Location-based broadcast messaging to mobile devices located in or entering into a defined geographic area

• US 8,588,818 B2
• Filed: 11/08/2011
• Issued: 11/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Huang, Ye, Kupsh, Jerry, Fletcher, Hugh, Mayblum, Amir
• Primary Examiner(s): SIVJI, NIZAR N
• Application Number:
  US13/291,718
• Publication Number:
  US 20130115872A1
• Time in Patent Office: 742 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.1, 455/404.1, 340/989, 340/501, 705/14.64, 705/14.66, 725/33
• US Class Current: 455/456.3
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services

Abstract

For a location-based broadcast messaging service, a broadcast server receives a broadcast request from a business application server. The broadcast request includes a message, at least one identifier for target mobile devices, and an identifier for a location. The broadcast server sends a location query including the identifier for the location to location agents associated with the target mobile devices. In response to receiving the location query, each location agent determines whether the location of the associated mobile device is within or otherwise satisfies a requirement related to the identified location. If the location of the device is within the identified location or satisfies the requirement, the location agent sends a query response to the broadcast server and receives, from the broadcast server, the message included in the broadcast request. The broadcast request can include a time-period identifier, such that the location agent determines the device location during the time-period.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a broadcast server, in communication with a business application server through a communication network, configured to receive from the business application server a broadcast request including a broadcast message to be broadcast and at least one identifier for a plurality of mobile devices to which the message is to be broadcast; and

a privacy server, in communication with the broadcast server, configured to generate a list of confirmed mobile device identifiers in response to receiving a list of identifiers of mobile devices,

wherein in response to receiving the broadcast request, the broadcast server is further configured to;

send to the privacy server a list of identifiers of mobile devices corresponding to the at least one identifier from the broadcast request;

receive a list of confirmed mobile device identifiers from the privacy server, responsive to the list of identifiers sent to the privacy server;

send a query to location agents associated with each of the mobile devices identified in the list of confirmed mobile device identifiers received from the privacy server, the query identifying a time-period and a location;

receive a response to the query from at least one of the location agents, when the at least one of the location agents associated with at least one of the mobile devices, determines that the at least one mobile device is located in or is entering the location during the time-period; and

transmit the broadcast message through a mobile traffic network to the mobile device associated with each location agent from which the broadcast server received a response to the query.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the broadcast server is further configured to:

upon transmitting the broadcast message from the broadcast request to a respective mobile device, add an identifier of the respective mobile device to a list of mobile devices having been sent the broadcast message; and

send the list of mobile devices having been sent the broadcast message to the business application server.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the broadcast server is further configured to:

upon transmitting the broadcast message from the broadcast request to a respective mobile device, add an identifier of the respective mobile device to a list of mobile devices having been sent the broadcast message; and

periodically send to the business application server a delivery status message including a list of identifiers for mobile devices having been sent the broadcast message since a previous periodic delivery status message was sent to the business application server.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the identifier for the location characterizes an area; and

the location of a respective mobile device satisfies the requirement related to the location only if the location of the respective mobile device is within the area.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the identifier for the location characterizes a boundary and specifies a direction; and

the location of a respective mobile device satisfies the requirement related to the location only if the location of the respective mobile device crosses the boundary in the specified direction.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the broadcast request indicates at least one time-period;

the query includes the time-period; and

the broadcast server is configured to receive responses to the query only during the at least one time-period.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the broadcast server is further configured to:

receive responses to the query from multiple location agents at a beginning of a particular time-period;

in response to receiving the responses from the multiple location agents, transmit the broadcast message to mobile devices associated with each of the multiple location agents from which the broadcast server received a response to the query at the beginning of the particular time-period;

receive a response to the query from a particular location agent after the beginning of the particular time-period; and

in response to receiving the response from the particular location agent, transmit the broadcast message to a particular mobile device associated with the particular location agent after the beginning of the particular time-period.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the privacy server has a database storing identifiers for mobile devices having opted in to a broadcast messaging service; and

the privacy server generates the list of confirmed mobile device identifiers by identifying identifiers of the received list of identifiers that match the identifiers stored in the database of the privacy server.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the location agent associated with at least one of the mobile devices identified in the list of confirmed mobile device identifiers runs on a mobile device; and

the location agent associated with at least one of the mobile devices identified in the list of confirmed mobile device identifiers runs on a location server.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the broadcast server is configured to receive first and second broadcast requests, each broadcast request including an indicator for a respective priority associated with the broadcast message; and

the broadcast server is configured to send the list of identifiers corresponding to the broadcast request having a higher priority before sending the list of identifiers corresponding to the broadcast request having a lower priority.

