Providing notifications based on geofencing search results

0001The disclosure generally relates to geofence, and more particularly to providing geofence data to a web search result list.

0002Search engines can be used to locate various resources on the Internet. For example, a user may submit a search query to a search engine, and in response to the search query, the search engine may generate many search results based on the search query and return the search results to the user.

0003In recent years, location-based features associated with mobile computing devices have become increasingly common. Location-based capabilities allow user devices, such as smartphones, tablets, or wearable computing devices, to receive information that corresponds to a particular location and perform actions associated with this information. For example, these actions can be performed based on the user device position with respect to the geofence. Geofences can specify boundaries associated with geographic locations. If the entrance to the geofence is detected by the user device, the user device may perform one or more actions associated with the geofence. For example, a user device may provide notifications associated with a geofence and / or geofence location for display.

<p num="0004"> The embodiments and advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure can be described in part in the following description, learned from the description, or learned through the implementation of the embodiments.</p><p num="0005"> One exemplary aspect of the disclosure relates to a computer-implemented method of providing geo-fence-based notifications. This method involves receiving data indicating a search query from a user by one or more computing devices. The method further comprises determining one or more physical search results by one or more computing devices, at least in part, based on a search query from the user. One or more physical search results have an associated geographic location. The method further comprises generating one or more additional search results associated with one or more physical search results by one or more computing devices. Each of the additional search results is associated with a geofence that should be established around the geographic location associated with the physical search result.</p><p num="0006"> Other exemplary embodiments of the disclosure relate to systems, devices, tangible, non-transitory computer-readable media, user interfaces, memory devices, and electronic devices for establishing geofences.</p><p num="0007"> These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the various embodiments will be better understood with reference to the following description and the appended claims. The accompanying drawings that are incorporated into this specification and that form part of this specification exemplify embodiments of the present disclosure and, along with this description, serve to explain the relevant principles.</p><p num="0008"> A detailed discussion of embodiments presented to those of skill in the art is described in the specification with reference to the accompanying drawings below.</p>

0009<figref num="1">FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary web search engine user interface according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.</figref><figref num="2">FIG. 5 illustrates the appearance of an exemplary system for providing geofencing search results according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.</figref><figref num="3">FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method for providing notifications based on geo-fencing search results, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.</figref><figref num="4">FIG. 5 illustrates an exemplary system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.</figref>

0010References to embodiments where one or more examples are illustrated in the drawings will be made in detail. Each example is provided by description of an embodiment, not limited to the present disclosure. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and modifications can be made to embodiments without departing from the scope or intent of this disclosure. For example, features exemplified or described as part of one embodiment can be used in conjunction with another embodiment to generate further embodiments. Therefore, aspects of the present disclosure are intended to cover such modifications and modifications.

0011An exemplary aspect of the disclosure relates to establishing a geofence in a user device, at least in part, based on one or more geofencing search result elements. For example, a plurality of search results related to a search query can be determined according to a search query from a user. At least one physical search result with an associated geographic location can be identified from multiple search results. One or more geofencing search results may be generated and associated with at least one physical search result. Geofencing search results can be associated with data to establish geofences around or near the geographic location associated with the physical search results. The user selects a geo-fencing search result, and depending on this selection, the geo-fence can be established by the user device, at least in part, based on the data associated with the geo-fencing search result. If the user device detects an entry into the geofence, the user device may provide the user with notifications associated with the geofence and / or geofence location.

0012More specifically, the user may enter a search query into a search engine, such as a web search engine. The search engine may be configured to search for a plurality of search results related to a search query and provide at least a portion of these search results to the user. For example, in response to receiving data indicating a search query, the search engine may access one or more databases (eg, a search engine index) to identify the data associated with the search query. Such data may include, for example, websites, images, videos, location data and the like. One or more physical search results can then be identified from the search results. As used herein, a physical search result is a search result that has an associated geographic location. As an example, a physical search result may have an associated brick and mortar store at a particular geographic location. For example, circular saw The search query for saw) is one or more physical search results such as information related to the circular saw, images of the circular saw, and / or a hardware store or other location that carries the circular saw for purchase. Can return the results associated with. The physical search result may include an address or other information indicating the location associated with the physical search result. For example, a physical search result associated with a hardware store may include the address of the hardware store.

