Scalability and reliability of hardware geo-fencing with failover support

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9749794-B2
Application number	US-201514980357-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 28, 2015
Priority date	Nov 21, 2013
Publication date	Aug 29, 2017
Grant date	Aug 29, 2017

Abstract

A computing device includes at least one processor and a memory, the memory storing computer-executable instructions for causing the device to be configured to load a subset of geo-fences from secondary storage to primary storage for tracking by the computing device, the subset of geo-fences selected from a set of available geo-fences stored in the secondary storage, based on a selection criteria. The computing device further creates a boundary geo-fence with a radius corresponding to a distance between a current location of the computing device and an edge of a geo-fence in the subset of geo-fences that is furthest from the current location of the computing device. Upon detecting a geo-fence event associated with a new location of the computing device in relation to the boundary geo-fence, a new subset of geo-fences is re-loaded, and a new boundary geo-fence is created based on the new location of the computing device.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computing device comprising at least one processor and a memory, the memory storing computer-executable instructions for causing the computing device to be configured to:
load a subset of geo-fences from secondary storage to primary storage for tracking by the computing device, the subset of geo-fences selected from a set of available geo-fences stored in the secondary storage, based on a selection criteria;
create a boundary geo-fence with a radius corresponding to a distance between a current location of the computing device and an edge of a geo-fence in the subset of geo-fences that is furthest from the current location of the computing device; and
upon detecting a geo-fence event associated with a new location of the computing device in relation to the boundary geo-fence, re-load a new subset of geo-fences and create a new boundary geo-fence based on the new location of the computing device, wherein the geo-fence event comprises one of a geo-fence enter event or a geo-fence exit event.

2. The computing device according to claim 1 , wherein the selection criteria is based on at least one of:
a distance of each of the available geo-fences to a current location of the computing device; and
a maximum number of geo-fences established for the subset of geo-fences.

3. The computing device according to claim 1 , wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the computing device to be further configured to:
adjust the boundary geo-fence by reducing the radius by a pre-determined amount.

4. The computing device according to claim 1 , wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the computing device to be further configured to:
upon detecting the geo-fence event, record a state change for a selected one or more of the subset of geo-fences in one of the primary storage or the secondary storage.

5. The computing device according to claim 4 , wherein the state change comprises:
an entry state change indicating that a location of the computing device has moved from outside the selected one or more geo-fences to inside the selected one or more geo-fences; and
an exit state change indicating that a location of the computing device has moved from inside the selected one or more geo-fences to outside the selected one or more geo-fences.

6. The computing device according to claim 4 , wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the computing device to be further configured to:
upon detecting a device restart event, restoring the selected one or more of the subset of geo-fences based on the recorded state change.

7. The computing device according to claim 1 , wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the computing device to be further configured to:
detect at least one new geo-fence stored in secondary storage; and
determine whether to update the subset of geo-fences based on a location of the at least one new geo-fence in relation to the boundary geo-fence.

8. The computing device according to claim 7 , wherein the computer-executable instructions cause the computing device to be further configured to:
include the at least one new geo-fence in the subset of geo-fences, when a distance between the current location of the computing device and an edge of the at least one new geo-fence that is closest to the current location of the computing device, is smaller than the radius of the boundary geo-fence.

9. A method, comprising:
by a computing device:
selecting a subset of available geo-fences for tracking by the computing device, based on a selection criteria;
loading the subset of available geo-fences from secondary storage to primary storage for tracking by the computing device;
creating a boundary geo-fence enclosing the selected subset of available geo-fences;
upon detecting a geo-fence exit event for the boundary geo-fence, updating the selected subset of available geo-fences with at least one new geo-fence, comprising:
unloading at least a portion of the subset of available geo-fences from the primary storage, upon detecting the geo-fence exit event; and

updating the boundary geo-fence to include the updated subset of available geo-fences.

10. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:
configuring the boundary geo-fence to have a radius corresponding to a distance between a current location of the computing device and an edge of a geo-fence in the selected subset of geo-fences that is furthest from the current location of the computing device.

11. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:
re-loading a new subset of geo-fences based on the selection criteria, upon detecting the geo-fence exit event; and
creating a new boundary geo-fence based on a new location of the computing device after the geo-fence exit event is detected, the new boundary geo-fence including the new subset of geo-fences.

12. The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:
tracking geo-fence state for the subset of available geo-fences within the boundary geo-fence.

13. The method according to claim 12 , further comprising:
upon detecting a geo-fence even associated with a selected one of the subset of geo-fences, updating the boundary geo-fence based on a new location of the computing device after the geo-fence event is detected.

14. A computing device, comprising:
secondary storage configured to store a plurality of available geo-fences;
primary storage; and
at least one processor, the at least one processor configured to:
select a subset of the available geo-fences based on a selection criteria;
load the subset of geo-fences from the secondary storage to the primary storage for tracking by the computing device;
create a boundary geo-fence with a radius corresponding to a distance between a current location of the computing device and an edge of a geo-fence in the subset of geo-fences that is furthest from the current location of the computing device;
upon detecting a geo-fence event associated with a new location of the computing device in relation to the boundary geo-fence:
re-load a new subset of geo-fences; and
create a new boundary geo-fence based on the new location of the computing device; and

track geo-fence state for one or more of the new subset of geo-fences within the new boundary geo-fence.

15. The device according to claim 14 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
detect at least one geo-fence from the plurality of available geo-fences is a transitioning geo-fence based on geo-fence state information for the at least one geo-fence, wherein the geo-fence state information indicates a transition for the at least one geo-fence has not completed.

16. The device according to claim 15 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
loading the transitioning geo-fence into primary storage for tracking by the computing device.

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Saha Sanjib
• Gonzalez Fernando
• Hedrick Shaun
• Singh Parmjeet
• Gadre Ashish
• Gorgenyi Frank
• Inderhees Mark
• Schneider Janet
• Harper Stuart

Classifications

• G01S19/48

  by combining or switching between position solutions derived from the satellite radio beacon positioning system and position solutions derived from a further system · CPC title

• H04W4/021 Primary

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

• G01S19/34

  Power consumption · CPC title