Exclusive delivery of content within geographic areas

• US 8,977,247 B2
• Filed: 04/03/2013
• Issued: 03/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: H2 Intellect LLC (Andrew Hill)
• Original Assignee: Andrew Hill, Ryan Hardin
• Inventors: Hardin, Ryan, Hill, Andrew
• Primary Examiner(s): Chang, Kent
• Assistant Examiner(s): MORALES FERNANDE, BENJAMIN
• Application Number:
  US13/856,392
• Publication Number:
  US 20130226705A1
• Time in Patent Office: 706 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0266 based on the position of the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0267 Wireless devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/53 using third party service providers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/14 with services dependent on location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42357 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• 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 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals

Abstract

Application developers can request to have their applications registered for use with a content delivery platform. The operator of the content delivery platform establishes perimeters defining geographic areas, and maintains records reserving particular areas for delivery of content associated with particular sponsors. Registered applications running on mobile devices can request content from the content delivery platform. Based at least in part on the request, the content delivery platform can identify a target location, which may be the location of the mobile device, or some other location indicated in the request. A mobile device can be provided content based on the relationship of the target location to the geographic areas, so that a registered application running on a mobile device with a target location contained within a geographic area assigned to a particular sponsor will receive content related to that sponsor.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

registering a plurality of application programs for use with a content delivery platform;

establishing a plurality of perimeters defining a plurality of geographic areas;

receiving, from at least a particular one of the registered application programs, request to obtain an interest in a designated geographic area;

determining if the interest in the designated geographic area is to be provided to at least the particular one of the registered application programs;

in response to determining that the interest in the designated geographic area is to be provided to at least the particular one of the registered application programs, reserving content delivery to at least the particular one of the registered application programs to being from one or more sponsors after it is determined that an object of interest has entered the designated geographic area;

receiving, from the one or more sponsors, content to be delivered to at least one of the registered application programs in response to said reserving; and

providing, after it is determined that the object of interest has entered the designated geographic area, at least a portion of the content received from the one or more sponsors to at least the particular one of the registered application programs.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein:

receiving the request to obtain the interest in the designated geographic area includes receiving sponsor established perimeter definitions; and

the sponsor established perimeter definitions at least partially define the designated geographic area.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein:

receiving the request to obtain the interest in the designated geographic area includes receiving a first request from a first one of the registered application programs and receiving a second request from a second one of the registered application programs;

reserving content delivery to at least the particular one of the registered application programs includes restricting content delivery to being to the first one of the registered application programs during a first period of time and to being to from the second one of the registered application programs during a second period of time;

receiving content to be delivered to at least the one of the registered application programs includes receiving content from a first sponsor and receiving content from a second sponsor; and

providing the at least a portion of the content to at least the particular one of the registered application programs includes providing at least a portion of the content received from the first sponsor to the first one of the registered application programs during the first period of time and providing at least a portion of the content received from the second sponsor to the second one of the registered application programs during the second period of time.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more sponsors is at least one of the registered application programs.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing at least the particular one of the registered application programs a response to the request in response to determining that the interest in the designated geographic area is to be provided to at least the particular one of the registered application programs; and

storing a record of the interest in the designated geographic area in response to determining that the interest in the designated geographic area is to be provided to at least the particular one of the registered application programs.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein the one or more sponsors is at least one of the registered application programs.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

providing at least the particular one of the registered application programs a response to the request in response to determining that the interest in the designated geographic area is to be provided to at least the particular one of the registered application programs; and

storing a record of the interest in the designated geographic area in response to determining that the interest in the designated geographic area is to be provided to at least the particular one of the registered application programs.

8. A system comprising:

memory;

a communications interface operably coupled to the memory; and

at least one processor operably coupled to the memory and the communications interface, the processor configured to execute a program of instructions, the program of instructions comprising;

at least one instruction for registering a plurality of application programs for use with a content delivery platform;

at least one instruction for establishing a plurality of perimeters defining a plurality of geographic areas;

at least one instruction for receiving, from at least a particular one of the registered application programs, request to obtain an interest in a designated geographic area;

at least one instruction for determining if the interest in the designated geographic area is to be provided to at least the particular one of the registered application programs;

at least one instruction for reserving content delivery to at least the particular one of the registered application programs to being from one or more sponsors after it is determined that an object of interest has entered the designated geographic area in response to determining that the interest in the designated geographic area is to be provided to at least the particular one of the registered application programs;

at least one instruction for receiving, from the one or more sponsors, content to be delivered to at least one of the registered application programs in response to said reserving; and