0013Additional search results may be generated for one or more of the physical search results. The additional search result can be a geo-fencing search result that contains data for establishing a geo-fence around or near the geographic location associated with the physical search result. As used herein, a geofence can be a virtual boundary for a geographic area. In particular, geofences can define geographical areas. Geofences can generally be defined as circles and can be specified using latitude and longitude coordinates that indicate the center of the circle, and radii that indicate the size of the circle. Other suitable geometries can also be used, for example, by using various polygons and / or a large number of overlapping circles. Thus, the geofencing search results may include data indicating the geofence (eg, latitude, longitude coordinates) and the geographic location for establishing the size and / or shape (eg, radius) of the geofence. Geofencing search results may further include an end time or other temporal indicator associated with the length of time the geofence should be established.

0014In an exemplary embodiment, the geo-fencing search results may be generated and displayed as an additional list on the search engine results page. In particular, the search engine results page provided in response to a search query for a hardware store may contain one or more lists showing the search results. Each list may include, for example, a link (eg, a hyperlink) to the data (eg, search results) associated with the search query. Thus, geo-fencing search results can be displayed as a separate list on the search engine results page. In an alternative embodiment, the geo-fencing search result may be displayed in relation to the search result list. For example, a geo-fencing search result may be displayed as an icon or other indicator located adjacent to the associated physical search result.

0015Depending on the user's choice of geo-fencing search results, the user's user device may establish a geo-fence around or near the geographic location associated with the geo-fencing search results. As mentioned above, the geofencing search results may include data indicating the location of the geofence, the size of the geofence, the shape of the geofence, and / or the end date or establishment period for the geofence. Such data may be provided to the user device, which may establish a geofence according to the provided data. For example, if the user selects a geo-fencing search result associated with the geographic location of the hardware store, the geo-fence can be established around or near the hardware store by the user device.

0016In an alternative embodiment, one or more geofencing search results may be implemented as a user interface element provided for display, for example, by a user device associated with the user. In such an embodiment, the user device may be configured to generate a geo-fencing element based at least in part on the search results received in response to the search query. In particular, upon receiving a search result from a search engine, the user device may determine one or more geographic locations based on the received search result. The user device may then generate and provide one or more geo-fencing elements associated with the geographic location for display. User selection of the geo-fencing element allows the user device to establish a geo-fence around or near the geographic location associated with the geo-fencing element. In this way, the user device may be configured to establish one or more geofences based on the search results without the need for communication with the search engine.

0017The user device can also be configured to determine the current geographic location of the user device. For example, geographic location can be determined using GPS, IP addresses, cell triangulation, proximity to Wi-Fi access points, proximity to beacon devices, or other suitable positioning techniques. The user device may also determine the position of the user device with respect to one or more geofences established by the user device. In this way, the user device can detect the entrance to the geofence. Upon detecting the entrance to the geofence, the user device may perform one or more actions associated with the geofence. For example, one or more actions may include providing a notification to the user who owns the user device. Following the above example of a hardware store, when the user device detects an entrance to a geofence established around the hardware store, the user device will notify the hardware store and / or the hardware store will search. You can provide a search query that you want to be served as a result (eg, a circular saw). The notice may include the address of the hardware store, directions to the hardware store, and / or other information. Thus, when the user is in the vicinity of the hardware store, the user may be aware of the previous search query. In an exemplary embodiment, a list of one or more actions or other indicators may be provided to the user, which allows the user to select one or more desired actions to be performed. ..

