Systems and methods to provide location-dependent information during an optimal time period

• US 9,332,396 B2
• Filed: 03/16/2015
• Issued: 05/03/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Visa International Service Association (Visa, Inc.)
• Inventors: Spears, Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): WANG, TED M
• Application Number:
  US14/658,987
• Publication Number:
  US 20150264532A1
• Time in Patent Office: 414 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Systems and methods to track locations of a mobile device as a function of time and extract routes traversed by the mobile device, frequencies of the routes, and travel time periods of the routes. The route information is organized as a route dictionary. In response to an indication of a recently completed route, the information of the recently completed route is used in the route dictionary to look up a most likely route for the next trip and the predicted time of the next trip. Location-based data items are selected based on the predicted route for the next trip, sorted based on closeness to the route and affinity to the user of the mobile device for transmission to the mobile device. Top selected data items are scheduled to be transmitted to the mobile device in a time window before the predicted time of the next trip to avoid distracting the user (e.g., from driving) while the user is on the trip.

Claims

1. A computing apparatus, comprising:

a portal configured to

receive location data from a mobile device, the location data identifying locations of the mobile device at a plurality of different time instances,

extract from the location data routes traversed by the mobile device, and

generate route words representing the routes, wherein each of the route words has an ordered list of location identifiers, each of the location identifiers representing a defined location;

a data storage device configured to store the route words in a route dictionary, wherein for each respective route identified by a respective route word, the route dictionary stores at least a frequency of the mobile device traversing the respective route and a time period during which the mobile device traverses the respective route;

wherein in response to the portal receiving an indication of a recently completed route of the mobile device, the portal is configured to

look up a plurality of route words from the route dictionary using at least one of;

a location identifier of a destination of the recently completed route, and

a location identifier of the origin of the recently completed route;

select a selected route word from the plurality of route words based at least in part on frequencies of the plurality of route words;

determine ranks of a plurality of data items based at least in part on distances of locations of the data items to a route represented by the selected route word;

select one or more selected data items based on the ranks;

look up from the route dictionary a time period of the selected route word during which the mobile device traverses the route represented by the selected route word; and

transmit the one or more selected data items to the mobile device a predetermined time period before a next trip of the mobile device traversing the route represented by the selected route word according to the time period of the selected route word.

2. The computing apparatus of claim 1, wherein the ranks of the plurality of data items are further based on affinity of a user of the mobile device to the data items.

3. The computing apparatus of claim 2, wherein the ranks of the plurality of data items are determined via:

determining a utility score for each of the data items; and

sorting the data items according to the utility score.

4. The computing apparatus of claim 3, wherein the utility score of each respective data item is a function of

a distance from a location of the respective data item to the route represented by the selected route word;

and

an affinity measurement of the user of the mobile device to the data item.

5. The computing apparatus of claim 4, wherein the utility score of the respective data item decreases when the distance from the location of the respective data item to the route represented by the selected route word increases.

6. The computing apparatus of claim 4, wherein the utility score of the respective data item increases when the affinity measurement of the user of the mobile device to the data item increases.

7. The computing apparatus of claim 6, wherein the affinity measurement of the user of the mobile device to the data item is based on past data recording transactions between the user and a merchant of the data item.

8. A method, comprising:

receiving, in a portal of server, location data identifying locations of a mobile device at a plurality of different time instances;

extracting, by the portal of server from the location data, routes traversed by the mobile device;

generating, by the portal of server, route words representing the routes, wherein each of the route words has an ordered list of location identifiers, each of the location identifiers representing a defined location;

storing, in a data storage device, the route words in a route dictionary, wherein for each respective route identified by a respective route word, the route dictionary stores at least a frequency of the mobile device traversing the respective route and a time period during which the mobile device traverses the respective route;

receiving, in a computing apparatus, an indication of a recently completed route of the mobile device, the indication including a destination of the recently completed route and an origin of the recently completed route;

looking up, by the computing apparatus, a plurality of route words from the route dictionary, wherein each of the plurality of route words;

starts with a location identifier of the destination of the recently completed route, and

ends with a location identifier of the origin of the recently completed route;

selecting, by the computing apparatus, a selected route word from the plurality of route words based at least in part on frequencies of the plurality of route words;

ranking, by the computing apparatus, a plurality of data items based at least in part on distances of locations of the data items to a route represented by the selected route word;

selecting, by the computing apparatus, one or more selected data items based on the ranking;

looking up, by the computing apparatus, from the route dictionary a time period of the selected route word during which the mobile device traverses the route represented by the selected route word; and

transmitting, by the computing apparatus, the one or more selected data items to the mobile device a predetermined time period before a next trip of the mobile device traversing the route represented by the selected route word according to the time period of the selected route word.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the ranking of the plurality of data items is further based on affinity of a user of the mobile device to the data items.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the ranking of the plurality of data items includes:

determining a utility score for each of the data items; and

sorting the data items according to the utility score.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the utility score of each respective data item is a function of

a distance from a location of the respective data item to the route represented by the selected route word;

and

an affinity measurement of the user of the mobile device to the data item.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the utility score of the respective data item decreases when the distance from the location of the respective data item to the route represented by the selected route word increases.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the utility score of the respective data item increases when the affinity measurement of the user of the mobile device to the data item increases.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the affinity measurement of the user of the mobile device to the data item is based on past data recording transactions between the user and a merchant of the data item.

15. A non-transitory computer storage medium storing instructions configured to instruct a computing apparatus to perform a method, the method comprising:

tracking, by the computing apparatus, routes traveled by a user to generate a route dictionary;

determining, by the computing apparatus, an origin and a destination of a recently completed travel route of the user;

predicting, by the computing apparatus, an origin and a destination of a future travel based on the origin and the destination of the recently completed travel route;

predicting, by the computing apparatus, a route of the future travel based on the predicted origin and the predicted destination of the future travel using the route dictionary of the user; and

selecting, by the computing apparatus, at least one offer based on the predicted route.

16. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 15, wherein the selecting of the at least one offer comprises:

identifying, by the computing apparatus, a plurality of offers along the predicted offer in the predetermined time period;

determining, by the computing apparatus, utility scores of the offers based on distances of the offers to the predicted route and affinity of the user to merchants of the offers; and

determining, by the computing apparatus, ranks of the offers based on the utility scores, wherein the at least one offer is selected based on the ranks.

17. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 15, wherein the route dictionary stores frequencies of the user traversing routes in the route dictionary;

the predicting of the route of the future travel is based on the frequencies of routes in the dictionary that have the predicted origin and the predicted destination of the future travel.

18. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 15, wherein the route dictionary stores time periods in a day during which routes in the route dictionary have been traversed by the user;

and the method further comprises;

predicting, by the computing apparatus, a time period during which the user will traverse the predicted route by looking up a time period of the route in the route dictionary.

19. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

scheduling, by the computing apparatus, transmission of the at least one offer to a mobile device of the user based on the predicted time period.

20. The non-transitory computer storage medium of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises:

transmitting, by the computing apparatus, the at least one offer to a mobile device of the user a predetermined time period before the predicted time period.