Personally attended service notification based on temporal and spatial proximity

• US 9,894,167 B2
• Filed: 11/22/2016
• Issued: 02/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 02/20/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sonic Enterprises LLC
• Original Assignee: Howard Lefkowitz
• Inventors: Lefkowitz, Howard
• Primary Examiner(s): MILLER, BRANDON J
• Application Number:
  US15/358,725
• Publication Number:
  US 20170163747A1
• Time in Patent Office: 448 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1095 Meeting or appointment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/15 Information service where the information is dependent on the location of the subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42348 Location-based services which utilize the location information of a target
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/40 for vehicles, e.g. vehicle-to-pedestrians [V2P]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/00 User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like

Abstract

A computer system may notify a user about personally attended services satisfying temporal-spatial criteria. The computer system may use a user location and/or information on already scheduled events to determine whether a personally attended service satisfies the temporal-spatial criteria. Travel time may be determined and included when determining whether the personally attended service conflicts with an already scheduled event. The temporal-spatial criteria may also include availability of the personally attended service. A user profile and/or third party information may be used to determine if a user is available and/or would be receptive to a personally attended service. The user profile may be generated from third party information, such as contained in an online social network, and/or learned. The user may be able to reserve the personally attended service through the computer system.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method, comprising:

identifying an availability status of a user to receive a personally attended service;

determining a user location of the user;

determining a method of transportation proximate to the user location;

identifying a buffer time comprising;

an arrival buffer time for the user to travel to each location at which at least one personally attended service is available, the arrival buffer time based at least in part on use of the method of transportation;

determining a temporal-spatial criterion associated with each of the at least one personally attended service based at least in part on the buffer time, the user location, and an inventory associated with each of the at least one personally attended service;

identifying at least one personally attended service with a temporal-spatial criterion that satisfies a selection criterion of the user in a prior provided configuration;

presenting, to the user, the identified at least one personally attended service that satisfies the selection criterion of the user and an inventory status of the identified at least one personally attended service;

receiving a selection of the user for a selected personally attended service from the at least one personally attended service; and

at least reducing the inventory associated with the selected personally attended service.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the arrival buffer time is a fixed amount based on a type of service provided by each of the at least one personally attended service.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the arrival buffer time is a percentage of an estimated travel time.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the arrival buffer time is further based on a method of transportation available to the user.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising determining a category of service for each of the at least one personally attended service, wherein the arrival buffer time is further based on the category of service.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising requesting pre-service requirements from a third party associated with each of the at least one personally attended service.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a user selection indicating that a selected personally attended service should be reserved;

submitting a reservation request;

updating the arrival buffer time as the user navigates to a location of the selected personally attended service; and

altering the reservation request based on the arrival buffer time.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein identifying an availability status of a user comprises determining for each personally attended service whether a conflict is created with an already scheduled event.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 8, wherein determining whether a conflict is created comprises:

determining a beginning time and an ending time for each already scheduled event;

identifying a scheduled arrival buffer time for each already scheduled event;

identifying a post-event buffer time for each already scheduled event; and

determining whether any already scheduled event, including the scheduled arrival buffer time and the post-event buffer time, conflicts with each personally attended service.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising identifying a post-event buffer time for the user to leave each location at which at least one personally attended service is available.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising program code configured to cause a computer system to perform a method for notifying a user of temporally and spatially proximate personally attended services, the method comprising:

tracking historical personally attended services and identifying recurring personally attended services;

determining an elapsed time since a last visit for each of the recurring personally attended services;

identifying an availability status of the user to receive a recurring personally attended service;

determining a location of the user;

determining a method of transportation proximate to the location of the user;

identifying an arrival buffer time for the user to travel to each location at which at least one personally attended service is available, the arrival buffer time based at least partially on the method of transportation associated with each of the at least one personally attended service;

determining a temporal-spatial criterion associated with each of the at least one personally attended service based at least in part on the arrival buffer time, the elapsed time since the last visit, an estimated travel time, and the location of the user;

identifying at least one personally attended service with a temporal-spatial criterion that satisfies a selection criterion of the user; and

presenting, to the user, the identified at least one personally attended service that satisfies the selection criterion of the user and an inventory status of the identified at least one personally attended service.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the arrival buffer time is a percentage of the estimated travel time.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the arrival buffer time is further based on a method of transportation available to the user.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises determining a category of service for each of the at least one personally attended service, wherein the arrival buffer time is further based on the category of service.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises requesting pre-service requirements from a third party associated with each of the at least one personally attended service.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a user selection indicating that a selected personally attended service should be reserved;

submitting a reservation request;

updating the estimated travel time and the arrival buffer time as the user navigates to a location of the selected personally attended service; and

altering the reservation request based on the updated estimated travel time and arrival buffer time.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein identifying an availability status of the user comprises determining for each personally attended service whether a conflict is created with an already scheduled event.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein determining whether a conflict is created comprises:

determining a beginning time and an ending time for each already scheduled event;

identifying an arrival buffer time for each already scheduled event;

identifying a post-event buffer time for each already scheduled event;

determining whether any already scheduled event, including the arrival buffer time and the post-event buffer time, conflicts with each personally attended service.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises identifying a post-event buffer time for the user to leave each location at which at least one personally attended service is available.

20. A computer system configured to notify a user about temporally and spatially proximate personally attended services, the computer system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory comprising storage for a user location;

a location module configured to determine a user location; and

a services module configured to;

identify an availability status of the user to receive a personally attended service;

determine a method of transportation proximate to the user location;

identify a buffer time comprising time for the user to travel to each location at which one of at least one personally attended service is available, the buffer time based at least in part on use of the method of transportation;

determine a temporal-spatial criterion associated with each of the at least one personally attended service, based at least in part on the buffer time, the user location, and an inventory available for each of the at least one personally attended service;

identify at least one personally attended service with a temporal-spatial criterion that satisfies a selection criterion of the user in a prior provided configuration;

present, to the user, the identified at least one personally attended service that satisfies the selection criterion of the user and an inventory status of the identified at least one personally attended service; and

receive a selection of the user for a selected personally attended service from the at least one personally attended service.