0018The geofence may be removed from the user device in response to receiving a user selection of one or more desired actions associated with the geofence. Thus, the user device will no longer detect the entrance to the geofence and will no longer perform the actions associated with the geofence. In an alternative embodiment, the geofence is removed from the user device at the end time associated with the length of time the geofence should be established (or according to some other time indicator, such as duration). Can be done. In certain embodiments, the geofence may be removed from the user device by performing one or more actions associated with the geofence and at the end time, whichever comes first. The various embodiments described herein may provide the technical effect of providing a simple and / or convenient method that allows the user to set geo-fence-based alerts. Additional and / or alternative technical effects as described in any of the specification can be achieved.

0019Illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure will be discussed in more detail, as shown with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary user interface 100 for receiving a search query from a user and providing search results based on the search query. The user interface 100 may be provided for display by, for example, the user device 202 depicted in FIG. 2, or a user device such as another computing device. For example, user interface 100 may be provided in a web browser, in a dedicated application run by user device 202, or in another computing device.

0020As depicted, the user interface 100 may include an input field 102 and a search result block 104. Input field 102 may be configured to receive input from the user indicating a search query. For example, a search query can be a keyword entered by the user (such as a circular saw) or a set of keywords. The search result block 104 may include a visual representation associated with one or more search results 106, 108, and 110. The search results 106 to 110 may include information related to the search results. As illustrated, search results 106-110 may include links to various websites associated with the circular saw and a short description of the information contained on the website. The search result block 104 may further include various other information related to the circular saw, such as images, videos, map data associated with the position, etc., for purchasing the circular saw and the like. In addition, although only five search results are illustrated in FIG. 1, the search result block 104 may contain any suitable number of search results.

0021The search result block 104 further includes geo-fencing elements 112 and 114. Geofencing elements 112, 114 may include data associated with the geofence at or by the user device. As mentioned above, the geo-fencing element was associated with an independent search result (eg, geo-fencing element 112) and / or another search result (eg, geo-fencing element 114). Can be displayed as an indicator. For example, the geo-fencing element 112 is displayed as a separate search result list that encourages the user to establish a geo-fence around or near a "local hardware store". The geo-fencing element 114 is displayed as an icon associated with the search result 110. Geo-fencing element 112 is associated with establishing a geo-fence for the search result 110 of a local hardware store, but geo-fencing element 112 (or any other geo-fencing element) is within the scope of this disclosure. It will be recognized that without deviation, it can be associated with establishing a geofence for a variety of other suitable search results with associated physical locations. In an alternative embodiment, the geo-fencing element 112 and / or the geo-fencing element 114 may be a user interface element generated and provided for display by the user device. A user choice of either geo-fencing element 112 or geo-fencing element 114 will establish a geo-fence around or near a local hardware store, as described in more detail below. Although only two geo-fencing elements are depicted, it will be appreciated that the search result block 104 can contain any suitable number of geo-fencing elements. For example, any physical search result displayed in search result block 104 (for example, a search result with an associated geographic location) is associated.

0022Figure 2 depicts the appearance of an exemplary system 200 for establishing a geofence associated with search results. System 200 includes user device 202 and search engine 204. User device 202 may provide a user interface, such as user interface 100, associated with a web discovery engine for display. The user device 202 may receive the search query from the user and provide the search query to the search engine 204 via the network 210. In an exemplary embodiment, the search engine 204 may be hosted on a remote computing device, such as a web server. The search engine 204 may access the search result index 206 to determine a plurality of search results. The search engine 204 may also access location data 208 to determine one or more physical search results from the plurality of search results. FIG. 2 depicts location data 208 as stored in individual locations (eg, separate databases) from the search result index 206, where location data 208 (eg, with each corresponding search result). It will be recognized that it can be stored in the search index 206. The search engine 204 may further be configured to generate a geo-fencing search result that seeks at least one physical search result, at least in part based on the geographic location of at least one physical search result. Geofencing search results may include data indicating the location of the geofence to be established, the size of the geofence to be established, and the duration or duration of the geofence establishment. In an exemplary embodiment, the geo-fencing search result may further include information related to the search query and / or the physical search result with which the geo-fencing search result is associated.

