Determining content availability based on selective use of an active location system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9686734-B2
Application number	US-201514710966-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 13, 2015
Priority date	May 13, 2015
Publication date	Jun 20, 2017
Grant date	Jun 20, 2017

Abstract

A method may include receiving a request for content. The content may be associated with a content availability area. User devices located inside of the content availability area may be permitted access to the content. The method may include determining a first area entirely encompassed by the content availability area and/or a second area entirely encompassing the content availability area. The method may include obtaining first location information that identifies a location of a user device. The method may include selectively obtaining second location information based on whether the user device is located inside of the first area, outside of the second area, or outside of the first area and inside of the second area. The second location information may be more precise than the first location information, and may be used to determine whether the user device is located within the content availability area.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A device, comprising:
one or more processors to:
receive a request for content,
the content being associated with a content availability area,
user devices located inside of the content availability area being permitted access to the content, and
user devices located outside of the content availability area being denied access to the content;

determine a first area entirely contained within the content availability area;
determine a second area that entirely contains the content availability area;
obtain first location information that identifies a location of a user device,
the first location information obtained using a first location system; and

obtain second location information when the first location information identifies the location of the user device as outside of the first area and inside of the second area,
the second location information obtained using a second location system, different from the first location system,
the second location information being more precise, with respect to the location of the user device, than the first location information, and
the second location information being used to determine whether the user device is located within the content availability area.

2. The device of claim 1 , where the one or more processors, when obtaining the second location information, are to:
obtain the second location information from the user device.

3. The device of claim 1 , where the one or more processors are further to:
selectively permit or deny access to the content based on the second location information,
the device permitting access to the content when the second location information identifies the location of the user device as inside of the content availability area, and
the device denying access to the content when the second location information identifies the location of the user device as outside of the content availability area.

4. The device of claim 1 , where the first area is circular in shape and the second area is circular in shape.

5. The device of claim 4 , where the first area is concentric with the second area.

6. The device of claim 1 , where the one or more processors, when obtaining the second location information, are to:
cause the user device to activate the second location system to determine the second location information,
the second location system being a global positioning system.

7. The device of claim 1 , where the content availability area comprises a boundary defined by a plurality of coordinates.

8. A computer-readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising:
one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
receive a request for content,
the content being associated with a content availability area,
user devices located inside of the content availability area being permitted access to the content, and
user devices located outside of the content availability area being denied access to the content;

determine a first area entirely encompassed by the content availability area;
determine a second area that entirely encompasses the content availability area;
obtain first location information that identifies a location of a user device associated with the request for the content,
the first location information obtained using a first location system; and

obtain second location information when the first location information identifies the location of the user device as outside of the first area and inside of the second area,
the second location information obtained using a second location system, different from the first location system,
the second location information being more precise, with respect to the location of the user device, than the first location information, and
the second location information being used to determine whether the user device is located within the content availability area.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 , where the one or more instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:
selectively permit or deny access to the content based on the second location information,
the user device being permitted access to the content when the user device is located inside of the content availability area, and
the user device being denied access to the content when the user device is located outside of the content availability area.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 , where the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors to obtain the second location information, cause the one or more processors to:
obtain the second location information from the user device.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , where the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors to obtain the second location information from the user device, cause the one or more processors to:
cause the user device to activate the second location system to determine the second location information,
the second location system being a global positioning system.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 , where the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors to obtain the first location information, cause the one or more processors to:
obtain the first location information based on at least one of:
a communication by the user device with one or more base stations,
a communication by the user device with one or more wireless access points,
a communication by the user device with one or more other user devices, or
previously determined location information.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 , where the first area is inscribed in the content availability area; and
where the second area circumscribes the content availability area.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 8 , where the content availability area comprises a boundary defined by a plurality of coordinates.

15. A method, comprising:
receiving, by a device, a request for content,
the content being associated with a content availability area,
user devices located inside of the content availability area being permitted access to the content, and
user devices located outside of the content availability area being denied access to the content;

determining, by the device, a first area entirely encompassed by the content availability area;
determining, by the device, a second area that entirely encompasses the content availability area;
obtaining, by the device, first location information that identifies a location of a user device associated with the request for the content,
the first location information obtained using a first location system; and

obtaining, by the device, second location information when the first location information identifies the location of the user device as outside of the first area and inside of the second area,
the second location information obtained using a second location system, different from the first location system,
the second location information being more precise, with respect to the location of the user device, than the first location information, and
the second location information being used to determine whether the user device is located within the content availability area.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising:
selectively permitting or denying access to the content based on the second location information,
the user device being permitted access to the content when the user device is located inside of the c

Assignees

• Verizon Patent & Licensing Inc

Inventors

• Ahuja Sanjay
• Hao Jianxiu
• Gavade Sameer
• JILLA Om Prakash

Classifications

• H04W48/04 Primary

  based on user or terminal location or mobility data, e.g. moving direction, speed · CPC title

• H04W4/023

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

• H04W4/021 Primary

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

• H04W64/00

  Locating users or terminals {or network equipment} for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management · CPC title