U.S. patent application number 12/725402 was filed with the patent office on 2011-09-22 for location-based notification.
This patent application is currently assigned to Microsoft Corporation. Invention is credited to Matthew Graham Dyor.
Application Number | 20110231493 12/725402 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 44648088 |
Filed Date | 2011-09-22 |
United States Patent
Application |
20110231493 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Dyor; Matthew Graham |
September 22, 2011 |
LOCATION-BASED NOTIFICATION
Abstract
Location-based notification includes establishment of a rally
point and subsequent notification of a user when another user
enters the rally point. Senders may set up rally points at various
physical locations and specify one or more target recipients that
are to be notified when the sender enters the rally point. Target
recipients may specify communication settings that dictate whether
and/or how they wish to receive notifications under a variety of
circumstances. When a sender having a computing device enters a
rally point location, a notification is sent from the computing
device to a location-based notification service, which notifies
each of the target recipients in a manner that complies with the
target recipient's individual communication settings.
Inventors: |
Dyor; Matthew Graham;
(Bellevue, WA) |
Assignee: |
Microsoft Corporation
Redmond
WA
|
Family ID: |
44648088 |
Appl. No.: |
12/725402 |
Filed: |
March 16, 2010 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
709/206 ;
340/539.13 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 67/18 20130101;
H04L 51/24 20130101; H04L 51/20 20130101; G06Q 10/0631
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
709/206 ;
340/539.13 |
International
Class: |
G06F 15/16 20060101
G06F015/16; G08B 1/08 20060101 G08B001/08 |
Claims
1. One or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable
instructions that, when executed by a processor of a computing
device, configure the processor to perform acts comprising:
receiving, from a sender, a request to establish a rally point, the
request including: an identification of the sender; a location for
the rally point; and identification of one or more target
recipients to be notified when the sender is at the rally point;
establishing a rally point at least partly in response to receiving
the request from the sender; and storing the rally point in memory
in association with the location and the identifications of the
sender and the one or more target recipients.
2. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the
location comprises a geographical coordinate location.
3. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the
location comprises a point of interest or street address.
4. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, the acts
further comprising: sending a rally invitation to the one or more
target recipients; and receiving an acceptance of the rally
invitation from at least one of the one or more target
recipients.
5. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the
request to establish the rally point further includes one or more
of the following: a duration that the sender expects to stay at the
rally point; one or more party members expected to be with the
sender at the rally point; a boundary of the rally point; and a
sensitivity of the rally point specifying an amount of time the
sender is to be present at the rally point before a notification is
sent.
6. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, the acts
further comprising receiving a recipient profile from one of the
target recipients specifying communication settings for the target
recipient.
7. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 6, the
recipient profile specifying available communication modes usable
to send notifications to the target recipient, and times at which
the recipient is available to receive notifications.
8. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 7, the
recipient profile further specifying a particular communication
mode to be used for a notification, based at least in part on a
date and time of the notification and/or a location of the target
recipient.
9. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 6, the acts
further comprising sending a notification to the target recipient
when the sender is at the rally point.
10. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 9, wherein the
notification is sent to the target recipient according to the
communication settings specified in the recipient profile for the
target recipient.
11. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 9, wherein the
notification includes a duration that the sender expects to stay at
the rally point and/or a list of party members with the sender at
the rally point.
12. One or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable
instructions that, when executed by a processor of a computing
device, configure the processor to perform acts comprising:
receiving, from a sender, location information identifying a
location of the sender; determining, based on the location
information, that the sender is at or en route to a record of a
rally point stored in memory; and sending, based on the
determination, a notification to a target recipient to notify the
target recipient that the sender is at the rally point or en route
to the rally point.
13. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 12, the
notification including a duration that the sender expects to stay
at the rally point and/or a list of party members with the
sender.
14. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 12, wherein
the notification is sent to the target recipient according to
communication settings specified in a recipient profile for the
target recipient stored in memory.
15. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 12, the acts
further comprising: receiving an acceptance of the notification
from the target recipient; and initiating a communication session
between the target recipient and the sender in response to
receiving the acceptance of the notification from the target
recipient.
16. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 12, the acts
further comprising: receiving location information from the target
recipient indicating a location of the target recipient;
determining, based on the location information, that the target
recipient is at the rally point or en route to the rally point; and
sending a notification to the sender to notify the sender that the
target recipient is at the rally point or en route to the rally
point.
17. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 12, the acts
further comprising, in response to determining that the target
recipient and the sender are both at or en route to the rally
point: prompting the sender to initiate a communication session
with the target recipient; prompting the target recipient to
initiate a communication session with the sender; or automatically
initiating a communication session between the target recipient and
the sender.
18. One or more computer-readable media storing computer-executable
instructions that, when executed by a processor of a computing
device, configure the processor to perform acts comprising:
monitoring locations of multiple users over time; determining
locations at which the multiple users have met in the past;
generating a rally proposal to propose a rally between the multiple
users at one of the determined locations at which the multiple
users have met in the past; and sending the rally proposal to the
multiple users.
19. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 18, the rally
proposal being based at least in part on: a time since a last
meeting between the multiple users; schedules of the multiple users
in one or more appointment calendars of the multiple users; a
weather forecast; explicit preferences of the multiple users
specified in user profiles of the multiple users; and/or implicit
preferences based on rallies that the multiple users have attended
or declined in the past.
20. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 18, the rally
proposal comprising a proposed date, time, and location for the
rally.
Description
BACKGROUND
[0001] With the proliferation of communication devices and systems,
people have multiple communication channels by which they can be
reached and by which they can reach their contacts. Although these
multiple communication channels provide great flexibility, this
flexibility comes at the cost of simplicity. For example, if a
person (e.g., the sender) wants to meet another group of people, he
has to determine which of the multiple communication channels will
be effective to reach each of the intended recipients, each of whom
may be reachable by a different channel. Alternatively, he can set
up plans well in advance, knowing that over time each of the people
invited to a gathering (e.g., the targets) is likely access a
communication channel (e.g., email) by which the invitation was
provided. That is, if the sender sends an email to a group of
contacts a week in advance of a planned meeting, it is likely that
all of the contacts will access their email accounts during the
week regardless of whether the invitation is sent to their
personal, work, or other email address.
