Automated notification muting responsive to predicted location

In response to determining a physical presence of a person within a geographic micro-location area defined by virtual micro-location area boundaries, a computer processor determines a dwell time as an elapsed time that the person dwells within the micro-location area after determining the physical presence of the person. In response to the dwell time meeting a message trigger threshold, the computer processor determines whether the person is likely to be within the micro-location area at the end of a relevancy time period as a function of current geographic location position of the person, speed and direction of motion of the person, and distance to the micro-location area boundaries. If unlikely that the person will be within the micro-location area at the end of the relevancy time period, the processor mutes transmission to the person of a message associated with dwelling within the micro-location area for the trigger time.

BACKGROUND

Micro-location refers to defining distinct areas, zones or regions within real-world, physical geographic areas that are subject to occupation by persons or other objects with reference to by electronic or virtual perimeters. The virtual perimeters are not visible tangible objects that physically engage or prevent ingress or egress into micro location areas, but are instead defined in space by geographic coordinates, or by distance dimensions relative to some reference point or location. Micro-locations may be configured as a predefined set of boundaries, such as at the borders of departments in a retail store, restricted areas, rooms in a building, etc.

Micro-locations can also be dynamically generated and defined by effective radio wave broadcast or distance dimension radii around an object or other reference point location, for example extending to a distance from a broadcast node at which a Bluetooth® of Wireless Fidelity (“WiFi”) signal or message is receivable by a personal programmable device carried by a user. (BLUETOOTH is a trademark of Bluetooth SIG. in the United States or other countries.) As micro-location zones are not physical objects, their size and dimensions may be dynamically altered and customized as needed, providing boundaries that are variable over time with respect to establishing zoned areas. For example, a BLUETOOTH beacon uses low energy proximity sensing to transmit a universally unique identifier that, when in close proximity, is picked up by mobile programmable devices such smart phones, tablets, global positional system (GPS) devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and other devices, Such devices use the transmitted beacon information to perform a variety of actions, including determining the device's physical location, tracking movement of the device, and triggering location-based actions on the device (check-in on social media, triggering a location-specific push notification, etc.).

Mobile devices may use communications with micro-location systems to determine their movement relative to defined zones (time currently dwelling within a zone, movement entering or exiting different zones, etc.). Location-aware computing devices may thereby receive messages and other notifications (push text messaging, e-mail, SMS messaging, etc.) from micro-location service providers or other associated entities that provide information relevant to the device or the user associated with the device, including as related to attributes of a particular, proximate zone location.

Micro-location systems can be configured to enable an action to be taken when a device enters or leaves a specific geographical area defined by a zone. For example, service providers may use micro-locations to track user movements relative to restricted areas, and thereby generate and broadcast warning to users that they (or someone else carrying such a device) are about to leave or enter a particular restricted area. Micro-location systems may send a text notification to a user carrying a smart phone that he or she is leaving a secure area and will need to produce appropriate identification credentials in order to gain re-admittance, or an alert to a parent that an infant wearing a monitoring device is approaching an outer boundary of the back yard of a home.

Commerce and marketing services may use micro-locations to alert user's operating or carrying personal, location-aware computing devices of offers and other marketing that are relevant to a proximate zone, for example to sale promotion currently in effect at a nearby store department. Thus, an electronic shopping list application executing on a smart phone may interact with a micro-location system of a retail establishment, wherein the retailer's system may review shopping list data and notify a user to buy bread when user nears a grocery store, or a bakery department within the grocery store. A department store application may notify a user about a current sale on their favorite shirts (as indicated by their shopping history) when at or near a store branch, or within the relevant clothing department zone.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In one aspect of the present invention, a computerized method for notification muting in response to predicted location relative to a micro-location area includes executing steps on a computer processor. Thus, in response to determining a physical presence of a person within a geographic micro-location area that is defined by virtual micro-location area boundaries, a computer processor determines a dwell time as an elapsed amount of time that the person dwells within the micro-location area as bounded by the micro-location area boundaries after determining the physical presence of the person. In response to determining that the dwell time meets a message trigger threshold time, the computer processor determines whether the person is likely to be within the micro-location area at an end of a relevancy period of time elapsed after a current time as a function of a current geographic location position of the person, a speed of motion of the person, a direction of motion of the person, and a distance from the current geographic location position to the micro-location area boundaries. In response to determining that it is likely that the person will not be within the micro-location area at the end of the relevancy time period, the computer processor mutes transmission to the person of a message that is associated with dwelling within the micro-location area for the trigger time.

