Exclusive Delivery Of Content Within Geographic Areas

Abstract

Application developers can request to have their applications registered for use with a content delivery platform. The operator of the content delivery platform establishes perimeters defining geographic areas, and maintains records reserving particular areas for delivery of content associated with particular sponsors. Registered applications running on mobile devices can request content from the content delivery platform. Based at least in part on the request, the content delivery platform can identify a target location, which may be the location of the mobile device, or some other location indicated in the request. A mobile device can be provided content based on the relationship of the target location to the geographic areas, so that a registered application running on a mobile device with a target location contained within a geographic area assigned to a particular sponsor will receive content related to that sponsor.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving, from one or more sponsors, at least one request to obtain an interest in a designated geographic area;   determining if the interest in the designated geographic area is to be provided to the one or more sponsors;   in response to determining that the interest in the designated geographic area is to be provided to the one or more sponsors, restricting content delivered to one or more instances of an application program to being from the one or more sponsors after it is determined that a target location has entered the designated geographic area;   receiving, from the one or more sponsors, content to be delivered to at least one of the one or more instances of the application program after it is determined that the target location has entered the designated geographic area; and   providing, after it is determined that the target location has entered the designated geographic area, at least a portion of the content received from the one or more sponsors to at least one of the one or more instances of the application program.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein:
 receiving the at least one request to obtain the interest in the designated geographic area includes receiving sponsor established perimeter definitions; and 
 the sponsor established perimeter definitions at least partially define the designated geographic area. 
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein:
 receiving the at least one request to obtain the interest in the designated geographic area includes receiving a first request from a first sponsor and receiving a second request from a second sponsor; 
 restricting the content delivered to the one or more instances of the application program includes restricting content delivered to one or more instances of the application program to be from the first one of the sponsors during a first period of time and to be from the second one of the sponsors during a second period of time; 
 receiving content to be delivered to the one or more instances of the application program includes receiving content from the first sponsor and receiving content from the second sponsor; and 
 providing the at least a portion of the content to the one or more instances of the application program includes providing at least a portion of the content received from the first sponsor to an instance of the application program during the first period of time and providing at least a portion of the content received from the second sponsor to the instance of the application program during the second period of time. 
 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the one or more sponsors is at least one of the one or more instances of the application program. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 providing the one or more sponsors a response to the request in response to determining that the interest in the designated geographic area is to be provided to the one or more sponsors; and   storing a record of the interest in the designated geographic area in response to determining that the interest in the designated geographic area is to be provided to the one or more sponsors.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5  wherein the one or more sponsors is at least one of the one or more instances of the application program. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  wherein:
 receiving the at least one request to obtain the interest in the designated geographic area includes receiving sponsor established perimeter definitions; and 
 the sponsor established perimeter definitions at least partially define the designated geographic area. 
 
     
     
         8 . A system comprising:
 memory;   a communications interface operably coupled to the memory; and   at least one processor operably coupled to the memory and the communications interface, the processor configured to execute a program of instructions, the program of instructions comprising:
 at least one instruction for receiving, from one or more sponsors, at least one request to obtain an interest in a designated geographic area; 
 at least one instruction for determining if the interest in the designated geographic area is to be provided to the one or more sponsors; 
 at least one instruction for restricting content delivered to one or more instances of an application program to being from the one or more sponsors after it is determined that a target location has entered the designated geographic area and in response to determining that the interest in the designated geographic area is to be provided to the one or more sponsors; 
 at least one instruction for receiving, from the one or more sponsors, content to be delivered to at least one of the one or more instances of the application program after it is determined that the target location has entered the designated geographic area; and 
 at least one instruction for providing, after it is determined that the target location has entered the designated geographic area, at least a portion of the content received from the one or more sponsors to at least one of the one or more instances of the application program. 
   