[0002] For certain types of people and for certain types of
meetings, however, there is no single effective, efficient, and
acceptable communication channel. For example, if a parent wants to
notify other parents that his family is at the park, for example,
he can email the other parents. This technique is efficient for the
sender but may not succeed in notifying the targets in a timely
manner. A series of phone calls, on the other hand, may be more
effective at notifying the targets, but it is not efficient for the
sender and it may be unwanted by the target (e.g., a target may be
at work, eating dinner, disinterested in meetings at a particular
location, or otherwise not interested in the phone call).
[0003] Existing social networking and location tracking services
fail to provide appropriate notifications in a manner that reliably
gains the target's attention.
BRIEF SUMMARY
[0004] This Summary is provided to introduce simplified concepts
for location-based notification, which are further described below
in the Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to
identify essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is
it intended for use in determining the scope of the claimed subject
matter. This disclosure relates to location-based notification.
Generally, location-based notification includes establishment of a
potential meeting location or "rally point" and subsequent
notification of a user when another user enters the rally
point.
[0005] For example, senders may set up rally points at various
physical locations and specify one or more intended recipients or
"target recipients" that are to be notified when the sender enters
the rally point. Target recipients may specify communication
settings that dictate whether and/or how they wish to receive
notifications under a variety of circumstances. When a sender
having a computing device enters a rally point location, a
notification is sent from the computing device to a location-based
notification service, which notifies each of the target recipients
in a manner that complies with his or her individual communication
settings.
[0006] In another example, a location-based notification service
may monitor locations of multiple users over time and propose a
rally between the multiple users at a location at which the
multiple users have met in the past. The proposals may, for
example, be automatically generated after passage of a
predetermined amount of time since a last meeting, or may be
generated at the request of one or more users.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0007] The Detailed Description is set forth with reference to the
accompanying figures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a
reference number identifies the figure in which the reference
number first appears. The use of the same reference numbers in
different figures indicates similar or identical items.
[0008] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an illustrative environment
usable to establish rally points for location-based
notification.
[0009] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the environment of FIG. 1,
showing notification of target recipients when a sender enters a
rally point.
[0010] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an illustrative client device
usable to interact with a location-based notification service, as
well as an illustrative user interface of the client device.
[0011] FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an illustrative system usable
to implement a location-based notification service.
[0012] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an illustrative user
profile of a subscriber to a location-based notification
service.
[0013] FIG. 6 is a system flow diagram showing illustrative
processes usable by a sending device, a location-based notification
service, and one or more target recipient devices to implement a
location-based notification.
[0014] FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an illustrative automated
rally point proposal process.
[0015] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of showing a series of actions
of a user and corresponding illustrative actions performed by a
location-based notification service in response to the actions of
the user.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
Overview
[0016] As noted above, it is often difficult to notify parties of
opportunities to meet in a way that is efficient for the scheduling
party and effective to get the attention of target recipients. This
difficulty is compounded by the fact that the target recipients may
not care to receive certain types of notifications and/or may not
be interested in being notified of certain opportunities (e.g., if
they are at work, eating dinner, disinterested in meetings at a
particular location, or otherwise not interested).
[0017] This disclosure describes location-based notification that
allows senders to establish potential meeting locations or rally
points at various physical locations and to specify one or more
target recipients (user(s) and/or group(s)) that are to be notified
when the sender enters the rally point. Target recipients may
specify communication settings that dictate whether and how they
wish to receive communications (e.g., via email, text message,
voice message, or multimedia message), including filters based on
rally point, sender, people with the sender, time of day, and/or
status of the target recipient. At a later time (e.g., next day,
next month), when a sender having a computing device enters a rally
point location, a notification is sent from the computing device to
a location-based notification service, which notifies each of the
target recipients in a manner that complies with his or her
individual settings. Thus, senders are able to easily convey
opportunities to meet in a way that is effective to alert
interested target recipients of the opportunity.
Illustrative Location-Based Notification Environment
[0018] FIGS. 1 and 2 are schematic diagrams of an illustrative
environment 100 usable to implement location-based notification.
Specifically, FIG. 1 illustrates establishment of rally points and
FIG. 2 illustrates subsequent notifications based on the rally
points. The various computing devices, services, and servers shown
in FIGS. 1 and 2 are communicatively coupled by a wired and/or
wireless communication network (not shown). By way of example and
not limitation, the communication network may include the Internet,
one or wide area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs),
and/or personal area networks (PANs), and the various components of
FIG. 1 may be coupled to the communication network using known
communication connections and protocols.
[0019] Referring to FIG. 1, a sender 102 uses a computing device to
establish a rally point 104 at a physical location--in this case a
park 106--by sending a rally point request 108 to a location-based
notification service 110. The rally point request 108 includes
information usable by the location-based notification service 110
to establish a rally point, such as an identification of the
sender, one or more target recipients 112A-112D (collectively 112)
that are to be notified of the rally point, and a location of the
rally. The identification of the sender 102 may include a name of
the sender, a username the sender uses to log in to the
location-based notification service, an email address of the
sender, a telephone number of the sender, an identifier of a
computing device associated with the sender in a user profile of
the sender, or any other information usable to identify the sender
of the rally point request 108. Any of the types of identifying
information listed above for the sender 102 may also be used to
identify the target recipients 112. The location of the rally point
may be given by geographical coordinates of the location (e.g.,
longitude and latitude), a street address, and/or a point of
interest (e.g., "central park" or a unique identifier that
corresponds to the "central park" location). In some embodiments,
the rally point request 108 may additionally or alternatively
include, for example, an identification of party members that are
likely to accompany the sender to the rally point, an expected
duration of the rally, a radius or other boundary of the rally
point, and/or a sensitivity of the rally point (e.g., an amount of
time at the rally point before a notification is sent).
