Systems and methods for location sensitive alerts in a mobile communication network

• US 8,644,848 B2
• Filed: 12/02/2011
• Issued: 02/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thryv, Inc. (Mudrick Capital Management LP)
• Original Assignee: YellowPages.com LLC (Mudrick Capital Management LP)
• Inventors: Williams, David Lothele, Chandran, Rohan Koduvayur Krishnan, Chong, Kelvin Voon-Kit, Mandyam, Srinivas A., Vedati, Krishna
• Primary Examiner(s): Kincaid, Lester
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gu, Andy
• Application Number:
  US13/310,644
• Publication Number:
  US 20130143586A1
• Time in Patent Office: 795 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.1
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• 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 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for providing alerts to users of mobile communications networks based, at least in part, on users'"'"' real-time geospatial location at a point in time. Users and third parties set up alerts for themselves or other users that comprise alert details and trigger criteria. Alert details comprise, inter alia, text or other data defining a message to the user to whom the alert is directed. Trigger criteria comprise a geo-fenced area and dates times the alert is active. When the a user enters a geo-fenced area associated with an alert at such date and time the alert is active, the alert is transmitted to the user.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, over a network by an alert service system, a plurality of alerts, each respective alert of the plurality of alerts relating to a respective one user of a plurality of users and comprising respective alert details and respective alert trigger criteria, the respective alert trigger criteria comprising a definition of a respective geo-fenced area and respective temporal critera;

receiving, over the network by the alert service system, a device geospatial location for a mobile device associated with one user of the plurality of users;

identifying, by a computing device of the alert service system, at least one alert of the plurality of alerts that relates to the one user of the plurality of users based on the device geospatial location being in the respective geo-fenced area of the at least one alert and a current time associated with the mobile device matching the respective temporal criteria of the at least one alert, wherein the at least one alert was set for the one user by a third party having a permission granted by the one user to the third party to set one or more alerts for the one user, wherein the third party is a non-business user of the plurality of users;

retrieving, from one or more repositories, additional information that relates to the respective alert details;

filtering, by the alert service system, the at least one alert of the plurality of alerts based on the additional information that relates to the respective alert details; and

transmitting, over the network by the alert service system, the respective alert details of the filtered at least one alert to the mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein for the at least one alert of the plurality of alerts, the respective geo-fenced area of the respective alert comprises a respective geometrical figure centered on a respective geospatial point.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the respective geometrical figure is selected from the list:

a circle with a fixed radius centered on the respective geospatial point, and a rectangle with fixed dimensions centered on the respective geospatial point.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one alert of the plurality of alerts, the respective geo-fenced area of the respective alert comprises boundaries of a respective geospatial area.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the respective geospatial area is selected from the list:

a building, location within a building, a neighborhood, a city, a state and a road.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the respective geospatial point is an absolute location defined by one of:

latitude and longitude, GPS coordinates and street address.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the respective geospatial point corresponds to a name for a second user that is mapped to the location of a second mobile device associated with the second user.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the respective geospatial point corresponds to a name for an entity having at least one fixed location, wherein the geospatial point is mapped to the at least one fixed location.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the respective alert details of the at least one alert transmitted to the at least one user are supplemented with additional information that relates to the entity.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the respective geospatial point corresponds to a category, wherein the geospatial point is mapped to the location of at least one entity that is associated with the category.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the respective alert details of the at least one alert transmitted to the at least one user are supplemented with additional information that relates to the at least one entity.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein for the at least one alert of the plurality of alerts, the respective temporal criteria of the respective alert is selected from the list:

a respective date, a respective time, a respective date and time, a respective day of the week, a respective range of dates, a respective range of times, a respective range of dates and times and a range of days of the week.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one alert of the plurality of alerts was received, over the network, from the one user of the plurality of users.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one alert of the plurality of alerts was received, over the network, from a second user of the plurality of users different than the one user of the plurality of users.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein for the at least one alert of the plurality of alerts, the trigger criteria additionally comprise a respective number of times to transmit the respective alert, wherein if the at least one alert of the plurality of alerts has been transmitted the respective number of times, the respective alert is not transmitted to the one user of the plurality of users.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein prior to transmitting the alert details, the method comprises:

storing, by the computing device, the plurality of alerts, such that each respective offer of the plurality of offers is stored in association with a respective one user of the plurality of users to which the offer relates.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the additional information that relates to the respective alert details comprises user preferences associated with the user and wherein filtering the at least one alert comprises:

filtering, by the computing device, the at least one alert using the user preferences associated with the user, such that where the at least one alert matches the user preferences, an offer is transmitted to the mobile device associated with the user, and where the at least one alert does not match the user preferences, the offer is not transmitted to the mobile device associated with the user.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the user preferences comprise at least one of:

a range of times, interests of the user, online activities of the user, and keywords specified by the user.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions, which when executed, cause a system to perform:

receiving, over a network, a plurality of alerts, each respective alert of the plurality of alerts relating to a respective one user of a plurality of users and comprising respective alert details and respective alert trigger criteria, the respective alert trigger criteria comprising a definition of a respective geo-fenced area and respective temporal criteria;

receiving, over the network, a device geospatial location for a mobile device associated with one user of the plurality of users;

identifying at least one alert of the plurality of alerts that relates to the one user of the plurality of users based on the device geospatial location being in the respective geo-fenced area of the at least one alert and a current time associated with the mobile device matching the respective temporal criteria of the at least one alert, wherein the at least one alert was set for the one user by a third party having a permission granted by the one user to the third party to set one or more alerts for the one user, wherein the third party is a non-business user of the plurality of users;

retrieving, from one or more repositories, additional information that relates to the respective alert details;

filtering, by the system, the at least one alert of the plurality of alerts based on the additional information that relates to the respective alert details; and

transmitting, over the network, the respective alert details of the filtered at least one alert to the mobile device.

20. A computer system comprising:

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory to;

receive, over a network, a plurality of alerts, each respective alert of the plurality of alerts relating to a respective one user of a plurality of users and comprising respective alert details and respective alert trigger criteria, the respective alert trigger criteria comprising a definition of a respective geo-fenced area and respective temporal criteria;

receive, over the network, a device geospatial location for a mobile device associated with one user of the plurality of users;

identify at least one alert of the plurality of alerts that relates to the one user of the plurality of users based on the device geospatial location being in the respective geo-fenced area of the at least one alert and a current time associated with the mobile device matching the respective temporal criteria of the at least one alert, wherein the at least one alert was set for the one user by a third party having a permission granted by the one user to the third party to set one or more alerts for the one user, wherein the third party is a non-business user of the plurality of users;

retrieving, from one or more repositories, additional information that relates to the respective alert details;

filtering the at least one alert of the plurality of alerts based on the additional information that relates to the respective alert details; and

transmit, over the network, the respective alert details of the filtered at least one alert to the mobile device.