System and method for providing recommendations with a location-based service

• US 9,183,504 B2
• Filed: 05/21/2014
• Issued: 11/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/04/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Foursquare Labs, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Foursquare Labs, Inc.
• Inventors: Moore, Justin, Weiss, Noah, Lee, Benjamin N., Sklar, Max Elliot, Shaw, Blake
• Primary Examiner(s): Holmes, Michael B
• Application Number:
  US14/283,484
• Publication Number:
  US 20140358836A1
• Time in Patent Office: 538 Days
• Field of Search: 706/46
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24578 using ranking
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/04 Inference or reasoning models
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0259 based on store location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0261 based on user location
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72472 wherein the items are sorted according to specific criteria, e.g. frequency of use
• 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 4/21 for social networking applications

Abstract

A mobile application is provided that provides intelligent recommendations based on the knowledge of where the user has been, and what venues the user would like to visit. Further, such an application may be capable of determining where people in a user'"'"'s social network have been and what venue locations these related users would like to visit. Also, in another implementation, the application may be capable of determining where people with similar tastes have been, and where they would like to go. Some or all of this information may be used by a mobile application that provides recommendations to a user. For instance, in one implementation, a user having a mobile device such as a cell phone wishes to locate a venue based on one or more parameters, and some or all of this information may be used to order or rank recommendations within the interface.

Claims

1. A method for providing recommendations by a service, the method comprising:

determining, by the service, a location of a mobile device of a user;

determining, a set of venue locations based on the location of the mobile device;

ordering, within an interface of the mobile device, a plurality of the venue locations of the result set based on at least one or more of a group of venue information comprising;

personal information associated with the user, the personal information relating to use of the service by the user and other users of the service associated with the user; and

information relating to the one or more of the plurality of venue locations; and

determining, for each of the venue locations in the set, a respective score based on at least one or more of the group of venue information.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving, within the interface of the mobile device associated with the user, an input defining a query for a recommendation of one or more venue locations.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the service is a location-based service.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising providing the user a control that permits the user to select a limitation of a distance from a current location of the user where recommendations will be provided.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the personal information relating to one or more of the plurality of venue locations comprises preference information for venues already visited by the user.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the personal information relating to one or more of the plurality of venue locations comprises preference information for venues not yet visited by the user.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the information relating to the one or more of the plurality of venue locations comprises preference information for venues already visited by one or more users in a social network.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising determining a popularity measure of the one or more of the plurality of venue locations as determined by the set of users defined in the service.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining, for each of the venue locations in the set, the respective score based on the at least one or more of the group of venue information further comprises determining respective scores for each venue location in the set based on more than one of the personal information and the information relating to the one or more of the plurality of venue locations.

10. The method according to claim 9, further comprising determining scores for each venue location based on the personal information and the information relating to the one or more of the plurality of venue locations and combining the scores to produce a total score for each venue location.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising using at least one of a group comprising a collaborative filtering function, a user-user filtering function and a k-nearest neighbor function for determining the score of each venue locations in the result set using at least one or more of the group of venue information.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising adjusting the respective score for at least one of the venue locations in the set responsive to one or more factors relating to the at least one of the venue locations.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the one or more factors includes at least one of a probability that the at least one of the venue locations is currently open and information identifying that the at least one of the venue locations is currently being frequented.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein ordering the plurality of venue locations is responsive to a determination of sentiment of each of the plurality of venue locations.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the determination of sentiment comprises determining, for at least one venue of the plurality of venue locations, an indication of sentiment based on review information provided by users for the at least one venue to the location-based service.

16. The method according to claim 1, further comprising limiting the result set of venue locations responsive to a determination of densities of venues in a particular area.

17. A system for providing recommendations in a distributed communications network, the system comprising:

a service including a distributed computer system having at least one processor and a memory;

a component for determining, by the service, a location of the mobile device;

a component adapted to determine a set of venue locations based on the determined location;

a component adapted to order, within an interface of the mobile device, a plurality of the venue locations of the result set based on at least one or more of a group of venue information comprising;

personal information associated with the user, the personal information relating to use of the service by the user and other users of the service associated with the user; and

information relating to the one or more of the plurality of venue locations; and

a component adapted to determine, for each of the venue locations in the set, a respective score based on at least one or more of the group of venue information.

18. The system according to claim 17, further comprising an interface adapted to receive an input from a mobile device defining a query for a recommendation of one or more venue locations by the service.