In another aspect, a system has a hardware processor in circuit communication with a computer readable memory and a computer-readable storage medium having program instructions stored thereon. The processor executes the program instructions stored on the computer-readable storage medium via the computer readable memory and thereby, in response to determining a physical presence of a person within a geographic micro-location area that is defined by virtual micro-location area boundaries, a computer processor determines a dwell time as an elapsed amount of time that the person dwells within the micro-location area as bounded by the micro-location area boundaries after determining the physical presence of the person. In response to determining that the dwell time meets a message trigger threshold time, the computer processor determines whether the person is likely to be within the micro-location area at an end of a relevancy period of time elapsed after a current time as a function of a current geographic location position of the person, a speed of motion of the person, a direction of motion of the person, and a distance from the current geographic location position to the micro-location area boundaries. In response to determining that it is likely that the person will not be within the micro-location area at the end of the relevancy time period, the computer processor mutes transmission to the person of a message that is associated with dwelling within the micro-location area for the trigger time.

In another aspect, a computer program product for notification muting in response to predicted location relative to a micro-location area has a computer-readable storage medium with computer readable program code embodied therewith. The computer readable hardware medium is not a transitory signal per se. The computer readable program code includes instructions for execution which cause the processor to, in response to determining a physical presence of a person within a geographic micro-location area that is defined by virtual micro-location area boundaries, determine a dwell time as an elapsed amount of time that the person dwells within the micro-location area as bounded by the micro-location area boundaries after determining the physical presence of the person. In response to determining that the dwell time meets a message trigger threshold time, the codes cause the computer processor to determine whether the person is likely to be within the micro-location area at an end of a relevancy period of time elapsed after a current time as a function of a current geographic location position of the person, a speed of motion of the person, a direction of motion of the person, and a distance from the current geographic location position to the micro-location area boundaries. In response to determining that it is likely that the person will not be within the micro-location area at the end of the relevancy time period, the codes cause the computer processor to mute transmission to the person of a message that is associated with dwelling within the micro-location area for the trigger time.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Characteristics are as follows:

Service Models are as follows:

Deployment Models are as follows:

Workloads layer90provides examples of functionality for which the cloud computing environment may be utilized. Examples of workloads and functions which may be provided from this layer include: mapping and navigation91; software development and lifecycle management92; virtual classroom education delivery93; data analytics processing94; transaction processing95; and processing96for notification muting in response to predicted location relative to a micro-location area according to embodiments, for example as depicted inFIG. 4and described below.

FIG. 3is a schematic of an example of a programmable device implementation10according to an aspect of the present invention, which may function as a cloud computing node within the cloud computing environment ofFIG. 2. Programmable device implementation10is only one example of a suitable implementation and is not intended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use or functionality of embodiments of the invention described herein. Regardless, programmable device implementation10is capable of being implemented and/or performing any of the functionality set forth hereinabove.

System memory28can include computer system readable media in the form of volatile memory, such as random access memory (RAM)30and/or cache memory32.

FIG. 4illustrates a process or system according to the present invention for notification muting in response to predicted location relative to a micro-location area. At102, in response to determining a physical presence of a person within a geographic micro-location area that is defined by virtual micro-location boundaries, a processor configured according to the present invention determines dwell time of the person within the micro-location area (the elapsed amount of time that the person dwells within the micro-location area as bounded by the micro-location boundaries, after the person's presence is determined).

At104the configured processor compares dwell time to a threshold message trigger time during the determined presence of the person within the micro-location area. If the dwell time does not meet or exceed the threshold message trigger time (for example, the person leaves the micro-location area prior to dwelling long enough to meet the threshold message trigger time), the configured processor ends the process at106.

Else, in response to determining that the dwell time meets (or exceeds) the threshold message trigger time, at108the configured processor determines whether the person is likely to be within (or proximate to) the micro-location area within a relevancy period of time as a function of a current geographic location position of the person, a speed of motion of the person in moving through different geographic location positions, and a distance to the micro-location virtual perimeters or boundaries (for example, to a point on the micro-location boundaries that intersects a directional line of motion defined by the motion of the person from the current location of the person).

At110, in response to determining that it is likely that the person will be within (or proximate) to the micro-location area for the relevancy period of time, the configured processor transmits a message associated with dwelling within the micro-location area for the trigger time to the person. Otherwise, the configured processor mutes the message (blocks transmission of the message and ends process at106.

In conventional, prior art processes it is known for service providers to monitor micro-location areas for the presence of persons, and to select and broadcast message content to such persons as appropriate for the nature of the micro-location area. Thus, marketing service providers may broadcast a promotional message to a smart phone of the person regarding advertisement or discount offered for purchase of a product (goods or services) offered within a retail store micro-location area, such as a text or email message including a time-dependent discount coupon for a specific bread product that is offered for sale within the store, or within a particular bakery area of store.

