Location-aware social media platform for owners of non-human animals

• US 9,197,995 B1
• Filed: 09/29/2014
• Issued: 11/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Alessandro Malaspina, Luana Deangelis
• Original Assignee: Alessandro Malaspina, Luana Deangelis
• Inventors: DeAngelis, Luana, Malaspina, Alessandro
• Primary Examiner(s): TRAN, CONGVAN
• Application Number:
  US14/499,906
• Time in Patent Office: 421 Days
• Field of Search: 4554041- 2, 4554561- 3, 4554565- 6, 340/539.13, 340/539.11, 340/539.15, 340/539.18, 340/539.2
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/265 Personal security, identity or safety
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• 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 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]

Abstract

An example method of presenting animal-related alerts includes receiving information pertaining to a plurality of non-human animals, where the information includes, for each non-human animal, an indication of a location associated with that non-human animal. The method also includes determining a location of a user'"'"'s device, determining that a location associated with a particular non-human animal is within a pre-defined distance from the location of the user'"'"'s device, and generating an alert, where the alert comprises information pertaining to that particular non-human animal. The method also includes presenting, using the user'"'"'s device, the alert to the user.

Claims

1. A method of presenting animal-related alerts, the method comprising:

receiving, in a user'"'"'s mobile device, information pertaining to a plurality of non-human animals,

wherein the information pertaining to the plurality of non-human animals is received from a platform module of a server system; and

wherein the information comprises, for each non-human animal, an indication of a location associated with that non-human animal and an indication of that non-human animal'"'"'s disposition towards others;

determining, using the user'"'"'s mobile device, a location of the user'"'"'s mobile device;

determining, using the user'"'"'s mobile device, that a location associated with a particular one of the non-human animal is within a pre-defined distance from the location of the user'"'"'s mobile device;

subsequently generating, using the user'"'"'s mobile device, an alert,

wherein the alert comprises information pertaining to that particular non-human animal including the indication of the location associated with that non-human animal and the indication of that non-human animal'"'"'s disposition towards others;

determining, using the user'"'"'s mobile device, that the information pertaining to that particular non-human animal satisfies one or more filtering criteria,

wherein the one or more filtering criteria comprises a particular time period, a particular physical characteristic, and/or particular identifying information associated with at least a subset of the plurality of non-human animals;

upon determining that the information pertaining to that particular non-human animal satisfies one or more filtering criteria, presenting the alert to the user using a user interface of the user'"'"'s mobile device; and

sharing information pertaining to the user with one or more other users,

wherein sharing information pertaining to the user with one or more other users comprises transmitting, using the user'"'"'s mobile device, the location of the user'"'"'s mobile device to the platform module of the server system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the locations associated with a non-human animal corresponds to a current location of a particular non-human animal.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the non-human animals was reported as lost, and wherein the location associated with that lost non-human animal corresponds to a reported last known location of the lost non-human animal.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the pre-defined distance corresponds to a boundary about the location of the user'"'"'s mobile device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the boundary is circular or polygonal.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

presenting, using the user interface of the user'"'"'s mobile device, at least a portion of the information pertaining to the plurality of non-human animals to the user.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein presenting at least a portion of the information pertaining to the plurality of non-human animals comprises generating a graphical map depicting a region surrounding the location of the user'"'"'s mobile device.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the graphical map includes one or more icons, each icon corresponding to one of the non-human animal.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein each icon comprises an indication of a particular non-human animal'"'"'s disposition towards others.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the indication is a pre-determined color.

11. A system for presenting animal-related alerts, the system comprising:

a server system coupled to a platform module; and

a plurality of mobile user devices each coupled to a respective client module, wherein each client module is operable to;

receive information pertaining to a plurality of non-human animals,

wherein the information pertaining to the plurality of non-human animals is received from the platform module; and

wherein the information comprises, for each non-human animal, an indication of a location associated with that non-human animal and an indication of that non-human animal'"'"'s disposition towards others;

determine a location of the respective user'"'"'s mobile device;

determine that a location associated with a particular one of the non-human animal is within a pre-defined distance from the location of the respective user'"'"'s mobile device;

subsequently generate an alert,

wherein the alert comprises information pertaining to that particular non-human animal including the indication of the location associated with that non-human animal and the indication of that non-human animal'"'"'s disposition towards others;

determine that the information pertaining to that particular non-human animal satisfies one or more filtering criteria,

wherein the one or more filtering criteria comprises a particular time period, a particular physical characteristic, and/or particular identifying information associated with at least a subset of the plurality of non-human animals;

upon determining that the information pertaining to that particular non-human animal satisfies one or more filtering criteria, present the alert to the user using a user interface of the respective user'"'"'s mobile device; and

share information pertaining to the user with one or more other users,

wherein sharing information pertaining to the user with one or more other users comprises transmitting the location of the respective user'"'"'s mobile device to the platform module.

12. The system of claim 11, where at least one of the locations associated with a non-human animal corresponds to a current location of a particular non-human animal.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein at least one of the non-human animals was reported as lost, and wherein the location associated with that lost non-human animal corresponds to a reported last known location of the lost non-human animal.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the pre-defined distance corresponds to a boundary about the location of the user'"'"'s mobile device.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the boundary is circular or polygonal.

16. The system of claim 11, wherein each client module is further operable to:

present, using the user interface of the user'"'"'s mobile device, at least a portion of the information pertaining to the plurality of non-human animals to the user.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein presenting at least a portion of the information pertaining to the plurality of non-human animals comprises generating a graphical map depicting a region surrounding the location of the user'"'"'s mobile device.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the graphical map includes one or more icons, each icon corresponding to one of the non-human animal.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein each icon comprises an indication of a particular non-human animal'"'"'s disposition towards others.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the indication is a pre-determined color.