[0020] Once the rally point 104 is established, the rally point
request 108 (or the information contained within it) may be stored
in a rally point database of the location-based notification
service 110. The location-based notification service 110 then sends
invitations 114 to the target recipients 112 to subscribe to the
rally point. The invitations 114 may be sent in accordance with
communication settings specified in user profiles of the target
recipients. The communication settings may dictate whether and how
(e.g., email, text message, voice message, or multimedia message)
notifications are to be received. User profiles may also specify
different communication settings to be applied based on type of
communication (e.g., invitation vs. notification), rally point,
sender, people with the sender, time of day, status of the target
recipient, or the like. General communication settings may be
stored in a profile database at the location-based notification
service 110, locally on a computing device of the user (sender or
target recipient, respectively), or both. In some embodiments,
temporary communication settings (e.g., a "do not disturb" setting)
may augment or modify general communication settings.
[0021] If a target recipient 112 has not established communication
settings and/or is not a member of the location-based notification
service 110, the invitation 114 may be sent using a default
communication mode (e.g., email), and may include a prompt or link
for the target recipient 112 to create an account, activate an
account, and/or establish/manage communication settings with
location-based notification service 110 and/or to establish
communication settings.
[0022] Upon receiving the invitation 114, a target recipient 112
may subscribe to the rally point by sending an acceptance 116. The
acceptance may include updated profile information for the target
recipient 112. In the event that the target recipient 112 was not
previously a member of the location-based notification service 110,
the acceptance 116 may include account creation information, user
profile information, and/or communication settings. A target
recipient 112 may choose not to subscribe to the rally point, and
consequently not receive any notifications relating to the rally
point, by sending a rejection 118 of the invite or ignoring the
invite.
[0023] In the example shown in FIG. 1, communication settings for
the target recipients specify that target recipient 112A is to
receive rally invitations as voice calls placed to a home telephone
number, target recipient 112B is to receive rally invitations as
voice calls placed to a mobile telephone number, target recipient
112C is to receive rally invitations as text messages to a mobile
telephone number and as emails, and target recipient 112D is to
receive rally invitations as emails. Based on these communication
settings, a rules engine of the location-based notification service
110 directs a voice over internet protocol (VoIP) server 120 to
send an invitation 114 to a home telephone number of target
recipient 112A in the form of a recorded voice message. The rules
engine directs a simple message service (SMS) and/or multimedia
message service (MMS) server 122 to send invitations 114 to mobile
telephone numbers of target recipients 112B and 112C in the form of
text messages or multimedia messages. The rules engine also directs
an email server 124 to send email invitations 114 to email
addresses of target recipients 112C and 112D.
[0024] Target recipients 112B, 112C, and 112D each subscribe to the
rally point by sending acceptances 116 of the respective
invitations 114. Target recipient 112A, however, declined the rally
point by sending a rejection 118 of the invite 114.
[0025] FIG. 2 illustrates the environment 100 at a time subsequent
to that shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the sender 102 has
moved toward the park 106 and has entered the rally point 104. A
computing device of the sender 102 sends location information 200
to the location-based notification service 110. The location
information 200 may be sent automatically by the computing device
(e.g., periodically or in response to movement of the computing
device), manually at the request of the sender 102, or
semi-automatically after requesting approval of the sender 102.
Regardless of the location publication settings, before any
location information is sent for a first time, the sender may be
asked for affirmative consent to provide the information before the
data is collected (e.g., during account set up, upon startup of an
application, at a first instance of publication, etc.). The same
consent may be obtained from target recipients as well.
[0026] Upon receiving the location information 200, location-based
notification service 110 compares the current location of the
sender 102 to locations of rally points with which the sender 102
is associated, and determines that the sender 102 has entered the
rally point 104. Alternatively, the determination that the sender
102 has entered the rally point 104 may be made locally by the
sender's mobile device. In that case, the location information 200
may include an affirmative indication that the sender 102 has
entered the rally point 104. Again, the location information 200
may be sent automatically (e.g., in response to the mobile device
determining that it has entered a rally point location and/or the
sender's mobile device periodically sending location updates),
manually (e.g., by a sender selectively publishing his location),
or semi-automatically (e.g., by presenting the sender with an
option to initiate a notification and providing default information
based on information the user specified in the rally point
request). In addition to or instead of the automatic, manual, and
semi-automatic location updates to the location-based notification
service 110, the sender may activate a rally point manually (e.g.,
independent of location information). For example, a sender may
manually activate a rally point using a mobile device that cannot
provide or cannot efficiently determine location information, or a
sender may want to activate and/or propose a rally point at a
location different than the sender's current location. The sender
102 may also provide additional information, such as confirming or
modifying the default information (e.g., duration of visit, people
with the sender, attaching a recorded voice and/or video message,
etc.).
[0027] The location-based notification service 110 then determines
which target recipients should be notified. For example, the
location-based notification service 110 may query a database to
determine which users have subscriptions to a rally point owned by
the sender 102 having a location corresponding to the sender's
present location and/or manually activated by the sender. For
automated and semi-automated notifications, the sender's mobile
device and/or the location-based notification service 110 may wait
a predetermined time (e.g., the sensitivity period) before
initiating/prompting for a notification to prevent a notification
from being sent or the sender being prompted as the sender is
passing through a rally point location. The location-based
notification service 110 then proceeds to determine whether (yes or
no) and how (using what communication mode) to notify the target
recipients 112 subscribed to the rally point 104 based on their
respective communication settings for notifications (which may or
may not be the same as their communication settings for
invitations).