Prior art approaches have inherent disadvantages. While location-based notifications may be beneficial to a shopper (via offering discounts for goods located nearby, etc.), there are times when such notifications are perceived instead as an annoyance or nuisance by a recipient, wherein the recipient is not currently interested in receiving and reading such notifications while passing a micro-location beacon or through a micro-location area. This occurs when the recipient shopper is in a rush and focused on another product or accomplishing some other task, and when the notification is delivered or read and comprehended after the recipient has have already left a particular micro-location area in which the notification is relevant.

For example, consider a person (“Bob”) who is shopping in a grocery store to purchase only two items appearing on a shopping list, a canned good found in a canned goods section or aisle, and a dairy item found in a dairy aisle. Bob may travel through eight different departments or products aisles or areas that are each differentiated and distinguished from each other by micro-location virtual perimeters, progressively entering and exiting each of different vegetables, fruit, canned goods, meats, cereal, baking goods, freezer items and dairy product micro-location areas or zones.FIG. 5illustrates a portion of Bob's journey, wherein Bob206is shown while travelling through the meats section area204, and thus currently within an elliptical micro-location virtual perimeter area boundary202of the meats section204. Vector208indicates the speed and direction of motion of Bob206as he moves toward the cereal section224and it's associated elliptical micro-location virtual perimeter area boundary222.

Under the prior art, in response to his travels through the geographic areas defined as falling within each of the different micro-location areas of the eight store sections, depending on applicable message trigger criteria (dwell time, proximity, etc.), Bob may receive eight different promotional message notifications on his or her smart phone, one for each for different products located within respective ones the eight different departments entered and exited. For example, in some prior art examples merely entering each of the eight different micro-location areas will trigger promotional messages limited to products within their associated product sections. As Bob only wishes to a purchase a canned good and a dairy item, he considers the other six messages generated with respect to the goods in the other sections (vegetables, fruit, meats, cereal, baking goods, and freezer items) to be a nuisance. He is annoyed by the inefficiencies they introduce into his shopping experience, by the time he must expend in reading and comprehending and processing (deleting) each of the irrelevant six offers. Such inefficiencies and feelings of irritation may outweigh the perceived benefit of receiving such offers in general, and Bob chooses to ignore all marketing communications from this retail service provider in the future, and deletes a mobile application configured to receive communications from this service provider from his phone. Thus, under the prior art, the use of messages targeted to micro-location area occupations, rather than encouraging the engagement of Bob with marketing efforts, results in inhibiting and discouraging opportunities for acceptance of offers, and thereby directly in loss of associated sales revenue.

In contrast, aspects of the present invention consider the speed and direction of Bob's movement in the context of current location relative to micro-location area boundaries to avoid sending unwanted messages to persons that otherwise satisfy an dwell location and time criteria with respect to a given micro-location area under the prior art. Aspects actively mute (stop or prevent) the broadcast of messages for given micro-location areas in response to determining that Bob is likely to exit the areas before he has enough time, as defined by the determined or specified relevancy period, to process and act on the message notification associated with activity within the micro-location areas.

Thus, in one example of the implementation shown inFIG. 5, Bob206has dwelled the elliptical micro-location virtual boundaries202for the meats section204for a message trigger time, which triggers initiation of a broadcast to Bob206of a promotional message for a meat item that is on sale and obtainable from the meats section204. However, an aspect according to the present invention further determines that the speed and motion vector data208for the detected presence of Bob206indicates that he is approaching an exit point212on the elliptical micro-location area boundary202, wherein he will leave the area boundary202upon crossing said point212; and that at the speed of said vector data208Bob206will more than cover the distance214from a current determined position210of Bob206to the exit point212, and thus that Bob will be located outside the area boundary202at the end of a relevancy period chosen to reflect the time Bob needs to receive and process (read, listen to, etc.) a promotional message for a meat item on sale (for example, ten seconds). Accordingly, even though Bob is located within the elliptical micro-location area boundary202for the requisite dwell period that would trigger sending Bob the meat item promotional message under the prior art, the message is instead muted (not transmitted to Bob), and the process for determining whether to broadcast said message ends (at106,FIG. 4).

The relevancy period and dwell trigger times may be specified or chosen as a function of a variety of processes and determinations. For example, the relevancy period may be chosen as a minimum time indicated by historical data or research findings that a person requires to receive and process the content of the message, and thus as a function of an amount of content (number of words, length of time of audio content, number of images, etc.) and/or of a complexity of the content (with longer times allocated for more complex interrelationships of the content, or numbers of associations, determinations and comparisons required to process the content, etc.)

