Publishing messages based on geographic area

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10484835-B2
Application number	US-201514817415-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 4, 2015
Priority date	Dec 8, 2014
Publication date	Nov 19, 2019
Grant date	Nov 19, 2019

Abstract

Embodiments relate to method products for publishing messages within a geographic area. Aspects include receiving a location from each of a plurality of user devices and creating a geo-hash tree based on the location of each of a plurality of user devices. Aspects also include receiving a message with the geographic area, computing a geo-hash grid for a region that includes the geographic area and identifying one or more nodes of the geo-hash tree that corresponds to the geo-hash grid. Aspects further include transmitting the message to one or more of the plurality of user devices associated with the one or more identified nodes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for publishing messages within a geographic area, the method comprising;
receiving a location from each of a plurality of user devices;
creating a geo-hash tree based on the location of each of a plurality of user devices;
receiving a message with the geographic area, wherein the geographic area is non-rectangular;
computing a geo-hash grid for a region that includes the geographic area, wherein the region includes an entirety of the geographic area and one or more areas that are not within the geographic area;
identifying one or more nodes of the geo-hash tree that correspond to the geo-hash grid as candidate nodes;
performing a point in a polygon algorithm for each of the candidate nodes to determine whether each of the one or more of the plurality of user devices associated with the candidate nodes are located inside or outside a boundary of the geographic area; and
transmitting the message to one or more of the plurality of user devices associated with the candidate nodes that are determined to be located inside the geographic area.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein computing the geo-hash grid for the region that includes the geographic area comprises:
receiving a definition of the geographic area;
computing geo-hashes for a plurality of points along the perimeter of the geographic area; and
comparing a common part of the geo-hashes for the plurality of points along the perimeter of the geographic area to find the geo-hash grid that contains the region that includes the geographic area.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving location updates from at least one of the plurality of user devices and responsively updating the geo-hash tree.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the geo-hash tree includes a plurality of geo-hash nodes and one or more device nodes.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein an address of the one or more device nodes in the geo-hast tree corresponds to the location of each of the one or more device nodes.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein an accuracy of the location received from each of the plurality of user devices is determined by a user of the plurality of user devices.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the geo-hash tree further comprises a device identifier for each of the a plurality of user devices, wherein the device identifier is indicative of a make, a model and an operating system of a user device.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the geo-hash tree further comprises a time stamp for a latest location of each of the a plurality of user devices.

9. A method for publishing messages within a geographic area, the method comprising;
receiving a location from each of a plurality of user devices;
creating a geo-hash tree based on the location of each of a plurality of user devices;
receiving a message with the geographic area;
computing a geo-hash grid for a region that includes the geographic area;
identifying one or more nodes of the geo-hash tree that correspond to the geo-hash grid;
performing a point in a polygon algorithm to determine whether each of the one or more of the plurality of user devices associated with the one or more identified nodes are located inside the geographic area; and
transmitting the message to one or more of the plurality of user devices associated with the one or more identified nodes that are determined to be located inside the geographic area.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Cuomo Gennaro A
• Singh Gari R
• Yadav Meeta

Classifications

• H04W4/06 Primary

  Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services · CPC title

• H04W4/021

  Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences · CPC title

• H04W4/12

  Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements · CPC title