Facilitating user interactions based on proximity

• US 8,150,439 B2
• Filed: 11/19/2010
• Issued: 04/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/07/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Groupon Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Groupon Incorporated
• Inventors: Vengroff, Darren E., Holden, Jeffrey A.
• Primary Examiner(s): GESESSE, TILAHUN
• Application Number:
  US12/950,709
• Publication Number:
  US 20110151892A1
• Time in Patent Office: 501 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414.1, 455/456.1, 455/456.2, 455/456.4
• US Class Current: 455/519
• 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 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, the receiving of the definition information being performed by one or more programmed computing systems;

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

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, the automatic enabling of the communications being performed by the one or more programmed computing systems;

selecting an additional user to participate in the communications between the mobile communication-capable devices of the users of the virtual group based at least in part on a request received from the additional user, the additional user having a communication-capable device and having a geographic location that is outside the geographic area of the virtual group; and

automatically enabling the selected additional user to participate in the communications between the mobile communication-capable devices of the users of the virtual group while the geographic location of the selected additional user is outside the geographic area of the virtual group.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the location-based virtual group of users is a temporary virtual group.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising terminating the temporary virtual group such that at least some functionality previously available to the multiple users is no longer available.

4. The method of claim 3 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.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the one or more termination criteria are part of the received definition information for the virtual group and indicate a specified end time, and wherein the one or more termination criteria are automatically determined to be satisfied in response to the specified end time being reached.

6. The method of claim 3 wherein the terminating of the temporary virtual group is performed in response one or more instructions received from one or more users.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising, while the selected multiple users are participating in the virtual group, modifying the geographic area of the virtual group.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the geographic area of the virtual group is based on at least one anchor point for the virtual group, and wherein the modifying of the geographic area of the virtual group is based on changes in a geographic location of one or more of the at least one anchor points.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the at least one anchor points include at least one of one or more people, an entity, and one or more physical objects.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the at least one anchor point for the virtual group includes multiple business locations, and wherein the changes in the geographic location of the one or more anchor points are based on a modification of which business locations are included in the at least one anchor points.

11. The method of claim 7 further comprising automatically updating the users who participate in the virtual group based on the modified geographic area of the virtual group.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the automatic updating of the users who participate in the virtual group based on the modified 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 modified 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 modified geographic area of the virtual group.

13. The method of claim 7 wherein the modifying of the geographic area of the virtual group is based on instructions received from one or more users who are each one of the selected multiple users participating in the virtual group.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the one or more users from whom the instructions are received are a single user that is an administrator user for the virtual group.

15. The method of claim 1 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.

16. The method of claim 15 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.

17. The method of claim 1 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.

18. The method of claim 17 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.

19. The method of claim 17 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.

20. The method of claim 17 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.

21. The method of claim 17 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.

22. The method of claim 17 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.

23. The method of claim 17 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.

24. The method of claim 1 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.

25. The method of claim 1 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.

26. The method of claim 25 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.

27. The method of claim 25 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 expects to be located at a future time.

28. The method of claim 27 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 at least one of the selecting of the user to participate in the virtual group and of 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.

29. The method of claim 1 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 selected multiple users, providing information to the mobile communication-capable device of the user regarding one or more location-based virtual groups, the first virtual group being one of the one or more location-based virtual groups.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein the information is provided to the mobile communication-capable device of each of the one or more users as part of search results in response to a query from the user.

31. The method of claim 29 wherein the information is provided to the mobile communication-capable device of each of the one or more users as part of a graphical map for display to the user on the mobile communication-capable device of the user.

32. The method of claim 31 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.

33. The method of claim 29 wherein the information provided to one of the one or more users indicates a plurality of location-based virtual groups, and wherein the method further comprises enabling simultaneous participation of the one user in each of multiple of the plurality of location-based virtual groups.

34. The method of claim 29 wherein the information provided to one of the one or more users indicates a plurality of location-based virtual groups that are selected for the one user, the plurality of location-based virtual groups being selected based on having associated geographic areas within a specified distance of an indicated geographic location associated with the one user.

35. The method of claim 29 wherein the information provided to one of the one or more users indicates a plurity of location-based virtual groups, and wherein two or more of the plurality of location-based virtual groups have overlapping associated geographic areas, the overlapping associated geographic areas including at least one common geographic location in an overlap portion of the overlapping associated geographic areas.

36. The method of claim 1 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 at least one of personal details and of physical locations of other users of the virtual group only if at least one of personal details and of 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.

37. The method of claim 36 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.

38. The method of claim 36 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.

39. The method of claim 36 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.

40. The method of claim 1 wherein the location-based virtual group of users is a cloud.

41. The method of claim 40 wherein the definition information for the location-based virtual group of users is received from an administrator user for the cloud.

42. The method of claim 41 wherein the definition information from the administrator user for the virtual group allows at least some administration capabilities for the virtual group to be at least one of shared with one or more other users and of transferred to the one or more other users.

43. The method of claim 40 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.

44. The method of claim 1 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 at least one of a size of the geographic area of the virtual group and of a 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.

45. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more programmed computing systems are central server computing systems distinct from the mobile communication-capable devices of the selected multitie users.

46. The method of claim 45 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.

47. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more programmed computing systems are one or more of the mobile communication-capable devices of the selected multiple users.

48. The method of claim 1 wherein the definition information for the virtual group is received from an administrator user for the virtual group, and wherein the administrator user represents a commercial entity that provides services to the selected multiple users via the virtual group.

49. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more programmed computing systems are under control of a commercial entity that provides services to the selected multiple users via the virtual group.

50. The method of claim 1 wherein the virtual group does not have any specified end time.

51. The method of claim 50 further comprising terminating the virtual group in response to instructions received from one or more users who are each one of the multiple selected users.

52. The method of claim 51 wherein the one or more users from whom the instructions are received are a single user that is an administrator user for the virtual group.

53. The method of claim 1 wherein the request received from the additional user is a request to participate in the communications between the mobile communication-capable devices of the users of the virtual group.

54. The method of claim 1 wherein the request received from the additional user is a request to join the virtual group.

55. The method of claim 1 wherein the request received from the additional user includes a location specified by the additional user that is within the geographic area of the virtual group.

56. A non-transitory computer-readable medium whose contents configure 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;

selecting multiple users to participate in the virtual group, at least some of the multiple selected users having geographic locations within the geographic area of the virtual group, the selecting of one or more of the multiple users being made in response to requests received from the one or more users to join the virtual group;

automatically facilitating interactions between communication-capable devices of the multiple selected users in accordance with the interaction rules of the virtual group, the automatic facilitating of the interactions being performed by the configured computing device after the automatic facilitating of the interactions between the communication-capable devices of the multiple selected users has begun, 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 the associated geographic area and of movement of users out of the associated geographic area and of changing of the associated geographic area for the location-based virtual group.

57. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 56 wherein each of the selected multiple users has a mobile communication-capable device that provides information regarding the current geographic location of the user.

58. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 56 wherein the configured computing device is a mobile communication-capable device of one of the selected multiple 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 that mobile communication-capable device and determining to form the location-based virtual group to include that mobile communication-capable device and at least one of the one or more other communication-capable devices.

59. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 58 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.

60. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 56 wherein the configured computing device is a central server computing system that is configurable to communicate with the communication-capable devices of the users.

61. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 56 wherein the computer-readable medium is a memory of the configured computing device, and wherein the contents are instructions that when executed program the configured computing device to perform the method.

62. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 56 wherein the method further comprises:

selecting an additional user to participate in the interactions between the communication-capable devices of the users of the virtual group, the additional user having a communication-capable device and having a geographic location that is outside the geographic area of the virtual group; and

automatically enabling the selected additional user to participate in the interactions between the communication-capable devices of the users of the virtual group while the geographic location of the selected additional user is outside the geographic area of the virtual group.

63. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 56 wherein the selected multiple users to participate in the virtual group include users who enter the geographical area of the virtual group.

64. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 56 wherein the selecting of the multiple users to participate in the virtual group includes sending notifications to a plurality of users who enter the geographical area of the virtual group and receiving indications from multiple of the plurality of users to join the virtual group.

65. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 56 wherein the selecting of the multiple users to participate in the virtual group includes sending a request users to join the virtual group for display to one of the multiple, and receiving a response from the one user that is initiated based on selection by the one user of a user-selectable option that is part of the displayed request.

66. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 56 wherein the selecting of the multiple users to participate in the virtual group includes receiving an indication that one of the multiple users has agreed to join the virtual group in response to an invitation issued by another user who is already part of the virtual group.

67. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 56 wherein the automatic facilitating of the interactions between the communication-capable devices of the multiple selected users includes, after two or more of the multiple users establish trusted friend relationships, providing functionality to the two or more users that is not available to other of the multiple selected users who are not part of the two or more users.

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

one or more processors; and

a first component configured to, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors;

for each of multiple location-based virtual groups that each has 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 transmitting information to a remote computing system for use in determining a geographic location that corresponds to the associated geographic area of the virtual group, the transmitted information to initiate participation in one of the multiple virtual groups being a geographic location specified b the user that is distinct from a current actual geographic location of the user; 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 at least one of sending one or more communications to devices of one or more other users in the virtual group and of receiving one or more communications from devices of one or more other users in the virtual group; and

after participation has begun in one or more of the multiple virtual groups on behalf of the user, automatically facilitate removal of the user from the participation in one of the one or more virtual groups based at least in part on one or more of movement of the user out of the associated geographic area for the one virtual group and of changing of the associated geographic area for the one virtual group.

69. The computing device of claim 68 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 includes providing the determined current location information to the remote computing system, the remote computing system being a remote central server computing system.

70. The computing device of claim 69 wherein the computing device is a mobile device having determined current location information that changes over time.

71. The computing device of claim 68 wherein the first component is further configured to enable the user of the computing device to simultaneously participate in the multiple location-based virtual groups.

72. The computing device of claim 68 wherein the first component is further configured to enable the user of the computing device to, for one of the multiple 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.

73. The computing device of claim 72 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.

74. The computing device of claim 68 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.

75. The computing device of claim 68 wherein the participating in each of the multiple virtual groups includes interacting with a remote central server system that manages the virtual group.

76. The computing device of claim 68 wherein the first component is a cloud participation program that includes software instructions for execution by the one or more processors in a memory of the computing device.

77. The computing device of claim 68 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 at least one of sending one or more communications to devices of one or more other users in the virtual group and of receiving one or more communications from devices of one or more other users in the virtual group.

78. The computing device of claim 68 wherein the first component is further configured to, before the initiating of the participation in one of the virtual groups on behalf of the user, display to the user a user-selectable option to join the one virtual group, and receive an indication of a selection by the user of the displayed user-selectable option.