Method and system for enabling the creation and maintenance of proximity-related user groups

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9100454-B2
Application number	US-201213418208-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 12, 2012
Priority date	Apr 7, 2006
Publication date	Aug 4, 2015
Grant date	Aug 4, 2015

Abstract

Techniques are described for providing location-based information and functionality to people and computing devices in various ways. In at least some situations, the techniques include enabling multiple people in a common geographic area to interact in various ways, such as via devices capable of communications (e.g., cellular telephones, computing devices with wired and/or wireless communications capabilities, etc.), while in other situations at least some users who are remote from a particular geographic area may be allowed to inter-communicate with one or more other users or other entities in or related to that geographic area. In addition, the techniques include enabling the creation and maintenance of location-based virtual groups of users (also referred to as “clouds”), such as for users of mobile and/or fixed-location devices. Such clouds may enable various types of interactions between group members, and may be temporary and/or mobile.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving, by one or more configured computing systems, an indication of a location-based virtual group of users that has one or more anchor points around which a geographical area of the virtual group is defined and one or more associated interaction rules that define allowable types of user activities, wherein the one or more interaction rules are based at least in part on user settings and virtual group settings;
determining, by the one or more configured computing systems, multiple users to participate in the virtual group, each of the multiple users having a mobile communication-capable device that provides information regarding a current geographical location of the user, at least some of the multiple users having current geographical locations within the one or more associated geographical areas of the virtual group, the determining of one or more of the multiple users being made in response to requests received from the one or more users;
enabling, by the one or more configured computing systems, communications for the virtual group with the mobile communication-capable devices of the multiple users in accordance with the interaction rules;
determining an additional user to participate in the virtual group who has a geographical location outside the one or more associated geographical areas of the virtual group; and
enabling the determined additional user to participate in the communications for the virtual group while the geographical location of the determined additional user is outside the one or more associated geographical areas of the virtual group.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving of the indication of the location-based virtual group includes receiving definition information for the virtual group from an administrator user for the virtual group.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the administrator user represents a commercial entity that provides services to the multiple users via the virtual group.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the administrator user is one of the multiple users of the virtual group.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the receiving of the indication of the location-based virtual group is based at least in part on activities of at least one of the multiple users related to the one or more associated geographical areas.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the activities of the at least user include indicating a check-in for at least one commercial entity located within the one or more associated geographical areas.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the activities of the at least one user include indicating a tag corresponding to the virtual group for a location that is at least part of the one or more associated geographical areas.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein the receiving of the indication of the location-based virtual group includes adding at least one of the one or more associated geographical areas to the virtual group based at least in part on the activities of the at least one user.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more configured computing systems are under control of a commercial entity that provides services to the multiple users via the virtual group.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining of the additional user to participate in the virtual group is based on a request received from the additional user to join the virtual group.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining of the multiple users to participate in the virtual group includes selecting the multiple users based on the multiple users entering the one or more associated geographical areas of the virtual group.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining of the multiple users to participate in the virtual group includes sending notifications to a plurality of users who enter the one or more associated geographical areas of the virtual group, the plurality of users including the at least some users, and receiving indications from the at least some users to join the virtual group.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the requests received from the one or more users include indications from each of the one or more users of a physical check-in of that user at a location within the one or more associated geographical areas of the virtual group.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the virtual group includes multiple distinct business locations, and wherein the one or more users each join the virtual group by performing the physical check-in at any one of the multiple business locations.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein the virtual group includes multiple distinct business locations, and wherein the one or more associated geographical areas for the virtual group include multiple non-contiguous geographical areas that are each associated with one of the multiple business locations.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the requests received from the one or more users include indications from each of the one or more users of a virtual check-in of that user at a location within the one or more associated geographical areas of the virtual group while that user is remote from that location.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining of the multiple users to participate in the virtual group includes receiving an indication that one of the multiple users has agreed to join the virtual group in response to an invitation issued by another user who is already part of the virtual group.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the requests received from the one or more users include a request from each of the one or more users to establish a trusted friend relationship with another user who is already part of the virtual group.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining of the multiple users to participate in the virtual group includes taking one or more actions to initiate admission of the multiple users to the virtual group.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein at least some of the communication-capable devices of the multiple users are mobile devices, and wherein the determining of the multiple users to participate in the virtual group further includes receiving information regarding the geographical locations of the multiple users from the communication-capable devices of the multiple users, and automatically determining that the multiple users are eligible to participate in the virtual group based at least in part on the received information.

21. The method of claim 19 wherein the taking of the one or more actions to initiate admission of the multiple users to the virtual group includes, for at least one of the multiple users, automatically admitting the user to the virtual group without receiving a request from the at least one user to join the virtual group.

22. The method of claim 1 wherein the determining of the multiple users to participate in the virtual group includes, for at least one of the multiple users, automatically determining that attributes of the user satisfy specified admission criteria for the virtual group.

23. The method of claim 1 wherein the request received from one of the one or more users includes a location specified by the one user that is within the one or more associated geographical areas of the virtual group.

24. The method of claim 1 wherein the location-based virtual group of users is a temporary virtual group.

25. The method of claim 24 further comprising terminating the tempo

Assignees

• Holden Jeffrey Alan
• Ayars Jeffrey M
• Conklin Gregory J
• Shariff Shafiq
• Scholl Nathaniel Blake
• Kim John
• Groupon Inc

Inventors

• Holden Jeffrey Alan
• Ayars Jeffrey M
• Conklin Gregory J
• Shariff Shafiq
• Scholl Nathaniel Blake
• Kim John

Classifications

• H04L67/306 Primary

  User profiles · CPC title

• H04W8/186

  Processing of subscriber group data · CPC title

• H04W4/08

  User group management · CPC title

• H04W4/021

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

• H04L67/18

  Electricity · mapped topic