Adaptation of notification perimeter based on relevance to a user

• US 8,682,300 B2
• Filed: 05/30/2011
• Issued: 03/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Stopel, Dima, Geva, Yair E.
• Primary Examiner(s): MULLEN, THOMAS J
• Application Number:
  US13/118,490
• Publication Number:
  US 20120306660A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,030 Days
• Field of Search: 455/412.1, 455/414.1, 455/456.1, 455/456.3, 455/457, 340/539.11, 340/539.13, 701/516, 701/517
• US Class Current: 455/414.1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/0962 having an indicator mounted inside the vehicle, e.g. giving voice messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/022 with dynamic range variability
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Location-based notification architecture that provides notification relevance to a user and/or a user goal. The size of the virtual perimeter or boundary is changed dynamically based on changes in relevance to a user and/or user goal, and thus, can be made dependent on various factors. The size of the perimeter can increase or decrease according to user preferences that are learned over time (e.g., preference for a gas station of a specific company). These capabilities improve the relevance of the notification the user receives. The relevance of a notification to the user can be improved by tuning the perimeter size according to known parameters that depend on the point of interest (e.g., business) itself and/or by tuning of the size of virtual perimeter according to parameters associated with user behavior. Other parameters can be considered as well, such as environmental conditions, and traffic conditions, for example.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented system, comprising:

a location-based notification component that establishes a virtual perimeter relative to a geographical point of interest, and by triggering of the virtual perimeter by a user device, communicates a notification to the user device;

a relevance component that dynamically changes the virtual perimeter based on a corresponding change in relevance of the point of interest to a user of the device; and

a processor that executes computer-executable instructions associated with at least one of the location-based notification component or the relevance component.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the virtual perimeter is changed based on a change in the relevance defined by a parameter associated with the point of interest.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the location-based notification component includes a radius-based geo-fence technology that creates an initial virtual perimeter relative to the point of interest and thereafter adapts the virtual perimeter according to a change in the relevance as defined by a parameter associated with the point of interest.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the virtual perimeter is changed based on a change in behavior of the user.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the behavior is based on a history of user interactions with points of interest.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the virtual perimeter of the point of interest increases relative to another virtual perimeter of another point of interest based on relevance, the relevance defined by comparison of corresponding parameters of the point of interest and the another point of interest.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the virtual perimeter of the point of interest increases while another virtual perimeter of another point of interest decreases, the increase and decrease due to relevance as defined by comparison of corresponding parameters of the point of interest and the another point of interest.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the relevance is initially determined based on static preferences of the user of the device, and over time, dynamic preferences of the user outweigh the static preferences to dominate computation of the size of the virtual perimeter.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the virtual perimeter of the point of interest increases in response to increased user interaction with the point of interest.

10. A computer-implemented method, comprising acts of:

generating a virtual perimeter relative to a geographical point of interest;

computing relevance of the point of interest as associated with a user;

automatically changing size of the virtual perimeter based on a corresponding change in the relevance of the point of interest to the user; and

utilizing a processor that executes instructions stored in memory to perform at least one of the acts of generating, computing, or changing.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising computing the relevance based on parameters associated with the point of interest.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising computing the relevance based on user behavior relative to the point of interest.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising computing an initial size of the virtual perimeter based on parameters of the point of interest.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising dynamically changing the size of the virtual perimeter over time based on learned user preferences relative to the point of interest and other points of interest in a same category as the point of interest.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising increasing the size of the virtual perimeter of the point of interest in response to a corresponding increase in relevance of the point of interest.

16. The method of claim 10, further comprising increasing the size of the virtual perimeter of the point of interest in response to a corresponding increase in relevance of the point of interest, and decreasing virtual perimeters of other points of interest in a same category of the point of interest.

17. A computer-implemented method, comprising acts of:

generating virtual perimeters relative to associated geographical points of interest of an interest category;

computing relevance of the points of interest as associated with a user goal;

dynamically changing size of the virtual perimeters based on the relevance of the corresponding points of interest to the user goal; and

utilizing a processor that executes instructions stored in memory to perform at least one of the acts of generating, computing, or changing.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising computing the relevance of a point of interest based on parameters associated with the point of interest.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising computing the relevance of a point of interest based on parameters associated with past user behavior related to the interest category.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising increasing the size of the virtual perimeter of the point of interest in response to a corresponding increase in relevance of the point of interest, decreasing virtual perimeters of other points of interest in the same interest category, and sending a notification to a device of the user based on the size of the virtual perimeter of the point of interest.