Location based reminders

• US 9,122,542 B1
• Filed: 12/17/2012
• Issued: 09/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/12/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Nelissen, Marco
• Primary Examiner(s): AJIBADE AKONAI, OLUMIDE
• Application Number:
  US13/716,368
• Time in Patent Office: 988 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.1, 455/456.2, 455/456.3, 455/456.4, 455/456.5, 455/456.6, 455/457, 455/414.1, 455/418, 455/419, 455/412.1, 455/412.2, 455/414.2, 340/539.11, 340/539.13
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/54 Interprogram communication
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• 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 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A computer-implemented user alert method includes identifying a task for a user, associating a location with the task, monitoring a location of a mobile device associated with the user, and notifying the user about the task when the mobile device comes within a defined proximity of the associated location.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, at a computing device, an indication of a first task that is to be performed at a first facility;

assigning, based on a type of the first facility, a size of a first geographical notification area surrounding the first facility;

receiving, at the computing device, an indication of a second task that is to be performed at a different, second facility;

assigning, based on a type of the second facility, a size of a second geographical notification area surrounding the second facility, wherein the size assigned to the first geographical notification area is different than the size assigned to the second geographical notification area based on the first facility and the second facility being of different types;

determining whether the computing device is physically located within the first geographical notification area or is physically located within the second geographical notification area; and

generating for presentation to a user of the computing device, in response to determining that the computing device is physically located within the first geographical notification area or is physically located within the second geographical notification area, a notification corresponding to the first task or the second task, respectively.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein:

the size of the first geographical notification area is indicated by a threshold distance from a location of the first facility, and

the method comprises determining whether the computing device is physically located within the first geographical notification area based on whether the computing device is physically located less than the threshold distance from the location of the first facility.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein a shape of the first geographical notification area is non-circular, in that a boundary of the first geographical notification area occurs at different distances from the first facility for at least some different portions of the boundary.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising determining the size of the first geographical notification area based on a number of facilities that have the same type as the first facility within a second area surrounding the first facility.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4, further comprising determining the size of the second geographical notification area based on a number of facilities that have the same type as the second facility within a second area surrounding the second facility,

wherein the number of facilities that have the same type as the first facility in the second area surrounding the first facility is greater than the number of facilities that have the same type as the second facility in the second area surrounding the second facility,

wherein the size of the first geographical notification area is determined to be smaller than the size of the second geographical notification area as a result of the number of facilities that have the same type as the first facility in the second area surrounding the first facility being greater than the number of facilities that have the same type as the second facility in the second area surrounding the second facility.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the size assigned to the first geographical notification area is smaller than the size assigned to the second geographical notification area as a result of the first facility being of a type that offers products or services at lower prices than prices of products or services offered by facilities of the same type as the second facility.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an indication that user input entered a description of the first task, and parsing the description of the first task to determine the first facility at which the first task is to be performed.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein the description of the first task does not name the first facility.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising submitting at least a portion of the description of the first task to a search engine, and receiving identifying information for the first facility that the search engine has determined based on the at least the portion of the description of the first task.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein generating the notification corresponding to the first task or the second task for presentation to the user of the computing device comprises displaying a map and a graphical element corresponding to the first facility or the second facility, respectively, overlaid on the map at a map location that corresponds to a geographic location of the first facility or the second facility, respectively.

11. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of operations comprising:

receiving, at a computing device, an indication of a first task that is to be performed at a first facility;

assigning, based on a type of the first facility, a size of a first geographical notification area surrounding the first facility;

receiving, at the computing device, an indication of a second task that is to be performed at a different, second facility;

assigning, based on a type of the second facility, a size of a second geographical notification area surrounding the second facility, wherein the size assigned to the first geographical notification area is different than the size assigned to the second geographical notification area based on the first facility and the second facility being of different types;

determining whether the computing device is physically located within the first geographical notification area or is physically located within the second geographical notification area; and

generating for presentation to a user of the computing device, in response to determining that the computing device is physically located within the first geographical notification area or is physically located within the second geographical notification area, a notification corresponding to the first task or the second task, respectively.

12. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein:

the size of the first geographical notification area is indicated by a threshold distance from a location of the first facility, and

the operations comprise determining whether the computing device is physically located within the first geographical notification area based on whether the computing device is physically located less than the threshold distance from the location of the first facility.

13. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein a shape of the first geographical notification area is non-circular, in that a boundary of the first geographical notification area occurs at different distances from the first facility for at least some different portions of the boundary.

14. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise determining the size of the first geographical notification area based on a number of facilities that have the same type as the first facility within a second area surrounding the first facility.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise determining the size of the second geographical notification area based on a number of facilities that have the same type as the second facility within a second area surrounding the second facility,

wherein the number of facilities that have the same type as the first facility in the second area surrounding the first facility is greater than the number of facilities that have the same type as the second facility in the second area surrounding the second facility,

wherein the size of the first geographical notification area is determined to be smaller than the size of the second geographical notification area as a result of the number of facilities that have the same type as the first facility in the second area surrounding the first facility being greater than the number of facilities that have the same type as the second facility in the second area surrounding the second facility.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein the size assigned to the first geographical notification area is smaller than the size assigned to the second geographical notification area as a result of the first facility being of a type that offers products or services at lower prices than prices of products or services offered by facilities of the same type as the second facility.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise receiving an indication that user input entered a description of the first task, and parsing the description of the first task to determine the first facility at which the first task is to be performed.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein the description of the first task does not name the first facility.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 18, wherein the operations further comprise submitting at least a portion of the description of the first task to a search engine, and receiving identifying information for the first facility that the first engine has determined based on the at least the portion of the description of the first task.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 11, wherein generating the notification corresponding to the first task or the second task for presentation to the user of the computing device comprises displaying a map and a graphical element corresponding to the first facility or the second facility, respectively, overlaid on the map at a map location that corresponds to a geographic location of the first facility or the second facility, respectively.