[0028] In the example shown in FIG. 2, target recipient 112A does
not receive a notification since he rejected the invitation 114 in
FIG. 1. Target recipient 112B receives a notification 202 at her
mobile device from VoIP server 120, which is a different mode of
communication than the text message invite 114 she received from
the SMS/MMS server 122. Target recipient 112C receives text message
and email notifications 202 from SMS/MMS server 122 and email
server 124, respectively. Target recipient 112D also does not
receive a notification, since she is in a meeting and her
communication settings specify that she does not care to receive
notifications while in meetings. Thus, even though she accepted the
invite 114, the location-based notification service 110 will not
send target recipient 112D a notification while she is in the
meeting. The location-based notification service 110 may notify
target recipient 112D when the meeting ends and may take into
account various parameters, including the remaining duration of the
visit, whether the location-based notification service 110 has
determined that people have arrived and/or remain at the location,
or other parameters.
[0029] After receiving the notice 202 of the rally, each of the
target recipients 112 may "activate" the rally point with respect
to the target recipient by, for example, sending an acknowledgement
204 of the rally notification, entering the rally point, and/or
traveling toward the rally point. The sender 102 may receive a
notification 206 when a rally point becomes active for the target
recipient. Once a rally point is active, the location-based
notification service 110 may facilitate sharing of rendezvous
information 208 between the sender 102 and a target recipient 112
(e.g., target recipient 112C in FIG. 2) to help the users locate
one another at the rally point 104. Examples of rendezvous
information 204 include, without limitation, compass information, a
directional arrow pointing in the direction of the other user, a
distance separating the users, a photograph of the user and/or
surroundings, a map that depicts the location of the sender and the
target recipients who have activated the rally point. Additionally
or alternatively, a map may be provided of the sender and all
target recipients who have acknowledged a rally point request, are
at the rally point, or are en route to the rally point. The
foregoing rendezvous information may be provided or enhanced
through the use of global positioning satellite (GPS) data, WiFi
signals, Bluetooth.RTM. signals, and/or other signals that may be
used to determine, estimate, or predict location of the sender and
target recipients and/or the sender and/or target recipient
devices. Additionally or alternatively, the location-based
notification service 110 may establish a communication session 210
(e.g., phone call, video chat, instant message session, etc.)
between the sender 102 and the target recipient 112 to further aid
the users in locating one another. The location-based notification
service 110 may prompt the sender 102 to establish the call, may
prompt the target recipient 112 to initiate the call, or may
automatically initiate the call to both parties.
Illustrative Client Device
[0030] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an illustrative client device
300 that may be used to interact with a location-based notification
service, such as the location-based notification service 110 of
FIGS. 1 and 2. The client device 300 is illustrative of devices
used by senders 102, target recipients 112, and any other users of
a location-based notification service. The client device 300 may be
configured as any suitable computing device capable of interacting
with and/or partially implementing a location-based notification
service. By way of example and not limitation, suitable computing
devices may include personal computers (PCs), laptops, mobile
telephones, home telephones, personal data assistants (PDAs),
tablet PCs, set top boxes, or any other device capable of
interacting with and/or partially implementing a location-based
notification service.
[0031] In one illustrative configuration, the client device 300
comprises a processor 302 and memory 304. Memory 304 may store
program instructions that are loadable and executable on the
processor 302, as well as data generated during or used in
connection with execution of these programs.
[0032] The client device 300 may also contain communications
connection(s) 306 that allow the client device 300 to communicate
with the location-based notification service 110 and/or other
client devices on the network. The client device 300 may also
include input devices, such as a keyboard, mouse, pen, voice input
device, touch input device, etc., and output devices, such as a
display, speakers, printer, etc. coupled communicatively to the
processor and memory. In the Example shown in FIG. 3, the client
device 300 includes a touch screen display 308 which serves as both
an input and an output, a thumb pad 310 input, a pair of input
buttons 312, a camera 314, and a speaker 316.
[0033] Turning to the contents of the memory 302 in more detail,
the memory 302 may include an operating system 316, a calendaring
or scheduling application 320, and a navigation module 322. The
calendaring or scheduling application 320 may contain data and time
information, event information, and/or schedule information of a
user of the client device 300. The navigation module 322 may
include mapping software, GPS navigation capabilities in
combination with a GPS antenna (not shown), a compass, and various
other navigation functionalities. The memory 302 may also include
an email client 324, a voice client 326, and a text/multimedia
messaging client 328, to implement email, voice communications, and
text/multimedia messaging, respectively.
[0034] The memory 302 also includes a location-based notification
service module 330, which provides an interface with the
location-based notification service 110. The location-based
notification service module 330 may merely provide an interface by
which a user of the client device 300 can interact with the
location-based notification service 110, or it may include some of
the functionality to implement that service. In the embodiment
shown in FIG. 3, the location-based notification service module 330
includes a profile module 332 and a rally creation module 334. The
profile module 332 includes logic to allow a user to update his or
her profile information stored in a local profile data store 336
and/or remotely in a profile database of the location-based
notification service 110. The rally creation module 334 includes
logic to allow a user to establish, edit, and manage rally points,
and to store the rally points in a local rally point store 338
and/or a remote rally point database of the location-based
notification service 110.
[0035] The location-based notification service module 330 further
is configured to present a user interface 340 on the touch screen
display 308. The user interface 340 presents a "user profile"
control 342 that allows a user to update their user profile
information via the profile module 332, and a "create/edit rally"
control 344 that allows the user to establish, edit, and manage
rally points via the rally creation module 334. The user interface
340 also includes a "rally invites" control 346 that shows a number
of received rally invites (in this case three) to which the user
has not yet responded, a "rally subscriptions" control 348 that
shows a number of rallies to which the user is subscribed (in this
case six), and an "active rallies" control 350 that shows a number
of active rallies that the user is currently participating in (in
this case one). User selection of any of controls 346-350 results
in display of a list of the respective rallies and additional
details of each (e.g., sender, target recipients, duration,
location, directions, etc.).
[0036] The user interface 340 further includes a "location
publication" control 352, which allows a user to control
publication of his or her location information. For example, the
user can set the location publication control 340 to automatically
publish location information periodically, in response to a change
in location, or according to any other publication scheme.
