Controlling performance of location-based tasks by mobile task performers

• US 9,911,100 B1
• Filed: 05/13/2011
• Issued: 03/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cohen, Peter D., Dierkes, Glenn A., Bradley, Adam D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Robinson, Greta
• Application Number:
  US13/107,767
• Time in Patent Office: 2,489 Days
• Field of Search: 709212, 709217, 709203, 709201, 705 713, 705 714, 705 715, 705 721, 705 722, 705 712, 707770, 707805, 718100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/27 Replication, distribution or synchronisation of data between databases or within a distributed database system; Distributed database system architectures therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06311 Scheduling, planning or task assignment for a person or group
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/1097 Task assignment

Abstract

Techniques are described for facilitating performance of tasks supplied by task requesters, such as by a task exchange server interacting with mobile task performer users available to perform tasks at various geographical locations. Some or all of the tasks may each be associated with geographical locations and/or other device-related criteria related to the performance of the task, and one or more mobile task performer users may be identified as being appropriate to perform the task based on the location of, qualifications of, and/or characteristics of mobile device(s) of the user. Such identified task performer users may then be notified of such appropriate tasks in various ways, such as by sending one or more electronic messages with information about the tasks to one or more mobile devices of the users, and may in some situations use one or more of their mobile devices as part of the task performance.

Claims

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored contents that cause a mobile computing device to perform automated operations, including at least:

determining, by the mobile computing device, a geographical location of the mobile computing device and one or more hardware capabilities of the mobile computing device;

transmitting, by the mobile computing device and over one or more networks to a task exchange server, information about the determined geographical location and hardware capabilities to obtain response information from the task exchange server about tasks that are available to be performed within a predetermined distance from the determined geographical location using the hardware capabilities;

obtaining, by the mobile computing device and over the one or more networks, the response information from the task exchange server that identifies one or more tasks as being available for performance within the predetermined distance from the determined geographical location using the hardware capabilities;

participating, by the mobile computing device and after the obtaining of the response information, in one or more interactions with a user of the mobile computing device for performing one of the one or more tasks based at least in part on the hardware capabilities of the mobile computing device, including obtaining results of performance of the one task; and

transmitting, by the mobile computing device and over the one or more networks to the task exchange server, further information that includes the obtained results of the performance of the one task.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the predetermined distance is a distance determined by the user of the mobile computing device, and wherein the transmitting of the information includes sending a request to the task exchange server over the one or more networks to respond with the response information and that includes an identification of the predetermined distance.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 2 wherein the sending of the request to the task exchange server includes providing information to the task exchange server about additional current characteristics of the mobile computing device, and wherein the response information obtained from the task exchange server is further based in part on the additional current characteristics.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 3 wherein the additional current characteristics of the mobile computing device further include battery power level of the mobile computing device, current communication capabilities of the mobile computing device, and memory available for the mobile computing device.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the predetermined distance is specified by the task exchange server, and wherein the stored contents include software instructions that, when executed by the mobile computing device, further cause the mobile computing device to receive additional information that is automatically sent, by the task exchange server and without a corresponding request for the sent additional information, about one or more additional available tasks that are within the predetermined distance of the determined geographical location of the mobile computing device, and to control performance by the user of the one or more additional available tasks.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the stored contents include software instructions that, when executed by the mobile computing device, further cause the mobile computing device to, before the transmitting of the further information to the task exchange server, presenting information to the user of the mobile computing device regarding the one or more tasks, and receiving information from the user after the presenting of the information that initiates the participating in the one or more interactions.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6 wherein the receiving of the information from the user includes a selection by the user to perform the one task.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6 wherein the one or more hardware capabilities of the mobile computing device include at least one capability to record information from an environment external to the mobile computing device.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the mobile computing device is a smart phone of the mobile user, and wherein the performing of the one task based at least in part on the hardware capabilities of the mobile computing device includes using one or more hardware sensors of the mobile computing device.

