Digital punch card for mobile device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9330399-B2
Application number	US-201414220128-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 19, 2014
Priority date	Mar 11, 2011
Publication date	May 3, 2016
Grant date	May 3, 2016

Abstract

A method for verifying a location of a user of a mobile device is disclosed. The method involves: receiving an indicia of a location of the mobile device based on an at-location element proximate to the mobile device; receiving a global positioning system (GPS) position associated with the mobile device; determining whether at least one security condition is satisfied based on the indicia of the location and the GPS position; and causing a next action to occur when the at least one security condition is satisfied, or not causing the next action to occur when the at least one security condition is not satisfied.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method to verify locations of users of portable computing devices, comprising:
receiving, by a portable computing device, an input indicating a location of the portable computing device, wherein the input is received from an at-location element proximate to the portable computing device, and wherein the location of the portable computing device comprises a first geographic zone;
receiving, by the portable computing device, a position associated with the portable computing device at a time that the input indicating the location of the portable computing device was received;
determining, by the portable computing device, that the first geographic zone corresponds to the position associated with the portable computing device at the time that the input indicating the location of the portable computing device was received; and
in response to determining that at least one security condition is satisfied, causing, by the portable computing device, a next action to occur.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining that the position is associated with the first geographic zone comprises determining that the position associated with the portable computing device at the time that the input indicating the location of the portable computing device was received is within the first geographic zone.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
receiving, by the portable computing device, a first timestamp indicating when the portable computing device receives the input indicating the location of the portable computing device; and
receiving, by the portable computing device, a second timestamp indicating when the portable computing device receives the position associated with the portable computing device at the time that the input indicating the location of the portable computing device was received.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising determining, by the portable computing device, that at least one security condition is satisfied in response to determining that the first geographic zone corresponds to the position, the at least one security condition comprises a determination that a time difference between the first timestamp and the second timestamp is less than a threshold amount of time.

5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising determining, by the portable computing device, that at least one security condition is satisfied in response to determining that the first geographic zone corresponds to the position, the first geographic zone is associated with a place of business, and wherein the at least one security condition comprises a determination that the first timestamp reflects a time when the place of business is open.

6. The method of claim 3 , further comprising receiving, by the portable computing device:
a second input indicating a second location of the portable computing device, wherein the second input is received from a second at-location element proximate to the portable computing device,
a third timestamp indicating when the portable computing device receives the second input indicating the second location,
a second position associated with the portable computing device at a time that the input indicating the second location of the portable computing device was received, and
a fourth timestamp indicating when the portable computing device receives the second position associated with the portable computing device at the time that the second input indicating the second location of the portable computing device was received; and
determining, by the portable computing device, that at least one security condition is satisfied, the at least one security condition comprises determining that a time difference between the later of the first timestamp and the second timestamp and the earlier of the third timestamp and the fourth timestamp exceeds a threshold amount of time.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the portable computing device executes a digital punch card software application.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein causing a next action comprises crediting, by the portable computing device, a digital punch card.

9. A computer program product, comprising:
a non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-executable program instructions embodied therein that when executed by a computer cause the computer to verify locations of users of portable communication devices, the computer-readable program instructions comprising:
computer-readable program instructions to receive an input indicating a location of a portable computing device from an at-location element proximate to the portable computing device, wherein the location of the portable computing device comprises a first geographic zone;
computer-readable program instructions to receive a position associated with the portable computing device;
computer-readable program instructions to determine that the first geographic zone corresponds to the position associated with the portable computing device; and
computer-readable program instructions to cause a next action to occur when at least one security condition is satisfied.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 9 , wherein determining that the position associated with the portable computing device corresponds to the first geographic zone comprises computer-readable program instructions to determine that the position associated with the portable computing device is within the first geographic zone.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , further comprising:
computer-readable program instructions to receive a first timestamp indicating when the portable computing device receives the input indicating the location of the portable computing device; and
computer-readable program instructions to receive a second timestamp indicating when the portable computing device receives the position associated with the portable computing device.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 , further comprising computer-readable program instructions to determine that at least one security condition is satisfied in response to determining that the first geographic zone corresponds to the position, wherein the at least one security condition comprises a determination that a time difference between the first timestamp and the second timestamp is less than a threshold amount of time.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 , further comprising computer-readable program instructions to determine that at least one security condition is satisfied in response to determining that the first geographic zone corresponds to the position, wherein the first geographic zone is associated with a place of business, and wherein the at least one security condition comprises a determination that the first timestamp reflects a time when the place of business is open.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 11 , further comprising computer-readable program instructions to receive:
a second input indicating a second location of the portable computing device, wherein the second input is received from a second at-location element proximate to the portable computing device,
a third timestamp indicating when the portable computing device receives the second input indicating the second location,
a second position associated with the portable computing device, and
a fourth timestamp indicating when the portable computing device receives the second position associated with the portable computing device; and
computer-readable program instructions to determine that at least one security condition is satisfied, the at least one security condition comprises a determination that a time difference between t

Assignees

• Google Inc

Inventors

• Morse Reed
• Chew Grantland

Classifications

• G06Q30/0207

  Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates · CPC title

• H04M1/72572

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W4/02

  Services making use of location information · CPC title

• H04M2250/10

  including a GPS signal receiver · CPC title

• G06Q30/0225 Primary

  Avoiding frauds · CPC title