Alternatively, the user can set the publication control 340 to
semi-automatic mode in which the user is prompted before the user's
location is published, or the user can set the publication control
340 to a manual mode requiring manual user input to update the
location. In the manual mode, a special purpose button may be
designated to update the user's location with the location-based
notification service 110. For example, in FIG. 3, one or both of
buttons 312 may be designated as special purpose location update
buttons. In another example, a predetermined, special purpose
gesture (e.g., a swipe of a finger across location publication
control 352) may be configured in addition to or instead of the
special purpose button to update the location information. If a
user does not provide automatic location updates, the user may push
the location button or perform the special purpose gesture and a
particular application or a set of applications or services (local
or remote) may be provided with updated information. This
information update may, for example, cause a rally to be
initiated.
[0037] Still further, the user interface 340 may include a
"notification" control 354 usable to temporarily suspend
notifications (e.g., while in meetings or at the movies). The
notification control 354 may be used to provide temporary
communication settings, and the user may still update his or her
general communication settings via the update profile control
342.
[0038] In addition to the inputs and outputs described above, one
or more peripherals may be coupled to the client device 300 and may
serve as additional inputs and/or outputs. In one specific
embodiment, a watch 356 may be wirelessly coupled to the client
device 300 to serve as a notification interface of the client
device 300. For example, when a notification is received, the watch
356 may vibrate, make a sound and/or display a brief set of
information about an ongoing rally (or suggest initiating or
activating a rally). The watch 356 may also be used to reply to a
notification (e.g., to respond that the target recipient is going
to attend). The watch 356 may be part of a mobile communication
system. For example, the watch 356 may work in combination with a
mobile phone client device 300 via a wireless connection to form a
wireless personal area network. In this embodiment, a button on the
watch 356 may be used to initiate a rally, reply to a notification,
or otherwise interact with the location-based notification service
110.
[0039] FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment in which the location-based
notification functionality is split between the client device 300
and the remote location-based notification service 110. However, in
other embodiments, the location-based notification functionality
may be implemented entirely by remote location-based notification
service 110 (e.g., as a web services application), or may be
implemented entirely by applications running on a plurality of
peer-to-peer client devices.
Illustrative Location-Based Notification Service
[0040] FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an illustrative system usable
to implement a location-based notification service, such as the
location-based notification service 110 of FIGS. 1 and 2. The
location-based notification service 110 may be configured as any
suitable computing device capable of implementing a location-based
notification service. By way of example and not limitation,
suitable computing devices may include personal computers (PCs),
servers, server farms, datacenters, or any other device capable of
storing and executing all or part of the location-based
notification service.
[0041] In one illustrative configuration, the location-based
notification service 110 comprises one or more processors 402 and
memory 404. The location-based notification service 110 may also
contain communications connection(s) 406 that allow the
location-based notification service 110 to communicate with client
devices and/or other devices on the network. The location-based
notification service 110 may also include one or more input devices
408, such as a keyboard, mouse, pen, voice input device, touch
input device, etc., and one or more output devices 410, such as a
display, speakers, printer, etc. coupled communicatively to the
processor and memory.
[0042] Depending on the configuration and type of computing device,
memory 404 of the location-based notification service 110 and
memory 304 of the client device 300 may include volatile (such as
random access memory (RAM)) and/or non-volatile (such as read-only
memory (ROM), flash memory, etc.). Memories 304 and 404 may also
include additional removable storage and/or non-removable storage
including, but not limited to, magnetic storage, optical disks,
and/or tape storage that may provide non-volatile storage of
computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules,
and other data for the location-based notification service 110 and
the client device 300, respectively.
[0043] Memories 304 and 404 are examples of computer-readable
storage media. Computer-readable storage media includes, but is not
limited to, volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable
media implemented in any method or technology for storage of
information such as computer-readable instructions, data
structures, program modules or other data. In some examples,
computer-readable media comprises non-transitory, tangible media.
Additional types of computer-readable storage media that may be
present include, but are not limited to, phase change memory
(PRAM), SRAM, DRAM, other types of RAM, ROM, electrically erasable
programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other
memory technology, compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), digital
versatile disks (DVD) or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes,
magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage
devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired
information and which can be accessed by the location-based
notification service 110 and the client device 300, respectively.
Combinations of any of the above should also be included within the
scope of computer-readable storage media.
[0044] Turning now to the information stored in memory 404, the
memory 404 may store program instructions that are loadable and
executable on the processor 402, as well as data generated during
the execution of and/or usable in conjunction with these programs.
In the illustrated example, memory 404 stores an operating system
412, a location-based notification service module 414, a profile
database 416, and a rally point database 418. The location-based
notification service module 414 further includes a profile module
420, a rally creation module 422, a rules engine 424, and a
notification module 426. In distributed embodiments, the profile
module 420 and the rally creation module 422 may serve as
interfaces to communicate with counterpart modules 332, 334 of the
client device 300. However, in purely web-based embodiments, the
profile module 420 and rally creation module 422 may simply perform
the functions of the described above for the profile module 332 and
rally creation module 334, thereby obviating the need for the
client side location-based notification service module entirely. In
that case, the profile module 420 and the rally creation module 422
may be configured to render user interface screens such as user
interface 340 in FIG. 3, and to serve those screens to a user via
the network. The profile module 420 and rally creation module 422
would also include the backend functionality needed to create and
edit user profile information and rally point information stored in
the profile database 416 and rally point database 418.
[0045] The rules engine 424 controls flow of communications between
senders and target recipients. For example, the rules engine 424
may query the rally point database 418 to determine which users
have subscriptions to a rally point owned by the sender having a
location corresponding to the sender's present location. The rules
engine 424 may then query the profile database 416 to determine
whether (yes or no) and by what communication channel (modality)
the notification should be sent to the target recipients based on
the target recipients' general and temporary communication
settings. The notification module 426 then notifies each of the
target recipients according to their individual communication
settings.
