PROXIMITY-BASED USER INTERACTION

• US 20070237096A1
• Filed: 04/06/2007
• Published: 10/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Groupon Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Pelago, Incorporated (Groupon Incorporated)
• Inventors: Holden, Jeffrey, Vengroff, Darren
• Granted Patent: US 7,840,224 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/254
• 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: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/186 Processing of subscriber group data

Abstract

Techniques are described for providing location-based information and functionality to people and computing devices in various ways. In at least some situations, the techniques include enabling multiple people in a common geographic area to interact in various ways, such as via devices capable of communications (e.g., cellular telephones, computing devices with wired and/or wireless communications capabilities, etc.). In addition, the techniques include enabling the creation and maintenance of location-based virtual groups of users (also referred to as “clouds”), such as for users of mobile and/or fixed-location devices. Such clouds may enable various types of interactions between group members, and may be temporary and/or mobile.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for a central server computing system to provide functionality based on location-based virtual groups of users of mobile devices, the method comprising:

creating multiple temporary location-based virtual groups of users of mobile devices by, for each of the virtual groups,

receiving information from a user to define the virtual group, the received information including an anchor point with a geographic location around which a geographic area of the virtual group is centered, termination criteria indicating when the temporary virtual group will end, and user interaction rules that specify types of actions that users who are part of the virtual group may take;

receiving requests from multiple users to join the virtual group, each of the users having a mobile communication-capable device that provides information regarding a current geographic location of the user; and

for each of the received requests from the multiple users, determining whether to admit the user to the virtual group based at least in part on the current geographic location of the user being within the geographic area of the virtual group; and

for each of the created virtual groups of users, automatically providing functionality to the users of the virtual group in accordance with the user interaction rules of the virtual group based at least in part on enabling communications between the mobile communication-capable devices of the users of the virtual group.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein, for each of at least one of the location-based virtual groups, the determining of whether to admit a user to the virtual group is performed automatically by the central server computing system based at least in part on determining whether the user satisfies admission criteria specified for the virtual group.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein, for each of at least one of the location-based virtual groups, the determining of whether to admit a user to the virtual group is performed automatically by the central server computing system based at least in part on gathering and aggregating votes from other users who are part of the virtual group regarding whether to admit the user.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein, for each of at least one of the location-based virtual groups, the location-based virtual group is a mobile cloud such that the geographic location of the anchor point of the mobile cloud changes and the geographic area of the mobile cloud changes in response to the changes in the geographic location of the anchor point.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the anchor point of each of the at least one virtual groups is at least one of one or more people, an entity, and one or more physical objects.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising, for each of at least one of the temporary location-based virtual groups, automatically determining that the termination criteria for the temporary virtual group is satisfied and in response terminating the temporary virtual group such that at least some functionality for the temporary virtual group is no longer available to the users of the temporary virtual group.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising, for each of multiple mobile communication-capable devices and under control of the mobile communication-capable device, receiving instructions from a user of the mobile communication-capable device regarding participation in one or more of the temporary location-based virtual groups, and in response communicating with the central server computing system to effect the participation in the one or more virtual groups.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the central server computing system is operated by an entity as a fee-based system to manage virtual groups of third-party users.

9. A computer-implemented method for providing functionality based on location-based virtual groups of users, the method comprising:

receiving definition information for a location-based virtual group of users that indicates a geographic area of the virtual group and one or more user interaction rules regarding allowed types of user actions;

selecting multiple users to participate in the virtual group based at least in part on geographic locations of the users, each of the users having a mobile communication-capable device that provides information regarding the geographic location of the user; and

automatically enabling communications between the mobile communication-capable devices of the users of the virtual group in accordance with the user interaction rules of the virtual group.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the location-based virtual group of users is a temporary virtual group.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising terminating the temporary virtual group such that at least some functionality previously available to the multiple users is no longer available.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the terminating of the temporary virtual group is performed in response to automatically determining to terminate the temporary virtual group based at least in part on one or more termination criteria for the temporary virtual group being satisfied.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the terminating of the temporary virtual group is performed in response one or more instructions received from one or more users.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein the location-based virtual group is mobile such that the geographic area of the virtual group changes.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the geographic area of the virtual group is based on an anchor point for the virtual group, and wherein the geographic area of the virtual group changes in response to changes in a geographic location of the anchor point.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the anchor point is at least one of one or more people, an entity, and one or more physical objects.

