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Analyzing consumer behavior using electronically-captured consumer location data

  • US 9,165,304 B2
  • Filed: 10/22/2010
  • Issued: 10/20/2015
  • Est. Priority Date: 10/23/2009
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method for performing consumer analytics based on location data for consumers of a plurality of consumers, wherein the location data comprises geographic location data determined using Global Positioning System (GPS) and/or Assisted GPS (AGPS) techniques implemented by mobile devices operated by the plurality of consumers, the method comprising:

  • operating at least one programmed processor to perform a set of acts, the at least one programmed processor being programmed with executable instructions identifying the set of acts, the set of acts comprising;

    identifying, in the location data, a plurality of paths taken by the plurality of consumers, each path comprising a route traveled by a consumer of the plurality of consumers and comprising at least two settings visited by the consumer during the path, wherein the at least two settings of each path comprise a starting endpoint and a finishing endpoint of the path and wherein the starting endpoint and finishing endpoint for each path are personally-relevant locations for the consumer who traveled the path, and wherein identifying the plurality of paths in the location data comprises identifying in the location data visits by the plurality of consumers to personally-relevant locations for those consumers and identifying the plurality of paths based on the identified personally-relevant locations;

    analyzing the plurality of paths, wherein the analyzing comprises;

    identifying, in the plurality of paths, a first path followed by a first consumer that comprises a first route that passes a first location of a first business that the first consumer passed by but did not visit during the first path and comprises a competitor to the first business that the consumer visited during the first path;

    generating context information indicating a context in which the first consumer passed by but did not visit the first business, the context including that the first consumer visited the competitor to the first business during the first path in which the first consumer passed by but did not visit the first business, the context information comprising a distance along the first route from a first starting endpoint of the first path to an anchor identified in the first path and including an identification of the at least two settings visited by the first consumer in the first path that included the visit to the competitor of the first business; and

    for a group of consumers who are potential customers of the first business, predicting one or more behaviors in which consumers of the group of consumers may engage when visiting the first business in the future, wherein the predicting comprises predicting the one or more behaviors based at least in part on the context information indicating the context in which the first consumer passed by but did not visit the first business during the first path;

    receiving, from a mobile device operated by a second consumer, location data for the second consumer determined by the mobile device using GPS and/or AGPS techniques;

    in response to determining from a real-time analysis of the location data that the second consumer is presently engaged in at least one of the one or more behaviors, distributing to the mobile device operated by the second consumer at least one message relating to the first business,wherein identifying, in the location data, the plurality of paths further comprises identifying, from the location data, settings visited by the plurality of consumers, wherein determining each one setting of the settings comprises, for first location data for a consumer who visited the one setting;

    determining, for each one candidate setting of one or more candidate settings, a first probability of a match between the first location data and the one candidate setting based at least in part on comparing the first location data for the consumer to information regarding a location of the one candidate setting;

    determining, for each one candidate setting of the one or more candidate settings, a second probability of a match based on previously-detected behaviors of the consumer who visited the one setting and/or of other consumers; and

    identifying the one setting as one of the one or more candidate settings based on the first probability and the second probability,wherein the set of acts further comprises receiving the first location data, the receiving comprising receiving, for each piece of location data of the first location data, a physical location and a time the physical location was determined, andwherein determining the first probability based at least in part on comparing the first location data to information regarding the location of the one candidate setting comprises determining the first probability based at least in part on comparing times at which each piece of the first location data was determined to schedules associated with a location of each one candidate setting of the one or more candidate settings.

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