Architecture for mobile advertising with location

• US 8,010,134 B2
• Filed: 03/14/2007
• Issued: 08/30/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/14/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Sharma, Sanjay Kumar, McMullen, Michael P., Barnes, James D., Distler, Peter H.
• Primary Examiner(s): Afshar; Kamran
• Assistant Examiner(s): Magloire; Vladimir
• Application Number:
  US11/686,179
• Publication Number:
  US 20080227467A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,630 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561-4566, 455/404.2, 342/357.09
• US Class Current: 455/456.6
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0259 based on store location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/23 for mobile advertising

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for mobile device advertising. The system includes a mobile device, a content provider, and an advertisement provider. A plurality of location fix technologies is executed to determine a plurality of location fixes for the mobile device, and the plurality of location fixes is stored in the mobile device. A location request is received for the mobile device, the plurality of stored location fixes is retrieved from the mobile device, and the plurality of stored location fixes is sent to the content provider. The content provider receives the plurality of location fixes for the mobile device from the mobile device, forwards the plurality of location fixes to the advertisement provider, and transmits content to the mobile device. The advertisement provider selects an advertisement based on location fixes, and transmits the advertisement to the mobile device.

Claims

1. A method for mobile device advertising, comprising:

executing a plurality of location fix technologies comprising at least one lower cost location fix technology and at least one higher cost location fix technology to determine a plurality of location fixes for a mobile device, the at least one lower cost location fix technology executed more frequently than the at least one higher cost location fix technology, and the plurality of location fixes comprising a plurality of less accurate location fixes based on the at least one lower cost location fix technology and at least one more accurate location fix based on the at least one higher cost location fix technology;

storing the plurality of location fixes in the mobile device and a corresponding time of generation for each of the plurality of less accurate location fixes, wherein the plurality of less accurate location fixes are generated at different times; and

sending at least one of the plurality of location fixes to an advertisement provider.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of location fix technologies comprise at least one non-intensive location fix technology and at least one of a time intensive location fix technology and a network intensive location fix technology.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the advertisement provider selects the advertisement based on at least one of a most accurate location fix and a most recent location fix.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein storing the plurality of location fixes comprises storing the plurality of location fixes and a corresponding time of generation for each location fix.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein storing the plurality of location fixes comprises storing at least some of the plurality of location fixes at different times and the corresponding time of generation for each location fix.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising updating at least one of the plurality of location fixes in the mobile device based on at least one of a change of sector, a change of radio frequency fingerprint, a use of a browser on the mobile device, a call on the mobile device, a location request from the content provider, a duration of time, and an enablement of a global positioning system.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the location request specifies a cell tower proximity and a time required for a location fix update.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein storing the plurality of location fixes comprises storing the plurality of location fix technologies, a corresponding one of the plurality of location fixes for each of the plurality of location fix technologies, and a corresponding time of generation for each of the corresponding one of the plurality of location fixes in a table in a memory on the mobile device.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein storing the plurality of location fixes comprises storing the plurality of location fix technologies, a plurality of corresponding location fixes for at least some of the plurality of location fix technologies, and a plurality of corresponding times of generation for each of the plurality of corresponding location fixes in a table in a memory on the mobile device.

10. A method for mobile device advertising, comprising:

storing a plurality of less accurate location fixes along with the corresponding times of generation as first location fixes of a plurality of location fixes for a mobile device based on a first of a plurality of location fix technologies on the mobile device, the first of the plurality of location fix technologies is a lower cost location fix technology and the plurality of less accurate location fixes are generated at different times;

storing a second more accurate location fix of the plurality of location fixes for the mobile device based on a second of the plurality of location fix technologies on the mobile device less frequently than the first of the plurality of location fixes, the second of the plurality of location fix technologies is a higher cost location fix technology;

receiving a location request for a mobile device;

retrieving at least one of the plurality of location fixes from the mobile device; and

sending, by the mobile device, the at least one of the plurality of location fixes to an advertisement provider.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the plurality of location fix technologies comprise at least one non-intensive location fix technology and at least one of a time intensive location fix technology and a network intensive location fix technology.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising selecting, by the advertisement provider, an advertisement based on the at least one of the plurality of location fixes.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the plurality of location fixes comprises a corresponding time of generation for each location fix.

