Location-based notification

• US 9,608,955 B2
• Filed: 06/16/2014
• Issued: 03/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Dyor, Matthew Graham
• Primary Examiner(s): LEE, BRYAN Y
• Application Number:
  US14/305,956
• Publication Number:
  US 20140297773A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,016 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0631 Resource planning, allocation, distributing or scheduling for enterprises or organisations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/222 using geographical location information, e.g. messages transmitted or received in proximity of a certain spot or area
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal

Abstract

Location-based notification includes establishment of a rally point and subsequent notification of a user when another user enters the rally point. Senders may set up rally points at various physical locations and specify one or more target recipients that are to be notified when the sender enters the rally point. Target recipients may specify communication settings that dictate whether and/or how they wish to receive notifications under a variety of circumstances. When a sender having a computing device enters a rally point location, a notification is sent from the computing device to a location-based notification service, which notifies each of the target recipients in a manner that complies with the target recipient'"'"'s individual communication settings.

Claims

1. One or more storage devices storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computing device, configure the one or more processors to perform acts comprising:

monitoring locations of multiple users over time;

determining one or more previous locations at which the multiple users have met;

generating a rally proposal to propose a rally at a location of the one or more determined locations in response to receiving a request to establish a rally point from a user of the multiple users, wherein the request includes an identification of the user, respective identification of one or more other users of the multiple users, and a sensitivity of the rally point specifying an amount of time for a presence of the user or the one or more other users at the rally point before a notification is sent;

sending the rally proposal to the one or more other users based at least in part on communication modes that are specified in respective profiles of the one or more other users for receiving the rally proposal;

receiving an acceptance of at least one user of the one or more other users for the rally proposal;

establishing the rally point at least in part in response to receiving the acceptance of the at least one user; and

storing information of the rally point in association with the location and the identification of the user and corresponding identification of the at least one user.

2. The one or more storage devices of claim 1, wherein the rally proposal is generated based at least in part on one or more of:

a time since a last meeting between the user of the multiple users and the one or more other users;

schedules in appointment calendars of the user of the multiple users and the one or more other users;

a weather forecast;

explicit preferences specified in a user profile of the user of the multiple users and the respective profiles of the one or more other users;

or

implicit preferences based on one or more previous meetings that the user of the multiple users and the one or more other users have attended or declined.

3. The one or more storage devices of claim 1, the rally proposal comprising a proposed date a time, and the location for the rally.

4. The one or more storage devices of claim 1, wherein generating the rally proposal comprises:

checking whether a predetermined time threshold has passed since the user of multiple users and the one or more other users have last met; and

initiating the rally proposal for proposing to the user of the multiple users.

5. The one or more storage devices of claim 1, wherein the monitored locations comprise geographical coordinate locations.

6. The one or more storage devices of claim 1, wherein the monitored locations comprise point of interests or street addresses.

7. A method implemented at least partially by a computing device, the method comprising:

monitoring locations of multiple users over time;

determining one or more locations at which the multiple users have previously met;

generating a rally proposal to propose a rally at a location of the determined locations in response to receiving a request to establish a rally point from a user of the multiple users, wherein the request includes an identification of the user, respective identification of one or more other users of the multiple users, and a sensitivity of the rally point specifying an amount of time for a presence of the user or the one or more other users at the rally point before a notification is sent; and

sending the rally proposal to the one or more other users based at least in part on communication modes that are specified in respective profiles of the one or more other users for receiving the rally proposal;

receiving an acceptance of at least one user of the one or more other users for the rally proposal;

establishing the rally point at least in part in response to receiving the acceptance of the at least one user; and

storing information of the rally point in association with the location and the identification of the user and corresponding identification of the at least one user.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising receiving the respective user profiles from the one or more users specifying communication settings for the one or more users.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein a profile specifies one or more available communication modes usable to send notifications to a corresponding user, and one or more times at which the corresponding user is available to receive the notifications.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the profile further specifies a particular communication mode to be used for receiving the notifications, based at least in part on respective dates and times of the notifications and/or respective locations of the corresponding user.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising sending a notification indicating one of the user or the one or more other users is at or en route to the rally point to remaining users.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the rally proposal is generated based at least in part on one or more of:

a time since a last meeting between the user of the multiple users and the one or more other users;

schedules in appointment calendars of the user of the multiple users and the one or more other users;

a weather forecast;

explicit preferences specified in a user profile of the user of the multiple users and the respective profiles of the one or more other users;

or

implicit preferences based on one or more previous meetings that the user of the multiple users and the one or more other users have attended or declined.

13. A system comprising:

memory;

one or more processors coupled to the memory to perform acts comprising;

monitoring locations of multiple users over time;

determining one or more previous locations at which the multiple users have rallied;

generating a rally proposal to propose a rally at a location of the one or more determined locations in response to receiving a request to establish a rally point from a user of the multiple users, wherein the request includes an identification of the user, respective identification of one or more other users of the multiple users, and a sensitivity of the rally point specifying an amount of time for a presence of the user or the one or more other users at the rally point before a notification is sent;

sending the rally proposal to the one or more other users based at least in part on communication modes that are specified in respective profiles of the one or more other users for receiving the rally proposal;

receiving an acceptance of at least one user of the one or more other users for the rally proposal;

establishing the rally point at least in part in response to receiving the acceptance of the at least one user; and

storing information of the rally point in association with the location and the identification of the user and corresponding identification of the at least one user.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein generating the rally proposal is performed based at least in part on:

schedules in appointment calendars of the user of the multiple users and the one or more other users;

a weather forecast;

explicit preferences specified in a user profile of the user of the multiple users and the respective profiles of the one or more other users;

or

implicit preferences based on one or more previous meetings that the user of the multiple users and the one or more other users have attended or declined.

15. The system of claim 13, further comprising, in response to determining that the at least one user is at or en route to the rally point:

prompting the user of the multiple users to initiate a communication session with the at least one user of the one or more other users;

prompting the at least one user of the one or more other users to initiate a communication session with the user of the multiple users;

or

automatically initiating a communication session between the at least one user of the one or more other users and the user of the multiple users.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the rally proposal comprises a proposed date, a proposed time, and the location for the rally.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the rally proposal comprises one or more of the following:

a duration that one of the user of the multiple users or the one or more other users expects to stay at the rally point;

the one or more other users expected to be at the rally point; and

a geographical boundary of the rally point.