10. A computer-implemented method comprising:

determining, by a mobile device, a geographical location of the mobile device;

transmitting, by the mobile device and over one or more networks to a task exchange server, information about the determined geographical location and about hardware capabilities of the mobile device with a request for response information from the task exchange server about tasks that are available to be performed within a predetermined distance from the determined geographical location using the hardware capabilities of the mobile device;

obtaining, by the mobile device and over the one or more networks in response to the request, the response information from the task exchange server about an available task within the predetermined distance from the determined geographical location and for the hardware capabilities of the mobile device;

presenting, by the mobile device and to a mobile user of the mobile device after the obtaining of the response information, information about the available task for selection by the mobile user;

performing, by the mobile device and as part of performing the available task in response to the selection by the mobile user, one or more interactions with the mobile user based at least in part on the hardware capabilities of the mobile device, including obtaining results of performance of the available task by the mobile user; and

transmitting, by the mobile device and over the one or more networks to the task exchange server, further information that includes the obtained results of the performance of the available task.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 wherein the presenting of the information includes displaying at least some of the information on a display screen of the mobile device, and wherein the obtaining of the results of the performance of the available task includes generating, by the mobile device, at least some of the results by using one or more of the hardware capabilities of the mobile device.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 wherein the one or more hardware capabilities of the mobile device include at least one capability to record information from an environment external to the mobile device, and wherein the response information obtained from the task exchange service is further based in part on one or more other characteristics of the mobile device that include at least one of a battery power level, communication capabilities, or memory available.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 11 wherein the mobile device is a smart phone of the mobile user, and wherein the using one or more of the hardware capabilities of the mobile device includes using one or more hardware sensors of the mobile device.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 further comprising receiving, by the mobile device, additional information about one or more additional available tasks that is automatically sent by the task exchange server to the mobile device without a corresponding request for the sent additional information, and controlling, by the mobile device, performance of the one or more additional available tasks by the mobile user.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 wherein the response information obtained from the task exchange service is further based in part on one or more qualifications of the mobile user that satisfy one or more criteria for performance of the available task.

16. A mobile computing device comprising:

at least one hardware processor; and

a memory with stored instructions that, when executed by the at least one hardware processor, cause the mobile computing device to;

determine current characteristics of the mobile computing device that include a location of the mobile computing device and one or more capabilities of the mobile computing device;

transmit, over one or more networks to a task exchange server, information about the determined current characteristics to obtain response information from the task exchange server about tasks that are available to be performed based on the determined current characteristics;

obtain, over the one or more networks, the response information from the task exchange server that identifies one or more tasks as being available for performance by a user of the mobile computing device within a predetermined distance from the location based on the capabilities;

interact, after the obtaining of the response information, with the user to obtain results of performance by the user of one of the one or more tasks; and

transmit, over the one or more networks to the task exchange server, further information about the performance of the one task.

17. The mobile computing device of claim 16 wherein the transmitting of the information includes sending, to the task exchange server over the one or more networks, a request that includes an identification of the predetermined distance to cause the obtaining of the response information.

18. The mobile computing device of claim 17 wherein the stored instructions include software instructions that, when executed by the at least one hardware processor, further cause the mobile computing device to, before the transmitting of the further information to the task exchange server, present information on a display of the mobile computing device to the user of the mobile computing device regarding the one or more tasks, and to receive information from the user after the presenting of the information that initiates interactions with the user to obtain the results of the performance of the one task, wherein generating of the results of the performance are based at least in part on using at least one of the capabilities of the mobile computing device.

19. The mobile computing device of claim 18 wherein the receiving of the information from the user includes a selection by the user to perform the one task and an indication of the predetermined distance.

20. The mobile computing device of claim 18 wherein the one or more capabilities of the mobile computing device include at least one hardware sensor used to record information from an environment external to the mobile computing device.

21. The mobile computing device of claim 16 wherein the stored instructions include software instructions that, when executed by the at least one hardware processor, further cause the mobile computing device to receive additional task information that is automatically sent by the remote task exchange server about one or more additional available tasks without a corresponding request specific to the sent additional information, and to control performance by the user of the one or more additional available tasks.

22. The mobile computing device of claim 16 wherein the determined current characteristics of the mobile computing device further include at least one of a battery power level of the mobile computing device, communication capabilities of the mobile computing device, or memory available for the mobile computing device, and wherein the one or more tasks identified in the obtained response information are further based in part on the at least one of the battery power level, the communication capabilities, or the memory.

23. The mobile computing device of claim 16 wherein the mobile computing device is a tablet computer of the user, and wherein interacting with the user to obtain the results of the performance includes participating in one or more interactions with the user to perform the one task based at least in part on the capabilities of the mobile computing device by using one or more hardware sensors of the mobile computing device.

24. The mobile computing device of claim 16 wherein the response information obtained from the task exchange service is further based in part on one or more qualifications of the user, and wherein the one or more tasks are further identified by the task exchange server as being available for performance by the user based in part on the one or more qualifications of the user satisfying criteria for the one or more tasks.