Illustrative User Profile Information
[0046] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an illustrative user
profile 500 of a subscriber to a location-based notification
service. As shown in FIG. 5, user profile 500 is but one of many
user profiles stored in the user profile database 416 of the
location-based notification service 110. Some or all of user
profile 500 may additionally or alternatively be stored in profile
data store 336 of the client device 300. User profile 500 is
typical of a sender user profile as well as a target recipient user
profile. The user profile would typically be created at the time a
user subscribed to the location-based notification service, and
updated periodically thereafter.
[0047] As shown in FIG. 5, the user profile 500 includes account
information 502, such as a username, password, email address(es),
and telephone number(s) for the user.
[0048] The user profile 500 includes a schedule 504 designating the
user's availability and status (e.g., free/busy, work, meeting,
with family, out of town, etc.). The schedule 504 may allow a user
to leverage an existing calendar or scheduling application by
synching with the existing calendar or scheduling application, such
as a calendar in Microsoft.RTM. Office Outlook.RTM., available from
Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash., or a Google.RTM. calendar
available from Google Inc. of Mountain View, Calif. This allows the
user to keep all of his or her appointments in one location. The
schedule 504 may also allow the user to create a custom calendar
specific to the location-based notification service 110. The custom
calendar may be specific to the user, or may be shared with one or
more friends, family, coworkers, or other members of the user's
social network.
[0049] The user profile 500 also includes communication settings
506, by which a user can manage when and how they want to receive
invitations and notifications regarding rallies. In the illustrated
embodiment, the communication settings 506 are shown divided into
settings relating to invitations and settings relating to
notifications. However, in other embodiments, these settings could
be grouped together and/or other divisions could be provided (e.g.,
general settings and temporary settings). For each of the
invitation and notification sections in FIG. 5, the user is given
the option to choose to receive the respective communication
"always," "never," or "based on schedule." Depending on which of
those options the user selects, the user may be presented with
additional options. For example, once the user selected to "always"
receive invitations, the user is presented with an option to select
the desired mode(s) of communication by which the user wishes to
receive the invitations (in this case SMS text messages). For
notifications, the user has selected to receive notifications
"based on schedule," which presents the user with a list of status
identifiers. The user is then able to select whether and how
notifications should be delivered for each of the listed status
identifiers.
[0050] For example, if a target recipient is in a "busy" or "out of
town" status, no outgoing and/or incoming notification may be sent
by or to the target recipient. If the target recipient is in a
"work" status, the communication settings may specify that
notifications are to be sent to a work email address and a mobile
phone, while if the target recipient is in a "parenting" status,
the communication settings may specify that notifications are to be
sent to a home phone and/or mobile device number. If the target
recipient is in "available" status, the location-based notification
service 110 may determine the appropriate communication channel by
which to communicate with the user. While not shown in FIG. 5, the
appropriate communication channel, may be further defined by the
general communication settings, and may be time dependent (e.g.,
between 6:00 and 7:00, the target wants to be called, otherwise the
target prefers to be emailed), rally point specific (e.g., the
target prefers to be called for certain rally points and emailed
for other rally points), sender specific (e.g., the target
recipient prefers to be called by certain senders and emailed by
other senders), pattern specific (e.g., the target recipient
prefers to be called for senders that the target has not rallied
with in a predetermined amount of time, such as a month, and
emailed for senders that the target has seen within the
predetermined amount of time), size specific (e.g., the target
recipient only wants notifications when two or more or of his or
her friends are present), distance specific (e.g., do not notify a
target recipient if the target recipient is not able to get to the
location before the rally ends), and/or dependent upon other
factors.
[0051] Furthermore, certain circumstances may override the general
communication settings. For example, a hyper-rally may be a
notification initiated after a certain number of principals (e.g.,
owners of rally points to which the target has subscribed, target
recipients of an active rally point, or combinations thereof, etc.)
are indicating that they are travelling to and/or at a rally point
location. For example, if a target having a hyper-rally threshold
of two principals has indicated that he is busy he may not receive
a first notification that a first principal has entered a rally
point location. However, if a second principal sends a notification
that he has also entered the rally point location, the hyper-rally
threshold is met and the target may receive a notification despite
the fact that the target's status is busy.
[0052] In addition to the general communication settings 506 shown
in FIG. 5, a user may have temporary communication settings. For
example, a sender may temporarily stop generating automated (or
being prompted to generate semi-automated) notifications for a
predetermined period of time after the sender sets a "suspend
publishing" option. Similarly, a target may stop receiving
notifications for a predetermined period of time after the sender
sets a "suspend subscriptions" option. These temporary
communication settings may override all other communication
settings, although a target may still be able to communicate
directly with the sender without using the location-based
notification service 110. Temporary communication settings, when
present, may be shown as another category of communication
settings.
[0053] The user profile 500 also includes a list of current party
members 508 that are with the user. An aspect of the location-based
notification service 110 is that some people may not have a mobile
computing device (e.g., a cell phone). For example, a child may not
have a cell phone. However, the presence of the child changes the
types of communications that a person may want to receive. For
example, two fathers may play tennis periodically, sometimes with
children and sometimes without children. Providing the information
in a notification about whether the sender's children are present
provides the target recipient with a better understanding of the
situation. The presence or absence of children can also be used to
influence communication settings. For example, if a parent has
specified or the location-based notification service 110 has
detected that he is in "parenting" status, notifications that
specify children are not present could be treated differently
(e.g., not delivered or delivered via a lower attention
communication channel) than notifications that specify that
children are present.
[0054] The user profile 500 may also include location publication
settings 510, which indicate whether and how a user's location
should be published to the location-based notification service 110
and to other users. As discussed above, location publication can be
performed automatically without user input, semi-automatically
after prompting a user for approval to publish the location, or
manually in response to a user request to publish current location
information. In various implementations, publication of location
information can be initiated by the client device 300 ("push
publication") or the location-based notification service 110 ("pull
publication"). Depending on the type of location publication
employed, the location publication settings 510 may be stored at
the client device 300, the location-based notification service 110,
or both.
