Provision of location-based venue information

• US 8,660,541 B1
• Filed: 04/11/2012
• Issued: 02/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hiya Inc.
• Original Assignee: WhitePages Incorporated
• Inventors: Newman, Brent, Beresniewicz, Sebastian, Kazda, Ryan, Mehta, Sanam, Modi, Vishal, Moore, Bret, Richen, Owyn, Siu, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Afshar, Kamran
• Assistant Examiner(s): TRAN, MONG-THUY THI
• Application Number:
  US13/444,512
• Time in Patent Office: 685 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414.2, 455/404.2, 455/456.1, 455/456.3, 455/457
• US Class Current: 455/414.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• 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 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

Various embodiments are directed to systems and methods for determining a neighborhood location of a person using a mobile computing device. The mobile computing device may transmit its location to an application server system. The application server system may perform at least one search of a venue database over a plurality of venue categories considering the received location and may determine a neighborhood location of the mobile computing device based on results of the search.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of determining a neighborhood location for a user of a mobile computing device, the method comprising:

receiving, by an application server system from the mobile computing device via a data network, location information indicating a location of the mobile computing device;

in response to receiving the location information from the mobile computing device, performing, by the application server system, at least one search of a venue database storing neighborhood data for a plurality of venues, wherein the neighborhood data includes a neighborhood location for each of the plurality of venues, wherein a neighborhood comprises a geographic area with a threshold number of venues per population density of an area of the neighborhood, and wherein the at least one search is performed over a plurality of venue categories to identify one or more venues within a threshold distance of the mobile computing device;

determining, by the application server system, a neighborhood location of the mobile computing device based on the neighborhood location in the venue database for each of the one or more venues within the threshold distance of the mobile computing device; and

transmitting, by the application server system to the mobile computing device via the data network, the neighborhood location;

receiving, by the application server system and from the mobile computing device, at least one search parameter;

performing, by the application server system, a second search of the venue database using the at least one search parameter and the neighborhood location of the mobile computing device; and

transmitting, by the application server system and to the mobile computing device, venues returned by the second search.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising selecting, by the application server system, the plurality of venue categories based on at least one factor selected from the group consisting of:

a prior search requested by the mobile computing device, a prior search requested by a second mobile computing device, and the location of the mobile computing device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

loading, by the application server system, data describing a plurality of venues into the venue database as a plurality of database entries; and

associating, by the application server system, each of the plurality of venues described by the venue database with a neighborhood.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining the neighborhood location of the mobile computing device comprises:

selecting a first venue from the results that is closest to the location of the mobile computing device; and

selecting the neighborhood location of the mobile computing device based on the neighborhood location of the first venue.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the neighborhood location associated with the first venue is defined by at least one of:

a geographic boundary; and

at least one constituent geographic unit.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the at least one constituent unit comprises at least one of a zip code and a municipality.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the at least one search of the venue database is configured to return a plurality of venues within the threshold distance of the location of the mobile computing device; and

the determination of the neighborhood location of the mobile computing device is based on the neighborhood locations for the plurality of venues.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the threshold distance is one mile.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of determining the neighborhood location of the mobile computing device comprises:

selecting a venue closest to the location of the mobile computing device from each of the plurality of venue categories; and

selecting the neighborhood location of the mobile computing device based on neighborhood locations of the closest venues from each of the plurality of venue categories.

10. A system for determining a neighborhood location of a person, the system comprising:

a mobile computing device associated with the person, the mobile computing device comprising at least one processor and operatively associated memory;

an application server system in communication with the mobile computing device via a data network, wherein the application service system comprises a venue database storing associated neighborhood data for a plurality of venues, wherein the neighborhood data includes a neighborhood location for each of the plurality of venues, wherein each neighborhood comprises a contiguous geographic area with a threshold number of venues per population density of an area of the neighborhood, and wherein;

the mobile computing device is programmed to transmit location information indicating a location of the mobile computing device to the application server system upon a neighborhood search application of the mobile computing device being launched;

the application server system is programmed to;

in response to receiving the location information from the mobile computing device, perform at least one search of the venue database over a plurality of venue categories to identify one or more venues within a threshold distance of the mobile computing device;

determine a neighborhood location of the mobile computing device based on the neighborhood location in the venue database for each of the one or more venues within the threshold distance of the mobile computing device; and

transmit to the mobile computing device via the data network the neighborhood location;

receive from the mobile computing device at least one search parameter;

perform a second search of the venue database using the at least one search parameter and the neighborhood location of the mobile computing device; and

transmit to the mobile computing device venues returned by the second search.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the application server system is programmed to determine the neighborhood location of the mobile computing device by performing steps that comprise:

selecting a first venue from the results that is closest to the location of the mobile computing device; and

selecting the neighborhood location of the mobile computing device based on the neighborhood location of the first venue.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the location information transmitted by the mobile computing device is real-time location information.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the mobile computing device is further programmed to display the venues returned by the second search to the person via a graphical user interface.

14. The system of claim 10, wherein the application server system is further programmed to:

load data describing a plurality of venues into the venue database as a plurality of database entries; and

associate each of the plurality of venues described by the venue database with a neighborhood location.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the neighborhood location associated with the first venue is defined by at least one of:

a geographic boundary; and

at least one constituent geographic unit.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the at least one constituent unit comprises at least one of a zip code and municipality.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein the application server system is programmed to determine the neighborhood location of the mobile computing device by performing steps that comprise:

selecting a venue closest to the location of the mobile computing device from each of the plurality of venue categories; and

selecting the neighborhood location of the mobile computing device based on neighborhood locations of the closest venues from each of the plurality of venue categories.

18. The system of claim 10, wherein the mobile computing device is further programmed to determine the location of the mobile computing device by:

receiving from a location system of the mobile computing device data comprising (i) a potential location of the mobile computing device; and

(ii) accuracy information for the potential location information; and

determining that the potential location is reliable for use when the accuracy information indicates that the potential location is within a threshold accuracy.