0023One or more search result lists may be provided to user device 202, for example, via user interface 100. The user can then select the search result. When the user selects a geo-fencing search result such as geo-fencing element 112 or 114, the geo-fence can be established and stored by user device 202. For example, the user device 202 may store data indicating an established geofence as geofence data 212. If the user device 202 detects an entrance to an established geofence (eg, using one or more positioning techniques), the user device 202 will have one or more actions associated with the geofence. Can be executed. For example, user device 202 may provide one or more notifications associated with geo-fencing search results. In particular, the notification may include information associated with the search query, geographical location associated with the physical search result, entities associated with the physical search result, and the like. For example, the notification may include a reminder that the user has searched for a circular saw, a direction to a geo-fence-related geographic location, a link to the website of an entity associated with the geo-fence, and so on. In an exemplary embodiment, the notification may be a visual notification, an audible notification, a vibration notification, or other suitable notification provided for display.

0024In an alternative embodiment, the search query may be entered by the user into a second computing device, such as a laptop computer or desktop computer, and the search results may be provided to the second computing device. In this way, when the user selects the geo-fencing search result, data indicating the geo-fence to be established by the user device can be provided from the second computing device to the user device 202.

0025In a further alternative embodiment, the user device 202 may establish a geofence without user selection of the geofencing search results. In such an embodiment, the user device 202 may parse the search results (eg www.localhardwarestore.com) and perform a map query for "local hardware store". The location of one or more nearby local hardware stores can be determined from the map query results. The user device may then establish and store a geofence around at least one of one or more nearby locations.

0026FIG. 3 illustrates a flow diagram of an exemplary method (300) of establishing a geo-fence based on a search query and providing notifications based on the established geo-fence according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure. .. Method (300) can be performed by one or more computing devices, such as one or more of the computing devices depicted in FIG. In a particular practice, method (300) may be performed by the user device 202 and search engine 204 depicted in FIG. In addition, FIG. 3 depicts the steps performed in a particular order for illustration and discussion purposes. One of ordinary skill in the art, using the disclosure provided herein, adapts any step of the methods discussed herein in various ways without departing from the scope of this disclosure. You will understand that it can be reconfigured, extended, omitted, or modified.

0027In (302), method (300) may include providing a search query to the server by the user device. For example, the search query can be a keyword or a string of keywords entered by the user. In an exemplary embodiment, the search query is a text search query (eg, entered using a physical or touchscreen keyboard), by providing one or more audible keywords (eg, by providing one or more audible keywords to the user device). It can be a voice search query (entered) and / or various other suitable search queries. In (304), method (300) may include receiving a search query by the server. In an exemplary embodiment, the server may host a search engine and / or a map application such as a geographic information system. In (306), method (300) may include determining one or more physical search results by the server based on the search query. Physical search results may include search results related to search queries that have an associated geographic location. For example, a physical search result can be a search result associated with an entity that has a physical location, such as a business or store. The physical search result can be determined, at least in part, based on the presence of an address or other location indicator associated with the search result. In an exemplary embodiment, the physical search result can be a subset of the entire set of search results determined by the user, or the entire set of search results determined by the server. In this way, a set of search results related to a search query can be determined, and the search results can be analyzed to determine which of the search results has an associated physical position.

0028In (308), method (300) may include generating by the server a geo-fencing search result associated with at least one physical search result. For example, geo-fencing search results can be generated for physical search results based on the relevance of the physical search results. Thus, geo-fencing search results can be generated for physical search results that exceed the relevance threshold. It will be recognized that any suitable number of geofencing search results can be generated for any number of physical search results. In (310), method (300) may include providing the search result to the user device by the server. For example, the server may provide geo-fencing search results along with other determined search results.

0029In (312), method (300) may include receiving the search result from the server by the user device. The search results may be provided for display by the user, for example, in the user interface associated with the search engine results page. In (314), method (300) may include receiving the user selection of the geo-fencing search result by the user device. The user device may then provide the server with data indicating user selection.

