Crowd Formation Based On Physical Boundaries And Other Rules

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to forming crowds of users taking into account known physical boundaries. In general, current locations of a number of users are obtained. A crowd of users is then formed based on the current locations of the users while taking into account one or more known physical boundaries such that the crowd does not include spatially proximate users on opposite sides of the one or more known physical boundaries. By utilizing known physical boundaries in a spatial crowd formation process, users that are spatially proximate to one another but are separated by a physical boundary are not included in the same crowd. In this manner, the spatial crowd formation process provides accurate and meaningful crowd formation in environments such as, but not limited to, buildings with multiple rooms, shopping malls, or the like. Crowd data representing users in the formed crowd is generated.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method of operating a server comprising:
 receiving information identifying one or more known physical boundaries of at least one of an area of interest (AOI) and a point of interest (POI);   obtaining current locations of a plurality of users of a plurality of mobile devices, each of the plurality of users being a user of a corresponding one of the plurality of mobile devices;   determining a subset of users from the plurality of users that are located within the one or more known physical boundaries based on a comparison of the current locations of the subset of users and the one or more known physical boundaries;   detecting a triggering event for a spatial crowd formation process, the triggering event being associated with one of the plurality of users;   determining that a current location of the one of the plurality of users is within the physical boundaries;   if the current location is within the physical boundaries:
 creating a bounding region for the spatial crowd formation process that encompasses the current location of the one of the plurality of users and is limited by the physical boundaries; 
 filtering the subset of users to remove users of the subset of users that do not match a profile; 
 performing a spatial crowd formation process for the bounding region based on the current locations of the filtered subset of the plurality of users within the bounding region to thereby form a crowd including the filtered subset of users from the plurality of users; and 
   generating crowd data representing the filtered subset of users included in the crowd,   wherein at least one of the preceding actions is performed on at least one electronic hardware component.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein forming the crowd comprises forming the crowd based on the current locations of the filtered subset of users and the one or more known physical boundaries such that the crowd does not include spatially proximate users that are currently located on opposite sides of the one or more known physical boundaries. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the one or more known physical boundaries comprise one or more intangible physical boundaries. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the physical boundaries of the at least one of the AOI and the POI comprise tangible physical boundaries of the at least one of the AOI and the POI. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the physical boundaries of the at least one of the AOI and the POI are 2-Dimensional (2D) physical boundaries of the at least one of the AOI and the POI. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the physical boundaries of the at least one of the AOI and the POI are 3-Dimensional (3D) physical boundaries of the at least one of the AOI and the POI. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein detecting the triggering event comprises receiving a location update for the current location of the one of the plurality of users. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein performing the spatial crowd formation process comprises performing the spatial crowd formation process based on the current locations of the filtered subset of the plurality of users within the bounding region and one or more crowd formation rules defined for the at least one of the AOI and the POI. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the one or more crowd formation rules defined for the at least one of the AOI and the POI comprise a minimum user density for crowd formation. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the one or more crowd formation rules defined for the at least one of the AOI and the POI comprise a minimum number of users required for a crowd. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising tagging the crowd with information that identifies the at least one of the AOI and the POI as long as the crowd remains located within the physical boundaries of the at least one of the AOI and the POI. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 determining that a current location of the one of the plurality of users is not within physical boundaries defined for any of the at least one of the AOI and the POI including the physical boundaries of the at least one of the AOI and the POI; 
 creating an initial bounding region for the spatial crowd formation process that encompasses the current location of the one of the plurality of users; 
 determining that the initial bounding region overlaps the physical boundaries of the at least one of the AOI and the POI; 
 excluding a region within the physical boundaries of the at least one of the AOI and the POI from the initial bounding region to provide a bounding region for the spatial crowd formation process; 
 filtering the subset of users to remove users of the subset of users that do not match a profile; and 
 performing the spatial crowd formation process for the bounding region for the spatial crowd formation process based on the current locations of the filtered subset of the plurality of users within the bounding region for the spatial crowd formation process to thereby form the crowd including the number of users. 
 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12  wherein detecting the triggering event comprises receiving a location update for the current location of the one of the plurality of users. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1  wherein generating crowd data for the crowd includes generating an aggregate profile for the crowd and the method further comprising providing access to the crowd data. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the profile comprises a user profile. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15  wherein the profile comprise one or more keywords. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  wherein the one or more keywords are based on words in one or more favorite websites of the user associated with the user profile. 
     
