Systems and methods of networking enhancements using location based services

• US 9,253,610 B2
• Filed: 01/22/2015
• Issued: 02/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Nielsen, Mark D., Ramanathan, Sri, Terry, Matthew A., Trevathan, Matthew B.
• Primary Examiner(s): Woo, Isaac M
• Application Number:
  US14/602,425
• Publication Number:
  US 20150131518A1
• Time in Patent Office: 376 Days
• Field of Search: 707600-899
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/00 Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72463 to restrict the functionality of the device
• 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 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management

Abstract

A location based service and method configured to provide a mechanism for information to a subscribing user. The method is implemented on a computing infrastructure and includes querying one or more databases for matching information of a third party that is associated with one or more mobile devices that pass within a predefined location at one or more predefined intervals. The method further includes providing location information to a subscribing user of the one or more mobile devices that have the matching information and pass within the predefined location.

Claims

1. A method implemented in a computer infrastructure, the method comprising:

receiving, by a computing device, a request from a subscribing user for a location filtered group message to be provided to a plurality of devices in a group list;

constructing, by the computing device, a geo-boundary around a location of the subscribing user;

identifying, by the computing device, all opted in devices within the geo-boundary;

comparing, by the computing device, an identification of each of the opted in devices within the geo-boundary to an identification of each device in the group list; and

when there is one or more matches between the identification of each of the opted in devices within the geo-boundary and the identification of each of the plurality of devices in the group list, sending, by the computing device, the location filtered group message to each of the matched opted in devices,

wherein the request from the subscribing user includes the group list and a radius for constructing the geo-boundary around the location of the subscribing user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising removing, by the computing device, the geo-boundary around the location of the subscribing user.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising generating, by the computing device, a list of all of the opted in devices within the geo-boundary.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the removing of the geo-boundary around the location of the subscribing user is performed after identifying all opted in devices within the geo-boundary.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the removing of the geo-boundary around the location of the subscribing user is performed before comparing an identification of each of the opted in devices within the geo-boundary to an identification of each device in the group list.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein a service provider performs the comparing.

7. A system comprising:

a CPU, a computer readable memory and a computer readable storage medium;

program instructions to receive a request from a subscribing user for a location filtered group message to be provided to a plurality of devices in a group list;

program instructions to construct a geo-boundary around a location of the subscribing user with a given radius;

program instructions to identify all opted in devices within the geo-boundary;

program instructions to compare an identification of each of the opted in devices within the geo-boundary to an identification of each device in the group list; and

when there is one or more matches between the identification of each of the opted in devices within the geo-boundary and the identification of each of the plurality of devices in the group list, program instructions to send the location filtered group message to each of the matched opted in devices,

wherein the program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage medium for execution by the CPU via the computer readable memory, and

wherein the request from the subscribing user includes the group list and a radius for constructing the geo-boundary around the location of the subscribing user.

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising program instructions to remove the geo-boundary around the location of the subscribing user, and generate a list of all of the opted in devices within the geo-boundary.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the computer program instructions to remove the geo-boundary around the location of the subscribing user perform the removal of the geo-boundary after all opted in devices within the geo-boundary are identified.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the computer instructions to remove the geo-boundary around the location of the subscribing user perform the removal of the geo-boundary before an identification of each of the opted in devices within the geo-boundary is compared to an identification of each device in the group list.