station;

identifying, in a content usage database, records of one or more other mobile stations that have been within a set distance of the identified location at any time within a set time frame,

wherein each record in the content usage database identifies one or more applications resident on the mobile station corresponding to the record;

for each identified record of another mobile station, identifying content resident on the other mobile station in the content usage database; and

responsive to an inquiry received from the mobile station, transmitting through a wireless communications network to the mobile station of the user a recommendation comprising information about the identified content resident on one or more of the other mobile stations.

2. The method of claim 1, comprising the step of:

recording in the content usage database, in association with locations of each of the other mobile stations, identification of the time at which that other mobile station was at each location; and

recording in the content usage database, in association with the location of that other mobile station, identifications of content resident on that other mobile station.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the information about the content includes the number of mobile stations that have used a particular software application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the information about the content includes a difference in distance and time between the mobile station of the user and the one or more of the other mobile stations that have used a particular software application.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the set distance and set time frame are specified via manual actuation prior to identifying records.

6. The method of claim 1, comprising the step of filtering a list comprising the information about the content before transmitting the information about the content to the mobile station of the user.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein:

the step of filtering the information comprises comparing information identifying the identified content resident on one or more of the other mobile stations to information identifying content already on the mobile station of the user, and

the transmitting step comprises transmitting only information about content not already on the mobile station of the user as identified by the step of filtering.

8. The method of claim 1, comprising the steps of:

receiving a time frame restriction;

receiving a distance restriction;

transmitting the information identifying the current location of the mobile station, the time frame restriction, and the distance restriction to a content usage server;

receiving, from the content usage server, a list of software applications used by the other mobile stations present within the time frame restriction and within the distance restriction of the identified location; and

wherein transmitting the recommendation comprises transmitting the list of software applications for display on the mobile station of the user.

9. The method of claim 8, comprising the steps of receiving location, time, and software application information from probes of other mobile stations and populating records in the content usage database.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the distance restriction and the time frame restriction are provided via manual actuation.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the recommendation is displayed on the mobile station in order of popularity of usage.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the recommendation is displayed on the mobile station according to a recommendation algorithm using a sorting parameter and incorporating the information about the identified content resident on one or more of the other mobile stations.

13. A system for offering a recommendation of content to a user of a mobile station, comprising:

an interface for communications with the mobile station via a wireless communication network;

at least one processor coupled to the interface;

at least one storage device accessible to the at least one processor;

programming for execution by the at least one processor, stored in the at least one storage device;

a content usage database, stored in the at least one storage device, the content usage database comprising records for other mobile stations containing information identifying content transmitted, transmission time and location of the other mobile stations for content delivered to respective ones of the other mobile stations;

wherein execution of the programming by the at least one processor configures the system to perform functions, including functions to;

(a) identify a current location of the mobile station;

(b) identify in the content usage database, the records of the other mobile stations that have been within a set distance of the identified location at any time within a set time frame,

wherein each record in the content usage database identifies one or more applications resident on the mobile station corresponding to the record;

(c) for each identified record of another mobile station, identify content resident on the other mobile station in the content usage database; and

(d) responsive to at least one inquiry received from the mobile station, transmit through the wireless communications network to the mobile station of the user a recommendation comprising information about the identified content resident on one or more of the other mobile stations.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the content usage database comprises an application usage database.

15. A system for offering a recommendation of content to a user of a mobile station, comprising:

a content download server having interface for communications with the mobile station via a wireless communication network;

a content usage server;

wherein the content download server is configured to perform functions including functions to;

(a) identify a current location of the mobile station;

(b) receive a time frame restriction from the mobile station;

(c) receive a distance restriction from the mobile station;

(d) transmit the location, the time frame restriction, and the distance restriction to the content usage server;

(e) receive, from the content usage server, a list of content resident on and used by other mobile stations present within the time frame restriction and within the distance restriction of the identified location; and

(f) transmit the list of content for display on the mobile station of the user;

wherein the content usage server is configured to perform functions including functions to;

(a) receive the location, the time frame restriction, and the distance restriction from the content download server;

(b) refer to a content usage database populated by probes that transmit location, time, and content information from the other mobile stations to create the list of content resident on and used by other mobile stations present within the time frame restriction and within the distance restriction of the identified location; and

(c) transmit, to the content download server, the list of content resident on and used by other mobile stations present within the time frame restriction and within the distance restriction of the identified location.