17. The method of claim 14 further comprising automatically updating the users who participate in the virtual group based on changes in the geographic area of the virtual group.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the automatic updating of the users who participate in the virtual group based on changes in the geographic area of the virtual group includes at least one of selecting one or more new users to participate in the virtual group based at least in part on the new users being in the changed geographic area of the virtual group and of selecting one or more of the existing multiple users to no longer participate in the virtual group based at least in part on the selected existing users not being in the changed geographic area of the virtual group.

19. The method of claim 9 further comprising, after the enabling of the communications between the mobile communication-capable devices of the users of the virtual group, automatically updating the users who participate in the virtual group to include new users and enabling communications between mobile communication-capable devices of the new users and other users of the virtual group.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the geographic area of the virtual group is fixed, and wherein the automatic updating of the users who participate in the virtual group to include the new users is based at least in part on the new users entering the geographical area.

21. The method of claim 9 wherein the selecting of the multiple users to participate in the virtual group includes receiving the information regarding the geographic locations of the users from the mobile communication-capable devices of the users, automatically determining that the multiple users are eligible to participate in the virtual group, and taking one or more actions to initiate admission of the multiple users to the virtual group.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the taking of the one or more actions to initiate admission of the multiple users of the virtual group includes, for at least one of the multiple users, automatically admitting the user to the virtual group.

23. The method of claim 21 wherein the taking of the one or more actions to initiate admission of the multiple users of the virtual group includes, for at least one of the multiple users, automatically notifying the user of the eligibility to participate in the virtual group.

24. The method of claim 21 wherein the taking of the one or more actions to initiate admission of the multiple users of the virtual group includes, for at least one of the multiple users, admitting the user to the virtual group only if the user supplies a specified pass code for the virtual group.

25. The method of claim 21 wherein the taking of the one or more actions to initiate admission of the multiple users of the virtual group includes, for at least one of the multiple users, soliciting votes from other users in the virtual group regarding whether to admit the user to the virtual group.

26. The method of claim 21 wherein the automatic determining that the multiple users are eligible to participate in the virtual group includes, for at least one of the multiple users, automatically determining that attributes of the user satisfy specified admission criteria for the virtual group.

27. The method of claim 21 wherein the automatic determining that the multiple users are eligible to participate in the virtual group includes, for at least one of the multiple users, automatically soliciting votes from other users in the virtual group regarding whether to admit the user to the virtual group.

28. The method of claim 9 wherein the mobile communication-capable devices of the multiple users provide information regarding current geographic information of the users based at least in part on automatically determined current geographic information of the devices, and wherein the selecting of a user to participate in the virtual group is based at least in part on the current geographic location of the user at a time of the selecting.

29. The method of claim 9 wherein, for at least one of the multiple users, the information regarding the geographic location of the user that is provided by the mobile communication-capable device of the user is a geographic location specified by the user.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein the geographic location specified by each of one or more of the at least one users is a geographic location distinct from a current geographic location of the user.

31. The method of claim 29 wherein the geographic location specified by each of one or more of the at least one users is a geographic location at which the user may be located at a future time.

32. The method of claim 31 wherein, for each of the one or more users, the future time is specified by the user, the information regarding the geographic location of the user that is provided by the mobile communication-capable device of the user includes the user-specified future time, and the selecting of the user to participate in the virtual group and/or the automatic enabling of the communications involving the mobile communication-capable device of the user is performed in a manner based at least in part on the user-specified future time.