at least one instruction for providing at least a portion of the content received from the one or more sponsors to at least the particular one of the registered application programs after it is determined that the object of interest has entered the designated geographic area.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein:

receiving the request to obtain the interest in the designated geographic area includes receiving sponsor established perimeter definitions; and

the sponsor established perimeter definitions at least partially define the designated geographic area.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein:

receiving the request to obtain the interest in the designated geographic area includes receiving a first request from a first one of the registered application programs and receiving a second request from a second one of the registered application programs;

reserving content delivery to at least the particular one of the registered application programs includes restricting content delivery to being to the first one of the registered application programs during a first period of time and to being the second one of the registered application programs during a second period of time;

receiving content to be delivered to at least the one of the registered application programs includes receiving content from a first sponsor and receiving content from a second sponsor; and

providing the at least a portion of the content to at least the particular one of the registered application programs includes providing at least a portion of the content received from the first sponsor to the first one of the registered application programs during the first period of time and providing at least a portion of the content received from the second sponsor to the second one of the registered application programs during the second period of time.

11. The system of claim 8 wherein the one or more sponsors is at least one of the registered application programs.

12. The system of claim 8 wherein the program of instructions further comprises:

at least one instruction for providing at least the particular one of the registered application programs a response to the request in response to determining that the interest in the designated geographic area is to be provided to at least the particular one of the registered application programs; and

at least one instruction for storing a record of the interest in the designated geographic area in response to determining that the interest in the designated geographic area is to be provided to at least the particular one of the registered application programs.

13. The system of claim 9 wherein the one or more sponsors is at least one of the registered application programs.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the program of the instructions further comprises:

at least one instruction for providing at least the particular one of the registered application programs a response to the request in response to determining that the interest in the designated geographic area is to be provided to at least the particular one of the registered application programs, and

at least one instruction for storing a record of the interest in the designated geographic area in response to determining that the interest in the designated geograpgic area is to be provided to at least the particular one of the registered application programs.

15. A non-transitory computer readable medium tangibly embodying a program of computer executable instructions, the program of instructions comprising:

at least one instruction for registering a plurality of application programs for use with a content delivery platform;

at least one instruction for establishing a plurality of perimeters defining a plurality of geographic areas;

at least one instruction for receiving, from at least a particular one of the registered application programs, a request to obtain an interest in a designated geographic area;

at least one instruction for determining if the interest in the designated geographic area is to be provided to at least the particular one of the registered application programs;

at least one instruction for reserving content delivery to at least the particular one of the registered application programs to being from one or more sponsors after it is determined that an object of interest has entered the designated geographic area in response to determining that the interest in the designated geographic area is to be provided to at least the particular one of the registered application programs;

at least one instruction for receiving, from the one or more sponsors, content to be delivered to at least one of the registered application programs in response to said reserving; and

at least one instruction for providing at least a portion of the content received from the one or more sponsors to at least the particular one of the registered application programs after it is determined that the object of interest has entered the designated geographic area.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 wherein:

receiving the request to obtain the interest in the designated geographic area includes receiving sponsor established perimeter definitions; and

the sponsor established perimeter definitions at least partially define the designated geographic area.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 wherein:

receiving the request to obtain the interest in the designated geographic area includes receiving a first request from a first one of the registered application programs and receiving a second request from a second one of the registered application programs;

reserving content delivery to at least the particular one of the registered application programs includes restricting content delivery to being to the first one of the registered application programs during a first period of time and to being the second one of the registered application programs during a second period of time;

receiving content to be delivered to at least the one of the registered application programs includes receiving content from a first sponsor and receiving content from a second sponsor; and

providing the at least a portion of the content to at least the particular one of the registered application programs includes providing at least a portion of the content received from the first sponsor to the first one of the registered application programs during the first period of time and providing at least a portion of the content received from the second sponsor to the second one of the registered application programs during the second period of time.

18. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 wherein the one or more sponsors is at least one of the registered application programs.

19. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 wherein the program of instructions further comprises:

at least one instruction for providing at least the particular one of the registered application programs a response to the request in response to determining that the interest in the designated geographic area is to be provided to at least the particular one of the registered application programs; and

at least one instruction for storing a record of the interest in the designated geographic area in response to determining that the interest in the designated geographic area is to be provided to at least the particular one of the registered application programs.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 18 wherein:

receiving the request to obtain the interest in the designated geographic area includes receiving sponsor established perimeter definitions; and

the sponsor established perimeter definitions at least partially define the designated geographic area.