Location aware reminders

• US 8,760,287 B1
• Filed: 03/13/2013
• Issued: 06/24/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Scofield, Christopher L., Ngiyen, Luan K.
• Primary Examiner(s): POPE, DARYL C
• Application Number:
  US13/799,230
• Time in Patent Office: 468 Days
• Field of Search: 340/539.1, 340/539.11, 340/539.13, 340/539.23
• US Class Current: 340/539.13
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• 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

Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments employed to generate location and proximity based reminders. To this end, a device is configured to generate its geographical location using a positioning system. The device detects when it impinges upon at least one geographical trigger based upon its geographical location. A predefined reminder is generated in the device when the device impinges upon the geographical trigger.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a mobile device having a processor circuit and a display screen, the processor circuit having a processor and a memory;

a positioning system associated with the mobile device configured to generate a geographical location of the mobile device; and

a location aware reminder application executable by the processor circuit, the location aware reminder application comprising;

logic that generates a user interface rendered by the mobile device, the user interface facilitating definition of a geographical trigger, the user interface comprising a plurality of known establishments in a geographical area, the user interface facilitating selection of at least one of the plurality of known establishments as the geographical trigger;

logic that detects when the mobile device impinges upon the geographical trigger based at least in part upon the geographical location of the mobile device; and

logic that generates a reminder associated with the geographical trigger, the reminder rendered on the display screen when the mobile device impinges upon the geographical trigger.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the geographical trigger further comprises a trip line, wherein the logic that detects when the mobile device impinges upon the geographical trigger further comprises logic that determines whether the mobile device has passed through the trip line.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the geographical trigger further comprises the geographical area surrounding the geographical trigger, wherein the logic that detects when the mobile device impinges upon the geographical trigger further comprises logic that determines when the mobile device enters the geographical area.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the logic that detects when the mobile device impinges upon the geographical trigger further comprises logic that determines when the mobile device is within a predefined distance of the geographical location.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the positioning system is configured to determine the geographic location of the mobile device based at least in part upon at least one of:

global positioning system satellite signals or signals received from at least one cellular tower.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the user interface facilitates definition of reminder text associated with the reminder and the logic that generates the reminder associated with the geographical trigger further comprises logic that renders the reminder text on the display screen.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the geographical trigger further comprises a point in a map within the user interface rendered by the mobile device.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the further comprises logic that renders at least a subset of the plurality of known establishments that are near the geographical location of the mobile device in the map within the user interface.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the geographical trigger further comprises a merchant site at which a merchant sells goods.

10. A method, comprising:

defining a geographical trigger associated with a reminder in a mobile device via a user interface rendered by the mobile device, the user interface comprising a plurality of known establishments in a geographical area and facilitating selection of at least one of the plurality of known establishments as the geographical trigger;

determining a geographical location of the mobile device;

detecting when the mobile device impinges upon the geographical trigger based at least in part upon the geographical location of the mobile device; and

generating the reminder in the mobile device when the geographical location of the mobile device impinges upon the geographical trigger.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the geographical trigger further comprises a trip line and detecting when the mobile device impinges upon the geographical trigger further comprises determining whether the mobile device has passed through the trip line.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the geographical trigger further comprises the geographical area and detecting when the mobile device impinges upon the geographical trigger further comprises the step of determining whether the mobile device is located within the geographical area.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the geographical trigger further comprises the geographical location and detecting when the mobile device impinges upon the geographical trigger further comprises determining whether the mobile device is within a predefined distance of the geographical location.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein defining the geographical trigger in the mobile device further comprises:

rendering a map user interface on the mobile device; and

obtaining an identification of the geographical trigger within the map user interface.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the geographical location is based at least in part upon at least one of:

global positioning system satellite signals or at least one signal received from at least one cellular tower.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

obtaining reminder text associated with the reminder; and

rendering the reminder text within the reminder the reminder associated with the geographical trigger further comprises logic that renders the reminder text on a display screen of the mobile device.

17. A method, comprising:

determining a geographical location of a first mobile device with a positioning system associated with the first mobile device;

generating a user interface rendered by the first mobile device, the user interface facilitating definition of a geographical trigger, the user interface comprising a plurality of known establishments in a geographical area and facilitating selection of at least one of the plurality of known establishments as the geographical trigger;

detecting when the first mobile device impinges upon the geographical trigger based at least in part upon the geographical location of the first mobile device;

detecting when the first mobile device is located within a geographical relationship relative to a second mobile device; and

generating a reminder in the first mobile device when the first mobile device impinges upon the geographical trigger, the geographical trigger comprising the geographical relationship relative to the second mobile device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein determining the geographical location of the device is based at least in part upon at least one of:

satellite signals or signals from at least one cellular tower in communication with the mobile device.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the user interface further facilitates definition of reminder text associated with the reminder.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the geographical trigger further comprises a merchant site at which a merchant sells goods.