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 8  wherein:
 receiving the at least one request to obtain the interest in the designated geographic area includes receiving sponsor established perimeter definitions; and 
 the sponsor established perimeter definitions at least partially define the designated geographic area. 
 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 8  wherein:
 receiving the at least one request to obtain the interest in the designated geographic area includes receiving a first request from a first sponsor and receiving a second request from a second sponsor; 
 restricting the content delivered to the one or more instances of the application program includes restricting content delivered to one or more instances of the application program to be from the first one of the sponsors during a first period of time and to be from the second one of the sponsors during a second period of time; 
 receiving content to be delivered to the one or more instances of the application program includes receiving content from the first sponsor and receiving content from the second sponsor; and 
 providing the at least a portion of the content to the one or more instances of the application program includes providing at least a portion of the content received from the first sponsor to an instance of the application program during the first period of time and providing at least a portion of the content received from the second sponsor to the instance of the application program during the second period of time. 
 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the one or more sponsors is at least one of the one or more instances of the application program. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 8  wherein the program of instructions further comprises:
 at least one instruction for providing the one or more sponsors a response to the request in response to determining that the interest in the designated geographic area is to be provided to the one or more sponsors; and 
 at least one instruction for storing a record of the interest in the designated geographic area in response to determining that the interest in the designated geographic area is to be provided to the one or more sponsors. 
 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12  wherein the one or more sponsors is at least one of the one or more instances of the application program. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13  wherein:
 receiving the at least one request to obtain the interest in the designated geographic area includes receiving sponsor established perimeter definitions; and 
 the sponsor established perimeter definitions at least partially define the designated geographic area. 
 
     
     
         15 . A non-transitory computer readable medium tangibly embodying a program of computer executable instructions, the program of instructions comprising:
 at least one instruction for receiving, from one or more sponsors, at least one request to obtain an interest in a designated geographic area;   at least one instruction for determining if the interest in the designated geographic area is to be provided to the one or more sponsors;   at least one instruction for restricting content delivered to one or more instances of an application program to being from the one or more sponsors after it is determined that a target location has entered the designated geographic area and in response to determining that the interest in the designated geographic area is to be provided to the one or more sponsors;   at least one instruction for receiving, from the one or more sponsors, content to be delivered to at least one of the one or more instances of the application program after it is determined that the target location has entered the designated geographic area; and   at least one instruction for providing, after it is determined that the target location has entered the designated geographic area, at least a portion of the content received from the one or more sponsors to at least one of the one or more instances of the application program.   
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 15  wherein:
 receiving the at least one request to obtain the interest in the designated geographic area includes receiving sponsor established perimeter definitions; and 
 the sponsor established perimeter definitions at least partially define the designated geographic area. 
 
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 15  wherein:
 receiving the at least one request to obtain the interest in the designated geographic area includes receiving a first request from a first sponsor and receiving a second request from a second sponsor; 
 restricting the content delivered to the one or more instances of the application program includes restricting content delivered to one or more instances of the application program to be from the first one of the sponsors during a first period of time and to be from the second one of the sponsors during a second period of time; 
 receiving content to be delivered to the one or more instances of the application program includes receiving content from the first sponsor and receiving content from the second sponsor; and 
 providing the at least a portion of the content to the one or more instances of the application program includes providing at least a portion of the content received from the first sponsor to an instance of the application program during the first period of time and providing at least a portion of the content received from the second sponsor to the instance of the application program during the second period of time. 
 
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 15  wherein the one or more sponsors is at least one of the one or more instances of the application program. 
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the program of instructions further comprises:
 at least one instruction for providing the one or more sponsors a response to the request in response to determining that the interest in the designated one or more of the plurality of geographic areas is to be provided to the one or more sponsors;   and at least one instruction for storing a record of the interest in the designated geographic area in response to determining that the interest in the designated geographic area is to be provided to the one or more sponsors.   
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of  claim 19  wherein:
 receiving the at least one request to obtain the interest in the designated geographic area includes receiving sponsor established perimeter definitions; and 
 the sponsor established perimeter definitions at least partially define the designated geographic area.