IP Verse

Exclusive Delivery Of Content Within Geographic Areas

Patent No. US10984447 (titled "Exclusive Delivery Of Content Within Geographic Areas") was filed by H2 Intellect Llc on Jun 26, 2018.

What is this patent about?

’447 is related to the field of content delivery, specifically the delivery of targeted content, such as advertisements, to mobile devices based on their location. The background acknowledges the existing methods of delivering advertisements, including broadcasting to all devices within a certain range and targeted delivery via the internet. However, these methods lack the ability to reserve specific geographic areas for exclusive content delivery from particular sponsors.

The underlying idea behind ’447 is to enable a mobile device to define and reserve a geographic area for the exclusive delivery of a specific identifier to a particular application. This is achieved by allowing an application to send a request to the mobile device's operating system, including geographic data to define the area and an identifier. The mobile device then monitors its location and, upon entering and remaining within the defined area for a specified time, delivers the identifier to the requesting application.

The claims of ’447 focus on a mobile device configured to receive a request from an application to reserve a geographic area and associate it with an identifier. The mobile device then uses its location-determination component (e.g., GPS) to determine when it has entered and remained within the reserved area for a predetermined time. Upon meeting these conditions, the mobile device delivers the associated identifier to the requesting application.

In practice, a mobile application developer could use this invention to create a system where specific actions within their app are unlocked or modified when the user is within a certain location for a certain duration. For example, a game could unlock a special level when the user visits a particular park and stays there for 15 minutes. The application sends the park's coordinates and a unique identifier to the mobile device's OS, which then monitors the location and delivers the identifier to the game when the conditions are met.

This approach differs from prior art by shifting the responsibility of geographic fencing and content delivery to the mobile device itself, rather than relying on a centralized content delivery platform. This allows for more granular control and potentially reduced latency, as the location monitoring and identifier delivery are handled locally. The predetermined time requirement adds a further layer of control, preventing accidental or fleeting visits from triggering the content delivery. The use of a geometric construct to define the geographic area provides flexibility in defining the boundaries of the reserved area. The location-determination component is crucial for the mobile device to accurately determine its location and compare it to the defined geographic area. The identifier acts as a key to unlock specific content or functionality within the application.

How does this patent fit in bigger picture?

Technical landscape at the time

In the late 2000s when ’447 was filed, mobile devices were becoming increasingly prevalent, at a time when location-based services were typically implemented using GPS or cellular triangulation. Systems commonly relied on client-server architectures for content delivery, rather than peer-to-peer networks, when hardware or software constraints made real-time processing of large datasets non-trivial.

Novelty and Inventive Step

The examiner approved the application because the claims overcome a prior rejection under 35 U.S.C. § 112(b). The examiner stated that the invention discloses novel features including receiving a data string comprising an identifier associated with a geographic area and geographic data, establishing the geographic area in memory as reserved for the identifier, storing a record comprising the identifier, determining that a mobile device has entered the reserved area and remained there for a predetermined time, and delivering data comprising the identifier to the application program. The examiner indicated that these features, in combination with other claim limitations, were not taught or suggested by the prior art.

Claims

This patent contains 52 claims, with claims 1, 18, and 19 being independent. The independent claims generally focus on a mobile device, a non-transitory computer-readable medium, and a method for providing an identifier associated with a geographic area to an application program when a mobile device enters that area. The dependent claims generally elaborate on and refine the features and functionalities described in the independent claims.

Key Claim Terms New

Definitions of key terms used in the patent claims.

Term (Source)Support for SpecificationInterpretation
Area specifically reserved for delivery
(Claim 1, Claim 18, Claim 19)		“Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide for delivering content, such as advertising, to registered applications being run on any of various mobile electronic devices configured to be readily moved, carried, or otherwise transported between different various geographic areas defined by perimeters. Sponsors can reserve an exclusive interest, or in some embodiments a semi-exclusive interest, in a geographic area, so that other sponsors' advertisements are excluded from being broadcast or otherwise provided to a registered program being executed on a mobile device located within a reserved geographic area.”A geographic area in which a particular identifier is exclusively delivered to a specific application program.
Designated geographic area of interest
(Claim 1, Claim 18, Claim 19)		“Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide for delivering content, such as advertising, to registered applications being run on any of various mobile electronic devices configured to be readily moved, carried, or otherwise transported between different various geographic areas defined by perimeters. Sponsors can reserve an exclusive interest, or in some embodiments a semi-exclusive interest, in a geographic area, so that other sponsors' advertisements are excluded from being broadcast or otherwise provided to a registered program being executed on a mobile device located within a reserved geographic area.”A geographic area defined by geographic data, associated with an identifier, and reserved for delivery of that identifier to a specific application program.
Location-determination component
(Claim 1, Claim 18, Claim 19)		“Advertisements can be delivered to various devices, including mobile devices, within communications range of areas transmitters or other information providers. For example, advertisements can be delivered to cellular phones within range of a particular cellular phone provider's network area. Furthermore, advertisements can be delivered using digital billboards, or via the Internet, based on user interactions and preferences.”A component that determines the physical geographic location of the mobile device.
Particular geometric construct
(Claim 19)		“Various embodiments of the present disclosure provide for delivering content, such as advertising, to registered applications being run on any of various mobile electronic devices configured to be readily moved, carried, or otherwise transported between different various geographic areas defined by perimeters.”A geometric shape or form used to define the perimeter of the designated geographic area of interest.
Predetermined length of time
(Claim 1, Claim 18, Claim 19)		“In at least one embodiment, the content delivery system reserves exclusive interests in geographic areas for particular sponsors based on the sponsors' requests, and store a record of that interest. In some embodiments, the content delivery system receives, from a sponsor, content to be delivered to mobile devices based on a target location being positioned within particular geographic areas. The content delivery system can also reserve an interest in geographic areas that remain unreserved by other sponsors. Furthermore, some embodiments include time based restrictions.”A duration for which the mobile device must remain within the designated geographic area of interest before the identifier is delivered.

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US10984447

H2 INTELLECT LLC
Application Number
US16019285
Filing Date
Jun 26, 2018
Status
Granted
Expiry Date
Sep 13, 2029
External Links
Slate, USPTO, Google Patents