33. The method of claim 9 wherein the location-based virtual group is a first virtual group, and wherein the method further comprises, for each of one or more of the multiple users, providing information to the mobile communication-capable device of the user regarding one or more location-based virtual groups that include the first virtual group.

34. The method of claim 33 wherein the information is provided to the mobile communication-capable device of a user as part of search results in response to a query from the user.

35. The method of claim 33 wherein the information is provided to the mobile communication-capable device of a user as part of a graphical map for display to the user on the mobile communication-capable device.

36. The method of claim 35 wherein the map displayed to a user of a mobile communication-capable device is part of a graphical user interface provided to the user to enable participation in one or more virtual groups.

37. The method of claim 9 wherein the types of actions allowed for a user of the virtual group by the user interaction rules include one or more of:

revealing personal details to one or more other users of the virtual group, revealing a physical location of the user to one or more other users of the virtual group, viewing personal details and/or physical locations of other users of the virtual group only if personal details and/or a physical location of the user are available to those other users, sending electronic communications to an indicated group of at least one of the other users of the virtual group, blocking communications from an indicated group of at least one of the other users of the virtual group, making electronic communications available to all other users of the virtual group at not more than a specified limit for such electronic communications, initiating creation of a bi-directional trusted friend relationship with another user of the virtual group by requesting that the another user agree to link to the user, creating a uni-directional bookmark relationship to another user of the virtual group, and allowing the user to invite other users to join the virtual group.

38. The method of claim 37 wherein the types of actions allowed by the user interaction rules for a user that is not a current participant in the virtual group includes one or more of:

communicating with users who are participants in the virtual group if the user has been invited to join the virtual group, communicating with users who are participants in the virtual group if the user was previously a participant in the virtual group, and viewing information regarding interactions between users of the virtual group.

39. The method of claim 37 wherein created bi-directional trusted friend relationships between two users of the virtual group continue beyond a termination of the virtual group, such that one or more types of functionality is available to the two users after the termination that is not available to other users who do not have such bi-directional trusted friend relationships.

40. The method of claim 37 wherein created bi-directional trusted friend relationships between two users of the virtual group provide one or more additional types of functionality to the two users that is not available to other users who do not have such bi-directional trusted friend relationships.

41. The method of claim 9 wherein the location-based virtual group of users is a cloud.

42. The method of claim 41 wherein the definition information for the location-based virtual group of users is received from an administrator user for the cloud.

43. The method of claim 42 wherein the definition information from the administrator user for the virtual group allows at least some administration capabilities for the virtual group to be shared with and/or transferred to one or more other users.

44. The method of claim 41 wherein the cloud is an ad hoc cloud, and wherein the definition information for the location-based virtual group of users is received based at least in part on information from the mobile communication-capable devices of one or more of the multiple users.

45. The method of claim 9 wherein the received definition information for the location-based virtual group includes an indication of at least one of an anchor point for the virtual group, a specification of a size and/or shape of the geographic area of the virtual group, termination criteria for use in automatically determining whether to terminate the virtual group, and admission criteria for use in automatically determining whether to admit a user to the virtual group.

46. The method of claim 9 wherein the method is performed by one or more central server computing systems.

47. The method of claim 46 further comprising, for each of multiple mobile communication-capable devices and under control of the mobile communication-capable device, receiving instructions from a user of the mobile communication-capable device regarding participation in the virtual groups, and in response communicating with the one or more central server computing systems to effect the participation.

48. The method of claim 9 wherein the method is performed by one or more mobile communication-capable devices of one or more of the multiple users.

49. A computer-readable medium whose contents enable a computing device to provide functionality for a location-based virtual group, by performing a method comprising:

receiving an indication of a location-based virtual group that has an associated geographic area and one or more interaction rules related to allowed activities; and

automatically facilitating interactions between communication-capable devices of users whose geographic locations are within the geographic area of the virtual group in accordance with the interaction rules of the virtual group.