The relevancy period may also be specified or chosen as a function of comparing the speed of travel of the detected locations of Bob206to cross-sectional sizes of the different the micro-location areas202and222along the direction of Bob's206movement vector data208. Aspects may thus recognize that Bob206is entering and exiting the zones202and222so quickly that all notifications are muted at the current speed, as Bob206is not likely to be within either of the area boundaries202and222at the end of applicable relevancy period boundary times. Though Bob206would have triggered an event to cause him to go into a marketing program campaign flow under the prior art, by comparing his speed against the cross-sectional sizes of the zones202and222a processor configured according to the present invention mutes the marketing notifications, effectively removing him from the marketing program process. If Bob206moves so fast that he exits the grocery store completely before any notifications could make it to his device (in effect, he flowed completely through the marketing program), he receive no messages, rather than receiving them too late, and with any associated annoyance.

Speed and direction of motion may be used to determine the relevancy period. For example, Bob's206speed may be below a threshold (such as a browsing speed threshold), or he may move backward and forward along the meats aisle shelves204during his dwell time within the associated micro-location area boundary202, wherein each determination (or a combination of the two) indicates that Bob that is likely a type of shopper (browser, researcher, or bargain hunter) who is more likely to consider different options in purchasing a meat item, and thereby to respond to a promotional message for a meat item on sale. Accordingly, the time of the relevancy period may be reduced, or initialized to zero, in order to thereby proportionately reduce the chances that the relevancy period with result in muting the message upon the presence of Bob206meeting the dwell trigger time.

In contrast, if Bob's206speed is above a threshold indicative of non-browsing shopper (for example, a speed indicative that he is driven, focused on certain known products, or list-driven, etc.), or he moves in a straight line215between entry211and exit212points within the associated micro-location area boundary202, either of said determinations (or a combination of the two) may indicates that Bob that is likely a different type of shopper (impatient, in a hurry, focused on certain known products, list-driven, etc.)) that is more unlikely to consider purchasing a promoted meat item, and thereby to not respond to the promotional message for the meat item on sale. Accordingly, the message may be muted regardless of the value of the relevancy period, or the relevancy period time may be increased in order to thereby proportionately decrease the chances that the presence of Bob206trigger broadcast of the message to Bob206(as a function of the dwell trigger time and the relevancy period time value considered at108,FIG. 4).

In some aspects a drop in speed of motion indicates a change of shopper type determined for Bob206. Thus, if Bob's206motion slows down below a browsing speed threshold during the relevancy period, thus while leaving, or immediately after leaving the region defined as within the meats section area boundary202and still proximate thereto, aspects may determine that Bob's206type of shopper has changed (revised) to a browser, researcher, or bargain hunter type, indicating that he is likely now thinking of one of the meats section204products that he has just walked past, that he pausing to consider one of the products, etc. Accordingly, the time of the relevancy period may be reduced, or initialized to zero, in order to thereby proportionately reduce the chances that the relevancy period with result in muting the message upon the presence of Bob206meeting the dwell trigger time for the meats section area204within the boundary202.

Dwell or relevancy time thresholds may also be reduced in response to determining that a person has re-entered a given micro-location zone, reflecting a determination of an increase in the likelihood that the person is interested in products offered within that area (based on their decision of Bob to return to the area). Thus, if Bob's time within a given micro-location area met the dwell time threshold during a previous visit, but a processor configured according to the present invention muted the triggering of an associated message (for example, because Bob was moving too fast and would be outside the area after the relevancy period), the processor may decrease the message trigger threshold time applied for Bob's return to the area in response to determining that the physical presence of Bob is a repeat visit to the area (for example, multiple visits within the same day, or month, etc.), reflecting (is some aspects, proportionately) the determination of increased likelihood that Bob has changed his mind, is now more interested in the products offered within the area (as evidenced by his decision to return to the area). In order to avoid missing an opportunity to send a marketing offer associated with products within the area that Bob is apparently now more receptive to, the dwell time threshold is reduced (and optionally also the relevancy period) in order to get the message to Bob during his second visit to the area while he is still within the area (before his motion takes him out of the area).

The terminology used herein is for describing particular aspects only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “include” and “including” when used in this specification denote the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. Certain examples and elements described in the present specification, including in the claims and as illustrated in the figures, may be distinguished or otherwise identified from others by unique adjectives (e.g. a “first” element distinguished from another “second” or “third” of a plurality of elements, a “primary” distinguished from a “secondary” one or “another” item, etc.) Such identifying adjectives are generally used to reduce confusion or uncertainty, and are not to be construed to limit the claims to any specific illustrated element or embodiment, or to imply any precedence, ordering or ranking of any claim elements, limitations or process steps.