14. The method of claim 10 further comprising updating at least one of the plurality of location fixes in the mobile device based on at least one of a change of sector, a change of radio frequency fingerprint, a use of a browser on the mobile device, a call on the mobile device, a location request from the content provider, a duration of time, and an enablement of a global positioning system.

15. The method of claim 10 wherein sending, by the mobile device, the at least one of the plurality of location fixes to an advertisement provider comprises sending, by the mobile device, the at least one of the plurality of location fixes to a content provider.

16. A mobile device advertising system, comprising:

a mobile device to store a plurality of location fixes based on a plurality of location fix technologies, the plurality of location fixes comprising a plurality of less accurate location fixes based on at least one lower cost location fix technology, and at least one more accurate location fix based on at least one higher cost location fix technology, the mobile device to store the less accurate location fix more frequently than the more accurate location fix, wherein the mobile device stores the corresponding times of generation of the plurality of less accurate location fixes, and wherein the plurality of less accurate location fixes comprise a plurality of cell tower location fixes generated at different times;

a content provider to receive at least one of a plurality of location fixes, to forward the at least one of the plurality of location fixes to an advertisement provider, and to transmit content to the mobile device; and

the advertisement provider to select an advertisement based on the at least one of the plurality of location fixes, and to transmit the advertisement to the mobile device.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the plurality of location fix technologies comprise at least one of cell tower location and cell sector centroid, and at least one of advanced forward link trilateration, global positioning system, and a hybrid location fix technology.

18. The system of claim 16 wherein the advertisement provider selects the advertisement based on at least one of a most accurate location fix and a most recent location fix.

19. The system of claim 16 wherein the mobile device stores the plurality of location fixes and a corresponding time of generation for each location fix.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the mobile device stores at least some of the plurality of location fixes at different times and the corresponding time of generation for each location fix.

21. The system of claim 16 wherein the mobile device updates at least one of the plurality of location fixes in the mobile device based on at least one of a change of sector, a change of radio frequency fingerprint, a use of a browser on the mobile device, a call on the mobile device, a location request from the content provider, a duration of time, and an enablement of a global positioning system.

22. The system of claim 16 wherein the at least one lower cost location fix technology comprises at least one of cell tower location and cell sector centroid, and wherein the at least one higher cost location fix technology comprises at least one of advanced forward link trilateration, global positioning system, and a hybrid location fix technology.

23. The system of claim 16 wherein when the advertisement provider transmits the advertisement based on the at least one of the plurality of location fixes to the mobile device, the advertisement provider transmits a request for a more accurate one of the plurality of location fixes from the mobile device.

24. The system of claim 23 wherein when the mobile device receives the request for the more accurate one of the plurality of location fixes, the mobile device executes the corresponding one of the plurality of location fix technologies.

25. A method for obtaining and storing a plurality of location fixes on a mobile device, comprising:

executing a lower cost location fix technology of a plurality of location fix technologies to determine a plurality of less accurate location fixes of a plurality of location fixes for a mobile device;

executing a higher cost location fix technology of the plurality of location fix technologies to determine a more accurate location fix of the plurality of location fixes for the mobile device less frequently than executing the lower cost location fix technology;

storing the lower cost location fix technology, the plurality of less accurate location fixes, and corresponding times of generation for each of the less accurate location fixes in a table in a memory of the mobile device, wherein the plurality of less accurate location fixes are generated at different times; and

storing the higher cost location fix technology, the more accurate location fix, and a corresponding time of generation for the more accurate location fix in the table in the memory of the mobile device.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein at least some of the plurality of location fixes are stored at different times.

27. The method of claim 25 wherein the lower cost location fix technology comprises at least one of cell tower location and cell sector centroid, and wherein the higher cost location fix technology comprises at least one of advanced forward link trilateration, global positioning system, and a hybrid location fix technology.

28. The method of claim 25 wherein the table stores two cell tower location fixes generated at different times and corresponding times of generation associated with each of the two cell tower location fixes and a global positioning system location fix with a corresponding time of generation associated with the global positioning system location fix.