50. The computer-readable medium of claim 49 further comprising, before the receiving of the indication of the location-based virtual group, facilitating creation of the location-based virtual group by selecting multiple users to participate in the virtual group based at least in part on current geographic locations of the users being within the associated geographic area, each of the selected users having a mobile communication-capable device that provides information regarding the current geographic location of the user.

51. The computer-readable medium of claim 49 further comprising, after the receiving of the indication of the location-based virtual group, facilitating modification of users who are members of the location-based virtual group based at least in part on one or more of movement of users into and/or out of the associated geographic area and of changing of the associated geographic area for the location-based virtual group.

52. The computer-readable medium of claim 49 wherein the computing device is a mobile communication-capable device of one of the users, and wherein the receiving of the indication of the location-based virtual group includes receiving an indication of one or more other communication-capable devices of one or more other users that are within a designated proximity of the mobile communication-capable device and determining to form the location-based virtual group to include the mobile communication-capable device and at least one of the one or more other communication-capable devices.

53. The computer-readable medium of claim 52 wherein the determining to form the location-based virtual group to include the mobile communication-capable device and the at least one other communication-capable devices includes admitting the users of the mobile communication-capable device and the at least one other communication-capable devices to the location-based virtual group.

54. The computer-readable medium of claim 49 wherein the computing device is a central server computing system that is able to communicate with the communication-capable devices of the users.

55. The computer-readable medium of claim 49 wherein the computer-readable medium is at least one of a memory of a computing device and of a data transmission medium transmitting a generated data signal containing the contents.

56. The computer-readable medium of claim 49 wherein the contents are instructions that when executed cause the computing device to perform the method.

57. A computing device configured to provide functionality based on a location-based virtual group of users, comprising:

a memory; and

a first component configured to, for each of one or more location-based virtual groups that each have an associated geographic area and one or more interaction rules related to allowed activities;

initiate participation in the virtual group on behalf of a user of the computing device, the initiating including providing information for use in determining a geographic location of the computing device; and

participate in the virtual group on behalf of the user in accordance with the one or more interaction rules for the virtual group, the participating including sending one or more communications to devices of one or more other users in the virtual group and/or receiving one or more communications from devices of one or more other users in the virtual group.

58. The computing device of claim 57 further comprising a location-determination component configured to determine current location information for the computing device, and wherein the providing of the information for use in determining the geographic location of the computing device includes providing the determined current location information to a remote central server computing system.

59. The computing device of claim 58 wherein the computing device is a mobile device such that the current location information for the computing device frequently varies.

60. The computing device of claim 57 wherein the first component is further configured to enable the user of the computing device to simultaneously participate in multiple distinct location-based virtual groups.

61. The computing device of claim 57 wherein the first component is further configured to enable the user of the computing device to, for one of the one or more location-based virtual groups, initiate creation of the one location-based virtual group based in part on supplying configuration information for the one location-based virtual group.

62. The computing device of claim 61 wherein the one location-based virtual group is an ad hoc cloud created by interacting with other computing devices of other users that are participants in the ad hoc cloud.

63. The computing device of claim 57 wherein the participating in the virtual group on behalf of the user includes modifying stored information regarding at least one of the other users in the virtual group in response to one or more indications from the user of the computing device.

64. The computing device of claim 57 wherein at least one of initiating participation in a virtual group and of participating in a virtual group includes interacting with a remote central server system that manages the virtual group.

65. The computing device of claim 57 wherein the first component is a cloud participation program that includes software instructions for execution in the memory.

66. The computing device of claim 57 wherein the first component consists of a means for, for each of one or more location-based virtual groups that each have an associated geographic area and one or more interaction rules related to allowed activities:

initiating participation in the virtual group on behalf of a user of the computing device, the initiating including providing information for use in determining a geographic location of the computing device; and

participating in the virtual group on behalf of the user in accordance with the one or more interaction rules for the virtual group, the participating including sending one or more communications to devices of one or more other users in the virtual group and/or receiving one or more communications from devices of one or more other users in the virtual group.