Patent Application

App. No. 14/011,214

Abstract

Claims (60)

1 . A computerized method of providing a customer incentive to leave a first commercial location and to arrive at a second commercial location, the method comprising:

receiving a definition of a first geographic area including the first commercial location by a computer system and storing the first geographic area in a memory;

determining a location of a mobile device in the possession of the customer; and

if the mobile device is determined to be at a location within the first geographic area,

then sending to the mobile device an incentive message for the customer to leave the location and go to the second commercial location.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining whether the mobile device has come to rest at a location within the first geographic area.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

displaying the incentive message on the mobile device.

4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

sending a first alert message to the mobile device;

displaying the first alert message on the mobile device; and

displaying the incentive message on the mobile device in response to an input on the first alert message.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a definition of a second geographic area including the second commercial location by the computer system and storing the second commercial location in a memory;

determining the location of the mobile device; and

if the mobile device is determined to be at a location within the second geographic area, then sending to the mobile device a voucher for a merchant located at the second commercial location.

6 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

sending a second alert message to the mobile device;

displaying the second alert message on the mobile device; and

displaying the voucher on the mobile device in response to an input on the second alert message.

7 . The method of claim 5 , further comprising:

displaying a bar code representing the voucher on the mobile device.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

displaying a map including the first commercial location;

displaying a grid including a plurality of cells on the map;

wherein receiving the definition of the first geographic area includes selecting cells of the grid.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the location of the mobile device includes receiving an indication of the location of the mobile device from the mobile device.

10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

defining a first geographic region object that includes the first geographic area; and

sending the geographic region object to the mobile device in response to the mobile device entering the first geographic region.

11 . A system, comprising:

a back-end including a server and a memory;

a front-end including a mobile device application;

a communications interface accessible by the back-end and the front-end;

the back-end being configured to determine a location of a mobile device including the mobile device application, and if the mobile device is determined to be at a location within a first geographic area, then sending to the mobile device an incentive message for a customer to leave the location and go to a second commercial location.

12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the front-end includes a merchant application configured to receive a definition of the first geographic area.

13 . The system of claim 12 , wherein the back-end includes an API service, wherein the back end is configured to access a map including the first commercial location, and wherein the map is displayed by the merchant application to receive the definition of the first geographic area.

14 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the back-end stores a definition of the first geographic area in the memory.

15 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the mobile device application is configured to determine the location of the mobile device and send the location of the mobile device to the back-end.

16 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the mobile device application is configured to determine whether the mobile device is at rest within the first geographic area.

17 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the mobile device application is configured to display the incentive message on the mobile device.

18 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the back-end is configured to send a voucher to the mobile device for a merchant located at the second commercial location if the mobile device is determined to be at a location within a second geographic area containing the second commercial location.

19 . A storage medium including an application for a mobile device, the application executing program instructions that implement a method comprising:

determining a location of the mobile device;

if the mobile device is determined to be at a location within a first geographic area, then sending a notification to a back-end;

receiving an incentive message for a customer to leave the location and go to a second commercial location; and

displaying the incentive message on the mobile device.

20 . The storage medium of claim 19 , wherein the executed method further comprises:

caching a definition of the first geographic area.

21 . The storage medium of claim 19 , wherein the executed method further comprises:

accessing a GPS unit of the mobile device to determine the location of the mobile device.

22 . The storage medium of claim 19 , wherein the executed method further comprises:

determining whether the mobile device has come to rest at a location within the first geographic area

23 . The storage medium of claim 19 , wherein the executed method further comprises:

displaying the incentive message in response to receiving an input from a user.

24 . The storage medium of claim 19 , wherein the executed method further comprises:

caching a definition of a second geographic area including the second commercial location;

if the mobile device is determined to be at a location within the second geographic area, then receiving a voucher for a merchant located at the second commercial location; and

displaying the voucher on the mobile device.

Assignments (9)