Configurable point of interest alerts

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9341479-B2
Application number	US-201313786434-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 5, 2013
Priority date	Mar 5, 2013
Publication date	May 17, 2016
Grant date	May 17, 2016

Abstract

Receiving point of interest zones and alerts on user devices comprises communicating, by a user computing device to a remote computing device, a request for point of interest data corresponding to points of interest within a proximity of the user device; presenting the received point of interest data; identifying a particular point of interest; and outputting an alert regarding the particular point of interest. Receiving point of interest zones on user devices comprises communicating a request for point of interest data; receiving the point of interest data from the remote network device wherein a size of the point of interest zone is determined based on a density of points of interest in the proximity of the user, and wherein the shape of the point of interest zone is expanded in a direction of travel and contracted in the opposite direction; and presenting the received point of interest data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer program product, comprising:
a non-transitory computer-readable storage device having computer-executable program instructions embodied thereon that when executed by a computer cause the computer to deliver server-controlled point of interest alerts to user computing devices, the computer-executable program instructions comprising:
computer-executable program instructions to receive initial user account configuration from a user computing device;
computer-executable program instructions to establish a database of points of interest for the user account and one or more offers associated with one or more of the points of interest;
computer-executable program instructions to receive location data from a user computing device associated with the user account;
computer-executable program instructions to search the database for points of interest proximate to the user computing device based on the location data and the one or more offers associated with the points of interest;
computer-executable program instructions to transmit point of interest data to the user computing device, the point of interest data comprising at least a portion of a point of interest identity, a point of interest location, and point of interest marketing data for each of a plurality of points of interest in a point of interest zone defined by the computer, wherein the point of interest zone is determined based at least in part on the location data associated with the user computing device;
computer-executable program instructions to receive an identification of a particular point of interest at such time as the user computing device enters within a configured range of the particular point of interest;
computer-executable program instructions to identify an alert procedure associated with the point of interest;
computer-executable program instructions to determine the alert format for an alert associated with the particular point of interest based at least in part on the alert procedure; and
computer-executable program instructions to transmit the alert format and the point of interest data for the alert associated with the particular point of interest.

2. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the alert format is determined by a configured alert procedure, the alert procedure specifying the alert format based at least in part on the number of instances that the particular point of interest has been identified in a configured period of time.

3. The computer program product of claim 2 , wherein the alert procedure resets to the beginning of the alert procedure if a configured period of time has elapsed since the alert procedure began.

4. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the alerts comprises one or more of a visual notification, an audible alert, or tactile alert.

5. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the intensity of the alert reduces with each subsequent usage of the alert procedure.

6. The computer program product of claim 1 , wherein the alert procedure is managed by the user computing device.

7. A system to receive server-controlled point of interest alerts on user computing devices, comprising:
a user computing device comprising a processor and a point of interest alert application executed by the processor; and
a point of interest location computing system comprising a processor and a point of interest location system application executing therein;
the point of interest alert application configured to:
communicate a request for point of interest data corresponding to points of interest within a proximity of the user computing device, the request comprising location data associated with the user computing device;
receive the point of interest data from the point of interest location computing system, the point of interest data comprising at least a portion of a point of interest identity, a point of interest location, and point of interest marketing data for each of a plurality of points of interest in a point of interest zone defined by the point of interest location system, wherein the point of interest zone is determined based at least in part on the location data associated with the user computing device;
identify a particular point of interest at such time as the user computing device enters within a configured range of the particular point of interest;
request an alert format for the particular point of interest from the point of interest location system and receive the alert format for the particular point of interest from the point of interest location system;
output an alert regarding the particular point of interest, wherein the alert is provided by the user computing device in a manner based at least in part on the alert format received from the point of interest location computing system, and wherein the alert comprises point of interest data for the particular point of interest, and

the point of interest location system application configured to:
receive initial user account configuration from the user computing device;
establish a database of points of interest for the user account and one or more offers associated with one or more of the points of interest;
receive location data from the user computing device associated with the user account;
search the database for points of interest proximate to the user computing device based on the location data and the one or more offers associated with the points of interest;
transmit point of interest data to the user computing device, the point of interest data comprising at least a portion of a point of interest identity, a point of interest location, and point of interest marketing data for each of a plurality of points of interest in a point of interest zone defined by the point of interest location computing system, wherein the point of interest zone is determined based at least in part on the location data associated with the user computing device;
receive an identification of a particular point of interest at such time as the user computing device enters within a configured range of the particular point of interest;
identify an alert procedure associated with the point of interest;
determine the alert format for an alert associated with the particular point of interest based at least in part on the alert procedure; and
transmit the alert format for the alert associated with the particular point of interest and point of interest data for the identified point of interest.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the alert format is determined by a configured alert procedure, the alert procedure specifying the alert format based at least in part on the number of instances that the particular point of interest has been identified in a configured period of time.

9. The system claim 8 , wherein the alert procedure resets to the beginning of the alert procedure if a configured period of time has elapsed since the alert procedure began.

10. The system claim 7 , wherein the alerts comprises one or more of a visual notification, an audible alert, or tactile alert.

11. The system claim 7 , wherein the intensity of the alert reduces with each subsequent usage of the alert procedure.

12. The system claim 7 , wherein the alert procedure is managed by the user computing device.

13. The system claim 7 , the point of interest alert application further configured to:
determine whether a specified period of time has passed since the user computing device received the point of interest data;
request an updated transmission of point of interest data in response to a determination that the specified period of time has passed since the user com

Assignees

• Google Inc

Inventors

• Repenning Debra Lin
• Wang Ray Xiaohang
• Okshtein Yakov
• Shamsi Farhan
• SINGLETON David
• Zhang Lixin
• Newberger Alan
• Thota Chandrasekhar
• Gresham Douglas Alexander
• Fey Nicholas
• Foster Marcus Alexander
• Cross Petra
• Morales Andres

Classifications

• H04W4/021

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

• H04W4/029

  Location-based management or tracking services · CPC title

• H04W4/022

  with dynamic range variability · CPC title

• H04W4/027 Primary

  using movement velocity, acceleration information · CPC title

• H04W4/21

  for social networking applications · CPC title