19. The system according to claim 17, wherein the service is a location-based service.

20. The system according to claim 17, wherein the personal information relating to one or more of the plurality of venue locations comprises preference information for venues not yet visited by the user.

21. The system according to claim 17, wherein the information relating to the one or more of the plurality of venue locations comprises preference information for venues already visited by one or more users in a social network.

22. The system according to claim 17, further comprising a component adapted to determine a popularity measure of the one or more of the plurality of venue locations as determined by the set of users defined in the service.

23. The system according to claim 17, wherein the component that is adapted to determine, for each of the venue locations in the set, the respective score based on the at least one or more of the group of venue information further comprises a component adapted to determine respective scores for each venue location in the set based on the personal information and the information relating to the one or more of the plurality of service locations.

24. The system according to claim 23, further comprising a component adapted to determine scores for each venue location based on the personal information and the information relating to the one or more of the plurality of venue locations and combining the scores to produce a total score for each venue location.

25. The system according to claim 17, further comprising a component adapted to perform at least one of a group comprising a collaborative filtering function, a user-user filtering function and a k-nearest neighbor function for determining the score of each venue location in the set using at least one or more of the group of venue information.

26. The system according to claim 17, further comprising a component adapted to adjust the respective score for at least one of the venue locations in the set responsive to one or more factors relating to the at least one of the venue locations.

27. The system according to claim 26, wherein the one or more factors includes at least one of a probability that the at least one of the venue locations is currently open and information identifying that the at least one of the venue locations is currently being frequented.

28. The system according to claim 17, wherein the component adapted to order the plurality of venue locations is responsive to a component adapted to determine sentiment of at least one of the plurality of venue locations.

29. The system according to claim 28, wherein the component adapted to determine sentiment comprises a component adapted to determine, for at least one venue of the plurality of venue locations, an indication of sentiment based on review information provided by users for the at least one venue to the location-based service.

30. The system according to claim 17, further comprising a component adapted to limit the result set of venue locations responsive to a determination of densities of venues in a particular area.

31. A method for providing recommendations by a service, the method comprising:

determining, by the service, a location of a mobile device of a user;

determining, a set of venue locations based on the location of the mobile device;

ordering, within an interface of the mobile device, a plurality of the venue locations of the set based on at least one or more of a group of venue information comprising;

personal information associated with the user, the personal information relating to the use of the service by the user and other users of the service associated with the user; and

information relating to the one or more of the plurality of venue locations; and

presenting, to the user in a display of the mobile device associated with the user, an input control that permits the user to selectively filter the one or more of the plurality of venue locations within the display of the mobile device.

32. The method according to claim 31, wherein the input control permits the user to select a category of venues.

33. The method according to claim 31, wherein the input control permits the user to select a search radius.

34. The method according to claim 31, wherein the input control permits the user to select a time period.

35. The method according to claim 31, further comprising receiving, within the interface of the mobile device associated with the user, an input defining a query for a recommendation of one or more venue locations.

36. The method according to claim 31, wherein the service is a location-based service.

37. A method for providing recommendations by a service, the method comprising:

determining, by the service, a location of a mobile device of a user;

determining, a set of venue locations based on the location of the mobile device;

determining, for each of the venue locations in the result set, a respective score based on at least one or more of a group of information comprising;

personal information associated with the user, the personal information relating to the use of the service by the user and other users of the service associated with the user;

information relating to an environment of the mobile device; and

information relating to the one or more of the plurality of venue locations; and

displaying, within the interface of the mobile device, the venue with the highest score to the user.

38. The method according to claim 37, wherein the personal information includes check-in information.

39. The method according to claim 37, wherein the personal information includes preference information.

40. The method according to claim 38, wherein the check-in information relates to check-ins performed by the user and other users of the service associated with the user.

41. The method according to claim 39, wherein the preference information relates to preferences of the user and other users of the service associated with the user.

42. The method according to claim 37, wherein the information relating to an environment of the mobile device includes a time of day.

43. A method for providing recommendations by a service, the method comprising:

determining, by the service, a location of the mobile device;

determining, a result set of venue locations based on the location of the mobile device;

ordering, within an interface of the mobile device, a plurality of the venue locations of the result set based on at least one or more of a group of venue information comprising;

personal information associated with the user, the personal information relating to use of the service; and

information relating to the one or more of the plurality of venue locations; and

presenting, to the user in a display of the mobile device associated with the user, an input control that permits the user to select a category of venues.