Systems and methods for facilitating a third-party service based on location of a mobile device

• US 8,897,808 B2
• Filed: 06/30/2008
• Issued: 11/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Farris, Jack M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Perez-Gutirrez, Rafael
• Assistant Examiner(s): Fang, Keith
• Application Number:
  US12/165,095
• Publication Number:
  US 20090325606A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,339 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561-457, 455/404.2, 4554041-408, 455/414.1, 455/414.2, 455/414.3
• US Class Current: 455/456.3
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• 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 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

In an exemplary method, a request is received from a mobile device, a geographic location of the mobile device is determined, the geographic location of the mobile device is confirmed to be within a predefined range of a premises reference location located within a premises area, and a third-party service associated with the premises reference location is facilitated in response to the request and the confirmation. In certain embodiments, the third-party service includes adding a user associated with the mobile device to a wait list. In certain embodiments, the third-party service further includes providing a notification message to the mobile device when a wait period is over. In certain embodiments, the third-party service includes a food service provided at the premises reference location.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining, by a service facilitating subsystem comprising at least one computing device, a geographic location and an elevation of a mobile device based on location data received from said mobile device;

identifying, by said service facilitating subsystem, a premises area map that corresponds to said elevation of said mobile device within an interior of a premises area;

providing, by said service facilitating subsystem, data representative of said premises area map to said mobile device for display in a graphical user interface of said mobile device;

receiving, by said service facilitating subsystem, a request to add a user of said mobile device to a wait list associated with a premises reference location located within said premises area, said request initiated in response to a user selection of a graphical representation of said premises reference location within said premises area map;

confirming, by said service facilitating subsystem, that said geographic location of said mobile device is within a predefined range of said premises reference location located within said premises area;

facilitating, by said service facilitating subsystem, an adding of said user of said mobile device to said wait list associated with said premises reference location in response to said request and said confirmation;

determining, by said service facilitating subsystem after said facilitating of said adding, that said mobile device is no longer located within said predefined range of said premises reference location; and

facilitating, by said service facilitating subsystem, a removal of said user from said wait list in response to said determination that said mobile device is no longer located within said predefined range of said premises reference location.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a notification message to said mobile device when a wait period associated with said wait list is over.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said wait list comprises a restaurant wait list.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said wait list comprises a wait list for a food service provided at said premises reference location.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said facilitating of said adding of said user of said mobile device to said wait list includes communicating with a third-party device that provides said wait list from said premises reference location.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said facilitating of said adding of said user of said mobile device to said wait list includes:

providing data representative of said request to a third-party device located at said premises reference location;

receiving a service confirmation message from said third-party device; and

providing data representative of said service confirmation message to said mobile device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising facilitating, by said service facilitating subsystem, a providing of a notification message to said mobile device in response to said removal.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said premises area map graphically represents said premises reference location within said premises area.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying, by said mobile device, said premises area map in said graphical user interface;

detecting, by said mobile device, user input associated with said premises reference location in said displayed premises area map; and

initiating, by said mobile device, said request for said wait list in response to said user input.

10. The method of claim 1, tangibly embodied as computer-executable instructions on at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein said premises area comprises a shopping complex and wherein said premises reference location comprises a restaurant within said shopping complex.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting, by said mobile device, a message to said user to ask said user to confirm or deny that said mobile device is located proximate to said premises reference location.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein said wait list is provided by a third-party device located at said premises reference location.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein said wait list corresponds to a wait period that ends when restaurant seating associated with said premises reference location is ready for said user.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling, by said mobile device, said user to define at least one custom setting for data associated with said premises reference location to be displayed by said graphical user interface;

displaying, by said mobile device, said data associated with said premises reference location in said graphical user interface in accordance with said at least custom setting defined by said user.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said data associated with said premises reference location comprises a graphical representation of said wait list associated with said premises reference location.

17. A method comprising:

determining, by a service facilitating subsystem, a geographic location and an elevation of a mobile device;

identifying, by said service facilitating subsystem, a premises area map that corresponds to said elevation of said mobile device within an interior of a premises area;

providing, by said service facilitating subsystem, data representative of said premises area map to said mobile device over a network, said premises area map being representative of said premises area;

receiving, by said service facilitating subsystem, a request from said mobile device over said network to be added to a wait list associated with a premises reference location located within said premises area, said request initiated in response to a user selection of a graphical representation of said premises reference location within said premises area map displayed by a graphical user interface of said mobile device;

confirming, by said service facilitating subsystem, that said geographic location of said mobile device is within a predefined range of said premises reference location;

facilitating, by said service facilitating subsystem, an adding of a user of said mobile device to said wait list associated with said premises reference location in response to said request and said confirmation;

determining, by said service facilitating subsystem after facilitating said adding, that said mobile device is no longer located within said predefined range of said premises reference location; and

facilitating, by said service facilitating subsystem, a removal of said user from said wait list in response to said determination that said mobile device is no longer located within said predefined range of said premises reference location.

18. A system comprising:

a processing module;

a premises map distribution module configured to direct said processing module to determine a geographic location and an elevation of a mobile device based on location data received from said mobile device;

identify a premises area map that corresponds to said elevation of said mobile device within an interior of a premises area;

provide data representative of said premises area map to said mobile device for display in a graphical user interface of said mobile device;

a communication module configured to receive a request to add a user of said mobile device to a wait list associated with a premises reference location within said premises area, said request initiated in response to a user selection of a graphical representation of said premises reference location within said premises area map and

a service facilitator module configured to direct said processing module to

confirm that said geographic location of said mobile device is within a predefined range of said premises reference location,

facilitate an adding of said user of said mobile device to said wait list in response to said request and said confirmation,

determine that said mobile device is no longer located within said predefined range of said premises reference location, and

facilitate a removal of said user from said wait list in response to said determination that said mobile device is no longer located within said predefined range of said premises reference location.