11. A method, comprising steps of:

receiving a message and an identifier for a geographic location, from a business application server intending to send the message;

receiving a list of identifiers for target mobile devices to which the message is to be sent;

sending to a privacy server the list of identifiers;

receiving a list of confirmed mobile device identifiers from the privacy server, responsive to the list of identifiers sent to the privacy server;

sending a location query to a location agent associated with each target mobile device identified in the list of confirmed identifiers, the location query including the identifier for the geographic location and identifying a time-period;

receiving one or more responses to the location query indicating which of the target mobile devices satisfy a requirement related to the identified geographic location, when one or more of the location agents determine that one or more of the target mobile devices are located in or are entering the geographic location during the time-period; and

transmitting the received message through a mobile traffic network only to target mobile devices indicated as satisfying the requirement related to the identified geographic location.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving one or more identifiers for mobile devices from the business application server intending to send the message; and

sending to a privacy server a list of mobile device identifiers corresponding to the one or more identifiers for mobile devices, wherein;

the receiving the list of identifiers for target mobile devices comprises receiving from the privacy server a list of identifiers for mobile devices confirmed as having opted in to a broadcast messaging service, and

the location query is sent only to location agents associated with each confirmed mobile device included in the list received from the privacy server.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

sending to the business application server a confirmation message indicating a delivery status for the message,

wherein the delivery status includes a list of identifiers for target mobile devices having been sent the message.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

periodically sending to the business application server a confirmation message indicating a delivery status for the message,

wherein the delivery status includes a list of identifiers for target mobile devices having been sent the message since a previous periodic confirmation message indicating a delivery status was sent.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving from the business application server an indication of a time-period associated with the message,

wherein the location query sent to location agents includes the indication of the time-period.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein:

the receiving one or more responses to the location query comprises receiving one or more responses to the location query at a beginning of the time-period,

the transmitting the received message comprises transmitting, in response to receiving the one or more responses, the received message only to target mobile devices indicated as satisfying the requirement related to the identified geographic location at the beginning of the particular time-period, and

the method further comprises;

receiving a response to the location query from a particular location agent after the beginning of the particular time-period; and

in response to receiving the response from the particular location agent, transmitting the received message to a target mobile device associated with the particular location agent after the beginning of the particular time-period.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the identifier for the geographic location comprises a geographic area; and

the received responses to the location query indicate which of the target mobile devices are located within the geographic area.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein:

the identifier for the geographic location comprises a boundary and specifies a direction; and

the received responses to the location query indicate which of the target mobile devices have crossed the boundary in the specified direction.

19. A location agent, comprising:

a non-transitory storage device; and

programming in the storage device for execution by a processor, wherein execution of the programming by the processor configures the location agent to perform functions, including functions to;

receive a location query identifying a geographic location and a time-period, through a mobile traffic network from a broadcast server, the geographic location and the time period being associated with a mobile device confirmed by a privacy server;

determine a location of the mobile device; and

upon determining the location of the mobile device that the mobile device is located in or is entering the geographic location during the time-period, send a response message through the mobile traffic network to the broadcast server indicating that the mobile device satisfies the requirement related to the identified geographic location and that a broadcast message should be sent from the broadcast server to the mobile device.

20. The location agent of claim 19, wherein the programming in the storage device is for execution by a processor of the mobile device and configures the mobile device to perform the functions.

21. The location agent of claim 19, wherein the programming in the storage device is for execution by a processor of a location server associated and in communication with the mobile device, and the programming configures the location server to perform the functions.

22. The location agent of claim 19, wherein execution of the programming by the processor further configures the location agent to perform functions to:

in response to sending the response message to the broadcast server, receive from the broadcast server the mobile messaging service message associated with the identified geographic location.

23. The location agent of claim 19, wherein execution of the programming by the processor further configures the location agent to perform functions to:

display a privacy policy to a user of the mobile device; and

upon the user accepting the privacy policy, send an opt-in message to a privacy server in communication with the broadcast server.

24. The location agent of claim 19, wherein:

the determining of a location of a mobile device comprises determining a current and a previous location of the mobile device; and

the determining that the location of the mobile device satisfies a requirement comprises determining that the current and previous locations of the mobile device satisfy the requirement related to the identified geographic location.