Location based recommendations

• US 9,877,148 B1
• Filed: 09/03/2015
• Issued: 01/23/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Siegel, Hilliard Bruce, George, Michael Martin
• Primary Examiner(s): Lewis, Lisa
• Application Number:
  US14/845,088
• Time in Patent Office: 873 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/03 Protecting confidentiality, e.g. by encryption
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• 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

Abstract

Location data that corresponds to one or more user devices each associated with a user may be obtained. Based on the location data, the particular location of a user may be determined. Similarities between various users may be identified when it is determined that those users have visited the same locations. Upon at least two users visiting a threshold amount of the same locations, one or more recommendations may be provided to the users, whereby the recommendations relate to places that those users have yet to visit. In addition, the users may have the opportunity to reveal information about themselves to other users, while maintaining their anonymity. As a result, the users may meet people and learn about new places that are likely to be of interest to those users.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory, wherein the memory further stores instructions that, when executed on the one or more processors are operable to;

obtain location data that indicates a first set of physical locations associated with a first user device and a second set of physical locations associated with a second user device;

determine one or more places or events visited by both the first user device and the second user device, based at least in part on the first set of physical locations and the second set of physical locations;

determine a first place or event of the one or more places or events that is in a first geographic region and that is associated with a genre;

provide, to the first user device, a first recommendation that informs a first user associated with the first user device that a second user associated with the second user device has scheduled an interaction with a second place or event of the one or more places or events;

determine that the first user is associated with a second geographic region that is different than the first geographic region; and

provide, to the first user device, a second recommendation for a third place or event that is in the second geographic region based at least in part on the third place or event being associated with the genre.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the first set of physical locations correspond to first current or past physical locations visited by the first user device, and the second set of physical locations correspond to second current or past physical locations visited by the second user device.

3. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the second place or event is associated with an activity, the activity being based at least in part on historical data associated with the first user device.

4. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions are further executed on the one or more processors to:

determine an amount of time spent at individual physical locations of the first set of physical locations and the second set of physical locations; and

identifying the second place or event, based at least in part on the amount of time spent at the individual physical locations.

5. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions are further executed on the one or more processors to:

receive user input from the first user device or the second user device that indicates a particular location to suppress from the location data; and

suppress the particular location from the location data, based at least in part on the user input.

6. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions are further executed on the one or more processors to determine the at least one recommendation based at least in part on the first user device and the second user device having visited a predetermined number of common places or common events of the one or more places or events.

7. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the instructions are further executed on the one or more processors to:

monitor a current geographic location of the first user device;

determine a future place or future event that the first user device is likely to visit, based at least in part on the current geographic location and historical data associated with the first user device; and

transmit, to the first user device, an additional recommendation that is based at least in part on the future place or the future event.

8. A method comprising:

obtaining first location data associated with a first user device and second location data associated with a second user device, the first location data including a current physical location of the first user device;

identifying a plurality of places or events that correspond to the first location data and the second location data;

determining a genre associated with a first place or event of the plurality of places or events;

determining a first geographic region containing at least some of the plurality of places or events;

determining that the first user device and the second user device have visited a predetermined number of common places or common events of the plurality of places or events;

providing, to at least the first user device, a first recommendation that informs a first user associated with the first user device that a second user associated with the second user device has scheduled an interaction with a second place or event of the plurality of places or events;

determining that the current physical location is within a second geographic region that is different than the first geographic region; and

providing, to at least the first user device, a second recommendation for a third place or event that is in the second geographic region based, at least in part, on the third place or event being associated with the genre.

9. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising:

determining an activity associated with the current physical location of the first user device, based at least in part on an amount of time that the first user device has spent at the current physical location; and

transmitting, to the first user device, an additional recommendation that corresponds to a promotion, product, or service that is associated with the activity.

10. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising:

associating at least one tag to individual places or events of the plurality of places or events, the at least one tag identifying a type of place or a type of event that corresponds to the individual places or events; and

transmitting, to the first user device, an additional recommendation that is based at least in part on the at least one tag.

11. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising:

identifying an activity associated with the current physical location of the first user device, based at least in part on an amount of time that the first user device has spent at the current physical location; and

determining the third place or event based at least in part on the activity.

12. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising:

determining that the first user device has visited a particular place or a particular event, based at least in part on past and current physical locations of the first user device; and

suppressing a particular recommendation that corresponds to the particular place or the particular event.

13. The method as recited in claim 8, further comprising:

monitoring a current geographic location of the first user device;

determining a future activity that the first user device will likely perform within a predetermined time frame, based at least in part on the current geographic location and historical data associated with the first user device; and

determining an additional recommendation to be provided to the first user device based at least in part on the future activity.

14. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

obtaining location data that corresponds to past physical locations, in a first geographic region, associated with a first user device and a second user device;

identifying a plurality of places or events that correspond to the location data;

associating a genre with a first place or event of the plurality of places or events;

determining common places or common events of the plurality of places or events visited by both the first user device and the second user device;

providing, to at least the first user device, at least a first recommendation that informs a first user associated with the first user device that a second user associated with the second user device has scheduled an interaction with a second place or event of the plurality of places or events;

determining that a current location of the first user device is in a second geographic region that is different than the first geographic region; and

providing, to at least the first user device, a second recommendation for a third place or event that is in the second geographic region based, at least in part, on the third place or event being associated with the genre.

15. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise determining the at least one recommendation based at least in part on a current physical location of the first user device.

16. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 14, wherein providing the at least first recommendation is based at least in part on a schedule of availability associated with a first user associated with the first user device.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise determining the at least one recommendation based at least in part on user preferences that correspond to the first user device, the user preferences including at least one of preferred merchants or preferred geographic locations of a first user associated with the first user device.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise transmitting, to the first user device, an additional recommendation that is based at least in part on additional places or additional events visited by the second user device.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 18, wherein the additional recommendation includes at least one of a promotion, a product, or a service that is associated with the additional places or the additional events visited by the second user device.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media as recited in claim 14, wherein providing the at least one recommendation is based at least in part on the first user device being within a predetermined distance of the place or the event.