Matching users in a location-based service

• US 9,596,564 B2
• Filed: 06/23/2015
• Issued: 03/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Advanced New Technologies Company Limited (Ant Group Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.
• Inventors: Li, Jiajia, Wang, Liang, Wang, Letao
• Primary Examiner(s): Gelin, Jean
• Application Number:
  US14/747,281
• Publication Number:
  US 20150373489A1
• Time in Patent Office: 630 Days
• Field of Search: 455/412.1, 455/414.1, 455/404.2, 455/456.1, 455/456.2, 455/456.3, 455/456.6, 455/435.1, 455/466
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3224 Transactions dependent on location of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/11 Allocation or use of connection identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application relate to a method, apparatus, and system for matching users in connection with a Location-Based Service. The method includes receiving service messages from a plurality of terminals, wherein the service messages include communication attributes, geographic location information, and user feature identifiers, extracting the communication attributes, the geographic location information, and the user feature identifiers from the received service messages, determining whether two or more of the plurality of terminals are within a threshold range, determining whether the extracted user feature identifiers corresponding to the terminals are the same, and in the event that one or more of the plurality of terminals are within the threshold range and the extracted user feature identifiers are the same, setting a terminal of the one or more terminals as a message receiving terminal if a service message associated with the terminal includes a communication attribute corresponding to receiving.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving service messages from a plurality of terminals, wherein the service messages include communication attributes, geographic location information, and user feature identifiers that identify one or more transactions, and wherein the receiving of the service messages comprises;

receiving a first service message from a first terminal, wherein the first service message includes a first user feature identifier identifying a first transaction to be transacted with the first terminal; and

receiving a second service message from a second terminal, wherein the second service message includes a second user feature identifier identifying a second transaction to be transacted with the second terminal;

extracting the communication attributes, the geographic location information, the first user feature identifier, and the second user feature identifier from the received service messages;

determining whether two or more of the plurality of terminals are within a threshold range of each other;

determining whether the extracted first user feature identifier and the second user feature identifiers corresponding to the two or more of the plurality of terminals are the same; and

in the event that the two or more of the plurality of terminals are within the threshold range and the corresponding extracted user feature identifiers are the same, setting a terminal of the one or more of the plurality of terminals as a message receiving terminal if a service message associated with the terminal includes a communication attribute corresponding to receiving.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more transactions identified by the user feature identifiers is transacted between two or more of the plurality of terminals.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether the extracted user feature identifiers corresponding to one or more of the plurality of terminals are the same comprises determining whether the first user feature identifier included in the first service message matches the second user feature identifier included in the second service message, and

wherein in the event that the first user feature identifier included in the first service message matches the second user feature identifier included in the second service message, the first terminal and the second terminal can be matched in relation to the transaction identified by the corresponding first service message and second service message.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending, to the message receiving terminal, one or more service messages which, among service messages that have geographic location information that is within the threshold range and that correspond to extracted user feature identifiers that are the same, have one or more corresponding communication attributes that correspond to sending;

or

sending, to the message receiving terminal, a list of one or more sending terminals corresponding to those service messages among the service messages that have geographic location information that is within the threshold range, that include the same user feature identifiers, and that have communication attributes that correspond to sending.

5. A method, comprising:

receiving a first service message from a first terminal, wherein the first service message includes a business service attribute of the first terminal, and a geographic location information of the first terminal, the business service attribute of the first terminal identifying one or more of a service or function associated with the first service message;

receiving a second service message from a second terminal, wherein the second service message includes a business service attribute of the second terminal, and a geographic location information of the second terminal, the business service attribute of the second terminal identifying one or more of a service or function associated with the second service message;

extracting the business service attributes and geographic location information from the first service message and the second service message;

determining whether the first terminal and the second terminal are within a threshold range and whether the business service attribute of the first terminal is the same as the business service attribute of the second terminal based at least in part on the extracted business service attributes and geographic location information of the first terminal and the second terminal; and

in the event that the first terminal and the second terminal are within the threshold range and that the business service attribute of the first terminal is the same as the business service attribute of the second terminal, configuring a sub-group such that the first terminal and the second terminal are in the same sub-group.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the business service attributes are user-defined business service attributes acquired by a corresponding terminal.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein further comprising configuring a database storing mappings between user-defined business service attributes and predetermined feature identifiers;

and

wherein determining whether the business service attribute of the first terminal is the same as the business service attribute of the second terminal comprises;

querying the database for predetermined feature identifiers corresponding to the business service attribute of the first terminal and the business service attribute of the second terminal; and

comparing the predetermined feature identifier corresponding to the first terminal with the predetermined feature identifier corresponding to the second terminal.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

sending, to the second terminal, a message associated with the first service message sent by the first terminal belonging to the same sub-group as the second terminal;

or

sending a list of terminals belonging to the same sub-group to the terminals in the same sub-group.

9. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

determining information associated with a service provider based at least in part on the geographic location information included in the first service message or the second service message and the business service attribute included in the first service message or the second service message; and

sending the information associated with the service provider to the first terminal and the second terminal in the event that the first terminal and the second terminal belong to the same sub-group.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the information associated with the service provider includes address information, contact information, a list of provided services or products, or price information.

11. The method of claim 5, further comprising configuring a group name for the sub-group, wherein the group name is determined according to the business service attributes in the first service message or the second service message, or according to a predetermined feature identifier stored in a database storing mappings between user-defined business service attributes and predetermined feature identifiers.