Illustrative Location-Based Notification System Flow
[0055] FIG. 6 is a system flow diagram showing an illustrative
method 600 usable by a sending device, a location-based
notification service, and one or more target recipient devices to
implement a location-based notification. The method 600 may, but
need not necessarily, be implemented using the client device 300 as
sending target device 300A and target recipient device 300B, and
using the location-based notification service 110.
[0056] In this particular implementation, the method 600 begins at
602 with receipt of user profiles from the sender device 300A and
the target recipient device 300B by the location-based notification
service. As noted above, these user profiles are typically
populated and transmitted during initial creation of a user
account, and may be updated anytime thereafter. The user profiles
of the sender and the target recipient are shown as occurring
simultaneously, but in practice the user profiles will typically be
received sequentially. Also, as noted above, it is possible for a
rally point to be established and a notification to be sent to a
target recipient prior to the target recipient providing a user
profile or even having created an account. In that case, the target
recipient may be invited to create a user account along with a
rally point invitation.
[0057] In the case of distributed embodiments (i.e., not purely
web-based), in which at least some of the location-based
notification functionality is performed at the client device side,
a location-based notification service module 330 or application
may, at 604, be downloaded to the sender device 300A and the target
recipient device 300B. These client-side location-based
notification modules 330 provide a font-end interface with the
location-based notification service 110.
[0058] At 606, the location based notification service 110 receives
a request to establish a rally point from the sender device 300A.
As discussed above, the rally point request may include an
identification of the sender, a location for the rally point,
identification of one or more target recipients to be notified when
the sender is at the rally point, a duration that the sender
expects to stay at the rally point, one or more party members
expected to be with the sender at the rally point, a boundary of
the rally point, and/or a sensitivity of the rally point specifying
an amount of time the sender is to be present at the rally point
before a notification is sent.
[0059] At 608, the location based notification service 110
establishes a rally point based on the rally point request, and
stores the rally point in the rally point database 418. Once the
rally point is established, at 610, the notification module 426 of
the location based notification service 110 sends a rally
invitation to the target recipient device 300B and, at 612,
receives an acceptance of the invitation.
[0060] Upon receiving acceptance of the invitation, at 614, the
rules engine 424 of the location based notification service 110
queries the user profile database 416 to determine communication
settings of the sender. At 616, the location based notification
service 110 may notify the sender device 300A of the acceptance
based on the sender's communication settings.
[0061] Subsequently, at 618, the sender travels to the rally point.
At 620, the sender device 300A then communicates current location
information of the sender device (automatically,
semi-automatically, or manually) in accordance with location
publication settings in the sender's user profile. The location
based notification service 110 then, at 622, compares the current
sender location to rally points stored in the rally point database
418, and, at 624, determines that the sender is at or en route to
the rally point. When two rally points are near each other (or
partially/completely overlapping), the location based notification
service 110 can prompt and ask a sender which of the rally points
the sender intends to activate. Additionally, a sender may specify
a different rally point to activate in response to a semi-automatic
notification (e.g., "publish" or "change rally point" may be the
option).
[0062] A party may be determined to be en route to a rally point if
they are subscribed to a rally point, travelling in the direction
of the rally point location, and travelling outside of a common
travel pattern (e.g., a predetermined distance or percentage of
distance outside of a polygon formed by connecting the top X (e.g.,
5) most frequently visited locations). In that case, the location
based notification service 110 may prompt and ask the sender
whether the sender is heading to the rally point. If the sender
confirms that the rally point is the destination, the location
based notification service 110 may notify the target recipients
corresponding to the rally point. The location based notification
service 110 may additionally provide information about the current
location of the sender, the anticipated time of arrival, etc.
[0063] Next, at 626, the rules engine 424 of the location based
notification service 110 queries the user profile database 416 to
determine communication settings of the target recipient. At 628,
the location based notification service 110 may notify the target
recipient device 300B that the sender is at or en route to the
rally point. Rally points may have active times. For example, a
rally point may be set up that is only available during the
weekends. Available times of the rally point may be used in
determining whether and how to send an outgoing notification to the
target recipient, and notifications may not be sent during
non-available times.
[0064] The current location of the target recipient may be another
factor in determining whether and how to send an outgoing
notification to the target recipient. For example, if the target
recipient is 30 minutes away from a rally point location, and the
anticipated duration of the rally is 30 minutes, the location based
notification service 110 may not provide a notification or provide
the notification in a less attention demanding modality (e.g., send
an email instead of making a phone call). The determination of the
time gap between where a user is and where a rally is occurring may
be based on estimated time of travel, estimated time based on past
occurrences (e.g., if the target needs to pick his children up from
daycare on Tuesday night, the location-based notification service
110 will include this time in determining whether to provide an
outgoing notification), and/or other appointments on his or her
calendar.
[0065] At 630, the target recipient may acknowledge receipt of the
notification. At 632, the target recipient may begin traveling
toward the rally point. Acknowledging receipt of the notification,
traveling toward, or arriving at the rally point may cause the
location based notification service 110 to, at 634, make the rally
point active. Acknowledging receipt of the notification may take
the form of, for example, responding affirmatively to a prompt,
such as "Do you want to activate a Location X rally?" where X is
the name of a rally point. At 636, the location based notification
service 110 may receive location information from the target
recipient device 300B (automatically, semi-automatically, or
manually).
[0066] The location based notification service 110 then, at 638,
compares the current target recipient location to the active rally
point location stored in the rally point database 418, and, at 640,
determines that the target recipient is at or en route to the rally
point. Next, at 642, the rules engine 424 of the location based
notification service 110 queries the user profile database 416 to
determine communication settings of the sender. At 644, the
location based notification service 110 may notify the sender
device 300A that the target recipient is at or en route to the
rally point.