     
         18 . A server comprising system components including:
 a communication interface adapted to communicatively couple the server to a plurality of mobile devices via a network; and   a controller associated with the communication interface and configured to:
 receive information identifying one or more known physical boundaries of at least one of an area of interest (AOI) and a point of interest (POI); 
 obtain current locations of a plurality of users of the plurality of mobile devices, each of the plurality of users being a user of a corresponding one of the plurality of mobile devices; 
 determine a subset of users from the plurality of users that are located within the one or more known physical boundaries based on a comparison of the current locations of the subset of users and the one or more known physical boundaries; 
 detect a triggering event for a spatial crowd formation process, the triggering event being associated with one of the plurality of users; 
 determine that a current location of the one of the plurality of users is within the physical boundaries; 
 if the current location is within the physical boundaries:
 create a bounding region for the spatial crowd formation process that encompasses the current location of the one of the plurality of users and is limited by the physical boundaries; 
 filter the subset of users to remove users of the subset of users that do not match a profile of the one of the plurality of users; 
 perform a spatial crowd formation process for the bounding region based on the current locations of the filtered subset of the plurality of users within the bounding region to thereby form a crowd including the filtered subset of users from the plurality of users; and 
 
 generate crowd data representing the filtered subset of users included in the crowd, 
   wherein at least one of the system components includes at least one electronic hardware component.   
     
     
         19 . The server of  claim 18  wherein the crowd is formed based on the current locations of the number of the filtered set users and the one or more known physical boundaries such that the crowd does not include spatially proximate users that are currently located on opposite sides of the one or more known physical boundaries. 
     
     
         20 . The server of  claim 18  wherein the one or more known physical boundaries comprise one or more intangible physical boundaries. 
     
     
         21 . The server of  claim 18  wherein the physical boundaries of the at least one of the AOI and the POI are 2-Dimensional (2D) physical boundaries of the at least one of the AOI and the POI. 
     
     
         22 . The server of  claim 18  wherein the physical boundaries of the at least one of the AOI and the POI are 3-Dimensional (3D) physical boundaries of the at least one of the AOI and the POI. 
     
     
         23 . The server of  claim 18  wherein, in order to detect the triggering event, the controller is further configured to receive a location update for the current location of the one of the plurality of users. 
     
     
         24 . The server of  claim 18  wherein the controller is further configured to perform the spatial crowd formation process based on the current locations of the subset of the plurality of users within the bounding region and one or more crowd formation rules defined for the POI. 
     
     
         25 . The server of  claim 24  wherein the one or more crowd formation rules defined for the POI comprise a minimum user density for crowd formation. 
     
     
         26 . The server of  claim 24  wherein the one or more crowd formation rules defined for the POI comprise a minimum number of users required for a crowd. 
     
     
         27 . The server of  claim 18  wherein the controller is further configured to tag the crowd with information that identifies the at least one of the AOI and the POI as long as the crowd remains located within the physical boundaries of the at least one of the AOI and the POI. 
     
     
         28 . The server of  claim 18  wherein, in order to form the crowd, the controller is further configured to:
 determine that a current location of the one of the plurality of users is not within physical boundaries defined for any of the at least one of the AOI and the POI including the physical boundaries of the at least one of the AOI and the POI; 
 create an initial bounding region for the spatial crowd formation process that encompasses the current location of the one of the plurality of users; 
 determine that the initial bounding region overlaps the physical boundaries of the at least one of the AOI and the POI; 
 exclude a region within the physical boundaries of the at least one of the AOI and the POI from the initial bounding region to provide a bounding region for the spatial crowd formation process; 
 filter the subset of users to remove users of the subset of users that do not match a profile of the one of the plurality of users; and 
 perform the spatial crowd formation process for the bounding region for the spatial crowd formation process based on the current locations of the filtered subset of the plurality of users within the bounding region for the spatial crowd formation process to thereby form the crowd including the number of users. 
 
     
     
         29 . The server of  claim 28  wherein, in order to detect the triggering event, the controller is further configured to receive a location update for the current location of the one of the plurality of users. 
     
     
         30 . The server of  claim 18  wherein the controller is further configured to:
 generate crowd data for the crowd, the crowd data including an aggregate profile for the crowd; and 
 provide access to the crowd data. 
 
     
     
         31 . The server of  claim 18  wherein the profile comprises a user profile. 
     
     
         32 . The server of  claim 31  wherein the profile comprise one or more keywords. 
     
     
         33 . The server of  claim 32  wherein the one or more keywords are based on words in one or more favorite websites of the user associated with the user profile.