System and method for generating and managing geofeed-based alerts

• US 9,077,675 B2
• Filed: 01/27/2014
• Issued: 07/07/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tai Technologies Inc. (Crisis24)
• Original Assignee: Geofeedia, Inc.
• Inventors: Harris, Philip B., Mitchell, Scott K., Mulroy, Michael J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Hitesh
• Application Number:
  US14/164,362
• Publication Number:
  US 20140207893A1
• Time in Patent Office: 526 Days
• Field of Search: 709203-207, 709/224
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1845 broadcast or multicast in a specific location, e.g. geocast protocols for adapting network applications to user terminal location H04L67/52; services specially adapted for wireless communication networks making use of the location of users or terminals H04W4/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1895 for short real-time information, e.g. alarms, notifications, alerts, updates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/222 using geographical location information, e.g. messages transmitted or received in proximity of a certain spot or area
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/226 Delivery according to priorities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/306 intercepting packet switched data communications, e.g. Web, Internet or IMS communications

Abstract

The disclosure relates to systems and methods for monitoring content, generating alerts, determining trends, and communicating notifications related to geofeeds, including content related to geographically definable locations that is aggregated from a plurality of social media or other content providers. The system may monitor the content based on one or more alert parameters that specify alert conditions that when satisfied cause the system to generate an alert, including trending alerts. The system may track an activity as it moves over time. Content may be associated with the activity and monitored such that the activity may be tracked based on the monitored content. Various alerts may be generated based on the tracked activity. The system may communicate notifications that include the alerts, thereby leveraging content from social media or other providers to convey real-time information on subject matter, trends, activities, and/or other information.

Claims

1. A system for tracking an activity over time based on content related to one or more geographically definable locations, the system comprising:

a computer comprising one or more physical processors programmed with one or more computer program instructions, which, when executed by the one or more physical processors, program the computer to;

obtain a plurality of social media content items, the plurality of social media content items comprising at least a first social media content item that includes a first geotag that indicates a first location at which the first social media content item was created and a second social media content item that includes a second geotag that indicates a second location at which the second social media content item was created;

identify an activity to be tracked based on the plurality of social media content items;

associate the first social media content item with the activity based on a keyword that appears in the first social media content item, wherein the keyword is related to or indicates the activity;

identify the first location from which the first social media content item was created based on the first geotag;

associate the second social media content item with the activity based on an appearance of the keyword in the second social media content item;

identify the second location from which the second social media content item was created based on the second geotag;

determine that the first location and the second location represents a path of the activity over time; and

cause the first social media content item, the second social media content item, and the path of the activity to be communicated.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein to obtain the plurality of social media content items, the computer is further programmed to:

receive an identification of one or more geographically definable locations based on an input from a user;

generate a first request that specifies the one or more geographically definable locations in a first format used by a first social media content provider;

generate a second request that specifies the one or more geographically definable locations in a second format used by a second social media content provider, the second format being different than the first format;

cause the first request to be communicated to the first social media content provider;

cause the second request to be communicated to the second social media content provider;

receive a first set of social media content items from the first social media content provider based on the first request; and

receive a second set of social media content items from the second social media content provider based on the second request, wherein the plurality of social media content items includes the first set of social media content items and the second set of social media content items.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer is further programmed to:

identify at least a third location adjacent to the second location;

identify at least a fourth location adjacent to the second location;

obtain a first set of social media content items that were created from the third location;

obtain a second set of social media content items that were created from the fourth location;

determine that the first set of social media content items is related to the activity;

determine that the second set of social media content items is unrelated to the activity;

determine that the first location, the second location, and the third location represents a path of the activity based on the determination that the first set of social media content items is related to the activity and the second set of social media content items is unrelated to the activity.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the first set of social media content items is determined to be related to the activity based on a keyword that appears in at least some of the first set of social media content items.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the second set of social media content items is determined to be unrelated to the activity based on an absence of the keyword.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the computer is further programmed to:

obtain a historical set of social media content items associated with at least the first location and the second location;

determine a first frequency of the keyword appearing in the historical set of social media content items;

determine a second frequency of the keyword appearing in the first set of social media content items; and

compare the first frequency and the second frequency, wherein the first set of social media content items is determined to be related to the activity based on the comparison.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer is further programmed to:

determine that the first social media content item is associated with a first time;

determine that the second social media content item is associated with a second time after the first time, wherein the path of the activity is determined based at least in part on the first time and the second time.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the first time indicates a time that the first social media content item was created and the second time indicates a time that the second social media content item was created.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the first time indicates a time that the first social media content item was uploaded and the second time indicates a time that the second social media content item was uploaded.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the keyword is provided by a user.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the computer is further programmed to:

obtain a historical set of social media content items associated with at least the first location and the second location;

determine a first frequency of the keyword appearing in the historical set of social media content items;

determine a second frequency of the keyword appearing in the plurality of social media content items;

compare the first frequency and the second frequency; and

automatically determine the keyword based on the comparison.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the keyword is automatically determined responsive to the comparison indicating that the second frequency is greater than the first frequency.

13. A method for tracking an activity over time based on content related to one or more geographically definable locations, the method being implemented by a computer having one or more physical processors programmed with one or more computer program instructions, which, when executed by the one or more physical processors, program the computer to perform the method, the method comprising:

obtaining, by the computer, a plurality of social media content items, the plurality of social media content items comprising at least a first social media content item that includes a first geotag that indicates a first location at which the first social media content item was created and a second social media content item that includes a second geotag that indicates a second location at which the second social media content item was created;

identifying, by the computer, an activity to be tracked based on the plurality of social media content items;

associating, by the computer, the first social media content item with the activity based on a keyword that appears in the first social media content item, wherein the keyword is related to or indicates the activity;

identifying, by the computer, the first location from which the first social media content item was created based on the first geotag;

associating, by the computer, the second social media content item with the activity based on an appearance of the keyword in the second social media content item;

identifying, by the computer, the second location from which the second social media content item was created based on the second geotag;

determining, by the computer, that the first location and the second location represents a path of the activity over time; and

causing, by the computer, the first social media content item, the second social media content item, and the path of the activity to be communicated.