Location-based services

• US 10,708,712 B2
• Filed: 08/20/2019
• Issued: 07/07/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Phillips, Alan, Schroth, Frank, Palmer, Geoffrey M., Zielinski, Stefan G., Smith, Allen P., Cunningham, III, Colin M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ly, Nghi H
• Application Number:
  US16/545,057
• Publication Number:
  US 20190380000A1
• Time in Patent Office: 322 Days
• Field of Search: 4554563, 4554561, 4554141, 455418, 455421
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0236 Threshold setting
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0261 System arrangements wherein the object is to detect trespassing over a fixed physical boundary, e.g. the end of a garden
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0269 System arrangements wherein the object is to detect the exact location of child or item using a navigation satellite system, e.g. GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/0272 System arrangements wherein the object is to detect exact location of child or item using triangulation other than GPS
• 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 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/10 between location register and external networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/14 between corresponding nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/08 between user and terminal device

Abstract

A method and system for presenting location-based alerts on mobile devices is discussed. The method includes tracking user locations of users based on mobile device locations of mobile devices associated with the users. The mobile device locations can be determined based on location data transmissions from the mobile devices, with respective transmission lengths based on user preferences. The method includes presenting an interactive map interface for display on a first mobile device of a first user. The interactive map interface can display, based on the tracking, names of locations and the user locations. The interactive map interface can display pictures, each associated with a respective location or a user. In response to a determination, based on the tracking, that a second mobile device of a second user has arrived at a location defined by a geofence, a location notification can be pushed to the first mobile device.

Claims

1. A method for presenting location-based alerts on mobile phones, the method comprising:

determining user locations based on mobile phone locations of mobile phones associated with one or more of a plurality of users, each of the mobile phone locations determined based on location data transmissions from the mobile phones, a frequency of at least some of the location data transmissions determined by preferences of the plurality of the users;

communicating with a first mobile phone to present an interactive map interface for display on the first mobile phone of a first user of the plurality of users, the interactive map interface for indicating names of physical locations and one or more users of the plurality of users, the interactive map interface further for indicating a plurality of pictures, each of the plurality of pictures associated with a respective one of the physical locations or a respective one of the one or more users;

comparing the mobile phone locations with borders of a geofence, the geofence defined by using a physical location selected by the first user; and

in response to a determination, based on the comparison, that a second mobile phone of a second user of the plurality of users has crossed the geofence, presenting an alert to the first mobile phone.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the location data transmissions comprise one or more of GPS data, Bluetooth data, Wi-Fi data, satellite data, or cellular data.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the first mobile phone, a first selection of the second user to initiate location services for presenting alerts to the first mobile phone based on comparison of the mobile phone locations to the borders of the geofence.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, based on the mobile phone locations, a path between a first location of the first user and a second location of the second user.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

presenting information to the first mobile phone for displaying the path in another interactive map interface.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the alert indicates, in response to a user alert selection, when the second mobile phone has crossed the geofence to an inside of the geofence.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the presenting the alert is further in response to a determination that preferences of the second user permit determining a set of the user locations for the second user.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the alert indicates, in response to a user alert selection, when the second mobile phone has crossed the geofence to an outside of the geofence.

9. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions executable to cause performance of operations comprising:

tracking user locations of users, the tracking based on locations of mobile devices associated with the users, the locations of the mobile devices determined based on location data transmissions from the mobile devices, the mobile devices including a first mobile device of a first user, the location data transmissions including first location data transmissions from the first mobile device, a duration of first location data transmissions based on preferences of the first user;

communicating map data to the first mobile device, the map data for display on an interactive map of the first mobile device, the map data for indicating on the interactive map, location representations of locations and user representations of one or more of the users;

comparing the user locations with borders of a geofence, the geofence created based on a selection received from the first mobile device; and

in response to a determination, based on the comparing, that a second user of the users has crossed the geofence, transmitting an alert to the first mobile device.

10. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the location data transmissions comprise one or more of cellular networking data transmissions, satellite data transmissions, and global positioning system (GPS) data transmissions.

11. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining, based on the tracking and in response to the determination that the second user has crossed the geofence, a path between a first location of the first user and a second location of the second user; and

transmitting information to the first mobile device for displaying the path in the interactive map.

12. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving, from the first mobile device, another selection indicating the second user, the another selection for initiating location services for presenting alerts to the first mobile device based on comparison of the locations with the borders of the geofence.

13. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 9, wherein each of the user representations comprises a respective one of one or more pictures associated with the one or more of the users.

14. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 9, wherein the transmitting the alert is further in response to a determination that preferences of the second user permit determining portions of the user locations associated with the second user.

15. A location server, comprising:

a non-transitory memory storing instructions; and

a processor configured to execute the instructions to cause the location server to;

track user locations of a plurality of users based on mobile phone locations of mobile phones associated with the plurality of users, the mobile phone locations determined based on location data transmissions from the mobile phones, respective lengths of the location data transmissions based on respective preferences of the plurality of the users;

present an interactive map interface for display on a first mobile phone of a first user of the plurality of users, the interactive map interface for displaying, based on the tracking, names of locations and the user locations, the interactive map interface further for displaying a plurality of pictures, each of the plurality of pictures associated with a respective one of the locations or the one or more of the plurality of users; and

in response to a determination, based on the tracking, that a second mobile phone of a second user of the plurality of users has arrived at a location defined by a geofence, push a location notification to the first mobile phone.

16. The location server of claim 15, wherein executing the instructions further causes the location server to,

determine, based on the tracking and in response to the determination that the second user has arrived at the location, a path between a first location of the first user and a second location of the second user;

and

transmit information to the first mobile phone for displaying the path in another interactive map interface.

17. The location server of claim 15, wherein executing the instructions further causes the location server to,

define the geofence based on geofence data received from the first mobile phone, the geofence data indicating a certain area proximate to a user-selected physical location indicated by the first user.

18. The location server of claim 15, wherein the pushing the location notification is further in response to a determination that preferences of the second user permit the tracking of the user locations for the second user.

19. The location server of claim 15, wherein the location data transmissions comprise one or more of GPS data, Bluetooth data, Wi-Fi data, satellite data, and cellular data.

20. A method for using location-based notifications, the method comprising:

tracking user locations based on mobile device locations of mobile devices associated with a plurality of users, the mobile device locations determined based on location data transmissions from the mobile devices, respective lengths of the location data transmissions based on respective preferences of the plurality of the users;

displaying an interactive map interface on a device display of a first mobile device of the mobile devices, the interactive map interface indicating names of locations, names of the plurality of users, the interactive map interface further indicating a plurality of pictures, each of the plurality of pictures associated with a respective one of the locations or one or more of the plurality of users, the interactive map interface further indicating user locations of the plurality of users by indicating the mobile device locations;

comparing a user location to a border of a geofence, wherein the geofence is defined by using a physical location selected by a first user of the first mobile device; and

displaying, responsive to determining that one of the mobile devices has entered an area of the geofence, an alert on the device display.