12. A server, comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

receive service messages from a plurality of terminals, wherein the service messages include communication attributes, geographic location information, and user feature identifiers that identify one or more transactions, and wherein to receive the service messages comprises;

receive a first service message from a first terminal, wherein the first service message includes a first user feature identifier identifying a first transaction to be transacted with the first terminal; and

receive a second service message from a second terminal, wherein the second service message includes a second user feature identifier identifying a second transaction to be transacted with the second terminal;

extract the communication attributes, the geographic location information, the first user feature identifier, and the second user feature identifier from the received service messages;

determine whether two or more of the plurality of terminals are within a threshold range of each other;

determine whether the extracted first user feature identifier and the second user identifier corresponding to the two or more of the plurality of terminals are the same; and

in the event that the two or more of the plurality of terminals are within the threshold range and the corresponding extracted user feature identifiers are the same, set a terminal of the one or more of the plurality of terminals as a message receiving terminal if a service message associated with the terminal includes a communication attribute corresponding to receiving; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor and configured to provide the at least one processor with instructions.

13. The server of claim 12, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

send, to the message receiving terminal, one or more service messages which, among service messages that have geographic location information that is within the threshold range and that correspond to extracted user feature identifiers that are the same, have one or more corresponding communication attributes that correspond to sending;

or

send, to the message receiving terminal, a list of one or more sending terminals corresponding to those service messages among the service messages that have geographic location information that is within the threshold range, that include the same user feature identifiers, and that have communication attributes that correspond to sending.

14. A server, comprising:

at least one processor configured to;

receive a first service message from a first terminal, wherein the first service message includes a business service attribute of the first terminal, and a geographic location information of the first terminal, the business service attribute of the first terminal identifying one or more of a service or function associated with the first service message;

receive a second service message from a second terminal, wherein the second service message includes a business service attribute of the second terminal, and a geographic location information of the second terminal, the business service attribute of the second terminal identifying one or more of a service or function associated with the second service message;

extract the business service attributes and geographic location information from the first service message and the second service message;

determine whether the first terminal and the second terminal are within a threshold range and whether the business service attribute of the first terminal is the same as the business service attribute of the second terminal based at least in part on the extracted business service attributes and geographic location information of the first terminal and the second terminal; and

in the event that the first terminal and the second terminal are within the threshold range and that the business service attribute of the first terminal is the same as the business service attribute of the second terminal, configure a sub-group such that the first terminal and the second terminal are in the same sub-group; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor and configured to provide the at least one processor with instructions.

15. The server of claim 14, wherein the business service attributes are user-defined business service attributes acquired by a corresponding terminal.

16. The server of claim 15, wherein the server stores a database storing mappings between user-defined business service attributes and predetermined feature identifiers;

and

wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine whether the business service attribute of the first terminal is the same as the business service attribute of the second terminal by;

querying the database for predetermined feature identifiers corresponding to the business service attribute of the first terminal and the business service attribute of the second terminal; and

comparing the predetermined feature identifier corresponding to the first terminal with the predetermined feature identifier corresponding to the second terminal.

17. The server of claim 16, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

send, to the second terminal, a message associated with the first service message sent by the first terminal belonging to the same sub-group as the second terminal;

or

send a list of terminals belonging to the same sub-group to the terminals in the same sub-group.

18. The server of claim 14, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:

determine information associated with a service provider based at least in part on the geographic location information included in the first service message or the second service message and the business service attribute included in the first service message or the second service message; and

send the information associated with the service provider to the first terminal and the second terminal in the event that the first terminal and the second terminal belong to the same sub-group.

19. The server of claim 18, wherein the information associated with the service provider includes address information, contact information, a list of provided services or products, or price information.

20. A computer program product, the computer program product being embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

receiving service messages from a plurality of terminals, wherein the service messages include communication attributes, geographic location information, and user feature identifiers that identify one or more transactions, and wherein the receiving of the service messages comprises;

receiving a first service message from a first terminal, wherein the first service message includes a first user feature identifier identifying a first transaction to be transacted with the first terminal; and

receiving a second service message from a second terminal, wherein the second service message includes a second user feature identifier identifying a second transaction to be transacted with the second terminal;

extracting the communication attributes, the geographic location information, the first user feature identifier, and the second user feature identifier from the received service messages;

determining whether two or more of the plurality of terminals are within a threshold range of each other;

determining whether the extracted first user feature identifier and the second user feature identifier corresponding to the two or more of the plurality of terminals are the same; and

in the event that the two or more of the plurality of terminals are within the threshold range and the corresponding extracted user feature identifiers are the same, setting a terminal of the one or more of the plurality of terminals as a message receiving terminal if a service message associated with the terminal includes a communication attribute corresponding to receiving.

21. A computer program product, the computer program product being embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

receiving a first service message from a first terminal, wherein the first service message includes a business service attribute of the first terminal, and a geographic location information of the first terminal, the business service attribute of the first terminal identifying one or more of a service or function associated with the first service message;

receiving a second service message from a second terminal, wherein the second service message includes a business service attribute of the second terminal, and a geographic location information of the second terminal, the business service attribute of the second terminal identifying one or more of a service or function associated with the second service message;

extracting the business service attributes and geographic location information from the first service message and the second service message;

determining whether the first terminal and the second terminal are within a threshold range and whether the business service attribute of the first terminal is the same as the business service attribute of the second terminal based at least in part on the extracted business service attributes and geographic location information of the first terminal and the second terminal; and

in the event that the first terminal and the second terminal are within the threshold range and that the business service attribute of the first terminal is the same as the business service attribute of the second terminal, configuring a sub-group such that the first terminal and the second terminal are in the same sub-group.