Geo-fence splitting

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9408031-B1
Application number	US-201514593619-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jan 9, 2015
Priority date	Jan 9, 2014
Publication date	Aug 2, 2016
Grant date	Aug 2, 2016

Abstract

In one embodiment, techniques approximate use of geo-fences of shapes and/or sizes other than those natively support by a mobile device. Upon receiving an initial geo-fence (e.g., a non-supported geo-fence), the mobile device may generate a group of geo-fences (e.g., a group of supported geo-fences) whose union approximates the initial geo-fence, where the group includes one or more geo-fences. The mobile device may treat the group of supported geo-fence as an equivalent to the non-supported geo-fence. When the mobile device crosses one of the supported geo-fences of the group of supported geo-fences, and does not enter into another supported geo-fence of the group of supported geo-fences, a notification may be sent to an application that utilizes the non-supported geo-fence that the non-supported geo-fence has been triggered.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving a non-supported geo-fence having a shape or size that is not natively supported on a mobile device;
generating a group of one or more supported geo-fences whose union approximates the non-supported geo-fence;
mapping the group of one or more supported geo-fences to a single identity; and
monitoring, by the mobile device, the one or more supported geo-fences of the group of one or more supported geo-fences to determine when the non-supported geo-fence has been triggered.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the monitoring further comprising:
detecting the mobile device has crossed one of the one or more supported geo-fences of the group of one or more supported geo-fences, and has not crossed into another supported geo-fence of the group of one or more supported geo-fences; and
in response to the detecting, notifying an application that utilizes the non-supported geo-fence that the non-supported geo-fence has been triggered.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein a shape of the one or more supported geo-fences differs from the shape of the non-supported geo-fence.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the group of one or more supported geo-fences includes multiple supported geo-fences.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the union of the one or more supported geo-fences is considered to approximate the non-supported geo-fence by the union defining a minimum bounding shape that encloses the non-supported geo-fence.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the union of the one or more supported geo-fences is considered to approximate the non-supported geo-fence by the union including at least a given percentage of area enclosed by the non-supported geo-fence.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the shape or size that is not natively supported on the mobile device is a shape that is not natively supported on the mobile device.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the shape that is not natively supported on the mobile device is an irregular user-defined shape.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the shape or size that is not natively supported on the mobile device is a size that is not natively supported on the mobile device.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the size that is not natively supported on the mobile device is a size larger than the mobile device supports.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the size that is not natively supported on the mobile device is a size smaller than the mobile device supports.

12. A non-transitory computer readable medium having executable instruction stored thereon, the executable instructions when executed by one or more processors of one or more mobile devices operable to:
receive an initial geo-fence having a first shape or size;
generate a group of geo-fences whose union encompasses the initial geo-fence, the group of geo-fences including one or more geo-fences having at least a second shape or size, the second shape or size being different than the first shape or size of the initial geo-fence;
mapping the group of geo-fences to a single identity; and
monitoring, by the mobile device, the geo-fences of the group of geo-fences to determine when the initial geo-fence has been triggered.

13. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the monitoring further comprises:
detecting the mobile device has crossed one of the geo-fences of the group of geo-fences, and has not crossed into another geo-fence of the group of geo-fences; and
in response to the detecting, notifying an application that utilizes the initial geo-fence that the initial geo-fence has been triggered.

14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the union of the geo-fences of the group of geo-fences encompasses the initial geo-fence by the union defining a minimum bounding shape that encloses the initial geo-fence.

15. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the different shape or size is a different shape.

16. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 12 , wherein the different shape or size is a different size.

17. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the first shape or size is a shape or size that the mobile device does not support, and the shape or size is a shape or size that the mobile device supports.

18. An apparatus comprising:
a processor configured to execute instructions; and
a memory configured to store executable instructions for a client application, the client application to include:
an approximation process configured to a obtain a non-supported geo-fence having a shape or size that is not natively supported on a mobile device and to generate a group of supported geo-fences whose union approximates the non-supported geo-fence, and
a geo-fence cache configured to store the group of supported geo-fences as active geo-fences,
wherein the approximation process is further configured to monitor supported geo-fences of the group of supported geo-fences to determine when the non-supported geo-fence has been triggered.

19. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the approximation process is configured to monitor the supported geo-fences of the group of supported geo-fences by detecting when the mobile device has crossed one of the supported geo-fences of the group of supported geo-fences, and has not crossed into another supported geo-fence of the group of supported geo-fences, and, is configured to notify an application that utilizes the non-supported geo-fence that the non-supported geo-fence has been triggered.

20. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the supported geo-fences have at least a different shape or size than the non-supported geo-fence.

21. The apparatus of claim 18 , wherein the union of the supported geo-fences of the group of supported geo-fences approximates the non-supported geo-fence by the union defining a minimum bounding shape that encloses the non-supported geo-fence.

Assignees

• Skyhook Wireless Inc

Inventors

• Steger Christopher
• Dytko Thomas Jason
• Brachet Nicolas
• Jones Russel Kipp
• Dancus Andrei
• Broadstone Andrew
• Alizadeh-Shabdiz Farshid

Classifications

• H04W4/021 Primary

  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

• H04W4/023

  using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds · CPC title