Systems and methods for comparative geofencing

• US 9,119,038 B2
• Filed: 05/21/2013
• Issued: 08/25/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yopima, LLC
• Original Assignee: Yopima, LLC
• Inventors: Woods, Vernell, Campbell, Dennis, Nunnally, Troy, Nunnally, Travis, Mims, Alexander
• Primary Examiner(s): Shin, Kyung H
• Application Number:
  US13/899,348
• Publication Number:
  US 20140351328A1
• Time in Patent Office: 826 Days
• Field of Search: 709/204, 455/456.3, 455/456.1, 701/465
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• 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: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

The present disclosure describes systems and methods for time-based geolocation queries, with designated planned arrival and/or departure times or event start/end times. The number of queries can be drastically reduced to reduce battery, bandwidth, and processing requirements; or the rate of queries can be increased within a specified time frame, providing much higher resolution of geolocation information. Geolocation information may be monitored via notifications from portable devices to identify demographics of users within identified regions and subregions, allowing real-time, dynamic comparison of demographic information between locations, such as restaurants, clubs, or events.

Claims

1. A method for tracking locations of a plurality of devices within overlapping geofences, comprising:

receiving, by a location analyzer executed by a computing device, an identification of (i) a first region defined by a first geofence;

(ii) a second region defined by a second geofence distinct from the first geofence; and

(iii) a third region defined by a third geofence including the first region and second region;

receiving, by the location analyzer, a plurality of arrival notifications from a corresponding plurality of devices, each arrival notification sent by each device responsive to said device determining it has entered the third geofence;

receiving, by the location analyzer, user information for a user of each of the plurality of devices;

identifying, by the location analyzer, a first subset of the plurality of devices that are within the first region and a second subset of the plurality of devices that are within the second region;

comparing, by the location analyzer, user information of the users of the first subset of the plurality of devices and user information of the users of the second subset of the plurality of devices; and

transmitting, by the location analyzer to a second computing device, a comparison metric identifying a difference between users of the first subset of the plurality of devices and users of the second subset of the plurality of devices.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first region and the second region do not overlap.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein each arrival notification is sent by each device further responsive to a current time being within a predetermined time period of a planned arrival time.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each arrival notification comprises a geographic location of the corresponding device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the location analyzer, one or more current device locations from a corresponding one or more of the plurality of devices, sent by each device responsive to said device determining it is still within the third geofence.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

re-identifying a first subset of the plurality of devices that are within the first region and a second subset of the plurality of devices that are within the second region based on the received one or more current device locations;

re-comparing, by the location analyzer, user information of the users of the first subset of the plurality of devices and user information of the users of the second subset of the plurality of devices; and

transmitting, by the location analyzer to the second computing device, an updated comparison metric identifying a change in the difference between users of the first subset of the plurality of devices and users of the second subset of the plurality of devices.

7. A system for tracking locations of a plurality of devices within overlapping geofences, comprising:

a computing device comprising a processor executing a location analyzer configured for;

receiving an identification of (i) a first region defined by a first geofence;

(ii) a second region defined by a second geofence distinct from the first geofence; and

(iii) a third region defined by a third geofence including the first region and second region,

receiving a plurality of arrival notifications from a corresponding plurality of devices, each arrival notification sent by each device responsive to said device determining it has entered the third geofence,

receiving user information for a user of each of the plurality of devices,

identifying a first subset of the plurality of devices that are within the first region and a second subset of the plurality of devices that are within the second region,

comparing user information of the users of the first subset of the plurality of devices and user information of the users of the second subset of the plurality of devices, and

transmitting, to a second computing device, a comparison metric identifying a difference between users of the first subset of the plurality of devices and users of the second subset of the plurality of devices.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the first region and the second region do not overlap.

9. The system of claim 7, where each arrival notification is sent by each device further responsive to a current time being within a predetermined time period of a planned arrival time.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein each arrival notification comprises a geographic location of the corresponding device.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the location analyzer is further configured for receiving one or more current device locations from a corresponding one or more of the plurality of devices, sent by each device responsive to said device determining it is still within the third geofence.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the location analyzer is further configured for:

re-identifying a first subset of the plurality of devices that are within the first region and a second subset of the plurality of devices that are within the second region based on the received one or more current device locations,

re-comparing user information of the users of the first subset of the plurality of devices and user information of the users of the second subset of the plurality of devices, and

transmitting, to the second computing device, an updated comparison metric identifying a change in the difference between users of the first subset of the plurality of devices and users of the second subset of the plurality of devices.

13. A method for tracking locations of a plurality of devices within overlapping geofences, comprising:

receiving, by a portable computing device, an identification of a first geofence defining a first region;

determining a current location of the portable computing device;

comparing the current location of the portable computing device to the identified first geofence; and

transmitting, by the portable computing device to a second computing device, an arrival notification, responsive to determining that the current location of the portable computing device is within the identified first region, the arrival notification including an identification of the current location of the portable computing device within one of a plurality of subregions of the first region defined by a corresponding plurality of geofences.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving, by the portable computing device from the second computing device, an identification of one or more users of other portable computing devices within the same one of the plurality of subregions of the first region as the portable computing device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the identification of the one or more users of other portable computing devices comprises an identification of a gender ratio of the one or more users within the same one of the plurality of subregions.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

transmitting a current location of the portable computing device to the second computing device, at a predetermined frequency, until the portable computing device determines that the current location of the portable computing device is no longer within the identified first region.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

transmitting a current location of the portable computing device to the second computing device, at a predetermined frequency, until expiration of a predetermined time period.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving, by the portable computing device, an identification of a planned arrival time;

identifying, by the portable computing device, that a current time is within a predetermined period of time before the planned arrival time; and

wherein determining a current location of the portable computing device is performed responsive to the identification that the current time is within the predetermined time period before the planned arrival time.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising, prior to transmitting the arrival notification, repeating determining the current location of the portable computing device and comparing the current location of the portable computing device to the identified first geofence at a predetermined frequency, responsive to determining that the current location of the portable computing device is outside of the identified first region.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the arrival notification includes an identification of a user of the portable computing device.