[0067] Once a rally point is active, at 646, the location-based
notification service 110 may facilitate sharing of rendezvous
information between the sender device 300A and a target recipient
device 300B to help the users locate one another at the rally
point. Additionally or alternatively, the location-based
notification service 110 may, at 648, establish a communication
session between the sender device 300A and the target recipient
device 300B to further aid the users in locating one another. The
communication session may be initiated by the location-based
notification service 110 prompting the sender to establish the
call, prompting the target recipient to initiate the call, or by
automatically initiating the call to both parties.
Illustrative Rally Proposal Process
[0068] FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an illustrative rally point
proposal method 700 that may be used to automatically propose a
rally at a time in the future at a rally point where a group of
people has met before. The method 700 may, but need not
necessarily, be implemented using the location-based notification
service 110.
[0069] According to one illustrative example, at 702, the
location-based notification service 110 monitors multiple users'
locations over time. At 704, the location-based notification
service 110 determines locations at which the multiple users have
met before. These previous meetings could be based in location
histories of the users and/or histories of previous rallies
attended by the users.
[0070] Proposed rallies can be initiated by a user or proposed by
the location-based notification service 110 (e.g., on a periodic
basis, after a certain amount of time has elapsed since two or more
people have not met at a rally or otherwise, etc.). At 706, the
method checks to see if a user has requested a rally proposal. If
yes, the method proceeds to generate a rally proposal as described
below. If not, the method proceeds, at 708, to check whether a
predetermined time threshold has passed since a last meeting with
the multiple users. If no, the method returns to operation 706 to
check if a user has requested a rally proposal. If yes at 708, then
the method proceeds, at 710, to generate a rally proposal taking
into account a time that has passed since a last meeting of the
multiple users, a weather forecast, schedules of the multiple
users, locations of previous rallies or other meetings, explicit
preferences of the users, implicit preferences of the users (based
on rallies that a user has attended/declined), and the like.
[0071] Once the rally proposal has been generated, the rally
proposal may be sent, at 712, to each of the parties according to
their communication settings. The rally proposal may be
accepted/subscribed-to just like any other invitation described
herein, and parties may be notified when one or more of the parties
is at or en route to the rally point in the same manner as other
notifications described herein.
Illustrative Use Case
[0072] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of showing a series of actions
of a user and corresponding illustrative actions performed by a
location-based notification service in response to the actions of
the user. FIG. 8 illustrates one example use case that highlights
several of the features described above. In this scenario, a sender
("Mike") has previously established two rally points, a first rally
point 800 at the park near his home, and a second rally point 802
at the gym where he works out. Mike, Aunt May, Joe, and Frank all
subscribe to the location-based notification service 110, and all
have user profiles stored in the system. Aunt May, Joe, and Frank
have all subscribed to the first rally point 800, and Joe and Frank
have both subscribed to the second rally point 802.
[0073] At T1, mike leaves work and heads for the park where he
plans to meet his kids, Kate and Bill. Mike has automatic location
publishing turned on, so his location is continuously being updated
with the location-based notification service 110.
[0074] At time T2, Mike enters the park and arrives at the first
rally point 800, where he plans to meet his kids. Upon Mike's
arrival at the first rally point 800, an alert is posted to his
profile in the location-based notification service 110. Aunt May,
who has been watching the Mike's kids, receives a notification that
Mike has arrived at the park, so she heads to the park to drop the
kids off. Joe is just sitting down to dinner, so he is probably not
interested in this information and does not receive any type of
notification. Frank's kids are good friends with Mike's kids, so
Frank is interested in rallies at the park that include Mike's
kids. Since Mike's kids are not yet with him, Frank also does not
receive any notification at T2.
[0075] At T3, Aunt May arrives at the first rally point 800 and
drops of Mike's kids Kate and Bill. Mike quickly updates his
profile to change his party information to reflect that Kate and
Bill are now with him. Since Mike now has his kids with him, Frank
is notified that Mike and his kids are at the park. Frank is on his
way home with the kids. He has an hour to kill before dinner, so he
decides to head to the park after he gets the automated call from
the location-based notification service 110 informing him that Mike
is at the park with his kids. After Frank arrives at the park, an
alert is posted to his profile, and some of Frank's friends are
notified. Also, because there are two of Joe's friends at the park
now, the location-based notification service 110 sends Joe an email
despite the fact that Joe is in the middle of dinner.
[0076] After about an hour, Mike and his kids leave the park and
head home for dinner. After dinner, at T4, Mike suspends location
publishing and updates his profile to show that his kids are no
longer with him and heads to the gym to work out.
[0077] At T5, Mike arrives at the gym. Since Mike's location
publishing feature is suspended, no one is notified that Mike is at
the gym. After working out, Mike decides, at T6, that he would like
to play a game of basketball, so he manually updates his location
information by pressing a dedicated location publication control.
Frank and Joe are promptly notified that Mike is at the gym, and
both decide to meet Mike at the gym.
[0078] Upon arriving at the gym, at T7, the second rally point 802
becomes active and rendezvous information is shared between Mike
and Joe's client devices. The rendezvous information indicates that
Mike is in the gym, so Joe is able to more easily locate Mike.
Further, Mike receives a notification when Joe and Frank arrive,
which prompts Mike to initiate a communication session, which Mike
does to ask Joe and Frank to bring him an extra towel and meet him
at the basketball court.
[0079] Illustrative systems and methods of a location-based
notification are described above. Certain features of the systems
and acts of the methods need not be arranged in the order
described, may be modified, and/or may be omitted entirely,
depending on the circumstances. Also, any of the acts described
above with respect to any method may be implemented by a processor
or other computing device based on instructions stored on one or
more computer-readable storage media.
CONCLUSION
[0080] Although the disclosure uses language specific to structural
features and/or methodological acts, the invention is not limited
to the specific features or acts described. Rather, the specific
features and acts are disclosed as illustrative forms of
implementing the invention.
* * * * *