0030In (316), method (300) may include receiving data indicating user selection by a server. The server can then retrieve the data associated with the geofence. For example, the data associated with a geofence includes data that indicates the location of the geofence, data that indicates the size of the geofence, data that indicates the shape of the geofence, and the end time and / or establishment period associated with the geofence. May include. In an exemplary embodiment, geofence data can be determined automatically and / or specified by the user. For example, in an embodiment where the physical search results have a large number of associated geographic locations, the location where the geofence should be established is at least part of the current geographic location of the user and / or user device. It can be determined automatically based on the target, or it can be determined based on the input from the user, which specifies the position where the geofence should be established.

0031In (318), (300) may include providing the acquired geofence data to the user device by the server. In (320), method (300) may include receiving geo-fence data by the user device. The user device can then establish a geofence according to the geofence data. For example, a user device may use one or more applications run by the user device to establish a geofence. In an alternative embodiment, geofence data may be provided to the user device in method (300) (310). For example, geofence data may be provided to the user along with the corresponding geofencing search results. In such an embodiment, (318) of method (300) can be bypassed and method (300) can proceed directly from (316) to (320).

0032In (322), method (300) may include detecting an entrance to an established geofence. For example, a user device may use one or more positioning techniques to detect an entrance to a geofence to determine the geographic location of the user device. The user device can then compare the determined position to the established geofence to determine the position of the user device with respect to the geofence.

0033In (324), method (300) may include performing one or more actions associated with the geofence in response to detecting an entrance to the geofence. For example, as described above, one or more actions may include providing a notification associated with a geofence for display. The notification may include information related to the search query, the geographical location of the physical search result, the entity associated with the physical search result, and the like.

0034In an exemplary embodiment, the detection of entrances to the geofence and / or one or more actions taken are used in assessing the performance of geofencing search results and / or physical search results. Therefore, it can be reported to the search engine. For example, detection of an entrance to a geofence can be used to determine the relevance of search results in future search result ranking implementations. In a further embodiment, when one or more actions are performed, further reports may be performed if the user actually moved to a geographic location. For example, in response to detecting the entrance to a geofence and the performance of one or more actions, the second geofence is a user device that roughly corresponds to the boundaries of the entities associated with the physical search results. Can be established by. It will be recognized that the presence of the user at a geographical location can be detected in a variety of other suitable ways. Detection of the entrance to the second geofence can then be reported to the search engine for further use, for example, when assessing the performance of search results.

0035In (326), method (300) may include removing the geofence by the user device. For example, a geofence can be removed in response to performing one or more actions associated with the geofence. As another example, a geofence can be removed at the end time associated with the geofence.

0036In an alternative embodiment, the user device may adjust the geofence, for example, depending on the user's interaction with the user device. For example, the user may wish to adjust the size, shape, position, or other properties associated with the geofence. In this way, the geofence can be moved, resized, and / or remodeled depending on user interaction.

0037FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary computing system 400 that can be used to implement methods and systems in accordance with the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. System 400 may be implemented using a client-server architecture that includes a server 410 that communicates with one or more client devices 430 over network 440. System 400 can be implemented using other suitable architectures such as a single computing device.

0038System 400 includes a server 410, such as a web server. Server 410 may host a web search engine and geographic information system, such as a geographic information system associated with a map service. Server 410 can be implemented using any suitable computing device. The server 410 may have one or more processors 412 and one or more memory devices 414. Server 410 may also include a network interface used to communicate with one or more client devices 430 over network 440. The network interface may include any suitable component for interfacing with one or more networks, including, for example, transmitters, receivers, ports, controllers, antennas, or other suitable components.

0039One or more processors 412 may include any suitable processing device, such as a microprocessor, microcontroller, integrated circuit, logic circuit, or other suitable processing device. One or more memory devices 414 may include, but are not limited to, non-transitory computer-readable media, RAM, ROM, hard drives, flash drives, or other memory devices. Can include computer-readable media. One or more memory devices 414 may store information accessible by one or more processors 412, including computer-readable instructions 416 that may be executed by one or more processors 412. Instruction 416, when executed by one or more processors 412, can be any set of instructions that causes one or more processors 412 to perform an operation. For example, instruction 416 may be executed by one or more processors 412 to perform search results analyzer 420 and geofence determination unit 422.

