Method of managing geo-fence and electronic device thereof

• US 9,801,017 B2
• Filed: 06/13/2016
• Issued: 10/24/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/10/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Choi, Areum, Kim, Woo-Young, Lee, Sunggyu
• Primary Examiner(s): TRAN, CONGVAN
• Application Number:
  US15/180,489
• Publication Number:
  US 20170048666A1
• Time in Patent Office: 498 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561- 3, 455457, 4554042
• 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 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Disclosed are a method of managing geo-fences by an electronic device and an electronic device therefor. An operation of the electronic device may include: identifying a deletion of at least some geo-fences among a plurality of geo-fences stored in the electronic device or an addition of other geo-fences; identifying a number of remaining geo-fences among the plurality of geo-fences according to the deletion or the addition; and when the number of remaining geo-fences is larger than a number of geo-fences which can be allowed by hardware resources, grouping the remaining geo-fences as one or more geo-fence groups.

Claims

1. A method of an electronic device, the method comprising:

identifying information regarding a plurality of geo-fences stored in the electronic device, the information comprising a number of the plurality of geo-fences and location information for each of the plurality of geo-fences;

identifying a number of geo-fences which are available by hardware resources;

in response to determining that the number of the plurality of geo-fences is larger than the number of geo-fences which are available by the hardware resources, grouping the plurality of geo-fences into one or more geo-fence groups based on the location information for each of the plurality of geo-fences, wherein a number of the one or more geo-fence groups is less than or equal to the number of geo-fences which are available by the hardware resources;

generating one or more virtual geo-fences corresponding to the one or more geo-fence groups; and

monitoring the one or more virtual geo-fences.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to detecting that the electronic device enters one virtual geo-fence among the one or more virtual geo-fences, monitoring the one virtual geo-fence and one or more geo-fences within the one virtual geo-fence.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

identifying a number of the one or more geo-fences within the one virtual geo-fence;

in response to determining that the number of the one or more geo-fences within the one virtual geo-fence is larger than the number of geo-fences which are available by the hardware resources, sub-grouping the one or more geo-fences within the one virtual geo-fence into one or more sub-groups; and

monitoring one or more virtual geo-fences corresponding to the one or more sub-groups.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

in response to detecting that the electronic device exits from the one virtual geo-fence, re-grouping the plurality of geo-fences into one or more geo-fence groups.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the re-grouping the plurality of geo-fences further comprises:

acquiring a location of the electronic device;

determining a distance between the location of the electronic device and each of the plurality of geo-fences;

generating another group of geo-fences comprising at least one geo-fence among the plurality of geo-fences based on the distance,

wherein a number of the at least one geo-fence included in the another group is less than or equal to the number of geo-fences which are available by the hardware resources; and

monitoring the another group.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

providing a notification when the electronic device crosses boundaries of the one or more geo-fences within the one virtual geo-fence.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the location information comprises data regarding longitude and latitude of each of the plurality of geo-fences;

and

wherein each of the one or more geo-fence groups is configured with geo-fences located within a designated latitude range and a designated longitude range.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic device comprises a first processor and a second processor, and

wherein the identifying of the information regarding the plurality of geo-fences, the identifying of the number of the geo-fences which are available by hardware resources, the grouping of the plurality of geo-fences, and the generating of the one or more virtual geo-fences are controlled by the first processor, and

wherein the monitoring of the one or more virtual geo-fences is controlled by the second processor.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the number of geo-fences which are available by the hardware resources is determined by a user'"'"'s input.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the number of geo-fences which are available by the hardware resources is adaptively changed based on settings or a state of the electronic device.

11. An electronic device comprising:

one or more processors configured to;

identify information regarding a plurality of geo-fences stored in the electronic device, the information comprising a number of the plurality of geo-fences and location information for each of the plurality of geo-fences;

identify a number of geo-fences which are available by hardware resources;

in response to determining that the number of the plurality of geo-fences is larger than the number of geo-fences which are available by the hardware resources, group the plurality of geo-fences into one or more geo-fence groups based on the location information for each of the plurality of geo-fences, wherein a number of the one or more geo-fence groups is less than or equal to the number of geo-fences which are available by the hardware resources;

generate one or more virtual geo-fences corresponding to the one or more geo-fence groups; and

monitor the one or more virtual geo-fences.

12. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

in response to detecting that the electronic device enters one virtual geo-fence among the one or more virtual geo-fences, monitor the one virtual geo-fence and one or more geo-fences within the one virtual geo-fence.

13. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

identify a number of the one or more geo-fences within the one virtual geo-fence;

in response to determining that the number of the one or more geo-fences within the one virtual geo-fence is larger than the number of geo-fences which are available by the hardware resources, sub-group the one or more geo-fences within the one virtual geo-fence into one or more sub-groups; and

monitor one or more virtual geo-fences corresponding to the one or more sub-groups.

14. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

in response to detecting that the electronic device exits from the one virtual geo-fence, re-group the plurality of geo-fences into one or more geo-fence groups.

16. The electronic device of claim 12, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to provide a notification when the electronic device crosses boundaries of the one or more geo-fences within the one virtual geo-fence.

17. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the location information comprises data regarding longitude and latitude of each of the plurality of geo-fences;

and

wherein each of the one or more geo-fence groups is configured with geo-fences located within a designated latitude range and a designated longitude range.

18. The electronic device of claim 11, wherein the one or more processors comprise a first processor and a second processor, and

wherein the first processor is configured to:

identify the information regarding the plurality of geo-fences stored in the electronic device;

identify the number of geo-fences which are available by hardware resources;

in response to determining that the number of the plurality of geo-fences is larger than the number of geo-fences which are available by the hardware resources, group the plurality of geo-fences into the one or more geo-fence groups; and

generate one or more virtual geo-fences corresponding to the one or more geo-fence groups; and

wherein the second processor is configured to monitor the one or more virtual geo-fences.

19. The electronic device of claim 18, wherein the first processor is capable of operating in a normal power mode, and

wherein the second processor is capable of operating in a lower power mode and the normal power mode.

15. The electronic device of 14, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

acquire a location of the electronic device;

determine a distance between the location of the electronic device and each of the plurality of geo-fences;

generate another group of geo-fences comprising at least one geo-fence among the plurality of geo-fences based on the distance,

wherein a number of the at least one geo-fence included in the another group is less than or equal to the number of geo-fences which are available by the hardware resources; and

monitor the another group.

20. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium for storing one or more programs for executing an operation of:

identifying information regarding a plurality of geo-fences stored in an electronic device, the information comprising a number of the plurality of geo-fences and location information for each of the plurality of geo-fences;

identifying a number of geo-fences which are available by hardware resources;

in response to determining that the number of the plurality of geo-fences is larger than the number of geo-fences which are available by the hardware resources, grouping the plurality of geo-fences into one or more geo-fence groups based on the location information for each of the plurality of geo-fences, wherein a number of the one or more geo-fence groups is less than or equal to the number of geo-fences which are available by the hardware resources;

generating one or more virtual geo-fences corresponding to the one or more geo-fence groups; and

monitoring the one or more virtual geo-fences.