Providing alerts, vouchers, or coupons once a plurality of geo-fences have been breached a number of times

• US 9,589,435 B2
• Filed: 12/14/2012
• Issued: 03/07/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Finlow-Bates, Keir
• Primary Examiner(s): Hunnings, Travis
• Application Number:
  US13/715,346
• Publication Number:
  US 20140167961A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,544 Days
• Field of Search: 340/541, 340/545.1, 340/546, 340/545.2, 340/426.18, 340/426.19, 340/539.13, 340/539.11, 340/5.1, 340/5.2, 340/5.7, 455/455, 455/422.1, 455/456.1, 455/456.3, 702/150, 702/408, 705/7.29, 705/7.34, 705/14.4, 705/14.49, 705/14.68, 705/14.72
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 13/22 Electrical actuation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences

Abstract

The disclosure is directed to providing a notification based on breaching a plurality of geo-fence perimeters. An embodiment detects a breach related to the plurality of geo-fence perimeters, the breach corresponding to a breach of one of the plurality of geo-fence perimeters, records the breach as one of a plurality of breaches, determines whether the plurality of breaches meet one or more conditions, and if the plurality of breaches meet the condition, issues a notification.

Claims

1. A method for providing a notification based on breaching a plurality of geo-fence perimeters, comprising:

detecting a breach related to the plurality of geo-fence perimeters, the breach corresponding to a breach of one of the plurality of geo-fence perimeters;

incrementing or decrementing a counter upon detection of the breach based on a rule associated with the counter, wherein the breach is one of a plurality of breaches of the plurality of geo-fence perimeters, wherein a value of the counter corresponds to a number of the plurality of breaches of the plurality of geo-fence perimeters, and wherein the rule associated with the counter defines whether the counter is incremented or decremented upon detection of the breach;

determining whether the counter reaches a threshold; and

based on the counter reaching the threshold, issuing a notification.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed by a location-aware user device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed by a server.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the detecting comprises receiving data representing the breach from a user device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification is one of a short message service (SMS) message, a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message, or an email.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the notification is one of a voucher, a coupon, an information pointer, or a warning alert.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether or not a given one of the plurality of geo-fence perimeters was entered less than a threshold period of time after another one of the plurality of geo-fence perimeters was exited.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining comprises determining whether the counter exceeds the threshold.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of geo-fence perimeters are related to each other.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether or not the plurality of geo-fence perimeters were breached without breaching a second geo-fence perimeter.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether or not an amount of time a user remains in given one of the plurality of geo-fence perimeters is greater than a threshold.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether or not the user re-enters the given one of the plurality of geo-fence perimeters after an amount of time less than a threshold.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether or not the plurality of geo-fence perimeters were breached without breaching any of a second plurality of geo-fence perimeters.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether or not the plurality of breaches comprise a plurality of breaches of a given set of geo-fence perimeters.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the issuing the notification comprises, based on the plurality of breaches comprising the plurality of breaches of the given set of geo-fence perimeters, issuing a voucher related to an entity surrounded by a second geo- fence perimeter.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether or not the plurality of geo-fence perimeters were breached in a given order.

17. An apparatus for providing a notification based on breaching a plurality of geo-fence perimeters, comprising:

logic configured to detect a breach related to the plurality of geo-fence perimeters, the breach corresponding to a breach of one of the plurality of geo-fence perimeters;

logic configured to increment or decrement a counter upon detection of the breach based on a rule associated with the counter, wherein the breach is one of a plurality of breaches of the plurality of geo-fence perimeters, wherein a value of the counter corresponds to a number of the plurality of breaches of the plurality of geo-fence perimeters, and wherein the rule associated with the counter defines whether the counter is incremented or decremented upon detection of the breach;

logic configured to determine whether the counter reaches a threshold;

and logic configured to issue, based on the counter reaching the threshold, a notification.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the apparatus is a location- aware user device.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the apparatus is a server.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the logic configured to detect comprises logic configured to receive data representing the breach from a user device.

21. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the notification is one of a short message service (SMS) message, a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message, or an email.

22. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the notification is one of a voucher, a coupon, an information pointer, or a warning alert.

23. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising logic configured to determine whether or not a given one of the plurality of geo-fence perimeters was entered less than a threshold period of time after another one of the plurality of geo-fence perimeters was exited.

24. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising logic configured to determine whether or not a number of the plurality of geo-fence perimeters is greater than a threshold.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the plurality of geo-fence perimeters are related to each other.

26. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising logic configured to determine whether or not the plurality of geo-fence perimeters were breached without breaching a second geo-fence perimeter.

27. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising logic configured to determine whether or not an amount of time a user remains in given one of the plurality of geo- fence perimeters is greater than a threshold.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, further comprising logic configured to determine whether or not the user re-enters the given one of the plurality of geo-fence perimeters after an amount of time less than a threshold.

29. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising logic configured to determine whether or not the plurality of geo-fence perimeters were breached without breaching any of a second plurality of geo-fence perimeters.

30. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising logic configured to determine whether or not the plurality of breaches comprises a plurality of breaches of a given set of geo-fence perimeters.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the logic configured to issue the notification comprises logic configured to issue, based on the plurality of breaches comprising the plurality of breaches of the given set of geo-fence perimeters, a voucher related to an entity surrounded by a second geo-fence perimeter.

32. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising logic configured to determine whether or not the plurality of geo-fence perimeters were breached in a given order.

33. An apparatus for providing a notification based on breaching a plurality of geo-fence perimeters, comprising:

means for detecting a breach related to the plurality of geo-fence perimeters, the breach corresponding to a breach of one of the plurality of geo-fence perimeters;

means for incrementing or decrementing a counter upon detection of the breach based on a rule associated with the counter, wherein the breach is one of a plurality of breaches of the plurality of geo-fence perimeters, wherein a value of the counter corresponds to a number of the plurality of breaches of the plurality of geo-fence perimeters, and wherein the rule associated with the counter defines whether the counter is incremented or decremented upon detection of the breach;

means for determining whether the counter reaches a threshold; and

means for issuing a notification based on the counter reaching the threshold.

34. A non-transitory computer-readable medium for providing a notification based on breaching a plurality of geo-fence perimeters, comprising:

at least one instruction to detect a breach related to the plurality of geo-fence perimeters, the breach corresponding to a breach of one of the plurality of geo-fence perimeters;

at least one instruction to increment or decrement a counter upon detection of the breach based on a rule associated with the counter, wherein the breach is one of a plurality of breaches of the plurality of geo-fence perimeters, wherein a value of the counter corresponds to a number of the plurality of breaches of the plurality of geo-fence perimeters, and wherein the rule associated with the counter defines whether the counter is incremented or decremented upon detection of the breach;

at least one instruction to determine whether the counter reaches a threshold; and

at least one instruction to issue, based on the counter reaching the threshold.