System and method of disseminating electronic content utilizing geographic and time granularities

1. A method of disseminating electronic content, comprising:

defining a plurality of places and a plurality of sub-places, wherein

each of the plurality of places having a location, and

each of the plurality of sub-places having a location at or in one of the locations of the plurality of places;

for each of the plurality of sub-places, associating, by an association module of a data base, a plurality of non-geographic place attributes with the sub-place;

storing the associations with the plurality of sub-places in the storage module;

for each one of the plurality of places, associating with the one place, by the association module, at least one non-geographic place attribute and all the pluralities of non-geographic place attributes associated with the sub-places having their locations at or in the location of the one place;

storing the associations with the plurality of places in the storage module;

receiving electronic content from a network by the data base;

identifying a target geographic extent for the electronic content by the association module;

identifying a target time extent for the electronic content by the association module;

identifying non-geographic target attribute information for the electronic content by the association module;

identifying, by the association module, at least one of the plurality of places or plurality of sub-places based upon its location being within the target geographic extent and its at least one non-geographic place attribute or plurality of non-geographic place attributes associated therewith as stored in the storage module matching the non-geographic target attribute information;

identifying, by a location module of the data base, an electronic device located at or proximate to the identified at least one place or sub-place while within the target time extent; and

distributing, by the data base, the electronic content to the identified electronic device over a network;

wherein:

each of the non-geographic place attributes by itself does not uniquely identify a geographic location, and

the non-geographic target attribute information by itself does not uniquely identify a geographic location.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving non-geographic attribute information from a network;

wherein the associating with the sub-places and the associating with the places comprises:

determining which of the places and sub-places for which the non-geographic attribute information is relevant; and

associating the non-geographic attribute information with any of the places and sub-places for which the attribute information is determined relevant;

wherein the non-geographic attribute information by itself does not uniquely identify a geographic location.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the determining of which of the places and sub-places for which the non-geographic attribute information is relevant comprises:

identifying a geographic extent for the non-geographic attribute information; and

identifying which of the places and sub-places have locations associated therewith which are within the geographic extent for the non-geographic attribute information.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

identifying a time extent for the non-geographic attribute information;

wherein the associating comprises associating the non-geographic attribute information with any of the places and sub-places for which the non-geographic attribute information is determined relevant for a time period corresponding to the time extent.

5. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

for each of the places and sub-places for which the non-geographic attribute information is determined relevant, identifying a time extent for the non-geographic attribute information, wherein the time extent for at least two of the places or sub-places varies from each other in at least one of a start time and a length of time;

wherein the associating with the sub-places and the associating with the places comprises associating the non-geographic attribute information with each of the places and sub-places for which the non-geographic attribute information is determined relevant for a time period corresponding to the time extent identified for that place or sub-place.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the identifying of the time extents for the non-geographic attribute information for the places and sub-places is based on non-geographic attribute information already associated with the places and sub-places.

7. The method of claim 2 , wherein the determining of which of the places and sub-places for which the non-geographic attribute information is relevant is based on non-geographic attribute information already associated with the places and sub-places.

8. The method of claim 2 , wherein the determining of which of the places and sub-places for which the non-geographic attribute information is relevant comprises selectively excluding at least one of the places or sub-places having a location associated therewith within the target geographic extent based on non-geographic attribute information already associated with the at least one place or sub-place.

9. A system for disseminating electronic content, comprising:

a storage module in which a plurality of places and a plurality of sub-places are defined, wherein:

each of the plurality of places having a location,

each of the plurality of sub-places having a location at or in one of the locations of the plurality of places;

an association module configured to:

for each of the plurality of sub-places, associating a plurality of non-geographic place attributes with the sub-place, and providing the associations with the plurality of sub-places to the storage module for storage therein;

for each one of the plurality of places, associating with the one place at least one non-geographic place attribute and all the pluralities of non-geographic place attributes associated with the sub-places having their locations at or in the location of the one place, and providing the associations with the plurality of places to the storage module for storage therein;

a network connection for receiving electronic content;

an association module configured to:

identify a target geographic extent for the electronic content;

identify a target time extent for the electronic content;

identifying non-geographic target attribute information for the electronic content;

identify at least one of the plurality of places or plurality of sub-places based upon its location being within the target geographic extent and its at least one non-geographic place attribute or plurality of non-geographic place attributes associated therewith as stored in the storage module matching the non-geographic target attribute information; and

a location detection module configured to identify an electronic device located at or proximate to the identified at least one place or sub-place while within the target time extent;

wherein at least one of the association module and the location detection module is configured to distribute the electronic content to the identified electronic device via a network;

wherein:

each of the non-geographic place attributes by itself does not uniquely identify a geographic location, and

the non-geographic target attribute information by itself does not uniquely identify a geographic location.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the association module is configured to:

define the plurality of places and the plurality of sub-places by receiving non-geographic attribute information from a network;

associate the non-geographic attribute information with the places and sub-places by:

determining which of the places and sub-places for which the non-geographic attribute information is relevant; and

associating the non-geographic attribute information with any of the places and sub-places for which the non-geographic attribute information is determined relevant;

wherein the non-geographic attribute information by itself does not uniquely identify a geographic location.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the association module is configured to determine which of the places and sub-places for which the non-geographic attribute information is relevant by:

identifying a geographic extent for the non-geographic attribute information; and

identifying which of the places and sub-places have locations associated therewith which are within the geographic extent for the non-geographic attribute information.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the association module is further configured to identify a time extent for the non-geographic attribute information, and to perform the associating of the non-geographic attribute information by associating the non-geographic attribute information with any of the places and sub-places for which the non-geographic attribute information is determined relevant for a time period corresponding to the time extent.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the association module is further configured to identify a time extent for the non-geographic attribute information for each of the places and sub-places for which the non-geographic attribute information is determined relevant, wherein the time extent for at least two of the places or sub-places varies from each other in at least one of a start time and a length of time, and to perform the associating with the sub-places and the associating with the places of the non-geographic attribute information by associating the non-geographic attribute information with each of the places and sub-places for which the non-geographic attribute information is determined relevant for a time period corresponding to the time extent identified for that place or sub-place.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the association module is further configured to identify the time extents for the non-geographic attribute information for the places and sub-places based on non-geographic attribute information already associated with the places and sub-places.

15. The system of claim 10 , wherein the association module is further configured to determine which of the places and sub-places for which the non-geographic attribute information is relevant based on non-geographic attribute information already associated with the places and sub-places.

16. The system of claim 10 , wherein the association module is further configured to determine which of the places and sub-places for which the non-geographic attribute information is relevant by selectively excluding at least one of the places or sub-places having a location associated therewith within the target geographic extent based on non-geographic attribute information already associated with the at least one place or sub-place.