0040As illustrated in FIG. 4, one or more memory devices 414 may also store data 418 that may be retrieved, manipulated, generated, or stored by one or more processors 412. Data 418 may include, for example, map data, search result data, web search index data, geofence data, and other data. Data 418 may be stored in one or more databases. One or more databases may be connected to server 410 via a high bandwidth LAN or WAN, or may also be connected to server 410 via network 440. One or more databases can be split so that they are located in many local areas.

0041Server 410 may exchange data with one or more client devices 430 over network 440. Although two client devices 430 are illustrated in FIG. 8, any number of client devices 430 can be connected to server 410 over network 440. Each of the client devices 430 is, for example, a general purpose computer, a dedicated computer, a laptop, a desktop, a mobile device, a navigation system, a smartphone, a tablet, a wearable computing device, a display with one or more processors, or another. It can be any suitable type of computing device, such as a suitable computing device.

0042Like the server 410, the client device 430 may include one or more processors 432 and memory 434. One or more processors 432 are one or more central processing units (CPUs), graphics processing units (CPUs) that are specialized for efficiently rendering images or performing other specialized calculations. GPU) and / or other processing devices may be included. Memory 434 may contain one or more computer-readable media and may contain information accessible by one or more processors 432, including instructions 436 which may be executed by one or more processors 432 and data 438. I can remember. For example, memory 434 may store instruction 436 for implementing a user interface module for displaying search results, according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

0043The client device 430 of FIG. 4 provides information and receives information from the user, such as a touch screen, touch pad, data entry key, speaker, and / or microphone suitable for voice recognition. Can include various input / output devices for. For example, the client device 430 may have a display device 435 for presenting a user interface that displays a semantic location name according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

0044Client device 430 may also include a network interface used to communicate with one or more remote computing devices (eg, server 410) over network 440. The network interface may include any suitable component to interface with one or more networks, including, for example, a transmitter, receiver, port, controller, antenna, or other suitable component.

0045The network 440 can be any type of communication network, such as a local area network (eg, an intranet), a wide area network (eg, the Internet), a cellular network, or some combination thereof. Network 440 may also include a direct connection between client device 430 and server 410. In general, communication between server 410 and client device 430 involves various communication protocols (eg TCP / IP, HTTP, SMTP, FTP), encoding or formatting (eg HTML, XML), and / or protection. It can be transmitted over a network interface using any type of wire and / or wireless connection using a scheme (eg VPN, Secure HTTP, SSL).

0046The techniques discussed herein are not only servers, databases, software applications, and other computer-based systems, but also the actions taken and transmitted to and to such systems, and such systems. It also refers to the information sent from. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the inherent flexibility of computer-based systems allows for a wide variety of possible configurations, combinations, and divisions of tasks and functions between components. For example, the server processing discussed herein can be performed using a single server or multiple servers operating in combination. Databases and applications can be implemented in a single system or distributed across multiple systems. The distributed components can operate continuously or in parallel.

0047Although the subject matter has been described in detail with respect to that particular exemplary embodiment, those skilled in the art will appreciate the above and facilitate alternatives, modifications, or equivalents to such embodiments. It will be recognized that it can be produced in. Accordingly, the scope of the present disclosure is by way of example other than exemplary, and the disclosure of the subject matter prevents such modifications, modifications, and / or additional inclusions in the subject matter, as will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art. Absent.

0048100 user interface 102 Input field 104 Search result block 106 Search results 108 Search results 110 Search results 112 Geo-fencing elements 114 Geo-fencing elements 200 system 202 user device 204 Search engine 206 Search result index 208 Position data 210 network 218 Geofence data 400 computing system 410 server 412 processor 414 memory device 416 instructions 418 data 420 Search Results Analyzer 422 Geo-fence judgment unit 430 client device 432 processor 434 memory 435 display 436 instructions 438 data 440 network